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Category Archives: Twitter Tip

Twitter Changes

There are some changes to Twitter’s interface to be keeping an eye out for. Instead of the old “@Mentions” tab on your homepage, Twitter had created two new tabs. Now, there’s a “@Username” tab and an “Activity” tab. The @Username tab will provide you with your mentions, like the @Mentions tab did. The Activity tab is similar to Google+, allowing you to see new people who have followed you and new activity of the people in your network.

Twitter has made it easier to share pictures right through the site. No more need for sites like Twitpic…now you can upload your pictures right to Twitter. Last I checked, it’s not configured for texting yet. So for now, if you’re text messaging photos from your phone, you’ll have to continue using a third-party site. But keep your eye out for it–it should be coming soon.

And, hey, just for good measure: the Twitter bird’s name is Larry. For all of you out there who lost sleep over not having a name to call the bird that’s such a big part of your life. I know I feel better now that I know.

A couple of third-party Twitter sites that are worth checking out this week: Twitgram and WhoReTweetedMe.com. Twitgram allows you to send private messages to anyone on Twitter right from one, convenient page. WhoReTweetedMe is a great way to analyze your website and gives you some interesting statistics. You can find out your top 20 most influential tweeters and thank them with a tweet!

Interacting with Your Twitter Followers

The other day, while at work, I was listening to my Ron Pope station on Pandora–he always gets me relaxed and in the writing mood. What can I say about Ron Pope? I would love to hang out with him some day and make popsicles. And banana pancakes. And a variety of other things. His voice is simply incredible.

Anyway, while I was getting wrapped up in Ron Pope’s voice instead of in the press release I was supposed to be writing, I texted a tweet to @RonPopeMusic mentioning something along the lines of my undying love for him and his voice. A few hours later, my whole day was made when he tweeted back! I was beyond excited and, naturally, I tweeted back. What happened next, you ask? He tweeted back again! So here I was, having a bona fide conversation on Twitter with Ron Pope!

Granted, many of you reading this (like most of my friends and Twitter followers) don’t know who Ron Pope is. If you don’t, I highly suggest you check him out. But that’ s not why I’m writing this post. When my followers on Twitter saw me having a conversation with Ron Pope, they more than likely went to his profile to check him out and see what I was so excited about. This brought several new people to his page and (hopefully) checking out his music. Maybe you see where I’m going with this. Twitter can be a valuable asset to you and your brand. Interacting with your followers can be even more beneficial. If you’re interacting with your followers, their followers see you show up on their timelines even if they aren’t following you. This can bring more traffic to your Twitter and your website and, ultimately, get you more customers.

A Basic Guide to Twitter

Twitter is what is called a micro-blogging service. It allows you to post short messages–140 characters or less–called tweets. In case you were wondering just how long 140 characters is, it is exactly the length of this sentence–including all spaces and punctuation. That may not seem like much, but tweets really are a powerful tool to share information. Twitter provides short, to-the-point posts that readers won’t get bored with. Anyone can handle reading 14o characters, but many people’s attention spans don’t last much longer than that.

Tweets are exchangeable, as well. Your tweets can be “re-tweeted” by followers, or people can reply to your tweets or tag you in their own. This provides powerful networking opportunities. When a user re-tweets one of your tweets, or replies or tags you in their tweets, it shows up on their profile and on the timeline of all their followers. This gives all of their followers the opportunity to check you out and potentially follow you.

To get started on Twitter and build up a base of followers, first find relevant profiles to follow. After you make your account, start searching for other Twitter users who are relevant to your business. These could be other businesses in your field, coworkers, customers or employees. Ideally, some of these people will follow you back. Then their friends and followers can find your account through them–or, better yet, when they re-tweet your posts.

Make sure your tweets are interesting and attention-grabbing. Because they are so short, they need to be hard-hitting. A boring Twitter feed doesn’t attract many followers. Make sure each post is interesting and relevant. You can put links in your tweets if you want to share a news story or piece of media. If the link url is too long, you can use a service like bit.ly to shorten the url.

Happy tweeting!

Twitter’s New Web Intents Creates Interactive Tweets on Your Website

Twitter’s New Web Intents allow Interactive Tweets on Your Website

Twitter’s new Web Intents make it simple to share interactive tweets on your website or blog.

Web Intents provide popup-optimized flows for working with Tweets & Twitter Users: Tweet, Reply, Retweet, Favorite, and Follow. They make it possible for users to interact with Twitter content in the context of your site, without leaving the page or having to authorize a new app just for the interaction. Web intents are mobile friendly, and super easy to implement.

moz screenshot 2 Twitter’s New Web Intents Creates Interactive Tweets on Your Websitemoz screenshot 3 Twitter’s New Web Intents Creates Interactive Tweets on Your Website0411ck twitter web intents Twitter’s New Web Intents Creates Interactive Tweets on Your Website

Engage your audience on Twitter

Engage your audience on TwitterOn Twitter

  1. Be concise, and save room for the RT to take place “RT @[your handle] “
  2. 120 Characters is a good length to allow for the space to RT
  3. Use keywords without being overly technical in your tweets
  4. When you have loyal followers, ask for RT’s and Comments!
  5. Tweet with full words, maybe I don’t know what the abbreviation is, so the content will be lost on me
  6. Tweet at the right time to engage your audience – mid morning for business posts, evenings/weekends for inspiration and entertainment based posts
  7. If applicable, use words like insights, analysis, and opinion. Posts with these words get more views and links.
  8. Write to your audience, and run it through the you/me filter
  9. People love bullet lists of information, 10 tips to a better…5 steps to…
  10. Add your commentary to posts you RT, “awesome, check it out” or “You will want to read this!”

