Twitter Ideas That May Not Be Intuitive to Involve As Part of Your Internet Marketing Strategy

Twitter Marketing Strategy – Basic Tips

Building Niche Twitter Empires – The Next Internet Rush

Now that Twitter has finally unveiled how they plot to make money, everyone should start rethinking how to also make money on Twitter. In the beginning all the buzz was about how to get followers and the approach was to get anyone with a pulse to start following you on Twitter.

I started out in the real estate profession and always loved the concept of building equity from property value. This is likely why I became interested in Twitter and influence of Tweet value. Not to mention the financial industry booms and busts really shattered my real estate business model.

With a passion for building equity I set out to target the Twitter industry and make online empires. Quickly I learned that how many followers you have on Twitter did not matter as much as how much influence you had over those following you on Twitter. Leading me to build niche Twitter empires focused on content engagement for specific subject matters. A business model that involves making numerous niche Twitter profiles.

To simplify things how much influence you can make through Tweets is what determines the value of how much credibility you build. Then it became crystal clear to me that niche Twitter profiles would be the next huge Internet rush. The need to be able to engage followers and influence buying decisions is likely why everyone is on Twitter or at least considering joining the social media network.

Say you market and promote products, goods, or services it would be smart to have a niche Twitter profile that Tweets about those products, goods, and services. I have a Twitter profile that talks about building website traffic on Twitter my handle is @TrafficOpps. I like video games so I made a niche Twitter profile where my handle is @PCVideoGamer. The point here is to target and attract Twitter followers interested in unique subject matters.

Are search engines taking interest in niche Twitter profiles? With the help of my team we even made a niche Twitter profile that is focused on urban luxury and the Twitter handle is @UrbanLuxury.

If you do a key word search on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or Question for “Urban Luxury” you will find @UrbanLuxury in the top 5% indexed over millions of websites.

Twitter is the universe and the greatest place on earth to deliver a message to the most amounts of people in the fastest amount of time. Building niche Twitter empires are the next generation for Web 3.0!

50 Ways to FAIL On Twitter

Like many others, I scoffed at Twitter when I first heard of it. What use could sending small messages to people I don’t know be?  The mental leap from IM and Facebook status updates to Twitter makes it simpler, but business use seemed pointless at first.  As I noticed more of my Search, Social and PR industry peers using Twitter, it seemed a excellent thought to test out.

While I don’t have a million followers, or even 100,000, I’ve found out that for my purposes, quality is the key and the 13k or so followers I am lucky to be associated with are appreciated a lot more. Being strategically useful and helpful builds trust, attracts influential followers (vs bots and spammers) and results in a new channel for social networking.  Individual tweets may or may not be useful, but when you add them up over time, a larger picture emerges.

Twitter Marketing tips are not hard to come by. Ease of use combined with the overall ease of publishing online makes available more than enough advice on using Twitter as a consumer as well as for brand monitoring, marketing, customer service, real-time search, competitive intelligence and even direct sales.

Yes, there’s plenty of advice on what you should do with Twitter, but based on increasing mis-behaviors, there are many ways to fail.  Below is a list of 10 “Don’ts” on Twitter from me, followed by 40 more provided by the smart Tweeple who responded on Twitter :

• Don’t auto answer follows with a link to your free piece of crap ebook. This sentiment is shared several times below.

• Don’t provide an obscure description of who you are and what you do

• No photo or an image that only makes sense to you and your imaginary friends

• Don’t mention a fantastic resource with no link

• Not customizing your background

• Don’t post 10 messages in succession (also repeated below)

• Don’t follow over 1000 people in a 2 hour period

• Don’t write about the cat/hamster/potted plant over and over again

• Don’t swear often and expect business people to take you seriously (Unless you work for Outspoken Media)

• Don’t over-abbreviate.

Lee Odden – Online Marketing Blog

The #1 Secret to Follow Friday Success

Have you ever been the lucky recipient of a #followfriday or #ff from a friend on Twitter?

It’s a fantastic feeling when someone goes out of their way to recognize you as a resource for fantastic insight and connection on Twitter. Recognition for being someone worth following is fantastic for those trying to figure out the point of Twitter.

