InBoundMarketingPR Blog

How To Grow Your Twitter and Your Inbound Marketing Links

Discovering twitter a year and a half ago, I instantly fell in love with this social media platform.  I loved it's simplistic 140 character micro-blogging style. Being on twitter for this long, I am still amazed at some of the DM's (Direct Messages) and tweets I receive about automation and growing my twitter automatically and not organically. Growing your twitter organically gives you control of who you follow and who is following you. It helps you to really target your "niche." For my personal twitter, my niche was green, organic and clean energy. So, the people I wanted to follow and engage with were people that I can share relevant content with and that could share relevant content with me.

1. Engage - Start tweeting... Tweet daily... Starting a conversation at first will be tough, but if you engage with people whom you have something in common with will make your conversation easier. Things you can do to help people trust you and start that conversation are upload a profile picture.  No profile picture makes people leery and they will not want to follow you back. Customizing your profile is very important. Use keywords in your bio to further drill down on your niche. Tweet about things you are knowledable about and feel comfortable tweeting.  Should you quit if no one engages you? Absolutely not... Be patient, trust is earned!    
2. Who do I follow? I have to tell you, there are people on twitter who have questionable pictures and tweets. How do I control who follows me? I personal choose not to engage with these types of profiles so I block them and keep my followers and who I follow clean. There are tools you can utilize to find specific niche tweeples to follow and engage with. Listorious is a great tool to use when looking for specific people to follow. Type in your keywords and search over 1 million top twitter users. Bonus tip is to find and engage with the influencers in your niche.  
3. What are the rules of engagement? If you find a tweet that is interesting and valuable by all means RT (retweet it).  Share it with your followers. The person posting the tweet will be grateful and thank you for your kind actions! Once you have RT, reply to that person and thank them for sharing that tweet and engage them in conversation. If you blog, post your blogs and share valuable content with them.  Content is Key in social media and when providing value to your followers, they will RT your content and share it with their readers, growing your online reach.
4. What if I follow them but they don't follow me back? Some people (celebrities) don't follow you back. If someone follows me, has a legitimate profile pic and bio and is in my niche I follow them back. Again, I want to engage with people who will provide value to my stream on twitter! There are tools to clean your twitter account up. My personal favorite is tweepie which can also help you flush out bots. Bots are automated twitter accounts. Real people aren't tweeting and running these accounts, making them a waste of your time!

Bonus Tip - If you look at twitter and other social media platforms in this light, I promise that the whole social media concept will seem clearer to you. The online world mimics WOM (word of mouth) conversations.  If you aren't participating you aren't in the conversation! Conversations will lead people to your blog, people will see you as a thought leader and start engaging with you as an influencer.  In turn, they will share your content, making you a traffic officer.  You get to direct were that traffic goes. This organic traffic will build inbound links to your website, company blog etc.

Looking for more help on inbound marketing methods? We can help!

Targeted Inbound Marketing: Your Niche on Twitter

Facebook's growth has sky rocketed and with the changes announced at F8 conference, the brand's popularity just keeps growing. Having said this, don't discount on Twitter being done. New research shows that both social media platforms are nearly equal when it comes to awareness. The research uncovered shows many convincing reasons why you need to better understand Twitter usage and the importance of applying this information to your business and inbound marketing efforts.   

This is why you need to clean out your Twitter and concentrate on targeting your niche. I have found four tools that I will review for you. 

