A Twist On Twitter - How to Use Twitter as a Mini Blog | THE NET-TECH REPORT

The Net-Tech Report with Chris Kauza

A lot of the clients we work with like the idea of a Blog and understand how it helps them to stay in touch with their clients and also boost their SEO activity. However, many of them tell us that “keeping up with it” is the hardest thing – especially on top of all of the “other” work they have to do in the regular course of their business. Solution? Use Twitter as a “mini-blog”!

What do I mean by a mini-blog? Most people feel constrained with Twitter's interface and the 140 character limitation – but this is a blessing in disguise! The best way to leverage this is to view Twitter as a miniature blog where you share your thoughts on a particular topic, and see what tweets get re-tweeted (shared), commented on, etc.

Using Twitter as a mini-blog also makes sure that whatever you write down very substantive – in fact, some might go as far as trying to write Twitter Haiku - so-called "Twaiku", and whom you can follow by clicking his name - but that's beyond the scope of this article! It must be precise, brief and compact. You need to really think about what you want to say, in order for your audience to fully grasp your meaning in those 140 characters. However, given the fact that most business owners I know are very busy running and growing their companies, Twitter gives them an avenue to provide quick insights or updates on relevant topics in business.

...but I'm not saying to not have a blog – both are important and serve a purpose. In fact, there are certain basic differences between a tweet and your blog. Suppose your blog is more of a novel and your tweets are short stories. Both are written differently with a different purpose (and perhaps audience) in mind. You have virtually no limitation lengths with blog posts, allowing you to really explore different aspects of your topic. Tweets on Twitter, however, really force you be succinct and focused with your commentary.

Be sure to include your blog and website addresses in your Twitter profile, so you can direct web traffic generated by your tweet to your main website. Undoubtedly, there will be people who will feel interested enough to browse through your website. Further, the Internet has changed how many people read and consume content; many are not willing to put the time in to read a “long” blog post of 4 – 7 paragraphs. Tweets are so short that a reader has no option but to read it in its entirety!

In order to use Twitter effectively, try to use it as a “special preview” of your own website or business blog. Those tweets that get re-tweeted or a lot of response to, are good indications of topics you should consider exploring further in your blog. It's GREAT for market research, in that way. You can pose questions to your audience, inviting them to comment, take a quick poll or survey, etc.

Don't forget the more pedestrian purpose of using Twitter to simply inform your audience of new content on your blog, Facebook Fan Page (you do have one, don't you?). Many people monitor Twitter to let them know of new information that they need to pay attention to, throughout their day.

For more information, please visit Chris's TNNWC Bio.

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A Twist On Twitter - How to Use Twitter as a Mini Blog | THE NET-TECH REPORT

NETWORKING FUN FOR THE INTROVERTED: That's TMI

Networking Fun for the Introverted

with Wendy Kovitz

Twitter, what were you thinking? LinkedIn was supposed to be my sanitized cyber resume. My make-up, dark-colored suit and "Yes, I can interview with you at 11 am this Thursday" personae. Sure, it's always gotten the least of my attention. Probably because it's just so gosh-darn bland. Everything is so black and white there, just like a resume. You read a dozen of them and they all start to look alike.

But Twitter, be it 140 characters of utterly pointless drivel, poignant commentary or a juicy red-hot rant, is 3-D with smellovision. You know who you're dealing with and what makes them tick. Unless you only follow the "biggins" who are out to sell you something. I like people who can keep it real even over the expanse of cyber space. I enjoy hearing who's had a G-d awful day or who's laid up with the flu. Not that I enjoy the misery of others, but I find the willingness to share the good, the bad and the ugly with friends, strangers and stalkers alike so much more personable than a LinkedIn exchange. (Note that I am not talking about creepy and dangerous stalkers, merely those Google-happy people that find you much more interesting than you find yourself.)

If I like the line in the sand between professional and personal, why would I even think of using my Tweets to update my LinkedIn status? Well, first of all, you have the choice of shooting all of your Tweets red-robin right over. "No, thanks. Really. That's TMI." Honestly, I think it's my inner voice telling me that it's okay to embrace my uniqueness - for an introvert that's pretty scary stuff. It's okay to have an opinion on issues. Not everyone will agree with you or like you, no matter how hard you try. It's all the stuff we tell our kids but otherwise seem to ignore in our day-to-day existence.

Frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of maintaining a separate unique me in facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. My advice is simple: live your conscience, make your mark and everything else will fall into place.

I'll leave you with one link from a Twitter pal named @JimmyElliot, a young college kid who believes that love can change the world. He started @holdingofwrists to reach out to young people struggling with day to day existence, especially those battling depression. It reminds me that we're all connected, and that's a good thing.




For more information, please visit Wendy's TNNW Bio.

