Twitter

@steverubel, SVP/Director of Insight, Edelman Digital

Sites with no social interactivity component will soon be at a disadvantage.

Who should Twitter buy? Possible suggestions: FriendFeed, TweetDeck, Seesmic, Hootsuite/CoTweet, 37 Signals, Payment Solution, Bit.ly, Twittercounter. There is also the possibility of partnerships with NGOs, government, and social networks.

Twitter can/may make money on premium apps

There is NO threat to Twitter except

1. Facebook (maybe) and
2. Scaleability (probably not)

The only possible Twitter acquirers are Google and Microsoft. No one else.

Another important conclusion: Twitter as a sentiment engine.

Resource: awesome future of Twitter mindmap.

@anamitra, Project Management, Twitter

“The more commonplace it is to make a living from Twitter, the better it is for the platform.”

Engineering staff has been working through the night every weekend to fix stuff.
Dedicated to supporting the app community.

Twitter may soon have a paid version for businesses — accounts for individuals will still be free.

Twitter is like an onion: the more you peel, the more you find.

Speakers

• Richard Brewer-Hay, Chief Blogger, eBay (@ESBAle)
• Jeanette Gibson, Director of New Media, Cisco (@JeanetteG)
• Brian Solis, Principal, FutureWorks (@briansolis)

Do you need a corporate Twitter policy/strategy manual? YES. This manual should help people gain a sense of how to interact with the Twitter community that you create. Outline when a question or issue should be directed to another department. Discuss best practices as far as what to tweet, when to tweet, engaging your followers, etc.

Right now, when it comes to social media, there’s more action and jumping right in than strategy.

Compare Twitter/social media to bartending: the trick is to get workers to be enthusiastic and stay unique.

@shelisrael, author of Twitterville

Twitterville is about the marketing efficiency of social media.

@Armon & Danielle
Crowded home
Asked ‘hood for help
Raised $6500 in just a few days
Used a formula developed by Beth Kanter
Establishes a sense of urgency

@StaceyMonk & Mama Lucy
Tanzania
Guest blog
Tweetsgiving

@CasperODJ China Quake
Skype folks
Szechwan
1st Wstrn rprt

@jkrums & Flight 1549
Just wants to get to NJ
iPhone, TwitPic and tweet
MSNBC in 20 mins
Braided journalism

Speakers

• Beth Mansfield, PR Manager, Carl’s Jr. (@bethmansfield)
• Mike Prasad, Brand/New Media Director, Kogi BBQ (@mikeprasad)
• Stefanie Nelson, Marketing, Dell Outlet (@DellOutlet)

Measuring ROI

Tracking URLs (bit.ly) to track clickthroughs
Tracking RTs
If you talk about it, chances are other people will talk about it, too

Speakers

• MC Hammer (@mchammer)
• Stefanie Michaels, Adventure Girl (@adventuregirl)

Name recognition is a key factor (hence why Tweeps follow celebrities)
Sometimes, ghost writers may not be the most effective way to manage your Twitter account
MC Hammer on ghosting in Twitter: “If I’m suddenly accessible on Twitter, and it’s not me, that defeats the purpose.”

How do you deal with Twitter squatters?

Speakers

• Jeremy Pepper, PR Manager, Boingo Wireless (@jspepper)
• Ed Terpening, VP of Social Media Marketing, Wells Fargo (@EdTerpening)
• Frank Eliason, Director of Digital Care, Comcast (@comcastcares)

People don’t go to Twitter for customer service. Customer service goes to them via Twitter.

40% of twitterers say the way a brand utilizes twitter affects perception of brand.

Best tools for customer service on Twitter:

• PeopleBrowsr
• Radian6

@CoTweet
Giving out free invites for anyone who signs up for the beta version today. Excited to try this out for the @miis account!

@operationsmile
Non-profit running the campaign #140smiles as a case study for fundraising using Twitter. Check out 140smiles.com. Tweet that you are involved in the campaign and encourage your followers to become involved.

@Peoplebrowsr
Web-based Twitter client designed for community and brand managers and Twitter power users. The fundamental difference between PeopleBrowsr and other Twitter clients is that what you see on the screen is only the tip of the iceberg. You can search only people you are following, or only DMs, or only tweets from your followers.

@hootsuite
Web-based tabbed Twitter client that allows you to create groups. Supports RSS integration, builtin URL shortening, and rich stats.

@jobaba
On demand local business directory accessible via tweeting.

@tweetfunnel
A web-based app that lets multiple people (contributors & publishers) post from a single Twitter account.

Speakers

• Porter Gale, VP of Marketing, Virgin American (@VirginAmerica)
• Seth Greenburg, director, Online Advertising & Internet Media, Intuit (@turbotax)
• Jeramie McPeek, VP of Interactive Services, Phoenix Suns (@PhoenixSuns)
• Vicky Harres Akers, Director of Audience Development, PR Newswire (@prnewswire)

Use Twitter to put a face on a brand
Brands are on Twitter because their audience is already there
Consider where to find YOUR audience: are they on Facebook? Twitter?
Virgin America now has WiFi onboard, so you can tweet from 35,000 feet!
Cool use of Twitter: Virgin America passenger didn’t get meal, tweeted about it. Virgin saw it, messaged pilot, passenger served.
Guest service expectations are changing because Twitter is real-time (=fast!)
Channels are changing in order to manage these expectations

A Day in the Cloud Challenge

• Virgin America will team up with Google to run an interactive scavenger hunt
• June 24
• For people who want to see how technology is changing their life
• Can win air travel
• #dayinthecloud

Takeaways

• It’s easy to launch a blog or jump on other social media efforts — but WHY are you doing it?
• Word of mouth marketing is the best kind of marketing you can get; Twitter IS word of mouth marketing>
• Be authentic and active
• Find your customers and fish where the fish are; find people interested in your brand and follow them

@guykawasaki (Co-founder, Alltop)

• “Not having a business model is the new business model.”
• Spam is considered a delicacy in Hawaii
• If you’re following someone on Twitter, it’s not spam if you decide you don’t like their tweets
• Name 1 business and 1 non-profit with a breakthrough strategy on Twitter: Comcast (@comcastcares) and Mayo Clinic (@mayoclinic)
• Will Facebook status updates or Google Wave pose competition to Twitter?

