Twitter for BusinessBetsy Emmons, Ph.D.

Assistant ProfessorJournalism & Mass Communication

Samford University

My Background

Strategic Communicator and Educator-Public Relations work in Washington, D.C.

Non-Profit, Advocacy-Healthcare Consulting in Las Vegas, N.V.-Political Campaign work in Las Vegas, N.V.-Marketing and Public Relations in Birmingham,

A.L.

-Assistant Professor at Samford University-Fun Fact: Co-owned & managed pizza restaurant

Social Media Researcher-Twitter dissertation-Mobile media and live event focus (social TV,second screen, social media crisis response)

What I’ll Cover

• Social media and online presence purposes & business functions

• Twitter overview & research findings

• Twitter tactics

• Twitter tools

Social Media Purposes

• “Social Media” does each medium a disservice

– All are “social” but not the same

– Facebook: usually known relationships

– Twitter: professional or interest-based follow, information and news, real-time social

– Instagram: photo-based, known relationships

– Linked in, Pinterest, Vine

Online Presence

• Required in 2014

– “Googling” is a primary way to be found

– “SEO” therefore follows

– Social Media presence legitimizes you just as a Web site does

– Credibility tied to presence

Online is Now Mobile

• 2014: mobile searches now overtake desktop searches

• Smartphone saturation in some demographics

• 70% of mobile searches lead to action

• 80% use while shopping

• Apple announces mobile pay

Online Presence

Online Presence

• Paid Media

• Owned Media

• Earned Media

Content Marketing

• Create useful, interesting content for current and prospective customers

• Answer questions

• Build awareness and trust

• Show how the product/service solves a problem.

• Tell stories, testimonials

• Publish on Website

• Share through social media

Twitter

• “Follow your interests”

• Unknown relationships as important as known

• #1 real-time

• #1 breaking news

• #1 social TV/second screen

• #1 conversation

• #1 journalists

Twitter Works Best…

• As relationship builder (interpersonal)

• Engagement

• NOT as just another post

– People follow on multiple platforms

– Why see repeated messages over and over?

– Facebook “front door” Twitter “kitchen”

Relationships

• Businesses are people

• Inevitably, just a few or even one person makes a purchase decision

• People want to be understood and heard

• People buy from trusted sources

• Relationships build trust

Aligning Twitter to Business

• Business objectives

• Develop social objectives to support business objectives

• Align social strategy

– Create tactics to carry out strategy (when, who, what, frequency)

Twitter Business Example

Twitter Person Example

Did you see the link?

Be helpful.

Tell Your Story.

Share Useful Information

Host a Twitter Chat.

Curate Relevant Content.

• Remember you are NOT a news dump!

• Do not be a silo unto yourself. Sharing (content) is caring.

Be a part of your community.

What Birmingham or Alabama-related news might apply to you? What charities do you support? What is your spokesperson up to? Do your employees have cool volunteer gigs?

Replies @

@ = only accounts that both follow see

.@ = meant for public viewing

*Do one or the other depending on intent

Example of .@

Name Drop.

Use trending hashtags – carefully.

Use a common hashtag. Will help with hashtag searches.

“Newsjacking.”

Join the Meme Party.

Embed Praise.

Cross Post Sometimes.

It’s your job (or your social media specialist’s job) to make content appropriate to each platform – or else,

why would someonefollow you on each?

Keep Twitter As Organic As Possible.

• Conversation dynamic is best.

• Scheduling tweets is OK.

– Tweetdeck

– HootSuite

– Buffer

But, be aware of Twitter’s primary use as a breaking news space and proceed carefully.

Don’t ForgetThe Other Side of the Relationship.

• Monitor a few times a day.

• Respond as needed.

• Just listen.

– Use “favorite” to acknowledge reading or agreeing.

– Retweet to agree.

About Retweets

• Exponential Rise

• Comfort Level Increased

• Suggests Alignment with Product/Person

• Adds Credibility

• Try to use “RT” instead of

Acknowledge the Second Screen

• Twitter #1 for second screen

• Does your business align with live events or appointment TV (sports, awards shows, The Walking Dead, Scandal, voting shows)?

– If so, can you participate?

– Demonstrate presence by favorite or retweeteven if not posting

Expanding Beyond Twitter

• Branding is good, but...

– Allow each social medium’s strengths shine in each of your accounts

– Avoid too many stock photos

– Avoid being too polished

– We like “real” people and “real” companies

2014 and Beyond

• Social response replaces phone calls

• Twitter #1 for customer complaints

Measurement & Scheduling

• Analytics widely available (some free)– analytics.twitter.com– Twtrland– Tweetdeck– HootSuite– Topsy– Tweetcaster– UberSocial– Tweetreach– Tweriod– HubSpot– …and more

How to Choose?

• Some optimized for features

• Some better for multiple users

• Some better with mobile

• Some schedule better than others

• Some “talk” to your contact lists, email, etc.

• Some are free

• Uh, Twitter is OK as is too

• …what works for you.

Mobile is Now• Apple Pay

• Twitter Pay

• Donate to charity via Twitter

• iOS8 has easy Twitter and other social update features

• 24/7 is the norm

• 20 minutes average customer service wait

• Smartphone saturation 18-24 y.o.

Visual is Now

• Twitter embeds photos & videos

• Photos and videos increase interaction

• Can link to YouTube, Vine, Instagram, Facebook for cross posting

• Did you know there are Vine and YouTube celebrities?

11,000,000 YouTube views for ONE video1.2 Million Instagram followers1.8 Million Vine followers41,000 Twitter followers

Final Thoughts

• No one is an “expert” per se; these are relationships

• Relationships take time

• Relationships take maintenance

• Remember the “social” in social media

• Twitter is an endless, ambient conversation – and a lot of fun

Contact Me:

Betsy Emmons, Ph.D.Assistant ProfessorJournalism & Mass CommunicationSamford University(205) 726-4159ememmons@samford.edu@betsyemmons