So, off the back of feedback on my recent post on the demographic of LinkedIn STATS, I thought I might let you in on one of our little secrets here at Thinktank Media.

Most people think that the Twitter audience is predominately female. Indeed in the US, where most of our market research comes from, it is female dominated. This is contrary to popular belief. Here in Australia the numbers are unusual.



Source: Google Ad Planner – Viewed 30^th April, 2010.

Twitter users in Australia are 66% Male.

Twitter users in America are 60% Female.

4 Keys:

1. This is an exceptionally ugly looking graph.
2. These are remarkable differences and a staggering insight into the differences in culture.
3. Figures like this should dictate how you treat different social media channels.
4. This figures change very regularly, so they will be outdated almost the month this post is uploaded.

There were also major difference is the dominant age groups. The United States most active group on social media is 35-44 years olds, whereas here it is the 45-55 year olds at 32%.

The United Kingdom is behind us but ahead of the USA on 58% males. Japan is just slightly behind us on 62% males.

I would love to hear your theories and interpretations on why you think it is this way here in OZ in the comments section below.

In the words of Twitter themselves –“Twitter is without a doubt the best way to share and discover what is happening right now”. By far my favorite feature on Twitter (at the moment) is the classic #hashtag. They are certainly nothing new, but no less very valuable to you.

What are hashtags?

 It is quite simply a mention in your tweets with a topic defined with a #.  People can just click on the hashtag and follow the entire conversation. The most current example of this is the following Australian politics and the over turn of the oppositions leadership via the hashtag #spill last week.   The most up to date information has been coming through Twitter.

Why use hashtags?

1. Join a global conversation not in your usual tweet stream.
2. Track an event eg. Footy match or global conference in real time.
3. Gets you on the radar of a heap more tweets.
4. Follow the latest in a particular news story.
5. Grab the hottest info from your chosen industry or interest.
6. Find new interesting tweeps.
7. Attend an event you couldn’t otherwise make it too.
8. Watch your favourite TV show with people all over the country while seeing their opinions and input live.

How do I use hashtags?

1. Click on a hashtag that interests you and add your view by adding the hashtag in your tweet.
2. Create a topic others may like to discuss or follow.
3. If you are running an event, get your attendees to use the hashtag.
4. Monitor global hashtag conversation here at http://www.hashtags.org/

 Follow or invent one today. I would love to hear your most beloved use of the humble #hashtag below.

Twitter lists are here and are now available to all users. Horray! The last two twitter list posts we shared, I trust gave you an insight into what they are and gave you a  greater understanding of how you can benefit from them. For a quick refresh -  here are those two popular posts again:

How to use twitter lists in your business and Twitter lists for business explained

Ok, so you now understand the concept of twitter lists, so what next?

Twitter launched a new widget yesterday to assist the list process. It’s built in a similar manner to the twitter gadget/widget that you can put on your website/blog - click here for examples – however this widget enables you to promote a specific list on your website or blog. If you look to the right of your screen you can see we have compiled one which streams all Thinktank Media teams tweets. This is a fantastic way to get multiple use out of twitter with one easy widget, and its a great way for you to see what the team is up to, who they are connecting with, what advice they offer and who they are engaging with on this space.

You can also promote other peoples lists on specific pages of your website/blog with this widget. For example, I run an offline twitter networking group @tweetupmellers and I am going to use @geehall1 list for this site – why? Because he has already compiled this list so there is no need for me to reinvent the wheel.

Click here for the link  – so you can get started setting it up.

How can you use this in your own business?

Here are some ideas that spring to mind:

1) Create a list of your team/workforce and display the list widget on your “about us” page.

2) Use the people around you to create lists then share via the widget eg. If you are in the accommodation industry and there are others in your community using twitter, then why not create a list of the whole business community. This is a value add to your guests as they can touch base with other businesses in the area – eg. restaurants, massage, sailing, hairdressers etc – it’s also showing your community you are supporting them. You can simply place this in an area on the website/blog to assist visitors to find them easily.

3) It’s your turn now – any thoughts on how you can use this widget to make the whole twitter list process even more effective????????? Any questions, then hit me up

Twitter recently added a new feature call Twitter lists. It is reportedly only available to selected users but many  have really started to embrace the feature.

Initially, it seems like a new way of measuring popularity. It is easy to dismiss how it can help your business. However this simple feature can make your work so much easier, especially if you have multiple people managing your social media accounts.

