435 Digital » Twitter

What We’re Reading: iPad Minis, Endangered Offices, and Facebook Funnies

Julie DiCaro — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 15:02:46 +0000

Despite it being Columbus Day, the 435 Digital team is already hard at work this morning, making sure that our clients have the best digital marketing campaigns around.

Here’s a quick look at what we’re reading today:

The internet is all abuzz this morning about Apple’s iPad Mini. Will it be even more popular than the iPad?

Chatter from Apple’s overseas supply chain indicates that the company has not been cutting corners in its efforts to keep the iPad’s diminutive sibling price-competitive with what will surely be its two greatest rivals in the seven-inch tablet space, Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Apple’s “we just want to make great products” ethos will be as evident in the iPad mini as it is in all the company’s hardware.
Tokepa analyst Brian White, who’s been travelling around Taipei talking to component suppliers, says the mini — or whatever Apple chooses to call it — may even be slicker than the new iPad.
“Apple did not skimp on the aesthetics of the much anticipated ‘iPad Mini,’” White says. “In fact, we believe the ‘iPad Mini’ could outshine the new iPad in terms of how the device feels in a consumer’s hands.”

Will the iPad Mini be sleek enough (and cheap enough) to compete with the Kindle Fire? We’ll soon know. The iPad Mini is expected to be available soon (one rumor says October 10th!) and will retail for around $299.

How many of the things in your office are on Linked In’s Office Endangered Species list?

LinkedIn today is illustrating this trend as part of its “Office Endangered Species,” study of more than 7,000 professionals that looked at what office tools and trends will most likely go away by the year 2017.
Here are the top 10:
1. Tape recorders (79 percent)
2. Fax machines (71 percent)
3. The Rolodex (58 percent)
4. Standard working hours (57 percent)
5. Desk phones (35 percent)

Click through to Tech Crunch to see the rest. Looking at the list, it occurs to us that most of the first five things are already gone from our office. Well, we DO have desk phones, and we hear we have a fax machine, but we have no idea where it’s located. Possibly in the basement.

Meanwhile, over at Twitter, it appears that co-founder Jack Dorsey’s day-to-day role has been reduced.

The role of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who returned to the company as executive chairman after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus from day-to-day operations, has been “reduced” after co-workers complained he was “difficult to work with” and “repeatedly changed his mind about product directions.” Although he is still involved in strategic decisions as executive chairman, no one directly reports to him anymore.
That’s according to The New York Times, which published a profile of Twitter CEO Dick Costolo over the weekend. The profile describes Costolo’s leadership style and background in standup comedy.

To be fair, who wouldn’t prefer a stand-up comic as a boss? Especially when the alternative is a driven-but-reportedly-difficult visionary who’s already invented two products that have changed tech forever? Steve Jobs was reportedly no bed of roses to work for, either. Here’s to hoping some of the people working under Dorsey get an apparently much-needed reprieve. And kudos to tech giants who aren’t afraid to shake things up for the good of their employees.

Finally, we love this Sunday Comic from Mashable:

Happy Monday!

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What Should Brands Tweet About?

Julie DiCaro — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:00:01 +0000

By Julie DiCaro

Twitter is a Great Place For Brands to Be

By now, it’s safe to assume that most brands realize the value of Twitter. Twitter users, more than any other group on social media, can amplify a brand’s influence across the medium, leading to increased reach and visiblity. This means that if brands can identify their most influential advocates and engage them, they’ll get more bang for their buck on Twitter than on any other social network.

Yet brand Twitter account after brand Twitter account remains dusty, stale, and largely unused. It’s been days, weeks, even months since some brands have tweeted. Why is it that brands that do so well on Facebook and other social media seem so stymied when it comes to Twitter? The obvious answer is that some brands just don’t know what to tweet about.

So What Should Brands Say On Twitter?

When 435 Digital trains brand managers to use Twitter, we often talk about the “rule of one-third.” There are many different interpretations of the Rule, but we advise brands to think of it this way: No one likes to be stuck in the corner at a cocktail party with a person who only talks about himself. Twitter is much the same. If you tweet about a variety of different things, you’re much more likely to attract and engage followers than if you only talk about your brand. Put simply, brands should tweet one-third of the time about their brand, one-third of the time about their customers/followers, and one-third of the time about something interesting to everyone.

Taking a look at each category, a brands tweets might break down something like this:

Tweets About Your Brand:

1. Brand News: Customers are following your brand on Twitter for a reason. They want to hear about new products, research, and about the people behind your brand. Given that, brands should tweet the latest news coming out of their companies. Just don’t overdo it and don’t make every tweet sound like a press release. Mix it up. Be human.

2. Upcoming Events: Does your brand sponsor a walk? Take part in a charity fundraiser? Host corporate events? Launch products? Any major happenings on your company’s calendar can and should be tweeted out to the masses.

