Do's and Dont's in Twitter

Last week I was reading some articles from enthusiasts and consultants on how they perceive Twitter and its effectiveness.Interestingly every body wants twitter to take over from them the job which they were doing for years.’Marketing ‘ Be it personal branding or its Corporate dossier every body wants Twitter to make a revolution just by their presence or the brand’s presence in social media.Some are even worse in making a one sided advertisement about their service and solutions ,interestingly I noted those accounts never interact nor Acknowledge for RTs.The basic concept of being in Twitter gets a different face when users start using it for a purpose which it is not meant for!

For example Dell runs its Customer support through Twitter ,it resolves or escalates the services rendered through Twitter,that’s an interesting process which Dell follows and it emulates the market to follow it too.Imagine if a PC manufacturer doesn’t respond to the issues and only markets about his new Model of Notebooks,The customer will evidently decide about the after sales support even before entering in to the family.The impact of Twitter for Marketing is impeccable and its enormous when it takes a perfect foreseen model and when its closely Monitored .I have tried to bring certain aspects of Dos and Donts in Twitter which as a customer/Consumer/User Would and wouldn’t prefer brands to do it.

1.First understand how Twitter works,Dont take it for granted about the options available with Twitter.

2.Gone are the days of Authoritative marketing/One sided Marketing.Understand the new generation.Dont get in to an argument.

3.Participate and listen the customers.Critics are omnipresent and never ignore them.

4.Dont aim at Followers,Followers will reach you if your presence is felt.

5.Acknowledge your followers and people who Retweets your contents.

6.Never give a sales pitch in the Twitter,Don’t try to sell your product.

7.Understand Sales is different from Marketing.Customer is just trying to know your product ,he hasn’t decided to buy it.

8 .Do not look like a Fake account,Give importance to your home page.

9.Bring your employees to Twitter and make them know the relevance and importance of the presence.

10.Twitter is for networking,if your not networking then your goal is not working.

Read about Jef Raskin

One of the Pioneers in silicon Valley,known as the father of Macintosh project Jef Raskin was with apple Inc till he moved after a indifference with Maverick Steve Jobs

Click Jef Raskin

Ignite Chennai Edition II

I had an oppurtunity to attend Ignite Chennai Edition II which belongs to O'Reilly event organised by Thought works Inc .The agenda is to spread ideas and through presentations and they have screened 150 entries and selected 20.20 presentations 5 mins each ,strictly 5 mins ( some try to work on their Elapsed minutes but audience ignored) .Your idea can be any thing be it love,Media,Marketing,NGO or your personal branding .Kiruba was a guest speaker who spoke about Unconferences.My brother Shivaram had a serious topic to present about Marketing.

Interestingly the thoughtworks people had enormous amount of energy to organise this event and it was astounding to note their involvement as an organisation to promote the idea generation and presentation.Just that I noted that the refining of the presentations were needed because that 5 mins were key and many left the grip in first two mins and they started rushing in the last minute.

All along it was good to be at a place where some team work is happening

Indian retail business -Social media marketing

Its very difficult to see a retail business in India using a social media effectively.Media Houses use their Editors and news anchors to increase their TRPs and hitrates,but apart from them the retail business have been very dormant in using social media sales strategies.Indian corporate budget for 09-10 will have almost no scope for social media .I hope Retail companies bring up bucks for social media in 10-11 which is not very far.

Shoppers stop use their analytics for online reviews and feedbacks but for I don’t see any Indian brand bring up their presence in social media.Shoppers stop integrate Twitter and facebook for promoting their ownbrands and other brands.They bring up photos in facebook column to make it a visiual ad.Adidas use their multi name twitter accounts to bring up the products and events they participate and tips.Future group who are very agressively expanding has almost no presence in social media.Its all user formed groups which are yet to be validated.

Twitter.Facebook allows lots of features which these companies can use up in bringing a effective way to reach out to consumers.For example the new brands of Pantaloons and their display can be brought in Facebook and the Big Bazaar offers can be messaged,Brand Factory price slashes can be informed.What ultimately the companies get is the way to make the consumers get used with Online Shopping which is in a very very infant stage.The main reason for this is reliability on the brand.Consumer wants to buy known and proven brands through online in India.The touch and feel factor has effected the buying experience here.

How effective it will be to have consumers informed about the Levis jeans 50% discount sales in Lifestyle and what if they have the option to buy online during the end of seasons sale.There is online purchase through their websites.But do we visit their websites like Amazon or Ebay .The problem these companies don’t succeed in online shopping till these days is because of lack of information.Lack of two way communication,lack of presence in a clutter.

I am not sure when Indian retail business will wake up for social media strategy.

Request

If any one has suggestions /Presentation/ebooks on Social Media for Technology/Consulting business kindly email @kkarthikmail@gmail.com.This would be greatly helpful for a project .

