What I’ve learnt about Twitter after 1,000 Tweets.

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Today is quite the momentous occasion… my 1000th Tweet after a year or so of taking Twitter seriously. I felt that this particular Tweet needed to be profound (everything’s relative) – and so I’ve decided to use it to refer to this post and write a few words about what I’ve learnt from this bizarre social media application and explain why I use it and what it’s actually done for me.

Maybe my wife, parents, friends and anyone else who just ‘doesn’t get it it’ will have a little more of a clue as to what it’s all about if they get round to reading this.

  1. Like every tool ever invented – how you use Twitter will change what you get from it.
  2. Like every tool ever invented – it’s your choice as to how you use it.
  3. Some people use Twitter for talking about what they had for breakfast. That’s fine. I don’t, because it’s not going to further me or anyone else in a business sense and that’s my primary reason for using the tool. Your reason maybe different and that’s fine.
  4. I use Twitter to further myself (and I hope others) in business. Business however can be made up of many different things.
  5. Entertainment, education, friendship, humour and knowledge transfer have all been essential parts of my 1000 tweets.
  6. As of the time of writing I’ve 245 followers (thank you). I only follow 40 people. I only follow people I’m interested in understanding or hearing more from.
  7. I’ve had people complain I don’t follow them or hassle me to follow them. Guess what – that’s not the way to do it people.
  8. Part of the reason I use Twitter is for ‘legal stalking’. It’s not as sinister as it sounds. If I want to do business with someone, I follow them. If I am doing business with someone I follow them.
  9. Who wouldn’t want to get closer to a prospect or a customer to find out what they are thinking? What’s the perfect way to understand what makes them tick and to find out what they are interested in? Following them of course.
  10. I like communicating with people – I can’t help myself. If I find out something I think might be of interest to someone, I will share it with them. I used to do this using newspaper clippings (I still do). Twitter makes this a much easier process.
  11. I like the fact I have virtual colleagues in Tasmania, Australia (hi @michellef) I also like the fact I’ve met them in real life too.
  12. I like the fact I get to hear about the latest things happening in the world of WordPress (@woothemes) and get discounts off the latest themes.
  13. I like the fact that I won a signed set of books from one of my favourite business authors (@dmscott)
  14. 11,12 and 13 I did on Twitter in the last week and no point did I tell anyone what I had for breakfast, nor did they tell me.
  15. I admit I have Tweetdeck open on one of my screens for most of the day (unless I’m focusing on getting stuff done, in which case I switch it off). That’s not a good thing – it should be turned on at certain times of the day and I’m working on my addiction there.
  16. I happily paid $2.99 for Twittelator on my iPhone and use it every day (thanks @ed_dale). Why wouldn’t you absorb yourself in other people’s wisdom whilst sitting on a train/standing in a supermarket/waiting for your wife to try on clothes eh @ed?)
  17. Do I still interact with real live human beings? Yes of course I do. Do I also benefit massively most days from other people’s wisdom via Twitter? Yes definitely.
  18. Do other people benefit from my twittering? I’d hope so.
  19. Would I ever follow hundreds or thousands of people – no… following others to get followers makes very little sense in my book. I’d prefer people to follow me who are interested in what I have to bang on about.
  20. Do I recommend every person in business to at least consider using Twitter as a tool – yes I do. Is it right for everyone? No…
  21. I try to make Tweets less than 110 characters to allow easy retweeting.
  22. I like occasional random conversations with people I don’t know – it adds to the rich tapestry of life. #bbcquestiontime is a great example.
  23. Be interesting and others will be interested in you. Isn’t that right @lesleyeverett?
  24. So how will I change my use of Twitter over the next 1000 tweets? I need to turn off Tweetdeck more. It is distracting, and I need no help in that department. I want to get better at explaining the phenomenon in a simple way to people who don’t get it so that they can benefit too. I also want to find more interesting, relevant people in my niches and sphere of interest to follow to get even more tuned into my markets. That’s hard to do, so I need to listen even harder.

There. I’d like to think I’ve made the most of my 1000th tweet. But maybe you disagree…. comments are open below.

It costs nothing to be creative

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I don’t know about you, but I seem to be more attuned than ever to watching how advertisers and marketers are getting their messages across to audiences which are more and more discerning. These audiences are bombarded from the moment they wake to the moment their heads hit the pillow. I wouldn’t be surprised if in years to come someone figures out rate cards for dream-advertising and we all go to bed wearing some kind of skull cap attached to the mains.