Q & A with Katie: Retweet (say that 5 times fast…:)

retweet blog posts doylestown pa 150x150 Q & A with Katie: Retweet (say that 5 times fast…:)Who and what is a ‘retweet’? So-and-so just ‘retweeted’ this message. Why? How? What does that mean? Here’s a bit of info…

1. How do you know a retweet?
When you see “ retweet 1 Q & A with Katie: Retweet (say that 5 times fast…:) “ before the tweet, that has been a retweet. After the icon you also see who tweeted the original message.

2. Why retweet?
If someone’s message out there is something you like, and you find neat or inspirational, it fits your thoughts or it’s worth spreading, you do the genial thing, and pass it on. You retweet it. (If it’s cool enough, it can get retweeted and reretweeted until all of Twitter knows!)

3. How do I retweet?
Under a person’s tweet, on the right there are two buttons. ‘Reply’ and ‘Retweet’. Click ‘Retweet’ and click ‘yes’.

4.What are the implications of retweeting?
If you tweet something, all your followers get it. If one of them retweets it, all of their followers get it…and so on, if the message is good enough.

Have fun, tweet and retweet with style!

The InSights Group works with entrepreneurs, small businesses and dental practices on successful social media marketing strategies.

RSS feed on Twitter

Just last month, somebody tweeted something incredibly important, but now, they’ve tweeted many times since then, and how can you ever figure out what it was? Or maybe it wasn’t important, it was just worth notice and you know who said it but where can I find it? Clicking “More” would take too long… *

Picture 2 150x150 RSS feed on Twitter

Follow the Arrow

Use your timeline. On the right side of the user’s home page, there is the orange blogging button followed by “RSS feed of _____’s tweets”. Click it and you’re directed to a white page of information. Here you have options, look for the tweets of the yesterday, the last week, last month. You can manually search for key words with the search bar; you can even look based on tweet length, Date, Title, or Source. Happy Hunting!

*If you’re looking for a tweet a month past, the best way would be to keep clicking the ‘more’ button at the bottom of the person’s page. The RSS feed only keeps the most recent, but ‘more’ will give you tweets back to the person’s Twitter origin.

Picture 1 150x150 RSS feed on Twitter

The Look

We at InSights work with dental practices, small businesses,  and entrepreneurs in effective and successful social media marketing strategies.

TWEET TWEET!

Recently, Twitter launched its official Tweet Button. *Cheers!* but… what does that mean? I mean, for me? Good questions! As opposed to the old tweet button,Picture 1 TWEET TWEET! (the one you put on your site) this button has been revamped, like old tweet button on Monster! With similar looks, the new tweet button includes how many times this (whatever it is, either a page or a website, a project or video, picture etc) has been retweeted. But wait! There’s more! When using this button, a ‘simple’ line of coding compatible with most all sites, the traffic clicking on it, is still your traffic. Clicking the button doesn’t drive the person from your site. In addition, their sharing of your information is much simpler on their part; less hassle, more response! For more information visit http://drivingtraffic.com/twitter-to-launch-official-tweet-button/comment-page-1/#comment-40244

Happy Tweeting!

The InSights Group helps entrepreneurs,  dental practices and small businesses with how to use social media effectively.

tweet button1 TWEET TWEET!

Q & A with Katie: Retweet (say that 5 times fast…:)

retweet blog posts doylestown pa 150x150 Q & A with Katie: Retweet (say that 5 times fast...:) Who and what is a ‘retweet’? So-and-so just ‘retweeted’ this message. Why? How? What does that mean? Here’s a bit of info…

1. How do you know a retweet?
When you see “ retweet 1 Q & A with Katie: Retweet (say that 5 times fast...:) “ before the tweet, that has been a retweet. After the icon you also see who tweeted the original message.

2. Why retweet?
If someone’s message out there is something you like, and you find neat or inspirational, it fits your thoughts or it’s worth spreading, you do the genial thing, and pass it on. You retweet it. (If it’s cool enough, it can get retweeted and reretweeted until all of Twitter knows!)

3. How do I retweet?
Under a person’s tweet, on the right there are two buttons. ‘Reply’ and ‘Retweet’. Click ‘Retweet’ and click ‘yes’.

4.What are the implications of retweeting?
If you tweet something, all your followers get it. If one of them retweets it, all of their followers get it…and so on, if the message is good enough.

Have fun, tweet and retweet with style!

The InSights Group works with entrepreneurs, small businesses and dental practices on successful social media marketing strategies.