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What’s Your Avatar Say?

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At Social Slam (yes, there was a bunch of blogging inspiration at this conference) April 13, 2011 sponsored by the Knoxville Social Media Club, there was a lot of chat about an avatar and what it should be. I suggested during a panel presentation that your avatar should not be a dog, a baby, an animation, or a corporate logo.

Because social media is social, and you’re building a network, it’s important to put on a face (I prefer happy, but you may not). People you tweet with especially want to identify with a person and connect with a familiar face. When you humanize your Twitter brand, you create a relationship with your followers; Tweeps are more inclined to follow you back and engage.

If you’re not tracking with me yet, an avatar is the image you use to identify your Twitter account, your Open ID, your comments, etc. You can register the image you prefer at Gravatar.com and it will soon populate when you comment on other blogs via Disqus, LiveFyre, and elsewhere.

We recently gave a lot of grief to Neicole Crepeau who for the longest time (perhaps a year) had a line drawing of her face. When she finally put up a photo of herself as a test, I tweeted it loudly and clearly to everyone “Neicole has a photo, Neicole has a photo, nanna, nanna boo boo.” (She accused me of never sleeping.) Now that I know what Neicole looks like, I feel more connected to her.

During Social Slam, a question from the audience was posed to our panel of Trey Pennington, Anne Deeter Gallaher and me (we spoke about communicating value about social media to the C-suite). What should people who team tweet for a corporate account for which the avatar is a logo do to identify themselves when they are tweeting? Adding initials within a tweet is a helpful solution; if it’s possible to use a  symbol with initials or first name as a signature in a corporate tweet, that may also work.

When I arrived at the hotel in Knoxville to check in, someone in the lobby said “you look really familiar.” It wasn’t a pick up line, was it Billy Mitchell? When I suggested Twitter, he recognized me. What was cool is that I also picked out other people during a reception from having seen their avatar in my stream.

When you look like your avatar, that’s a good thing. It creates ‘raderie, it personifies you, it causes reaction in people, and it’s part of creating a professional brand. If you aren’t sure whether your avatar is a good one, take a poll, but be prepared when Tweeps are brutally honest; after all, you asked!

Twitter Makes You Smarter

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Am doing a bit of cross pollination and promotion today with The SMB Collective blog where I wrote today’s article, “SMB Twitter Insights.” It’s relevant because there is where I culminate the incredible week with the two blog posts right here that got published on Social Media Today.

(If you’re unaware of this community bloggers’ portal for marketing, PR and social media pros, please register and engage.)

If you’re reading here, you’re aware I engaged with David Meerman Scott this week about his 50,000 Twitter followers and suggested why no one needs to reach those heights. In a nutshell, engagement becomes one-way — outbound versus two-way — back and forth.

A series of comments resulted in the second post here called How Do You Twitter Your Business which shares David’s response and Michelle Quillin’s approach as a small-to-medium business owner at New England Multimedia.

So, for the kicker and so you don’t really need to read all these links, Anthony Miyazaki, who is associate professor of marketing at Florida International University, provides some fabulous insight about why/how/when and what for about Twitter. I write about it in full on The SMB Collective blog, link above.

Where I’m so fascinated and delighted is how this interconnectivity in social media works. Those of us who engage have the opportunity to meet people in business and personally with rich perspective. While we’re often thrown into friendships we’d never form without benefit of Twitter, the result is always oriented to knowledge. I’m smarter today than I was two years ago; I can honestly say it’s because of Twitter.

Why Not To Reach 50,000 Twitter Followers

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David Meerman Scott is someone you should follow on Twitter. He’s author of one of my favorite books,  The New Rules of Marketing and PR (and, I can’t find my dog-eared copy, darn it), and he blogs over at Web Ink Now.

As I was trolling through Google Reader for some blog fodder, I came across his post today, The Secret to Getting 50,000 Followers on Twitter (and, if you read the blog, there is no secret). David says it takes blood, sweat and The Grateful Dead to hit 50K (well, not really).

(Just to share, I like having handsome men imaged on my blog; David’s mug came directly from his blog, link above).

Since 2008, here’s what David Meerman Scott has done to reach Twitter nirvana — 50,000 followers (extracted exactly from his blog):

Now, I’ll share my thoughts about why you should never wish to reach 50,000 followers on Twitter:

1. You’ll never make a connection with anyone because the stream will be flying at warp speed.

2. You’ll be considered a jerk because anyone who mentions you or asks you a question will need to get in line for your response.

3. You’ll never be able to discern a legitimate direct message from junk mail.

4. You cannot strike up a one-off convo about music  with just anyone because tweeps will get jealous you’re not paying attention to them, too.

5. Your in box will be loaded with tweets, and your smartphone will show more Twitter activity than emails.

6. There will not be enough columns on TweetDeck or HootSuite to deliver the numerous hashtag chats you’ll want to engage in. In fact, you’ll need quadruple monitors to manage Twitter apps.

7. Twitter will become a one-way, outbound channel for you to promote your blogs, books and banter; no two-way communication.

8. You’ll stop following anyone else because that means you’d need to spend a day returning the follow-me-I’ll-follow-you favor.

9.You’ll just start RT’ing tweets without any screening so you can stay on followers’ good sides.

10. And, in reference to the list above…uhm, is that humanly possible, David? You’re not jivin’ us, are you?

Redefining Twitter Influence For Business ROI

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Credit: Facebook.com

There’s been a lot of discussion on every blog that’s any blog about influence. The latest national story by Advertising Age on The Influencers and a complementary story, “Your Followers are No Measure of Your Influence” about whether Twitter drives influence or not, have prompted lots of banter online.

