1. Google Makes Grab for Hollywood Dollars – Advertising Age – Digital http://ow.ly/nHrM ~49:10 AM Sep 2nd from HootSuite
2. Why Social Media Isn’t Living Up to the Hype (Yet) – Advertising Age – DigitalNext http://ow.ly/nHre ~48:45 AM Sep 2nd from HootSuite
3. Google’s Gmail goes down for at least half an hour; Twitter lights up | Technology | Los Angeles Times http://ow.ly/nEr9 ~23:10 PM Sep 1st from HootSuite
4. Fall shows tuned in to Twitter marketing http://ow.ly/nDXX ~22:03 PM Sep 1st from HootSuite
5. RT @nicolefincham: 3 Great Sites for Following Conversations on Twitter http://ow.ly/kbIT ~127:47 PM Aug 28th from TweetDeck
6. Foursquare – Location Based Coupons – The Next Twitter? << Brent Purves http://ow.ly/mopC ~109:46 AM Aug 28th from HootSuite
7. Twitter Effect rattles Hollywood http://ow.ly/mhk3 ~10 people will twitter during opening credits and leaving when they don’t like them.9:22 AM Aug 28th from HootSuite
8. What marketers need to know about real-time search http://ow.ly/lDfu ~109:03 AM Aug 28th from HootSuite
9. Twitter Advertising: Like It or Not, You Have to Behave on Twitter http://ow.ly/ljyp ~21:44 PM Aug 25th from HootSuite
10. Googlers More Loyal than MicroHoo Searchers http://ow.ly/ljw5 ~21:41 PM Aug 25th from HootSuite
11. Screen Casts For Twitter – Create screencasts and screen recordings the easy way http://ow.ly/kVKB10:39 PM Aug 21st from HootSuite
12. TWEET IDEAS: 13 Things to Do on Twitter Besides Tweet http://ow.ly/kVKt10:37 PM Aug 21st from HootSuite
13. Coke ‘Freestyle’ Taps Twitter, Facebook, RFID 08/18/2009 http://ow.ly/kUcM2:50 PM Aug 21st from HootSuite
14. Twitter’s Geo-Targeted Trojan Horse http://ow.ly/kUcD2:50 PM Aug 21st from HootSuite
15. Twitter to Go Commercial with Commercial Accounts http://ow.ly/kUc62:48 PM Aug 21st from HootSuite
16. Facebook Releases The Twitter Exporter Tool http://ow.ly/kSez10:32 AM Aug 21st from HootSuite
17. Canadian Forces take aim with Twitter http://ow.ly/kS0M10:07 AM Aug 21st from HootSuite
18. Vodka Social Media Marketing -Flash, Facebook & Twitter Marketing http://ow.ly/kRYG – geotargeted web imagery. 3600 fans 1200 twit follows10:03 AM Aug 21st from HootSuite
19. Twitter Grows Uncomfortable With The Use Of The Word Tweet In Applications (Updated) http://ow.ly/kNWO9:55 PM Aug 20th from HootSuite
20. Sponsored Tweets – Will writing “today’s tweets sponsored by x” be sufficient? Twit ads inevitable Twitter evolution? http://ow.ly/jXXL ~812:19 PM Aug 13th from HootSuite
21. The Best Time to Tweet for Maximum Exposure | Twitter Marketing Agency http://ow.ly/jQVR ~512:22 PM Aug 12th from HootSuite
22. What Facebook Lite Actually Is. Hint: It’s Not Twitter Or FriendFeed. http://ow.ly/jQUE ~512:20 PM Aug 12th from HootSuite
23. GM’s Lutz Plans “Whole Lot More…Social Media & Webpage Stuff… Clever YouTube stuff…good enough to get passed on” http://ow.ly/j60r ~35:07 PM Aug 4th from HootSuite
24. A Portable Version of Your Social Network: Get Glue: The Network That Sticks With You http://ow.ly/j5YD ~35:00 PM Aug 4th from HootSuite

There are many ways to use Twitter to market your organization, business or services.

Twitter is commonly used as a quick and easy way to microblog in 140 characters or less about the goings-on of one’s personal life. More and more businesses and organizations, however, are coming up with creative ways to use Twitter for effective online and word of mouth marketing.

First and foremost, Twitter is an interactive publishing medium. To use Twitter well for marketing you have to write, write often and write strategically.