3. Don’t Forget the Pictures! Followers are twice as likely to click on a tweet that has a photo attached, even if they can’t immediately see the picture. So don’t forget to tweet out photos of your new products, team-building exercises, charity events, office parties, etc. Twitter loves to see the human faces behind your brand.

4. ReTweets of Positive Tweets About Your Brand: There are approximately 79 million brands (okay, we made that number up, but there are a lot) competing for attention on Twitter. Don’t be afraid to toot your brand’s horn. If a follower says something nice about your brand, retweet it to make sure everyone has a chance to see it! Again, don’t overdo it. One or two fan retweets a day is enough.

Tweets About Your Customers:

1. Customer Service:If your brand is on Twitter, it’s inevitable that you’re going to get complaints. Rather than look at customer complaints as a negative, use them to show the Twitterverse how plugged in and approachable your brand’s customer service is. A timely and sympathetic reply to a disgruntled customer, along with an email or phone number giving them direct access to a person who can handle their complaint, can do more for a brand’s image than dozens of self-serving tweets about how valued their customers are.

2. Ask Questions:If there’s one thing social media has taught us, it’s that people love to talk about themselves. Give them a reason to. Is a major holiday approaching? Ask people where they will be spending it. In the middle of football season? Ask your followers how they feel about their favorite team so far. Cold and rainy in your neck of the woods? Ask your tweeps (twitter + “peeps” = tweeps) where they would travel if they could travel anywhere in the world. The questions don’t matter as much as getting your followers talking does. Be sure to talk back!

Tweets That Are Interesting To Everyone

1. Industry News:If your brand is part of a specialized industry, you should feel free to share links about industry news that both you and your followers will find interesting. And while you may not want to act as a press agent for a competitor, a few polite tweets here and there about a rival’s accomplishments always looks good and may help increase your brand’s reach. Next time your brand has something exciting to say, you might be surprised to see a competitor do you the same favor. When it comes to the social media, generosity is currency: do for others as you want them to do for you.

2. Current Events:There’s a lot going on in the world, so talk about it! There’s no reason brands shouldn’t comment on the news and current events in their tweets, just like individuals do. While brands need to be careful to stay away from the obvious danger zones (politics and religion jump immediately to mind), tweets about pop culture, sports, science and technology, and entertainment are fair game. Recently, the Mars Rover “Curiosity” was the subject of thousands (maybe even millions) of tweets, by both brands and their customers.

Coming up with new things to tweet about, day after day, isn’t easy for any brand manger. However, by mixing up topics and making a real effort to engage followers, brands can get real value out of their Twitter accounts. Now go forth and tweet!

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The Steady Rise of Social Mobile

Christy Grant — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:01:19 +0000

A study earlier this year by research firm comScore says 64.2 million U.S. citizens use their mobile devices for social networking. More than half – 38.2 million people – use social networks on their mobile devices almost daily.

While most of the activity is checking posts from friends and posting one’s own updates, more and more people are interacting with brands and organizations on social networks. About 58% of users in the U.S. read posts from companies, and around 32% say they are likely to click on ads while networking.

The number of people engaging in social networks through mobile devices – phones and tablets – is massively increasing. The 64.2 million is up 77% from the year before, and the 38.2 million engaging daily is up 88%. With increasing smartphone adoption, these numbers will continue to grow rapidly.

With the upcoming Facebook integration with iOS 6, these numbers will soar even higher.

With iOS 6, Siri can now post Facebook status updates. If you had iOS 6 right now, you could ask Siri to post to your Facebook wall that you’re reading a great blog post from 435 Digital – or that you’re leaving in five minutes to try out the new Korean BBQ place just a few doors away.

In Apple’s new App Store, you’ll be able to “Like” a song, which will appear on Facebook. This might lead more people back over to Apple’s App Store.

Twitter is already integrated; with iOS 6, Facebook will also be integrated. If you want integration with Google +, you’ll surely need an Android device.

Whatever mobile platforms and devices people are using – mostly iOS and Android in the U.S. – any business that wants to reach people through social networking must get serious about not only their social presence but also their mobile-ready websites.

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Twitter: hat tip, HT how-to from ’30 Second Social’

AmyGuth — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:20:10 +0000

What is a hat tip on Twitter? Using a “hat tip” or “ht” on Twitter is a simple way to give credit to another user. In this episode of “30 Second Social,” Chicago Tribune’s Scott Kleinberg explains the how and why.

Twitter: hat tip how-to

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Twitter: how to change usernames, from ’30 Second Social’

AmyGuth — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:06:58 +0000

On Twitter, changing usernames is easy. While it’s not ideal to change your username often, this action does make sense in some instances. In this episode of “30 Second Social,” Scott Kleinberg explains how to change your account’s username.