So – what does it do?

Twitter Lists allows you to categorize the people you are following, or are following you. Individuals may create different lists for friends, family and so forth. However twitter lists allows to allocate individuals to certain buyer personas and allow you to better serve them.

How does this relate to buyer personas?

There are different types of people that will buy from you. Lets look at our fabulous clients, Caroline Serviced Apartments.

They will attract:

• Families looking for a quieter place to stay
• People in town for business who want the extra service
• Couples who want a relaxing weekend.

Notice how we identified the emotions they were seeking. This will help you tailor services to their specific needs. This takes the guess work out of finding people to follow on twitter.

Its a simpler form of CRM

People on twitter don’t like being sold to and it can be easy to feel like you are part of a database. This is where twitter lists excel – you can give back to the community while managing their individual needs.

In the case of Caroline Serviced Apartments, they can create a list called ‘Australian travel bloggers.’ This is not only useful for them to see who may be coming to Melbourne, but it can be useful for others looking for such a list. This may help many others discover your twitter profile and engage with your content. You can expand this to so many other categories.

Yet it takes the concept a step further. Not only are you reaching your potential customers, you are also reaching the people who will spread your message to others. This is where twitter lists can really help you. Its simply a matter of discovering the best method of organizing your followers.

How do I categorize people?

There are multiple ways you can organize the people you are following:

• By geographic region

This is useful if your business targets a specific region. You can see what they are talking about, what they like and find ways to help them.

• By how active they are in social media

You can create a separate list for those who are really active within your niche. We call them the ‘sneezers’, or ‘influencers.’ These are the people who rave when they find something great and can generate a lot of traffic to your business.

As with everything in social media, you shouldn’t target ANYONE specifically for personal gain – you have to find ways to help your followers before asking for help. But simply identifying them can help you get a feel for what motivates them.

People to look for are active tweeters, bloggers or those who use niche social networking sites like Flickr.

• Previous customers

People who have already bought from you will most likely trust you. They still need attention, as they are the ones that will continue to talk about your brand. By having a special list you will instantly know that they have bought from you and mention that in conversation.

• People who are ‘trolls’

This category may seem unnecessary but it may prevent you from engaging with someone who is just out to cause trouble.

• People in certain industries

This can be particularly useful for those who are seeking others in different areas of their industry. It can also help if you are looking for support in another industry. A good example is creating a list of journalists on twitter.

• People in the same industry

This is a useful way of giving back to your community. You can keep a track of the competition while supporting others.

Important tips:

• It is important that you are aware of the privacy settings. People may be offended at being categorized, especially in negative terms
• Foster a sense of community. Emphasis that you are doing this to ensure you are helping your followers to the best of your ability
• Be thankful when you are included on other peoples lists. However, this may not be scalable.

Over to you.

This is a very new concept and one I’m sure we will be hearing a lot about. These are just my immediate thoughts about how it can apply to your business. I’m sure that, over time, we will be able to identify other ways that we can use twitter lists to help the community. What are your thoughts?

Initially, I was a Twitter critic and definitely one of the site’s biggest skeptics.

I was reluctant to become part of a group where I was referred to as a ‘tweeter’ and forced to integrate words like ‘re-tweet,’ ‘overheard,’ and ‘tweeple’ into my standard vocabulary. I couldn’t open my eyes wide enough to see why anyone would want to read, seemingly useless, messages squeezed into 140 character statements. I didn’t see the value in the site, nor could I ever imagine benefiting socially or professionally from sending mass text messages around the world to people I had never met.

After months of holding out and refusing to partake in the unknown, I fell into the inevitable peer pressure of the social media world. It was a Sunday afternoon; I was sitting on the couch quietly enjoying my daily dose of Facebook stalking, when I broke down and began tweeting my little heart out. I fell in love with the endless amounts of information that were magically refreshing every 5 seconds without even having to move a muscle.

Months later, I am now posting on average 15 – 20 messages a day; and inhaling most of the world headlines right from my home feed! However, like many other twitter virgins, the most daunting task in getting started was figuring out how to get involved with the 45 million other users who were already well on their way to becoming viral sensations.

During my Twitter journey I have discovered a few ways to make the transition from thinking in 500+ characters down to 140; as well as achieve a balance between tweeting and keeping up with my ‘real life.’

1. Find a Twitter application to stream your tweets.

After a few months of using the Twitter.com site, I found that it wasn’t providing all the features to make my tweeting experience the best it could be. I didn’t like the formatting of the site and having to click back and forth between profiles was taking too much time that I didn’t have during the workday.