Here are some high-level steps you need to take to use Twitter for marketing your organization, business or services

1. Get on Twitter – setup an account with a name that makes sense, is easy to spell and matches the name of your organization, business or services. If someone is already using your name then you have to get creative and come up with an alternative spelling or add a dash between two words etc.
2. Create a Twitter Marketing Strategy – Figure out how you can best use Twitter to your advantage and come up with a plan for how you’ll roll out your strategy including how you’ll get followers, the types of people/companies you’ll follow, posting frequency, posting content type, landing pages, on and offline promotion, etc. Some common Twitter strategies are:

• Post regular specials or sales on Twitter
• Use Twitter to search for people Tweeting questions you can answer as a way to build relationships and potential future customers
• If your business is mobile you can use Twitter to post your daily location
• Encourage word of mouth between your followers
• Post quality content with the aim to get others to Retweet and spread it to their followers
• Notify followers about events you’re attending or putting on

3. Start Following People on Twitter – Start following others on Twitter who are working in your industry or who are somehow related to your industry. See who those people are following. Follow some of those people too. Don’t go overboard following thousands of people right away or your account will quickly start looking like one of the many Twitter spammer accounts out there that follow thousands, have no followers and only post affiliate or viagra links
4. Setup URL Tracking using hootsuite or bit.ly or tinyurl so you can track which links you post get the most clicks
5. Use Proper Twitter Tools  & Twitter Etiquette – make sure you use good third party Twitter tool such as TweetDeck to enable you to post and read posts of those you’re following quickly and easily. Remember to not just post about yourself, how great you or your services are. Instead, interact with people, retweet useful & relevant content posted by those you’re following.
6. Setup Twitter Landing Pages on your company or organization’s website to optimize conversions when you drive people from your twitter page to your website.
7. Promote Your Twitter Address on your company or organization’s website, facebook page, in your email signature, etc. Even consider having your tweets publish directly to a section of your website or have your website blog posts publish directly to your Twitter account
8.Record, Measure & Assess Results. Keep doing what’s working. Stop doing what’s not working. Don’t be afraid to ask your followers for feedback along the way

What ways have you or others you’ve seen used Twitter to promote yourself, your organization, business or service?

Need help creating or implementing a Twitter marketing strategy? Contact us at Twitter Marketing Agency today for a free consultation and strategy session.

Twitter Marketing 101: Ten Ways to use Twitter for Marketing & PR for your Company or Personal Brand

1. Get a Twitter Account. If you don’t have one already, visit Twitter.com and sign up for a free account. Think carefully about what your twitter account will be called as you can’t change it later and it should clearly represent your company or brand. 
2. Create a Twitter Marketing Strategy.  While most people just start randomly posting whatever comes to mind, you’ll be much more successful if you first sit down and write out your Twitter marketing plan including what types of things you’ll try to post about, how often you’ll post, how many followers you’ll try to reach, how your twittering will help you achieve your marketing goals, how your twittering fits into and compliments your overall offline and online marketing strategy, who you can get to help write/submit posts, etc.  Once you’ve got your Twitter marketing strategy nailed down then start posting to your twitter account. If you’re not sure where to start then consider hiring a Twitter Marketing Agency to help you create and /or implement your Twitter strategy.
3. Automate Blog Posting to Twitter. There are many great apps out there that enable you to automatically post your blog posts to your twitter account – so if you’re a blogger, consider feeding your Twitter account directly from your blog so you can hit two birds with one stone every time you create a new blog post. Your Twitter posts in this instance would then just link back to your full blog post, driving your followers into your blog, which is a good thing.  If you don’t have a blog, get one. If you don’t know where to start, consider creating your blog with  Wordpress, as there are many great free Twitter Wordpress plugins.
4. Make & Follow Twitter Friends . Don’t  only broadcast about yourself or your company, but take the social aspect of social media to heart and engage with others.  In your travels on the web you’ll find interesting websites that have links to personal or company twitter accounts. If you like what you see, follow them on twitter. To do this, visit a Twitter profile page then click the “follow” button.  Follow  influential bloggers and media and other noteworthy individuals in your industry. Often they’ll follow you back and you’ll have more success communicating with them via twitter than phone or email. 
5. Get your CEO Twittering.  Twitter offers CEO’s a great way to manage connections, share industry insights and network. Since Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters even busy CEOs can find time to post to their Twitter account from their iPhone or Blackberry while waiting at the airport. 
6. Offer Twitter Discounts. Consider broadcasting specials on your products or services to your Twitter followers. Take advantage of the viral nature of Twitter where valuable posts often become retweeted many times by many different users. Consider using a Twitter coupon service.
7. Provide Live Event Updates. If you’re holding a conference or seminar or any kind of event, Twitter live about it to generate interest, to post any last minute updates, etc. 
8. Get Involved and be a Contributor. Retweet  (repost) relevant posts made by those you’re following. Post links to great articles you or others have written.  Sometimes people will  follow you in return. To get started you can follow us on Twitter. 
9. Use URL shorteners. Twitter limits posts to 140 characters, so using a url shortener like bit.ly or tinyurl.com or others will enable you to write more in each post and have fewer characters used up by any URLs you link to in your post. Consider using a short URL service such as bit.ly that includes statistics tracking if you’re interested in seeing how many people click on the links you post.  Also consider using Hootsuite, an online Twitter Marketing software that enables you to post to multiple twitter accounts at once while also tracking your stats using their in-house short url ow.ly.
10. Pay Attention. Don’t just click the “follow” button on hundreds of other Twitter accounts, but actually read what others are saying. Do searches using Twitter Search for your own brand or product name to see what others are saying about you or your products or services and  interact when appropriate.

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