What is Buzz?

• Word of mouth
• Tell a friend
• Viral marketing

The source has to be reliable and authoritative, and the message must be authentic.

Proven fact: blog posts with lots of comments get more comments. Digg submissions with a high Digg count (combined with a catchy headline and summary) get Dugg before the content is viewed (even if the content is never viewed).

The Cost of Creating Buzz

• Tools are cheap, but the return on investment requires significant time because of the need to build trust and relationships. An hour per day for at least six months of cultivation is required.
• Heartfelt and sincere appeals can work just as effectively as the wildly popular humorous ones.
• Begin by building relationships first before asking or appealing for anything.
• Be a good member of your community by promoting the work of others as much as you do your own. You don’t want to appear as a spammer who only talks about his/her latest posts or site content.
• Just like around the water cooler, memes or themes will develop in online communities.

Remember: Being awesome is the best way to SEEM awesome. The cool factor cannot be underestimated when building buzz.

Tools

• Twitter
• Digg
• StumbleUpon
• FriendFeed

Things to Consider

• Why are you using it?
• Who will use it?
• How will you know you are succeeding?

Set up your accounts to reflect the answers to these questions.

Twitter

Meet people – Have conversations – Make it easy
Listening is a big part of creating buzz.

Twitter Tools

TwitterFeed
Tweetscan
TweetStats

StumbleUpon

Watch me, watch what I like, and recommend new content for me.
Rate your favorite pages, StumbleUpon will recommend similar content it thinks you will like.
Make friends, be consistent, generosity rules.

Digg

News aggregator, much bigger community than StumbleUpon.

• Form an action group of those on campus (staff, faculty, students!) interested in Twitter and other social media
• Hold a Twitter sandbox
  • Show how easy it is; how little time it takes
  • Showcase tools to make it even easier: TweetDeck, twhirl, Firefox extensions
• Ask folks who are active on Yammer to consider posting on Twitter
• Encourage these new Twitterers to tweet about work projects but also their personal interests — these Twitter accounts need personality and a face behind them
• Emphasize the need to follow others: find counterparts at other higher ed institutions, people with similar personal interests, anyone you find interesting
• Stress importance of having conversations on Twitter
  • If someone has a question about obtaining a visa, and you are qualified to answer — go for it! Link them to the video you made or the blog post you wrote!
  • Your conversations don’t directly have to benefit MIIS; they can establish your credibility and help craft your digital personality/identity.
• Listen to Twitter chatter: assign people specific listening areas/terms that are relevant to them and have them monitor conversations regarding these topics
• Use Google Alerts/Twitter Search
  • Possible search terms: MBA, Monterey, policy, MIIS, Monterey Institute, translation, interpretation, translate, interpret, language, language teaching, language education, localization management, TESOL, grad school, financial aid, visas
• By summer, brainstorm goals and tactical approaches
• Determine which tool(s) best suit what we want to accomplish
• Develop standard operating procedure for the Twitter team
• Audience: 2010 enrollment targets(?)

Assigned Reading

Definition of Social Media by Liz Strauss
A Primer on Social Media by Jocelyn Harmon
Is Web 2.0 Software You Purchase from Microsoft and other Stupid Questions You Might Be Afraid to Ask by Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog

Reflection

The concept of social media may be relatively new to key decision-makers at MIIS. Rob and I must consider how we will introduce Twitter and explain why becoming part of the Twitterverse is so important.

Explaining Twitter to those unacquainted with the service is no easy task. Since microblogging is still relatively new, it is often misunderstood by those who are tech-savvy. I would compare Twitter to a blog, but also stress the fact that each “entry” is limited to 140 characters. These Twitter updates (or “tweets”) are much shorter than a normal blog entry; therefore, it will take much less time to prepare and update Twitter than to maintain a normal blog.

I would begin by showing examples of how other higher ed institutions are using Twitter:

• Google Doc: Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom
  The number of interesting ways is always evolving as more educators contribute to the list.

 

• Twitter @ Butler University
  These blog entries were written by Brad J. Ward, former e-communications director at Butler.

 

• Top 10 Higher-Ed Web Design Mistakes in 140
  Stewart Foss of eduStyle recently used Twitter to compile a list of the top 10 higher ed web design mistakes.

Twitter can be used in many different ways, so we should have an audience/focus in mind before we present our idea to the key decision-makers. Because the Monterey Institute is so small, I think it would be wise to begin with only one Twitter account (as opposed to some schools who have a separate Twitter name for admissions, athletics, etc.).

Finally, we must show the decision-makers how easy it will be to implement. We will have to decide who will have access to the MIIS Twitter account (probably more than one person) and how often they will be responsible for posting. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, we can provide examples of appropriate tweets. Each tweet should serve a purpose (such as promoting an event, announcing a deadline change, introducing a new MIIS employee, and so on).

In order to be successful on Twitter, we will also need to keep track of who is tweeting about MIIS and follow up with them if needed (I especially believe this after reading Ten 10 Reasons to Monitor Twitter as a University or College). “Following” people who follow MIIS on Twitter will also increase our credibility and help expand our Twitter network.