There are several sites that offer a much more organized and fluid Twitter experience than the actual site can offer. Two of my favorites are HootSuite and TweetDeck. Both do a great job at sorting out which tweets are mentioning me specifically, where my direct messages are going and even gives me the opportunity to see daily statistics about who’s reading my tweets and when.

2. Schedule a few hours worth of information.

Like many of you, I don’t have the luxury of sitting on Twitter every minute of the work day, constantly monitoring my tweets. So in an effort to juggle my work life and Twitter reputation, I have started to schedule a certain amount of information to tweet on its own. For example, every morning as I’m clicking my way through Google Reader and desperately trying to keep my Nutella croissant from smearing on my blouse, I make note of a few headlines that I know my followers will find interesting. I then schedule the links to appear at various times throughout the morning, allowing me to keep my boss happy as well as continue to contribute in other conversations throughout my feed.

A few sites that I have found helpful in scheduling my tweets are Hootsuite, Twuffer and Tweetlater, now known as Social Oomph

3. Create Twitter check-in times.

It’s very easy to get caught up in the influx of information and find yourself wasting hours of your day following Twitter threads and links. On top of scheduling my tweets and organizing entertaining information for the day, I also try to have a set time when I’m going to check in on my feed. Scheduling a check-in time allows me to ensure that I am attending to my feed often enough, but not too often that I’m irritating my followers.

4. Don’t be a virtual ogler.

Nobody likes to be stared at in real life and it certainly isn’t any different in the land of tweets either. Engage in the conversations happening in front of you and jump into the mix head first. It’s great to re-tweet other’s information, but don’t forget to give your thoughts as well. Everyone on Twitter is there to network and learn something new from somebody else, so don’t be afraid to reply to someone even if you don’t have a prior connection. After all that’s how all great Twitter relationships begin!

5. Participate in Tweet-ups.

Twitter meet-ups have constantly come to my rescue as I travel my way around the world and inevitably find myself in situations where the people I know can be counted on one hand. Tweet-ups have proven to be a great networking tool and have paid off exponentially in securing job prospects and opportunities. If you have never attended a Tweet-up I highly recommend it! If you can’t find one that you want to participate in – start your own. Invite a few of your followers or even open it up to a larger group of people. Either way it’s a great opportunity to meet a few new contacts and bridge the gap between virtual and real life friends.

If you are based in Melbourne then TweetUpMellers @tweetupmellers has a fantastic group of people. It’s a mash up of social networking,  delish food indulging provided by The Social, Windsor and some cold drinkies!

One thing I’ve discovered during my time on twitter is that many businesses are still unsure about how they can really connect with their clients. Many people hear about it and approach it purely as a sales platform.

While this can work, most companies do this incorrectly and leave a negative impression on their clients. There are multiple ways you use this tool without being seen as a spammer.

5 ways businesses are using twitter:

• Talking about the company positives
• Encourage sales leads
• Providing support
• For promotions and specials.
• Directing people to your other social media outposts

This may seem overwhelming, but isn’t. You can speed up your social media education by watching how other companies are utilising twitter as part of their social media strategy. We will be covering some of the top businesses in future posts on this blog.

There are three main methods that businesses use twitter. I’ll be writing about the positives and negatives of each one.

Encourage employees to use it

Positive:

• It can make your workplace feel more like a community. People in different parts of the office can follow other peoples tweets
• They can share the exciting things they are doing at your business
• You can show the personalities behind the brand. Each twitter user has the potential to find their own following and can spread the message further

Negatives:

• People may tweet sensitive information about your brand. You should provide a set of social media guidelines so they know what is, and isn’t allowed.
• People may spend too much time on social media sites. You should encourage them to use social media during work hours but will need to set limits

Get an account for the person behind the brand

Positive:

• It can give people the chance to see the main personality behind the brand
• It will ensure that news about the brand comes from a really trustworthy source
• In a crisis, you can ensure that you are the go to person for consumers. Some company representatives have gone straight onto twitter after a press conference.

Negatives:

• It may be hard to keep up with the number of replies. This may lead to getting overwhelmed
• People may feel slighted if you don’t respond to them

Create a branded account to tweet from.

