Is Twitter losing its steam?
It’s been 22 days since I last tweeted. Does Twitter have the legs to last? I believe the basic platform for Tweeter is effective but there’s something wrong when the Tweeter apps like Hootsuite and Seesmic are better than Tweeter itself. I don’t want to have to learn a new language with any social media tool – sometimes tweeting feels more like computer programming with “@RT” and “#followfriday”.
It sounds like I’m anti-tweeter, but I’m not. Here are a few general things to remember if you decide to open a tweeter account, personal or business.
- Be sure your tweets have value. Do your followers care if you had soup for lunch? Perhaps only if you are Rachel Ray and you provide the recipe.
- Quality followers over quantity. If you have 5000 followers, can you really develop any relationships or follow conversations? Choose your followers with reason.
- Participant in conversations, RT and Reply. Beware that your tweets don’t come across too “spammy”.
- Personalize your DMs (Direct Messages). I’m not a fan of bots that send DM to any new followers. I know I don’t read any of mine and they just get annoying.
As with any new marketing initiative, don’t go into Twitter account . Do your research and have a plan. A great resource with any social media is www.mashable.com.
With all the social media tools out there, it’s important to evaluate whether it’s worth your time. That’s only something you can decide 
Storybird Designs in the Herald
Can you be your own client? I think so.
My other business of making scrabble tile pendants has been getting a lot of publicity lately and really driving sales. It was really quite easy. I knew there were several unique elements to my pendant business and it was timely. All I did was contact the business editor of our only newspaper left in the city. They called me within days. I receieved several calls from the articles about other press engagements.
Become excessable to the media and be an expert in your area. Whether it’s as a mompreneur, marketer, or crafter.
Haven’t posted in a while…
Chase too many rabbits. Many of us are guilty of this. If you chase too many rabbits you don’t catch any. I have been so focused on so many thing, it’s hard to keep up with all the social marketing and updating that you have to do with a business. I have also started a side business for the holidays. Check out the website at www.storybird.ca.
Can one person keep up with all the updates, blogging, Facebook, Linkedin, My Space, Twitter, networking (in person!), etc. etc. etc.
And don’t forget all the other reading we should do as marketers. Where is the time to actually do the real work – you know the billable hours that actually make the money? Well, there is no time for that – don’t be silly. It’s all too much!
Latest Work – Drew Nursing Home & Habitat
Here are a couple new items just added to the Portfolio Page.
United Church for Senior Care Inc. – This project re-designed an older Drew-Trantramar Foundation brochure into a compelling and visually appealing print brochure that describes the foundation and encourages donations.
Habitat for Humanity - Designed for an information session for Habitat for Humanity HRM. This piece had a quick turnaround and the client was very pleased with the results.
The perfect fit. Creative Lounge joins FitPro & Over the Edge.
I am happy to announce that I will be working with FitPro Lifestyle Consultants and Over the Edge USA. Both companies have exciting initiatives coming up that I am excited to be a part of.
www.fitpro.ca
/www.overtheedgeusa.com
Writing for the Web
The goal of most websites is to attract your target market to your site and to convince users to take some sort of action. Some people simply copy and paste their business plan/brochure into their website and this doesn’t suffice for many reasons. Most importantly, users read differently online than they do in print!
- Users don’t read from left to right. (Their eye will skip around the screen.)
- Most people scan the website, they don’t even really read it.
- Users are task-focused.
- Many users are hunting for specific info and scan for specific words, particularly their keywords.
- Write in clear, concise and compelling language.
- Break up the page with descriptive headings and subheading.
- Don’t try to be too creative in your language, navigation, headers etc. This will just frustrate users and doesn’t help your SEO.
A well-written website will help qualified user to find your website more easily, to find what they’re looking for and stay on your website longer.
Not everyone can afford to hire a copywriter who specializing in websites, but if you can… please do
Getting to Know Twitter
As a self employed marketing professional working from home, it isn’t always easy keeping up with the latest trends. When I first heard of Twitter, I thought the same thing as a lot of people – Is it just a bunch of status updates? So in other words, it’s like a mini Facebook that tells me what everyone had for lunch? Well… Not at all!! I’ve been tweeting for about a month and I must admit I’m definitely not an expert but I’m starting to get it. Here’s what I’ve learnt so far, the things I still don’t get and other useless thoughts.
1. Decide on your goals for using Twitter. For my situation, I’m using Twitter to connect with other entrepreneurs. Facebook is for personal social networking (sharing pics, social events, status updates on how I’m feeling, what I’m doing, my thoughts on Heidi and Spencer.) I admit I get more from followers than I give but I try to share news on marketing/pop culture/graphic design/mompreneurs. One of my favorite tweeters tweets about twitter http://twitter.com/mashable
2. Quality over Quantity. Don’t automatically follow anyone who follows you. People obviously add as many people as they can just so you will reciprocate and follow them. Soon after, they delete you. It’s not a contest to see who will get the most follows (except for Ashton vs. CNN – that was a contest). Make sure you check out your new followers before you agree to follow them.
3. If you don’t have anything to say, don’t Tweet (but you can Retweet). When you’re desperate, that’s when you start to tell people what you had for lunch. Since everyone has a different group of followers, don’t be afraid to retweet something you find interesting. Just put RT”username”. Ultimately, I think Twitter is about sharing information and opinions so share share share, just give credit where it’s due.
4. TweetDeck is a great tool. It helps organize those you follow as well as Facebook updates. TweetDeck shows you everything you want to see at once, so you can stay organized and up to date. http://tweetdeck.com/beta/
Now what I don’t quite get. Twitter is a global community and I want to follow anyone I find interesting but it gets too much. As it get bigger and bigger, it needs to be better organized. You should be able to group your followers like on Tweetdeck. I have about 4 very distinct groups that I follow – entrepreneurs, moms, friends and celebrities. These are times I’m in “work-mode” and want to read business tweets. And there are times I just want to know what people think of Jon & Kate. Or perhaps I know of a local event that I only want to tweet to local followers.
I also find the replies quite confusing. There should be a way to turn off your followers’ replies (or is there and I don’t know). I also think new users are probably overwhelmed and most people don’t have the time or patience to figure it out. I’m sure there are many many inactive Twitter accounts just from people who sign up and that’s it.
With Blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, uploading, downloading, retweeting, emailing, enewsletters, and trendspotting, I don’t have any time left to actually work. With that said… that’s all for now.