- Wendy Kovitz
The Book Of Ara - Fictional Fantasy Memoirs
Twitter - @wlkovitz

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NETWORKING FUN FOR THE INTROVERTED: That's TMI

NETWORKING YOUR WEBSITE: A Twitter Case Study

Networking Your Website

by Rita Wilhelm

I love meeting and networking with people in online communities. Just the other day, I met a fascinating person in Sweden by the name of Stefan Svartling on a social network called SocialMedian. We were both commenting on an article that someone clipped about using Twitter.

Stefan is a very active Twitter user. You can view his profile at http://twitter.com/svartling . At the time of this article, he has 1,343 people that he is following, 1,418 people that are following him, and he has a whopping 6,640 tweets! ( Just think about how many tweets that is in a given day!)

Many folks who use Twitter, have a disproportionate number of people who they follow, as compared to those that are following them. This typically means that they are just going out and trying to follow every Tom, Dick and Harry they can find, in hopes that people will start following them. So, Stefan's statistics are certainly worthy of noting. I was very pleased when Stefan agreed to be interviewed. I think you’ll learn a lot from him.

Here’s the interview:

Stefan, Can you tell me a little bit about your business?

I have three brands on the net, Svartling, Clipotech and PRYLINFO. They are all networks of websites and search engines that I market in different ways.

My most important brand is Clipotech. It's both a Tech Blog Network & a searchable KnowledgeBase. I have worked on the search engine for around four years, where I have "handpicked" every website in the search index to control the quality of it. It is now indexing around 11,000,000 pages!

Wow! That’s impressive. Can you tell us more about your KnowledgeBase?

My KnowledgeBase is made with Google Custom Search. I add new websites continuously (only English or Swedish). By using this search engine you are guaranteed to only find quality information and no spam and other junk. You can also refine the search results by clicking on one of the categories. For example "Knowledge" or "Gadgets".

You can say that this KnowledgeBase is filtering the web for the user so they don't have to!

What made you decide to use Twitter to help you market your business?

I joined Twitter in 2007, but I didn't "get it" at that time, so I put it on "autopilot" via TwitterFeed with almost no followers at all. In August 2008 I had a look at it again and started to use it for real. I found out early that it was perfect for marketing my brands, so I started to Tweet links to both my websites and to "Knowledge" search results from my KnowledgeBase.

For example if I tweet about a new Social Network service, I also put a link to my KnowledgeBase to find more info about the service. Many followers click on my links and visits my websites to read more information about what I tweeted.

How has using Twitter impacted your business?

My "Knowledge" links works really well, and I had many positive comments about it. I've got many more visitors and users because of this. Google is not the only traffic source anymore. Twitter is almost as good for my sites.

Are your Tweets all business tweets, personal tweets, or both?

I tweet both business and personal tweets because you need to interact and be personal on Twitter to succeed. You cannot go on "Autopilot" and think that you get many followers. You need to talk to your followers.

Since I stopped using Twitterfeed and started to interact, I've got over 1000 users. That in only six months!

Tell me about your daily Twitter routine.

I use Twitter all the time. Most of the day I tweet from my iPhone via the Twitter App Tweetie (here I would put a "Knowledge Link" from Clipotech if it had been a tweet or blog post :) ). This combination makes it possible to tweet wherever you are and whenever you have the time.

From the iPhone I scan through my 800 RSS Feeds in Google Reader for something interesting to tweet. I also scan through my Twitter stream after good tweets to ReTweet (RT). Twitter is brilliant as a news feed. Therefore it's important to follow people with the same interests.

When I'm behind a computer I use Feedly to find interesting news to tweet. I think Feedly is great because it integrates Google Reader with both Twitter and FriendFeed in a very productive way. It's really easy to tweet directly via Feedly.

I use Twhirl as a Twitter client on the computer, I think it's awesome in many ways and it makes me more productive than with other Twitter clients.

What other social networks do you frequently use in addition to Twitter?

I use FriendFeed a lot, both as a lifestream service and as a communication tool. SocialMedian is another service I use. Not as much as the other, but I think it's a great service.

What 3 tips would you give someone who would like to start using Twitter as a marketing tool?

1. Be engaging and interactve. That way you build up a great community with trusty followers
2. Don't use auto DM's (automated direct messages). They are really annoying and unpersonal.
3. ReTweet a lot. It’s a great way to get many followers, because all users wants to be ReTweeted.

Thanks for sharing your tips with us Stefan. We have learned a lot from you.

Rita Wilhelm is founder and president of SnapMonkey Inc, which is a company that provides both online marketing consulting to businesses, as well as easy-to-use web-based technologies to help businesses effectively promote themselves on the web.

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NETWORKING YOUR WEBSITE: A Twitter Case Study