Study: Inc. 500 Companies Fast Adopters of Social Media

The nation's fastest-growing private companies are making use of social media -- including blogs, social networking and podcasts -- at a rate more than twice that of Fortune 500 companies, according to a new study.
The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth's Center for Marketing Research surveyed companies from the 2006 Inc. 500 list, to gauge the level of familiarity and usage of six forms of social media -- blogging, podcasting, online video, social networking and wikis. Out of 121 respondents, generally managers and other senior-level executives, 42 percent claimed to be "very familiar" with social networking, followed by 38 percent with message boards and 31 percent with blogging.
Across the board, respondents were familiar with all types of social media, including 16 percent being very familiar with wikis, which are typically a lesser-known type of social media on average.Companies were also asked about their actual usage of the various types of social media, and message boards had the highest adoption rate at 33 percent, followed closely by social networking at 27 percent. Blogging had a lower percentage of usage among respondents at 19 percent, and podcasting was the type of social media with the lowest adoption rate at 11 percent.

"These responses are surprising and will likely shock even the most fervent believer in social media," Nora Ganim Barnes, director of the Center for Marketing Research and a leader of the study, said in a statement. "They indicate that corporate familiarity and usage of social media is racing far ahead of what many have predicted."
These results contrast with previous research that found only 8 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a public blog. The purpose of the study, which was not conducted at the request or on behalf of Inc. magazine or Inc.com, was to see if there was a difference in the knowledge and usage of social media in companies selected by growth rather than revenue. The respondents represented a wide range of the Inc. 500 and were diverse in terms of industry, size, and location. Four respondents were in the top 10 of the list, seven were in the top 25 and 22 held one of the top 100 spots.
Additionally, a majority of the Inc. 500 companies acknowledged the critical role that social media plays for their future success, with two out of three respondents indicating that it is "very important" or "somewhat important" to their business and marketing strategies. A breakdown of the results shows that 26 percent deemed it "very important" while 40 percent thought it was "somewhat important."
"For those of us who have been following fast-growth companies for years, it's no surprise that they would be at the forefront of using innovative technologies to enhance their visibility, marketing, and interaction with other companies," said Edward Sussman, senior vice president of Mansueto Ventures, the publisher of Inc. and Inc.com.
Inc. will expand the list 10-fold this year, to become the first-ever Inc. 5,000, ranking the nation's 5,000 fastest-growing private companies.

Source: http://www.inc.com/news/articles/200702/social.html

Top 5 Blogging Misconceptions

This is a post by Bob Bessette.

Source :http://www.dailyblogtips.com

1. If you write it they will come…

No, not really. It’s more like, If you promote it they might come. You could be writing the most fantastic blog on earth but if no one knows about it why bother? It’s almost like the old saying, “If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did it make a sound?” You simply have to get the word out there that you are living and breathing amid the blogosphere. I’m doing that through this guest post. I am not doing this out of the goodness of my heart or because I like Daniel. I am writing this guest post because Daniel has something that I want; a HUGE readership.

2. People will read because of my great writing

Don’t get me wrong, I think that great writing is a prerequisite of a successful blogger but your readers aren’t reading your blog because you write well. There are bookshelves filled with books at any Barnes and Noble or Borders written by great writers. The most important lesson that a blogger has to learn is that you MUST deliver value to your readers. The reason Daily Blog Tips is successful is that Daniel delivers value to the reader and has done this consistently through the years. When you write a blog you must have your audience in mind. That is why it is very important to get to know your readers which can be done through interaction in the comments. Responding directly to the comments of your readers is very powerful. It builds a relationship and trust that can be nurtured with time. You will also begin to understand the profile of your readers which can go a long way to developing posts which are helpful to them. If that reader likes what you have to say, he or she may tell someone else or maybe even link to you in their blog if they have one.

3. Other bloggers will always be willing to help

To be totally honest, I have found that about 90% of fellow bloggers are very helpful. But there are some out there who feel you are the competition or maybe they don’t feel you are worthy of being helped. I could never understand that. If someone asks for my help I would gladly give it to them when it comes to blogging. I will never look at this as a competitive endeavor, but a nurturing one.

4. You will start making money right away

This could be true if you already have a following from either another blog or a NY Times bestseller book that you just wrote. There are two schools of thought on monetizing your blog. Some say to wait until you have a decent readership before you add any Adsense or advertising on your blog. Others say it’s OK to start the blog off with advertising. My take is to wait until you have a following before you monetize your blog. It may just turn people off early on and that is the last thing you want to do. Either way, it will take a while before you have a large following and with that you may be able to make some money through advertising. But, the majority of bloggers don’t make money. So if you started blogging to make money instead of having a real passion for your writing, you may want to reconsider.

5. It’s easy to blog

Actually it requires a lot of work. If you have a full-time job and are blogging on the side, finding the time to write is tough. And, if you don’t put in the time, it will show in your content. I enjoy the process immensely but that still doesn’t mean it’s easy. To build a following you also have to be consistent in your writing. You can’t just post a blog at random intervals. That’s the quickest way to lose any readers that you may have. If your readers like your posts then they expect them to be there on a regular basis. Try to stick with a regular posting interval. If you state your posting interval in your “About” page, then make sure you meet your deadlines.

Blogging can be a tremendously rewarding experience. Being able to communicate with a diverse group of people from anywhere in the world is truly mind-boggling. Understanding some of the misconceptions out there related to blogging can help you get off to the right start. Knowing what to expect ahead of time may save you a lot of wasted time and energy.

Good luck in your blogging endeavors!

Bob Bessette writes a blog called Totally Unique Life. His blog is geared toward practical advice and strategies for life, work, and play.