But, the common practice for a typical #followfriday tweet is to pack as many of your favorite followers into 140 as possible. While this strategy is fantastic for pinging people in your network to let them know you’re thinking of them, it also can appear cheap and potentially a small off putting if the group of folks you include don’t have much in common.

Now, it’s rare that folks are really offended by being included in a #followfriday. Most do in fact like to be included and recognized in some way by their followers. Some may even get a few new followers because of the referral.

As with most situations in life, but, #followfriday offers people the opportunity to cut through the noise with valuable tweets that make signal and meaning for folks.

The #1 Secret to Follow Friday Success
Something folks like even more than simply having their Twitter handle included in a mass #ff tweet is when someone devotes an entire tweet to something they specifically peg as a reason to follow somebody.

By taking an extra five minutes to break apart your #ff tweets and doing individual #ff tweets instead, you’re showing your followers that you value something specific about what they’re doing. It’s another level of respect you’re paying forward to the folks you value in your Twitter stream.

Rules
1) Use the entire 120 or so characters (How to Get Retweeted – The Formula) to describe something specific and incredible about the people whose tweets you value the most. For my handle (@dayneshuda) I can get away with leaving 15 characters available.

2) Include #ff

3) Include a Website (preferably the actual URL vs. a shortened version…for branding)

4) Give a specific reason for people to follow

Examples

Problogger Follow Friday

Lara Kulpa Follow Friday

Benefits of Going the Extra Mile
I’ve been trying to do this each Friday (although I do miss some) for some of my favorite folks on Twitter and the response has been wonderful and more than I could have imagined.

The folks that I highlight in detailed #followfridays are generally very thankful to be highlighted in a specific way. They seem to appreciate that someone takes the time to recognize their hard work in a field or for being a fantastic friend and someone worth following because of their personality.

Sometimes in response (but never expected) folks have responded with similar, detailed tweets about me. It’s a nice small bonus for making the gesture.

What about your #ff experiences?

Do you leave detailed #ff tweets or the more well loved styled #ff tweets?

What are some pros and cons of each?

Related articles on Twitip

#followfriday Revolution

Did @PhilBaumann Just Save Follow Friday?

Follow Friday; Too Much of a Excellent Thing?

How to Get Ignored on Twitter

Twitter is a fantastic tool for people and business but many still use it incorrect or just have no clue what’s going on. Some of these people are mis-informed and some know their terrible practices but just don’t care. I’m guessing most people don’t want to get ignored on twitter. It’s kind of like showing up at a party and not having a single person talk to you. Who wants that?!

So here are some things that will get people to ignore you on twitter!

1. Talk about yourself

This is simple. People don’t want to hear all about you! Twitter is not a platform to yell and scream your message, thoughts or show off how smart you are. Well really it can be but it has to be done tastefully. You need to be asking people questions. Don’t sit back and talk about how smart you are. Question others what their take is or if they have something fascinating to read or simply how their day was.

It’s just like a party. Would you approach a weirder and say “Hi my name is and I do this and I live here and I like this etc etc”. No! You want question them something and get them talking and before long they will be asking you questions.

2. Auto DM

Auto Dms are a sure way to get you ignored. It’s simple to tell when someone sends an auto DM and no I don’t ever want to randomly check your stuff out. The huge thing with auto dm’s is they make you look like you just want to sell something or use twitter to drive traffic. You don’t care on an individual level you just want to see if a few people will click through and then its a success. But you will generate a lot more sales and a lot more traffic by taking the time to manually DM people or simply by engaging on twitter.

At the same time some auto DMs are not that terrible. Example: “Yup this is an auto DM but I just wanted to say hi and I’m looking forward to chatting on twitter. Have a fantastic day!”

I can live with that and even though I don’t know how much excellent it does I don’t reckon it hurts you in anyway.

3. Question anyone to sign-up or buy something

This is an automatic ignore! It’s perfectly fine to question someone after a few conversations and if your product is on topic with what you have been discussing. But if you lead with or simply blast out messages about how fantastic your product is or newsletter is I am turning the other way. Possibly even unfollowing because I don’t want to hear your pitches if I haven’t had a chance to talk with you yet.

This is also a sure fire way to look like a spammer. Spam can be a huge problem on twitter and accounts are constantly getting shut down everyday to try and keep up with the problem. So if you start pitching anything you’re walking a fine line because people are constantly on the lookout for spammers and will be quick to judge you.