Positives

• You can have multiple people tweeting from the same account. This can result in a constant stream of information as it isn’t dependent on one persons schedule
• You have more scope to use inclusive language. This is really useful for community building
• You can have the same consistent image across multiple social media outposts

Negatives

• People may get attached to the people behind the brand. This can cause problems should they move on.
• People may doubt that they are talking to a real person and may be worried they are talking to a social media firm. (At Think tank, we work hard to ensure this doesn’t happen. On one campaign, my friend and colleague didn’t even realise that it was me tweeting him)
• It can seem impersonal and self promotional. Rather than constantly talking about yourself, make sure to focus on the community.

Ways to make contact with the consumer

There are many ‘entry points’ to make contact with your customer. In some cases, they will initiate the conversation by sending an @reply and opting in to read your tweets.

In this section, I’ll be discussing four ways you can make the first contact with the people that are already talking about your brand.

When they tweet something negative about you

When someone goes to social media to complain, they are usually very frustrated. This is a really good time to approach the customer but it has to be done in a way that doesn’t alienate them.

So, how do you respond to them in a tactful way?

• Publicly apologise – even if simply saying you are sorry they feel that way
• Offer to look into a problem personally. This isn’t always possible but it puts a face to the solution
• If possible, add a bit of humour. Sometimes, people don’t know that their tweets are being watched and genuinely didn’t mean to offend
• Thank them. In many cases, the issue will give you a way to improve something. Make them feel they are part of the process.

When they tweet something negative about the competition

The emotion behind the tweet in this situation is similar to the above example. However, they may be very wary of getting ‘pitched.’ If you want to target these people, you should be very cautious.

• Say your sorry to hear about the problems they are having
• Mention a solution that you think may help them – even if that solution doesn’t give you business
• Behave like a person and a brand. People often get upset because they feel like a faceless consumer rather than a real person.

When they something positive about you.

If they are complimenting you on twitter, they are probably complimenting you in real life. If you show them that you are paying attention they will continue to talk about your brand.

Tips to encourage this:

• Retweet the top compliments.
• DM those who have complimented you
• Highlight other social media sites – like blogs – where people have said positive things
• Reward those who have consistently supported your brand.

When they are looking for more information about your service

People in this case are very much in ‘buy’ mode. You can take advantage of this but the customer may feel annoyed at you later if they regret an impulse buy. In this case, you should provide as much value and encourage them to make informed brand comparisons.

How to do this:

• Have a collection of links with reviews and product comparisons on standby. They will appreciate the time they saved by not having to do the research themselves
• Ask them details that will inform your recommendation. Check out their profile and their blog, if time permits. You can then make personal comments about their needs and interests.
• Occasionally, offer them a special deal or tell them a way to find out about extra promotions.
• Offer to help them throughout the buying process.

Over to you:

This article was designed to give you an overview of how you can engage with your clients. I excluded a lot of information because I didn’t want to overwhelm you. I’ll be expanding on many of the concepts in future blog posts. This is where you come in.

What would you like to read more about? Do you want specific case studies? Would you rather a list of businesses that are successfully utilising this space?

Let us know in the comments section. If I wont be writing about it, I’ll try to help you through my twitter account – www.twitter.com/jadecraven.

The wonderful world of the web these days (WEB2.0) enables us non techies (well that’s just me in the Thinktank Media team!!! ) to control our websites, blogs and social networking sites without the constant assistance of our web developer. FREEDOM! From updating content, adding applications and inserting pictures…we thank you Web2.0!

The purpose of this post is to share some top widgets (pieces of code) that you can add to your blog/website/social networking site to interlink them with Facebook and Twitter. The more you share ways to connect with your target market the easier it is for them to keep up to speed on what you are up to…..and just as importantly, the more you can listen and provide… connecting back with them.

So here they are peeps!

Twitter: 

These widgets named below let you display Twitter updates on your website/blog or social network page

Simply choose where you would like to include it, then embed the nifty piece of code – hey presto …..a visual badge or stream will appear.

Here’s the link : http://twitter.com/goodies/widgets

BUT WAIT….there’s more….

FACEBOOK :

From personal profile widgets such as profile badges and photo badges (new app) to website and business widgets, fan box, live stream box and page badge – these pieces of code assist you to open up the doors to connect even further!

Check out the latest free widgets on offer here from the facebook widgets store!

http://www.facebook.com/facebook-widgets/index.php

We just love making things super easy for you at Thinktank Media, please hit us up if there is something you want to know re: website/blog/social media and social networking platforms….we’d love to write a post here to help you and I trust heaps of other biz heads out too.

