“Welcome to Twitter. Find out what’s happening, right now, with the people and organisations you care about”. This is the simple summary on the main page of http://www.twitter.com and that’s one of the things I love about Twitter – it’s (relative) simplicity. You may not agree if you’re a new user – all those confusing symbols and abbreviations, but it doesn’t take long to learn.
Everything needs to be said in 140 characters or less on Twitter, making it often direct and to the point. There are many users who also use Facebook, but also a percentage of Twitter users who much prefer Twitter, so if this group includes those in your target market, it’s worth being there too. There are a whole host of media personalities, journalists and celebrities that are active Twitter users.
Molly Quell is joining us as the guest trainer for this module (and the next one on Google+). I’m very pleased to have her with us sharing her skills.
The video introduction for this module is below. I don’t talk much about Twitter as Molly is our guest trainer this week. I also have a bit of a cold with the husky voice to go with it. Instead I did address a question on the Facebook page this week from Cathy.
Jolanda and I have spoken to hundreds of women-owned companies in The Netherlands about how they are trying to grow their businesses. Social medial and networking were the most common answers. Both of these are passive exercises where you are not allowed – either by rules or by custom and expectation – to actively sell. You can promote and discuss, but not actively sell your services. This lead us to ask how people are actually selling their services.
My question to you is:
Are you using Social Media as a sales channel or as a marketing and public relations tool. Or both?
There is already some good feedback from others in the class in the facebook group and watch the video for my response:
The marketing model I refer to is AIDA and you can find out more about it on Wikipedia. In fact I’ve just read there about an updated version of this model – TIREA, worth a read.
You can download this week’s lesson plan here:
ZSMS Module 03 Twitter (Molly)
I’ll repost the reading list below so you can click through to the articles easily:
- To understand Twitter chats: http://janetfouts.com/how-to-participate-in-a-tweet-chat/
- I highly, highly recommend Andy Carvin’s book “Distant Witness” about the role of Twitter in the Arab Spring: http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Witness-Andy-Carvin/dp/1939293022
- For a more extensive glossary, see Twittet’s website: https://support.twitter.com/articles/166337-the-twitter-glossary
- To see some Twitter novels, check out this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/12/twitter-fiction-140-character-novels
- If you’re thinking of using Twitter for your business, check out their section on business: https://business.twitter.com/
- If you use Twitter to do give aways, be sure to read their rules and best practices section for contests: https://support.twitter.com/articles/68877-guidelines-for-contests-on-twitter
See you on Twitter – love to connect there if you have an account, or once you set one up. My “Twitter handle” is @reneeveldman. I’ll actually be asking Molly myself this week if I should be setting one up for Zestee, Professional Parents and Dutch Australian (my other brands/websites) or should continue to bring them all together under my own name.
As always, continue to post in the Facebook group if you have any questions or email renee@zestee.com with any questions or feedback.
Zestee 