4. Don’t @answer anyone

The point of twitter is to talk to people. So start talking! I have heard from multiple people and I do this myself, if I check out your twitter profile and I don’t see any @answers in your stream I am immediately turned off from your account. It’s not the end of the world but its not a positive mark. People want to follow people who are going to talk with them. There are only a few select huge shots who can get away without replying to people. But if you’re new in the game you have to not only start conversations but make that effort to answer to every single person who engages you even if it is just a retweet. You still should say thank you!

5. Talk about making money online

Have you ever heard “I can teach you to make money online” or “I can make you rich”. If you’ve been on twitter then you have. You might very well make people rich or teach people very effectively to make money online. But you can’t lead with that on your twitter account!

Show people you know what you’re talking about by linking up resources and providing actionable advice. But just saying you’re going to make someone rich will send followers running!

6. Don’t follow anyone back

Reckon you’re to excellent to follow anyone back? Well that’s ok because you won’t have anyone following you soon enough! Its by no means mandatory to follow everyone back or follow 10’s of thousands of people. But show that you are willing to follow people back if they are fascinating enough. If you have had numerous conversations with some one and they come to find you’re not following them back that is a mis-step. It’s nearly a slap in the face to find that you can’t DM the person you’ve been talking to for weeks or months because they don’t want to follow you.

But don’t be worried to point it out to some one before you jump to conclusions. Some times they don’t even realize they are not following you!

7. Use all capitals

Maybe it’s just me but I can’t stand when someone is writing in all caps. It can be very awkward to read and gives off that sense that you are yelling something. It’s fine to highlight a word but avoid using all caps when having a normal conversation with someone.

8. Place people down

It’s ok to not like someone or to unfollow someone but to announce it to the world? That is looking childish. Don’t make announcements that you are unfollowing someone or constantly blasting and company or service. If I see that in a persons twitter feed I am immediately turned off because they come across as a very negative and childish person.

Also don’t constantly engage in arguments or fights on twitter. It’s all public and not only can it be looked up forever but I sure don’t want to be following someone who seems like their out to pick a fight. I’m not on twitter to stir up controversy just to do it. I’m there to meet fascinating people and hopefully make some new friends along the way.

My favorite is when someone combines my previous point about writing in all caps and announces that they are unfollowing someone. I guess they are making their statement but I sure won’t be following someone who finds it necessary to announce something like that.

What are things that set off an alert in your head to ignore someone on twitter?

5 Commonly Misunderstood Things on Twitter

As Twitter evolves, many things become either forgotten or ignored. There are mistakes that people make because they’re new or unaware, but sometimes people just don’t do certain things because they’re not reminded of their functions. Here are 5 common things people tend to lose track of.

1. Starting a Tweet with an @
This is certainly the top mistake I see being made on Twitter. They want to mention somebody by their Twitter name but they don’t realize that when you start a Tweet with an @, the only people who see it are the people who follow you and that person. This wasn’t the case before May 2009 or so when Twitter changed it.

To get around it, many people will start a Tweet with a period but I prefer when people rework their sentence so it doesn’t seem so obvious. Something like “So @somebody and I were at dinner….”

2. Putting your Twitter profile address in the URL field
All Twitter users have a few profile fields they can use for information like name, location, a small bio and website. Many people place their Twitter profile in the web address which serves no purpose. We already know that address because we are on it. Leave it blank or link out to somewhere else online – your blog, your Facebook profile, whatever.

3. Thinking the new RT feature is untrackable
The new RT feature has caused a bit of confusion but one of the things I see the most is when users say they don’t know who has RTed them using this new RT feature. A business once even held a contest recently and said “please RT us but don’t use the new RT feature…we can’t track it!” This isn’t right though. If you’re on Twitter.com, go to the “Retweets” link on the right side and click on the tab “Your Tweets, Retweeted.” Voila! You can see who has RTed you with the new RT functionality.

4. Asking all of Twitter to “DM for more info”
Businesses in particular seem to do this a lot. They have a job opening, for instance, and they say “we’re now hiring, DM for more info. Please RT” but here’s the problem: the people who read the message want to contact you probably won’t be able to DM you because you probably aren’t following them which leads to the awkward “hey, I’d like to DM you but you aren’t following me.” Just don’t say “DM for more info.” Use answers or something that all people on Twitter can do.

