Guest on Blog Business Success Radio with Wayne Hurlbert talking about the power of social media
You think I stuffed enough keywords into that title?!
You think I stuffed enough keywords into that title?!
The talk of a Twitter business model is still buzzing like bees around the hive. I think one option is as plain as the beak on the little bluebird's face. (Didn't realize I was going to be talking about the birds and the bees in the post. Heh.)
The option I speak of is a premium services model such as that currently used by Yammer, but one which offers features similar to that of a brand new application, wiggio.
In my pitch at OMMA Social I suggested that Twitter do one of two things:
I also suggested that the "secret sauce" in all of this be the ability to create groups in which everyone of the members could be messaged at the same time.
Well, guess what, that's exactly what wiggio was created to do! And it adds lots of extra bells and whistles as well that, according to MarketingVox, include such things as:
To top it off, wiggio is free!
MarketingVox does say the app is designed for use by college students, but it doesn't appear to be restricted to that. In fact, it lists "small business" as one of the user groups.
This wasn't intended to be a rave for wiggio (it's just that I'm playing with it while writing this post), but rather a query into why Twitter is letting these other companies steal its thunder. (You can bet there will be more to come, too.)
I mean, think about it, Twitter has the userbase. They could kick Yammer's and wiggio's butt if they wanted to by providing similar services of their own.
Or...or... they could do "b" from above and let other companies such as these have access to the userbase via the API. Frankly, not being a programmer mind you, I don't know why Yammer and wiggio aren't already tapping into it.
In fact, if you're a programmer, perhaps you could square me away on a few things:
GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons reports that "Go Daddy's 2009 Super Bowl campaign results shattered prior records for both new customer sign-ups and total orders, with 10 percent more new customers joining than last year's Super Bowl Sunday."
Despite the salacious nature of the ads, Go Daddy knows its customer base and, in the domain name registrar bowl, it appears they are the clear winner.
Or maybe not...
I had the opportunity to do a quick phone chat with , Network Solutions' "Swami of Social Media," earlier today to get his reactions to the GoDaddy Superbowl 2009 ad debaucle.
My intent was not to sensationalize or stir up controversy, but to try and view this issue through Shashi's eyes as well as to see what lessons could be learned and best practices gleaned.
Before I get to the meat of today's post, let me pubicly thank Cathy Taylor for putting together what proved to be a great event, OMMA Social. It was by far one of the best conferences I've attended to date; well-coordinated, solid content from industry experts and delicious food/drink. The event seemed to come off without a hitch too.
UPDATE: Here's Cathy Taylor's post at her Social Media Insider blog at Mediapost announcing the winners. Four of us made the cut and there are some interesting business models presented. I still think mine is the hands down winner tho. Heh.
Great news, for me at least. I've been chosen to be a panelist at OMMA Social on the topic of creating a Twitter business model.
There are two schools of thought pertaining to who to follow on Twitter. One is what I refer to as the Guy Kawasaki method which says, "forget the influentials," "defocus your efforts," and "get as many followers as you can." It's more of a mass marketing approach.
Up and until on the number of people that I could follow in a given 24-hour period, that's pretty much the school to which I subscribed and just about anyone and everyone qualified (minus the spammers of course).
Since then, I've had to be more discerning and have actually found that to be a good thing. So, here are fifteen suggested Twitter follow dos and don'ts based on my current Twitter follow modus operandi:
Dos...
1. Focus your efforts - If you're in sales and marketing, hopefully you've outlined specific target markets based on demographic, psychographic and technographic profiles. Maybe you've even created a persona of the ideal client or customer. Find those folks and follow them.
One good way to do that is by using Twellow, which is a Twitter "yellow pages." It categorizes Twitter followers based on geography and industry and covers everything from aerospace to Web development.
For example, a search on my city, Lafayette, LA, brought five pages of returns totaling 100 people. Not a lot, but consider that a) Lafayette is a small city by comparison and b) it's in the deep south which is often the last to catch on to new trends. If you're in a more metro area, chances are your returns will be manifold times this.
What might be more relevant is search by category. For example, Bizzuka, the company I serve as marketing director, is targeting the legal industry. A search for lawyers brought over 930 returns. We are also targeting healthcare. A search returned almost 100 hospitals.
Apply that same methodology to your own situation and see what comes of it.
Twellow defaults to ranking returns based on number of followers, but you can also sort by
recent activity and/or whether the person has verified their Twellow account.
Each person listed has a profile associated with their entry which, depending on whether they've verified their account or not, could contain lots of information, including a bio, latest Twitter updates (good for knowing whether they're an active user or not), and link to their Web site or blog.
2. Follow those with real names - That's one way to know it's a genuine account. (It's always a good practice when setting up a Twitter account to use your real name.)
3. Follow those who follow you - In most cases it's a common courtesy. Chances are they're in the same industry or have some relevance to you.
4. Follow those following the people who are following you - Same rationale as #3, just once removed.
5. Follow those following the people you are following - If you've chosen to follow a particular individual for whatever reason (maybe they fit the profile mentioned in #1), there's a good likelihood at least some of the people following them would be relevant for you as well.
6. Follow those in your industry - Obviously, one of the best uses for Twitter is as a vehicle for networking, gathering feedback and getting advice. It's a great tool for meeting others in your industry or discipline.
7. Follow those you find interesting and/or entertaining - In all the mad rush to turn Twitter into a business communications and marketing tool, leave a little for pure fun. If you find someone's posts interesting, maybe they're worth following as well.
8. Follow those who use the same hashtags (ex. #nms08) to follow a conversation - Again, if they're interested in the same things as you, consider following them.
9. Follow those who @reply you - @replies can be sent into the public timeline addressed to people you're not following. If a user has addressed you in that way, might be fruitful to add them.
10. Follow those interacting with people you follow - If you see a tweet with an @reply addressing someone you're following that comes from someone you're not, they may be worth following. Check em out!
Don'ts...
11. Don't follow those with numbers behind their names - This is a technique often used by spammers (Twammers) due to the fact that have multiple accounts. It's a dead give-away. (One word of caution: When setting up your Twitter handle, don't use numbers. Your real name will do nicely.)
12. Don't follow those with no avatar - If you can't see their face, company logo or some sort of avatar, don't follow.
13. Don't follow those who only broadcast - Unless you know it's an account set up strictly for that purpose - a news, shopping or "tips" type account - don't follow. If they don't participate in conversations with anyone else, they won't with you either.
14. Don't follow those who aren't active - I don't know the number or percentage, but I bet the number of people who've subscribed to Twitter and aren't actively using it is sizable. If a user is not actively maintaining the account, chances are it's dead.
15. Don't follow users based on their follower count - In social media, it's not necessarily how many eyeballs that count but who those eyeballs belong to. There are some very influential people who may not have huge numbers of followers.
There you have it - 15 tips for know who to follow and who not to. That's my list at least for now, though I'm sure I'll add to it. BTW, you can too! What criteria do you use in determining who to follow. Please share it in a comment. Thanks!
Finally, if you're not following me, please do. My Twitter handle is .
There is a phishing scheme propogating through Twitter now. It works in this way:
I was apprised of the latest episode of "As the Web Turns" today by my boss who , "I can't believe you're not weighing in on this."
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