• Refollow -  Refollow has the usual who's following me, who isn't but the feature that I really like is that you can drill down to your niche with specific searches.  For example, I searched for social media and it brought up everyone who had specifically used the word social media in their bio.  Powerful tool for companies wanting to find individuals who are specifically interested in their products because they have said so in their bio. You could filter your users in so many categories. Go and explore this tool, it's Free and easy to use.
• ManageTwitter - They will only process the most recent 5000 people who follow you due to twitter's API limits. This tool took a long time to download my account information. Once this tool manages to get your account info it does have some great features.  For example, it shows you when accounts were created, if the users are quiet or talkative and how many people have unfollowed them. It also shows you how active that Twitter account is by showing you the number of tweets per day.  Nice features with good information.  
• Twit Cleaner - This tool analyses the people you follow, finds spammers, bots and time wasters. The problem with is tool is that it only scans up to 1,000 followers for you for free. The reports are free but if you wish to clean up your account it will start to cost you $2 for 1,000 to 1,9999 followers etc. There is no need to pay for any service like this when you can manually do this with any other tool out there, it just requires you to be disciplined. Commit to cleaning your account once a week and give yourself half an hour. That should keep your account growing with relevant followers and help you to weed out the spammers.  
• tweepi - I've been using tweepi and really like this tool.  It's fast and allows you to again flush out your Twitter account from spammers, bots etc and helps you to find tweeps or geeky follow. This tool helps you filter these people based on their activity and sociability. When you flush users out there are Preset Targets that are very useful. There is a target for Active Users (no of updates in the last 7 days), so you can see the updates these tweeps have had in the last week and follow accordingly. Another target is the higher reach or influence. This target shows you the number of tweets and number of times they are getting RT's. Another one is twitterers who discuss much. This is useful because it shows you who tends to receive and send out replies, thus following the social guidelines. One of my favorite target is the "avoid linkless ramblings." This options sorts the users by the number of links in their posts. You are looking for a ratio between 40% - 80% links because this shows a two-way conversation. Ratios of 80% of higher might indicate a bot.   

I enjoyed using all these tools and testing them out. I have a couple that are my favorites and will be using them on a daily basis.  Which tool is your favorite? Which one saves you the most time? 

Remember, Twitter users frequently exchange information about products and services. Make sure you are monitoring conversations about your business and providing compelling content for them to discuss. 

Is your website performing up to your expectations? Free website's performance report.   

Not on Twitter? Not an Option!

I've written several blogs about Twitter and I'm still shocked to hear people say, "I just don't get it", "What is the purpose", "I just don't have the time for Twitter."  Let me put it to you simply CEO, COO and Marketing Managers, if you don't get on board with digital media and Web 2.0 you will put your company in a position from which they may never recover.  These hard economic times have weeded out the mediocre businesses and left the truly deserving standing.  Am I being too harsh in saying this?  Hear me out, if you aren't willing to change with the rapidly changing business landscape you will be left odd man out.

First of all you need to understand and embrace Twitter.  Learn to embrace that Twitter has an incredible endorsement power. People endorse you via re-Tweets (RT) which is rebroadcasting your posted content.  It is a very powerful message people are sending you and their followers when they choose to RT your content.  They are saying you have something valuable to say and they agree with it and like it so much they are willing to share that content with all their followers.  Do not underestimate the value that holds.  That is brand equity for your brand! 

Second, your company has an incredible opportunity, one that it's never had before.  Your company has the opportunity to have a closer, deeper relationship with your customers.  You as a brand, have the opportunity to address concerns, comments, problems as soon as they arise.  You have a chance to make amends with a distraught customer before it becomes a PR nightmare.  This establishes a level of transparency for your company.  People know you are listening and swift to react and correct the problem. Twitter affords you opportunities which you never had before but should be having with your customers every single day.

Third, learn to utilize Twitter as a research and development tool.  You can keep track of what people are saying about your brand via twitter.  You can track what people are saying about your competition.  Use the Twitter search to see who's talking about your keywords. Engage these people, follow conversations and start conversations with people who are already talking about your brand, your niche.  Remember, what makes Twitter so useful is that it's a two way communication tool.  You can tweet questions, events and tweet ups and have immediate response.  You are not broadcasting you are discussing!  

Fourth, you can use Twitter to drive up traffic to your blog and/or company website.  Post a tweet and add a link to your blog and/or company website.  If you have established a company brand, provided relevant content to your followers and communicated with your customers you should have no problem getting people interested in clicking on those links! 

Remember the most important part of twitter is that it's FREE. There is no cost to setting up your twitter profile, uploading a company logo and customizing your background.  Traditional avenues of marketing are no longer providing the returns you have seen in the past.  Why is that?  Twitter, like Facebook is where the traffic is, it's where your customers and future customers are. They aren't reading a newspaper, they aren't listening to the news because honestly, the news is no longer "breaking" it's old.  Most likely what you are seeing on the news has already been circulating online.  