Anyway, I digress.

My iPhone doesn’t leave my side and I find myself being pointed at a lot, whilst I take photos of random interesting things in order to share them with others.

I love it when advertisers put a smile on my face. Does it really cost anything to think laterally and get people to talk about your advertising? This is such a cool example by a favourite brand of mine. Poking fun at themselves and at the same time delivering a great message about a new product just launching…

When was the last time you thought outside the box and got creative? Go on – you know you want to…

Being Smarter moves up a gear

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The first couple of months of 2010 have flown by. Being Smarter is delighted to announce five new clients since Xmas, a Spanish organisation, two companies in the FTSE 250, a new content partner here in the UK and one in Australia.

After a successful trip to Sydney and Melbourne last month, our partnership with Ed Dale, one of the world’s most prominent Internet Marketers goes from strength to strength as we launch the second of five courses next week under the Ed-ucationonline.com brand. If you’ve always wanted to know how to ‘Start from scratch’ in the Internet marketing space – watch out for 11 modules of pure delight from next week.

Our partnership with Kaplan Eduneering continues to grow, with another new course addressing local US government going live at the end of April.

Targets to Prospects, a service we developed by popular request, after we used it to target individuals successfully for a year was launched in January, and we’ve successfully delivered five installations in the last month. We’ll let you know the results from these first customers very soon. We’ve also added new functionality which we’re rather proud of…

Innovation continues too as we’ve also successfully delivered a ‘personalised video‘ project for one of the clients above… Imagine a video which appears to be built uniquely for a company or individual? Imagine watching a story unfold and seeing your logo / name / statement appear within it, seamlessly… you’d be impressed wouldn’t you? Well imagine no longer. Next time you want to run a campaign targeting a known group of targets, why not consider Targets to Prospects?

Exciting times – with more to come we hope.

Marketing plans aren’t rocket science

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We’re delighted to welcome another guest blogger to the Being Smarter stable. Maria Sadler runs The Small Marketing Company and has set herself up (quite uniquely) as a Social Media manager for people who know they should… but don’t have the time.

Maria’s first thoughts for Being Smarter are below…

You don’t need to throw large sums of money at advertising and PR to get started you just need to be a bit savvy. So here are some tips to get you started.

1) Think about your targets first

This may sound obvious but if you start to really hone in on who your ideal customer is, you can start to identify where they ‘hang out’. For example if your business benefits mothers with school age children you could target PTAs and school newsletters. If your business or service would be of interest to local businesses, check out the local Chamber of Commerce and local networking groups.

Now you know who your targets are and where you might find them, you need to consider how to attract their attention. If you are targeting a busy professional who will no doubt receive countless emails per day you need to grab their attention fast by being brief, different and a little intriguing.

These are probably the ideal people to send an eye catching but short email – Targets to Prospects software is perfect for this – or consider approaching them via Twitter, where you get 140 characters to grab attention.

2) Now think about your message

Once you understand your customer, you can then start to craft your message to make sure you get their attention. Work out what problems and issues they face and then think how your product or service could help resolve them. You may be desperate to tell them about a great new feature of your product but guess what, your potential customer won’t care.

Try the ‘so what’ test. So what benefit does that feature give the customer, focus on the feature that gives the greatest benefits, and think about the problems your customer has that you can alleviate.

3) Differentiate yourself from the competition

Whilst price is always a factor, at the moment is isn’t always the decider. So you need to determine what is different/better about your service above the competition. Here is one of the places that being ‘visible’ and something of an authority on a subject can be of great advantage, and this is where an online presence comes in.

Think about when you are looking for a product or service – what is the first thing you do? If you are like most people, you will go to Google and do a search for the type of product or service you need. If your name or company name keeps appearing on websites, blogs, articles, Twitter and other social media, discussing that very thing – the potential customer will begin to believe in your credibility.

4) Get your customers to blow your trumpet

Once you start to sell your product or service, ask your customers if they could give you feedback – you can then start to use this on your marketing materials as proof that you deliver. This will also become a very useful source of information on how you can improve your product in the future and what new products you could add to expand your offering. Finally it shows your customers that you care about what they think, and want to provide the best customer service.

Maria Sadler runs The Small Marketing Company which specialises in online marketing using Social Media. Follow her at www.twitter.com/mfsadler

How to be a better copywriter (without really trying)

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Copywriting is a skill. A skill which can take years to master. A skill which you perhaps will never master, yet if you run any kind of business, the chances are you have a need to be able to write persuasively, clearly and concisely on a daily basis.

