Making Use of Twitter’s Hashtag #
Making Use of Twitter’s Hashtag ‘ # ‘
Hashtag…sounds like something out of the 60’s that a certain group of people may have been overly familiar with. Today, however, the # — hashtag is a very important Twitter trending tool.
When you tweet about something important to your business, using a hashtag in that tweet will take you beyond your followers to the Twitterverse where other Tweeps search for content, connections and trending topics.
For instance, I went up to the search bar in Twitter and put #leadgeneration and a page worth of tweets popped up for me to review where other put in their tweet #leadgeneration. Because I want to follow that hashtag, I saved it as a search. Now all I have to do is go to my saved searches and click on that when I want to see what is trending in lead generation.
There are free apps that will do this too. A simple one that I have saved to my bookmark bar is www.hashtags.org. What I like about Hashtags.org is that they have a trending graph attached to the page so you can see how that topic is trending within a span of time.
Hashtag Tips:
- Don’t go hashtag crazy, tweeps! A couple of hashtags in a tweet will be fine, but tagging every word is just annoying.
- Hashtags make an excellent event tracker. Come up with a unique hashtag for your meeting or event then encourage people to tweet with that tag. At the end of the event you will see how your event trended with the participants. Very cool!
- Twitter has a great tutorial on their site for hashtag use: https://support.twitter.com/articles/49309-what-are-hashtags-symbols
So, if you are looking for content ideas, or scouring the web for competitive data or just really interested in a topic within the Twitterverse, hashtags are the way to go. Simple, useful and maybe a great way to connect with thought leaders on the topics that interest you most.
Tips and Tools You Can Use: Rapportive Social CRM Google App
I started using a truly functional app with my gmail account that I want to share with you. If you haven’t heard of Rapportive, then listen up because I’m in love. Really, I want to date Rapportive. In testing a few new apps, I installed Rapportive to my gmail account and now I feel like gmail has become 1000% more functional for me and my business.
Rapportive is a simple to use social CRM add on to your existing gmail accounts. It allows you to see the social connections that people have made public directly on the email template of the opened email. It is a seamless add on that will increase your ability to connect and communicate with your contacts.
CrunchBase gives a very simple overview of the app:
Rapportive shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox.
You can immediately see what people look like, where they’re based, and what they do. You can establish rapport by mentioning shared interests. You can grow your network by connecting on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more. And you can record thoughts for later by leaving notes.
Why I love it: the functionality of growing my community and connecting immediately.
When I open an email the app instantly connects that email address to any publically shared information that has been associated with it. Here’s a copy of my email synced with Rapportive.
It shows my tweets, posts, info synced from LinkedIn and so much more. When someone receives an email from me, if they have the app, this is what they see. If we aren’t connected via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or other sites, right from the email screen they can follow or connect with me. Brilliant!
Thank you Rapportive, for creating a free social CRM app that works seamlessly. You have made my life better.
Image: kanate / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
3 Must Haves for a New Media Plan: Engaging prospects and customers with new media
3 Must Haves for a New Media Plan: Engaging prospects and customers with new media
New media may not be so new anymore. It is really a comprehensive approach to creating rich content and strategic use and placement of that content for prospects and customers alike. Where are you and how easy is it for your prospects and customers to find you? The granddaddy of media locations is a website, but a website alone will not engage you with you prospects and customers. In order to choose which media outlets you should actively participate in, you need a strategy that is broader than ‘build it and they will come’.
Just because you build it, they will NOT come! Many companies believe their investment in a flashy website will instantly drive traffic to their website and convert browsers to shoppers but that is most definitely not the case. While an appropriately laid out website is a substantial part of the plan, the ‘design’ of the site isn’t what Google, Yahoo and Bing are crawling. When was the last time you did a website audit to determine the effective nature of your design, content and accessibility of your site? A website is the red door on your community. It is not just a corporate portfolio and online brochure. Web designers often attract their customers by their design skill, but design elements are secondary to the strategy.
Here are 3 Must Haves for a New Media Plan
1. Dynamic SEO
The underlying strategy for your online presence should include ONGOING search engine optimization. Browsers often search for informative terms where as a buyer has already performed the informative search and is moving toward decision focused searches. This customer maturity will adjust keyword phrases and your strategy should provide both levels of research to better accommodate the position your prospects and customers are in. As a customer segment becomes more educated their search terms change and so should your keyword profiles.
2. Dynamic Marketing Content Strategy
In the same way you keyword phrases may change, so will your new media strategy. A foundational marketing plan will have the ability to flux as media opportunities arise. You may not need video at the onset of a project but as you move further through the funnel, it may become necessary to implement a video component. The key to a dynamic marketing strategy is to tie your products, overall business objectives and specialties to a comprehensive content development and production plan.
3. Active Customer Engagement Strategy
With solid SEO and dynamic content you have two pieces of your media plan that tie into an over arching customer engagement strategy that will guide and direct all aspects of your new media involvement.
The content and customer engagement strategy will include placement and participation in the appropriate social media sites, metrics and evaluations for change and adoption of relevant material and finally a comprehensive customer touchpoint strategy. Without the above strategies, your involvement in social media is just noise, and unfortunately that is all most businesses are today.
In our next series of posts we will take a deep dive into each of these factors as they relate to specific verticals. Thanks for reading and as always, your comments are welcomed.
Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Customer Engagement for Restaurants: 4 Quick Tips
One of the toughest industries in the US? Yep. Lot’s of competition? Yep. Will you be successful without a customer engagement strategy using social media? Maybe. Can social media help you? Absolutely.
Today a restaurant without a social media presence is missing a huge opportunity to engage with its customers. But that doesn’t mean that you should just plop up a Facebook page and hope for the best. It is not ‘build it and they will come’ with regards to social media and customer engagement. You must have a strategy for engaging with your customers. Here are 4 tips to engage with your customers:
- At a minimum, sign up for and monitor your Yelp and Foursquare accounts. Location based services or social check-in platforms are becoming even more popular with diners. Not so much for discounts and coupons but to be seen as socially active and hip by your friends. Every time a diner checks into one of these services, the check-in is posted to their social profiles notifying their friends of their location. In addition, socially active diners will write their own reviews and comments, which further encourage their friends and followers to check that place out.
- Establish a Twitter account and tweet out your daily specials. You can also give your followers Twitter Only deals. This is a fun way to engage and track the effectiveness of your participation on Twitter. It’s also very effective with your regulars.
- Set up a Facebook Page and do weekly reviews of your favorite food items. If possible, take current photos of those dishes and upload them with your comments. A great way to entice your diners on Facebook is to highlight special ingredients, unique flavors and special preparations. Highlight the friendly atmosphere, or ambiance, or excellent staff. If you have a bar, make sure to feature a cocktail and promote your bartenders. Whatever you do, don’t ignore your page. Post daily, every couple of days or weekly as a last option.
- Short YouTube clips of how your chef prepares an item can also be a huge draw for your restaurant. People love cooking shows and how to segments. Take one of your special items and film a short how to about it. Don’t worry; you don’t have to be Spielberg. A flip cam or your IPhone will work just fine. Most important thing is to feature the food, steady the camera and speak slowly and clearly.
These four ways to use social media will engage your customers, connect them to your restaurant and keep you at the front of the list next time they are deciding where to eat.
Oh, and make sure your website, your menu’s, table signs etc. have your social media contact information on them so customers start connecting right away.
Image: Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