The Twitter story is more about why your number of followers, how many lists you’re on and how many times your tweets are RT’ed have nothing to do with influence and more to do with popularity.

One thing is for sure; Advertising Age caters to the multi-gazillion dollar corporations that produce the iconic brands we consume. What of the mid-sized market of companies with equally successful specialty products catering to all of us, as well? When they read a story like this, are they running the 100-yard dash away from Twitter to the safety of Facebook? YouTube? Yelp?

I’m here to tell you, business owners, do not pass go; go directly to Twitter and engage. There are common threads in every marketing department, but each company brings a unique culture with its model. When you re-define “influence” to suit your business’s acceptable ROI, Twitter can help reap the benefits.

  • Define “influence.” The Ad Age story seeks that influencer who can tweet 140 and cause multitudes to make a purchase. This Holy Grail ought to be re-defined for mid-sized businesses  to encompass brand awareness, search marketing, location-based marketing services, prospecting for new customers, and executing creative marketing never before attempted.
  • It’s an art form. Twitter is more than “social” media. Rarely anyone understands how you can communicate in 140 characters until you do. It’s an art form, and it doesn’t include texting abbreviations either. The “social media” vernacular should be adjusted to get people away from the frivolity of the experience. I suggest  “online engagement marketing;” this lends a more professional and strategic bent to the experience.
  • You have control. Behind the Twitter numbers (as listed in paragraph one) is an entire discussion around influence. You can control your followers and you can specialize your stream by industry and topic. Only after you engage long term will you be astute enough to mold your stream into a long list of sales prospects. Mind you, sales will happen AFTER you create community.
  • Link Love and Traffic. Google now indexes tweets. You can build a Google alert for the name of your company or product, and when referenced on Twitter via link love, you’ll begin to see how to define your measurement and success.  Twitter is the easiest way to direct traffic via links to promote corporate blogs, promotions, location-based marketing programs and products. Twitter directs link love to blogs, Facebook, Yelp, Groupon, Quora, and it helps with Klout and Twinfluence scores.
  • Pushing sales. While marketers in mega corporations are being required to prove ROI from online engagement marketing, a mid-sized or smaller business can be more flexible in showing a return and eventually sales. Twitter is an untapped sales channel for smaller businesses and when it bears fruit, it’s worthy of repetition and longer-term investment.
  • Not a one off. Everyone says this over and over again – social media is part of the marketing mix. Twitter or Facebook are not one offs; you cannot execute either one as a stand-alone strategy without incorporating these tactics into an integrated marketing program.

If you are a mid-sized or small business and have already been executing online engagement marketing as part of your integrated marketing program with no success, here are several thoughts to consider:

  • Take a look at how you’re measuring success; is it simply oriented to sales, or are there other positive metrics contributing to filling the sales pipeline?
  • Who’s on your team?  Is one marketer trying to function as marketing, public relations, social media, and advertising? Change that in a hurry!
  • Consider an outside consultant who wears the hat of strategist and tactician along with a keen business orientation. Such a consultant ought to be able to blend public relations directly into the greater marketing mix seamlessly. (Give me a shout, and we can further discuss these options.)

Meanwhile…do not pass go, business owner! Go directly to Twitter.

Change Twitter Habits to Spiff a Boring Stream

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Credit: scienceblogs.com

You can’t get complacent with Twitter. You may not know you’ve done so, and here’s a few suggested pulse points:

  • Do you only follow the same tweeps each day and respond to them and no one else?
  • When was the last time you opened a new link to a new tweep’s blog and engaged?
  • Are typically the same people replying to your tweets and RTs?

It’s easy to get comfortable on Twitter, reading the same blogs and getting more acquainted with the same gaggle of folk. We’re human after all; not many people like to step out of their comfort zone, but I’m encouraging you to reflect on your Twitter habits and spiff up a boring stream.

The dawn of a new year is a perfect time to ask the following questions:

  • Am I merely engaging with peers in my own profession?
  • Am I learning another vertical?
  • Has someone ticked you off with their behavior on Twitter?
  • What are you gaining from your Twitter experience?

When you explore your original objectives about Twitter engagement (and you fast learn it’s much more than “hi, I’m going on a hot date tonight,”) then ask and answer the aforementioned questions.

Peers in Your Space

Professionals in your space are most likely to support your commentary. I love Davina Brewer @3hatscomm for her always banter around my public relations opinions. We’re in the same field. She’s not likely to send business to me nor I to her; perhaps we’d team up on a project, yet we’ve never discussed it. So, in essence, we’re competitors yet friendly and supportive. Love that. Our Twitter engagement is top notch, and I’m not likely to unfollow her any time soon.

Learning Another Vertical

Everyone knows enough about an industry to be dangerous. So, dive in to an entire stream of tweeps expert in health care or engineering. What you can glean from them is a treasure; trust me, because I did it in social media a few years ago. Twitter was my training ground in social media, and the pace was fast and furious. All those online courses – for the birds.

Ticked Off?

There was a woman I had been following for a good year. I noticed how she flitted from blog to blog and arrogantly posted a criticism and lofty opinion and then moved on without responding twice. Then, I watched her comments on a chat forum and began slowly to become annoyed with this behavior. I cleaned my stream and that was that. Better balance all in all. You can do the same and keep the peace.

Gaining from Twitter?

Twitter’s hidden gifts are numerous, myriad; like a new galaxy. If you can’t list 10 perqs off the bat, you’ve got a problem and you’re likely using Twitter the wrong way. I bet if you ask yourself “what am I gaining from Twitter?” you’ll be surprised what’s in the treasure chest.

There’s no way any of this can happen if  you complacently watch the tweets roll in. Change your Twitter habits and keep your stream fresh. Lead Twiter instead of letting it lead you; what a great business goal for 2011.