Whether it’s an important internal email, an email to a target or a client, a blog post, an advertisement or a script, there’s a big difference between average copy and great copy.

Assuming you don’t have years to master the art, if you need to get a document together quickly, then this application may be for you.

Wordy is a WordPress plugin and web service which takes your draft copy and provides it to a network of copywriters for proofing and editing as required.

Academic text, corporate literature, blog posts and web content are all among the categories of copy that Wordy’s professional editors can handle, with specialized staff available to work on material focused on specific subjects. The interface to them is simple – you upload your file to Wordy.com, or use a WordPress plugin for integrated editing.

Wordy then instantly returns a quote along with an approximate delivery time. As an example – EUR 7.68 for 26 minutes of editing on a 440-word document. If you accept, a Wordy copy editor checks the text for grammar, spelling, punctuation and structure—the company can currently accommodate both UK and US English—and returns it in ready-to-publish form. After that, you have two business days to accept the work or request a re-edit.

A great concept and one for the copy-phobic amongst you. We’ve not tried it yet – but if you have – why not leave a comment below.

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Newton’s 3rd law

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OK, I admit it, I’m obsessed with ‘taking action’… I’m not great at prevaricating… I perhaps don’t spend enough time thinking. However – it’s the best way to be.

Having worked in and with the corporate world for many years – it’s clear to see paralysis by lack of action is rife and it’s slowly killing these organisations.

A few years ago a good friend and colleague reminded me of Newton’s 3rd Law.

For every action, there’s an equal an opposite reaction.

Now, if you subscribe to this school of thought, you probably won’t get the reaction you were expecting, however you will get a reaction… maybe even not straight away, but you will.

I’m currently sitting in an appartment in Melbourne, working with a great bunch of folks for a few days and the reason I’m here is that I sent an email about 3 months ago. I didn’t think it would get answered, but I sent it anyway. I’ve sent plenty more that haven’t been answered, but this one did.

I’m about to be part of a three day conference in which 100+ people will gather for three days, watch (I know) some fabulous speakers and be given a ton of practical advice. How many of you/them will take action as a result of attending? And by that, I mean pick just 5% of the most relevant things you were taught and implement them the following week? I’m not sure? Some will, some won’t. Some actions maybe fruitful, some maybe not – but if you’re taking action, and gaining momentum, things WILL happen. Eventually.

So there we are then. What are you not going to put off today?

A blog book tour – thinking outside the box

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As regular readers to the Being Smarter website will know, we like to feature new ways of doing things. Innovation is so key in business and today, we’re delighted to be participating in an innovation called a blog book tour which fuses social media, brilliant segmenting of a marketplace and win-win for the book authors and promoters.

We’ve been lucky enough to have Dr Karl Kapp, Professor of instructional technology at Bloomsburg University PA, USA as an advocate of The 8.45 Club‘s method of training. We were delighted when he asked us if we would like to participate as a guest blog on Day #12 of his blog book tour, to promote the sale of his excellent new book “Learning in 3D” (affiliate link).

We thought that because 30 other people will be talking about the book itself, instead, let’s talk to Karl about this blog book tour concept, find out what such a thing actually is, how it’s being used in this context, and most importantly, how YOU could use it yourselves to promote your next publication. Guess what, it could be applied to any product or service with a bit of thought – so even if you’re not an author – keep watching…

So make a coffee – sit back and watch Dr Karl, live by satellite…

If at first you don’t succeed

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Monday mornings are always good for a pep talk. I’ve been talking to a few people about the concept of not giving up over the last few weeks and wanted to share a few thoughts, being someone who’s tried hard to persevere in a big way over the last couple of years.

I had to have a few words with my 6 year old son the other day about not giving up… teaching him to ride a bike has been quite an achievement for me – trying a few different tacks to keep his morale high, but judging when it was OK to let him fall off safely. My wife suggested I shouldn’t have let him fall off, however in my opinion, it was a great way to teach him the skill of perseverance.