5. Not knowing how to favorite or “star” a Tweet
One of the handiest Twitter features is the ability to “favorite” a Tweet. You do this by clicking on the small star next to a Tweet. People use this for two main reasons: to bookmark links or to mark something they like.

When you bookmark a link, you can find them by going to the “Favorites” link on the right. Everything that you have favorited will appear there. I often favorite links when I’m using Twitter from my phone so I can go back and visit the sites later on my computer.

The other reason that people favorite Tweets is to “vote” for them. Twitter users who mostly use Twitter to entertain like to get stars (another term for favoriting a Tweet) as a means of approval. These users likely track their stars on a site like favstar.fm which displays your Tweets and the number of stars they’ve received.

Any other common mistakes you would add to this list?

My 6 Step Plan To Give Thanks To My Followers

We all know that “Follow Friday” is a great way to show your appreciation to new followers and followers you like.

I have a few ways I use to thank my followers that go beyond just a #FF shout.

Having 500 followers or 46,000 like I do, it means nothing if you don’t learn to be grateful or show your followers some appreciation in some way.

Here’s what I do…

1. I say “Thank You” to every person that RTs any of my tweets.

2. I #ff shout every person that RTs any of my tweets.

3. I do a #ff for every new follower for the week.

4. I make a list of all the people that RT my tweets, I call it “My Top RTs” this way it is easier for me to track and return the favor and RT some of their tweets.

5. I follow back every person that RTs my tweets.

6. Answer any DM I get (and yes, you will get some “Real” DMs in all the spam, just do a daily scan and answer the real ones).

These are all small things you can incorporate today into your Twitter “To Do”, and you will see how much people appreciate a simple TY or #FF mention or even answering a DM to show you are real.

It doesn’t matter if you use one or all my tips, in the end there is no downside to showing your followers you see them and appreciate their support.

5 Alternate Ways to Use Twitter

When you ask someone who doesn’t use Twitter why they abstain, you’ll most likely hear, “There’s no point”, “I’m on enough networks already”, or my least favourite, “I don’t need to hear what anybody had for breakfast.” Sigh.

These are all obviously silly reasons but they do show something important: Twitter has a learning curve. It’s not evident right away what you’re supposed to do. In an effort to help persuade new users to using Twitter, I’ve outlined these five out-of-the-box ways to use Twitter that don’t include talking about breakfast.

1. Newsfeed

A great way to start using Twitter is to replace your RSS reader or whatever way you currently digest news. Your local news channels and newspapers will have a twitter account to keep you in the know, as well as national and international news sources. There are also people who tweet only articles and news from specific niches like web design. You can take it one step forward and use Lists to organize your sources, offering you personalized niche-specific newsfeeds.

2. Find a Job

Twitterers like to help others. That’s why if I was looking for a job here in Ottawa I’d follow @ottawatweetjobs, and if I wanted to land a freelance gig working with WordPress I’d follow @wordpressjobs. Your area and niche will have people tweeting opportunities as well, and there’s always @monsterkaw, @simplyhired, and @microjobs as well. (For more specific accounts to follow, check out Find a Job on Twitter by Mashable.)

3. Bookmarking

After you start getting all these resources in your Twitter stream you’re going to realize you don’t have time to read it all! That’s ok, just mark it as a “favourite” and read it later. You can also favourite your own tweets, so if you see something elsewhere you’d like to find later just tweet about it and favourite it.

4. Find Deals and Coupons

Everybody likes saving money (I’d hope), and Twitter can help you do that. There are lots of accounts that only tweet sales and coupons, such as @fatwalletdeals, @slickdeals, and @coupontweet.

5. Stalk Celebrities

I don’t know what people’s obsession with celebrities is, but Twitter marks the first service where celebrities and us “common falk” mingle and converse together. Try a search for your favourite celebrity, comic, artist, musician, etc. and I’ll bet you’ll find them tweeting away. P.S: This one you might end up hearing what somebody ate for breakfast.

Now everybody might not think Twitter is for them, but I can guarantee anyone could find usefulness in using at least one of these methods. So next time somebody says Twitter’s not for them, or they’re bored of Twitter and thinking of leaving, offer up one of these solutions.

What neat ways have you been using Twitter?