If you are on the verge of establishing your social media brand but need more information, I encourage you to fill out our form and we would be happy to consult with you and help to guide you on this magnificent world of digital media.

 

Foursquare, Why It's H-O-T Marketing

The buzz around Foursquare today is the same as it was for Twitter in 2006. Why is Foursquare so hot?  For starters it's a mobile application that lets you explore the city around you, meet up with friends and earn perks while you check-in to your favorite places. The company was founded by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai and is based in New York City.  

Mobile applications and geo targeting is the next step in the progression of digital advertising and marketing for your company. Seeing Facebook embrace this trend by taking a similar approach when it introduces location features to its 400 million users in coming months only solidifies the momentum of the mobile applications.  Here's what you, the users, are saying about it.  As a brand/company, the possibilities for exposure are endless, data collected and measurable metrics are mind boggling.  Don't think this will work for your business? Foursquare is already rolling out new tools for businesses.

So, are you using Foursquare? Are you using it for business or as a consumer? What perks have you unearthed that you might not have without this app? I am keeping my eye on Fousquare and am very interested to see what new features they roll out and how they will help consumers/businesses in the process to grow organically.

Digital Assets and SEO

So many bloggers write about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because it is the difference between small companies getting found and competing with larger companies which have significant larger budgeting dollars. This leveling of the playing field is an incredible opportunity for small companies, startups and local business.

The convergence of social media and SEO is the tool that will get you found by your potential audience.  Statistics show that in one month there are 14 billion searches conducted.  Can you wrap your mind around 14 billion people searching google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask on a monthly basis?  Needless to say that SEO is one of the most effective online marketing tactics for generating conversions.  

So which digital assets can help you with SEO?  

Twitter is the micro bloggling site that helps you to establish a viral connection with your customers and gives you website integration.  Even though twitters value to your sites SEO is limited, tweets will rank high in search results and twitter is good for ranking your profile name and breaking news.  

Flickr is a photo and video sharing website.  Flickr is heavily indexed in search engines, passing links and page ranks.  Flickr also helps images rank higher in google images and in building inbound links. 

LinkedIn, a social networking site for business professionals,  also has a very high page rank for your company name and you are almost guaranteed to be on the first page of search results.  

Youtube is very good for building links back to your site because videos rank high.  

Digg, a social news sharing site,  helps your page(s) to be indexed quickly.  If your story becomes popular on Digg it will assist you in getting linked to by bloggers.  

Delicious, a bookmarking tool for news, is an excellent source because when your page gets bookmarked, it's a direct link back to your site.  Being on the front page of this site will boost SEO since the big category tag pages are full of trust, which will pass directly to your URL.  

StumbleUpon, a personalize bookmarking tool, is very good if your story makes it to the top page for its tag.   

These are just a handful of sites that can assist you with some SEO juice.  Let me know what kind of results you have gotten or are getting with any of the above mentioned assets.  If you have found results with other platforms please feel free to share with the rest of us.  For more information on SEO, Social Media Marketing and Web Design and number of other items explore our site; if you have questions please contact us!

10 Quick How To's For Twitter Beginners

Involvement is Evolvement. Will You Evolve in 2010?

Evolve comes from the Latin word, evolvere, meaning to develop, work out (socially, politically and literary philosophies).  It's interesting to me that the word "social" is mentioned in context with evolve.  We all know how important social connections were in 2009. For example YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, Facebook and any discussion forum with good content and enriching debate.  If you weren't on these sites you weren't part of the eloquent conversations taking place!  But these "social" tools aren't meant for just personal involvement alone, they are also being used for company evolvement.

If 2009 wasn't the year you were connected, please do yourself and your company a favor by connecting in 2010.   This article featured in Entrepreneur.com says it all. It touches on important points of how social sites establish another source, an extension of your business/website.  How important fans/friends/followers are because they can turn into customers, increasing your ROI.  It touches on the importance of SEO and organic traffic to your company websites.  It shows how these sites become commnunities for your company helping to solidify your brand. These sites become your eyes and ears online.  You can monitor who is saying what about your company and every interaction is a great opportunity and a wealth of information.  Notice how the article only mentions Facebook but the same holds true for other, equally as important, social sites.  As a business owner you can see the incredible potential being connected offers your company.