There’s five tips I’d offer below to help with your perseverance efforts:

  1. If you listen to everyone who offers you advice, the chances are you’d be paraylsed by non-action. Take advice, sure, but also have some belief in what it is you are trying to do. This will help you to get through difficult days.
  2. Accept that some days aren’t going to go your way, dust yourself off, find that belief once again and remember that tomorrow is another day. If a trend of bad days starts to kick in – then it’s time to revist where you are heading.
  3. Think outside the box. Always. There’s always a different way to tackle a problem you may be having. Don’t limit yourself to ‘going what you know’. It’s hard to persevere when you don’t do things differently, as you will always get the same result.
  4. Ignore your gut feelings at your peril. Listen to your heart – it will really help you make decisions and decide if something is fundamentally wrong, or you just need to try a different approach.
  5. The most brilliant people have got to where they are today with a good splash of perseverance. You may be shocked at how some of them started out. Watch the video below for inspiration if you need a bit of a lift….

5 ways to keep New Year’s resolutions (you’re about to break)

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So it’s now 14th Jan. Many people have already broken all of the promises they made to themselves on the cold light of day of January 1st (which seems like a year ago already…) If you haven’t already broken yours, but are starting to teeter on the brink, here’s our favourite top 5 ways to keep New Year’s resolutions we’ve found in the ether from around the world… and we’ve looked at quite a few.

The links take you to the full article – and the best bit is summarised below…

Time Magazine

One tactic he recommends for resisting those cravings is called “urge-surfing.” It involves being mindful of the fact that craving is like a wave — it rises to a peak, then falls. This happens whether you yield to the urge or not, though most people erroneously think their craving will escalate endlessly unless they give in.

The Times of India

People who break a resolution and then blame themselves with, “This proves I have no willpower,” are likely to give up. A more productive inner dialogue would say something like, “I had one cigarette but I’ve got to make sure I tell my friends that I’m quitting so this doesn’t happen again,” Marlatt said. “Try to be a little bit more accepting of the fact that you may make a mistake.”

The Happiness Project

Consider making only pleasant resolutions. We can make our lives happier in many ways. If you’ve been trying the boot-camp approach with no success, try resolving to “Go to more movies,” “Entertain more often,” or whatever resolutions you’d find fun to keep. Often, having more fun in our lives makes it easier to do tough things. Seeing more movies might make it easier to keep going to the gym.

Newsweek

…keep your resolutions affirmative. You’ll be hobbling yourself if you say, “Don’t eat chocolate”. All you’re doing is making sure not only that you think about chocolate constantly (very true) but that you break down altogether and eat seven bars for dinner. Instead, say to yourself, “I vow to eat a salad every day”

Sydney Morning Herald

Finally, if you want to improve the odds of success, consider making a plan. For example, if your goal is to put $1,000 in the bank, how are you going to do it? Are you going to deposit $50 a week from your pay? $100 per month? Are you going to stop spending $5 per day on coffee and put the money in a jar instead? Actually think about how you plan to make your resolution happen. Then track your progress against the plan as you go along.

If you’ve a tip (which is working for you… why not share it below)…

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365 ways to get visitors to your website

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OK, so there are hundreds of sites, all claiming to be expert in getting website visitors and we we’re not pretending to be specialists, however we do have over 30 sites, all receiving traffic, some more than others and have been in the game for a couple of years now, which isn’t that long, but more than many…

Being Smarter, as regular readers will know is all about helping businesses do things better, faster, quicker… and thinking outside the box. Today is no exception.

I meet many people in my job all looking to set up web businesses, or who have bricks and mortar businesses, who don’t get online at all or who have some kind of webpresence, but it may as well be a blank homepage for all the good it does them.

Simply put, nothing will happen online unless you have visitors to your site, or ‘traffic’ as it’s known. Unless you have traffic, no one can buy anything, read anything, connect with you, collaborate with you or spread your message.

If you want one of the best explanations of this concept, then I thoroughly recommend you take 6 minutes out of you day and watch the video below…

Anyway, that’s not the main reason for today’s article.

Hopefully now, you appreciate the value of “traffic” to your website. The next question is how do you get it? There is of course no simple answer, and the devil is in the detail, however, I stumbled across a great set of immediately implementable ideas for someone starting out, or an established web business and wanted to share it with you.

Download 366 Traffic Methods here.

I know I called the title 365 – because there’s at least one method I’m not sure about, however in 10 minutes, you’ll be able to scan through the pdf and choose at least 100 you could use for your business.

I should add, there’s a pitch from the orginial author in the first couple of pages, which if you purchase will earn us a few bucks/pounds, however it’s easily skippable, to get on to the meaty part!

Take action today and go get some more traffic!