Was this helpful?

Wowzers, what a juicy month this is turning out to be. 

Being a huge fan of www.search.twitter.com to engage with my target market (real time ), has been a big step up in building up strong relationships and interacting with people who really want to “get this space” ….. leading to some healthy business. Search.twitter is so bloody fantastic as it’s not just about talking in this space, it’s about listening, engaging and then providing outstanding quality.

Now facebook is onto it too (no surprises there) . By Facebook opening up their search, this is only adding to the mix of  social media engagement and building a solid strategy.It now allows people  that want to engage,  like me,  to go in and search the key words relevant to their business . It then gives us the opportunity to start to talk to people, making conversation and interacting! Hugely powerful, considering facebook has a healthy number of users…commenting every second of the day. 

You can either utilise this by typing into your search box – ( in the top right hand corner) , a key word. Say for example I am a florist. I could type in eg. flowers – and then see everyone who is talking about flowers. From here I simply look to the left hand side of my page and will see “post by friends” and “post by everybody”.

If you click “post by friends” then it will pull up every single person talking about flowers, in your friend list. You can then see by their status who’s saying what. This option gives you a very warm introduction to start engaging.

You will also see a “post by everyone”. You can then see everyone who is talking about flowers – fantastic to engage with new people (non-friends). The limitation right now with this is, compared to search.twitter,  you can’t engage with these people if they are not your friends.

Also, this function is  not available on “business pages” (fan pages) yet, however I’m guessing facebook has this coming very soon as it will be a huge string to their business bow!

I can’t wait for this to roll out, as it will certainly be  a huge part to our social media engagement strategy. Search engagement is extremely powerful and big cats like twitter and facebook are on the ball, making it easier for us to interact specifically with who we want to! Woooharrr!

What are your thoughts here?

I’ve been presenting at quite a few big companies recently.Social Media is hot on the tongues of many organisations and businesses… the main question:

• “how can we utilise the power of social media within our marketing strategy”.

Another question that gets asked frequently:

• “is there any way we can update all these social networking sites from one place” “can we upload content from one place instead of going into individual sites”?

How many times have you gone into your individual sites to update or upload content? From facebook to twitter to flickr….phew, it can be pretty time consuming.

I know there are quite a few sites out there like ping.fm and Hello Txt where you can update your status from one point AND organise your feeds, yet this platform really does cut the mustard.

Introducing FEEDALIZR… it’s a very powerful platform.  Not only can you update your status to multiple social networking sites…you can also upload content to feedalizr, it then pumps it out to the most popular social networking sites. I’ve found it to be easy to install and simple to use, once you have hooked it up with your social networking sites… then notice how much time you have left in the day to invest within other marketing tasks.

Go try for yourself….. http://www.feedalizr.com/

Thanks to Matt bannon for introducing me to this @ttam

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Great guns!!! I’m writing this post as a huge amount of feedback i’m gaining right now from my speaking gigs is : What the heck is the RT button on twitter for!

For all the newbees out there an RT is a retweet on twitter. Now what does this mean I hear you say??

We all like a good old RT (retweet) at times on twitter hey! It’s a way of showing your followers you rate the link or comment plus it adds credibility to the person being RTed too!

So why RT?

• You like the content/link and want to share it with your followers
• To show a twitter follower you think they add value
• To gain attention of the person that put out the tweet – (I sometimes RT to create awareness of who I am to the person/business I want attention from! I then personally @ or DM the person afterwards to heat the relationship up a little!)
• If the post is about you or your business
• To assist a client/friend in sharing their content
• RT someone’s question to help them out and share the question with a wider range of people.
• When someone RT’s your tweet

There are many reasons people RT on twitter. I pumped out the question earlier and here’s what my top twitterers and Facebook fans had to say:

So there it is team! Straight from  top tweeples mouths!

If you for some reason are not following this top crew above then hit their buttons now:

@kirsty_wilson @alblack @AKAVirtualPA @_MikeKennedy @nsmale @DanielOyston @dwinter @graemebowman @BusinessDIY @jadecraven @karenmorris @neilcreek @naomieve @alaksir @RWBEagle @andrewlituak @vanillasuicide @iggypintado @AndrewBlanda @JTActiveMgmt

If there are any other RT functions that we’ve not mentioned here then please share share in the comments section!

I trust this gets your twitter engines revving, now go put the RT button into action!

New to twitter, let us help you get started! Click here