So, I will ask again...  Will you evolve in 2010?  I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we at InboundMarketingPR can assist you with all the above services and connect you with the most powerful service your company can not afford to miss.  We wish you all the best and a Prosperous 2010.

How To-Why Twitter Lists are Important to your Brand!

Twitter has recently rolled out a new feature which allows you to create lists of different tweets you are interested in categorizing. By now, all of you should have received the update. Some of you might be asking, “Why are these lists important and how will they impact my company, business and brand?”

I am here to give you 9 important reasons why you should pay attention to these lists.

1. Lists Increase your REACH! That’s right, the number of followers should increase for you dramatically. Your growth will increase because of the gain of “eyes” that view these lists. Some people are reporting a gain of 1,000 followers within a short amount of time.
2. Lists Help you Become the Source of Information! By creating lists with great content and relevant information You become the ” Thought Leader” and therefore, control the major portal of information for you followers!
3. Lists Help to surface PR Opportunities! You create great lists that help to aggregate information. Example: Create a list with just bloggers and reporters! This list then becomes a great source of information for many of your followers!
4. Lists Help to Personalize Your Company! You can create a lists of your companies employees. By aggregating their tweets, your followers can quickly pull the list and see what is going on or being shared by your employess. Connections can also be made this way!
5. Lists Allow you to be more transparent! Share your lists with others on sites like Facebook and Listorious and make them Public! If you make them private, they don’t benefit anyon!
6. Lists Monitor your lists! By monitoring whose lists you are on, you can see the additional Reach they give you!
7. Lists Can Be Measured! Hubspot's Grader is also including the lists in their results!
8. Lists Can be keyword optimized! Set up your lists based on your specific “keywords”! This will only help to build your company and your brand. Can google or other search engines pick up on these lists “keywords”? It’s too early too tell, but make no mistake this tool can only help you!
9. Lists Are aggregators of information! Use them to your best advantage and jump in and start creating these lists. You can edit/delete if you make a mistake!

Hope this post was both useful and informative to you. My wish is that you can get excited about these lists once you see their true potential!

Building Your Brand!

I attended a basketball clinic at our local YMCA this weekend and as I was watching the coaches (Y employees) and the children interacting I had a wonder thought. I thought about Community! In today’s viral world, everyone is talking about social media, branding your company and building communities. Sitting here wondering how many people have come and gone through the same doors that I came in through today? Feeling, in an overwhelming sort of way, that these staff members like many other’s before them, are making such a powerful difference in some child’s life. As I see children incapable of standing still, wiggly and restless, I know in my heart, this place is a Community. And this community is very much needed by every child here.

That “community” reminded me of a recent HubSpot webinar I attend which spoke of this same thing. It was an exceptional webinar titled “How to Use Social Media to Build Your Brand.” The webinar brought many wonderful points to light and one of many that stayed with me was “Brands are defined by what people are saying about your brand.” Many companies have operated under the out dated mindset “Our brand is defined by what we say our brand is.” Sooner than later these companies are discovering that this mindset is outdated and obsolete!

Branding and building Communities takes time and you have to cultivate in order to come out ahead lest you fall behind. By building communities around content you create more opportunites for your company. By participating with people on the web, sharing pertinent information and relevant news you create a deeper sense of trust and a sense of community. Keep in mind that the people you meet and take time to interact with can one day turn out to be clients, friends and colleagues.

By this point in the webinar I was asking myself How? How do I build communities with people via Social Media? Well, it’s very simple! First, start out by Listening, then you listen some more and then based on what you are hearing Build Relationships and share your content!! Listening is the hardest thing to do for many, trust me I know! But, if you want to hear what people are saying about your particular brand you must Listen! If you want to build a community around your brand you must Listen! So where do I go to Listen you might ask? Here are some create sites that were shared with us:

Twitter Search

The Google Blog Search

Technorati

Industry Twitterers – (I follow Chris Brogan) http://twitter.com/chrisbrogan

If this blog helps just one person, I would say I have Listened and my job is done and feel free to share as you see fit!