Twitter: how to change your username

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Twitter: 10 types of tweets you should know

scottk — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:42:52 +0000

Making your message count in 140 characters or less is a vital part of your business strategy. When you use Twitter, you can either send the same types of tweets all the time and risk blending into the social media universe or you can mix things up and be that go-to person everyone’s talking about.

Your choice. Assuming you picked the second, here are 10 types of tweets that will help you be a Twitter superstar in no time.

Boring
Snore. Tweets that give Twitter a bad name such as “I am eating a sandwich.” This type of tweet is uninteresting and doesn’t encourage interaction. Twitter started this trend by asking the world a boring question: “What’s happening.” They should have started with “What has your attention?” That could be the difference between tweeting “I’m eating a sandwich” and “I need your help to find the best burger in Chicago.” Which of those tweets interests you more?

Introductory
Introduce a Twitter user to either another user or a group of people. Example include: “I’d like everyone to meet @soandso, who is new to our team here at the Tribune” and “Hey, @Suchandsuch please meet @soandso, who is also an avid golfer.” Introductory tweets are a great way to build community quickly on Twitter.

Spammer
Trust me. You don’t want to be viewed this way. Spammer tweets aren’t necessarily tweets that come from an automatic spambot feed. Sometimes, spammy tweets can come from a user who only seems to shill for his or her own projects or products. An often cited formula for avoiding being a spammy twitter user is to follow the Rule of Thirds: Talk about your own products a third of the time. Share other links and ideas in your niche for another third. In the final third, reply to people, answer questions and ask questions of your followers.

Quote
Consist of an attributed quote and that’s all. Example: “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on – Robert Frost.” This type of tweet is common, but should be used very sparingly because it generally does not encourage interaction with others.

Retweet
Retweets (or “RTs”) are simply re-sharing the content sent from another user. These can be done by hitting the “retweet” button to share the original tweet and automatically source the tweet (“RT @scottkleinberg Today…”). The retweet can also be accomplished by sharing a link obtained from another user, recreating a version of the tweet, and including “MT (modified tweet) or via @username” in the tweet.

Marketing
Let’s talk about these. In and of themselves, they are harmless, straightforward communication about a product, deal or brand. For example: a hardware store twitter account could tweet “This week only: all BrandX paint and rollers 50% off” and that would be an example of a marketing tweet. The problem arises with marketing tweets when that is all or the majority of tweets posted by a given account. This isn’t likely to be a problem if the tweeter follows the aforementioned Rule of Thirds. Sticking with the hardware store example: this account could also share how-to guides and tips, relevant industry news, and address customers service and/or advice questions. Everyone buying paint wants to know how to get it out of the carpet.

Giveaway or Benefactor
Tweets giving “insidery” info on deals, freebies, contests and other giveaways. Most giveaway tweets are designed to go viral by being widely retweeted to share the information.

Link
Tweets sharing links to compelling or entertaining articles, images or blog posts. Such links can be original content from the user, or outside content he or she wishes to share with followers. Be sure to mix link tweets with other types of tweets for maximum impact.

Question and Answer
User asks a question of his or her followers and this hopefully results in answers. Question tweets can range from rhetorical questions (which can be entertaining, but generally aren’t extremely useful because they do not encourage interaction) to polling followers about product and purchase recommendations (Buying a new dishwasher. Any recommendations?)

Customer service
Can be either from the customer raising an issue with a service or product, or from a company acknowledging a widespread customer issue, or working to satisfy an individual customer’s issue.

Watch “30 Second Social,” the web video series hosted by Scott Kleinberg and Amy Guth, for more tips and tricks about Twitter and other forms of social media.

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Twitter: how to use ‘MT’ and ‘via’ from ’30 Second Social’

AmyGuth — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:29:06 +0000

On Twitter, a “retweet” is a way for you to share another user’s tweet with your followers, and is commonly referenced as simply “RT.” Two other methods– “MT,” or modified tweet” and “via”– exist for sharing another user’s content with your followers.

In this episode of “30 Second Social,” Scott Kleinberg explains these two easy ways to expand your Twitter vocabulary.

Twitter: how to use modified tweets and via

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Twitter: How to retweet from ’30 Second Social’

scottk — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:47:56 +0000

On Twitter, a “retweet” is a way for you to share another user’s tweet with your followers, and is commonly referenced as simply “RT.” In this episode of “30 Second Social,” Scott Kleinberg explains how to retweet.

Twitter: How to retweet

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Twitter Follow Friday: How to #FF from ’30 Second Social’

AmyGuth — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:22:32 +0000

On Twitter, the hashtag #FF stands for “Follow Friday.” The idea started as a way to introduce your network on Twitter to a user with whom they might also want to connect. By viewing tweets tagged with this popular hashtag, users can identify people on Twitter who are receiving these endorsements from their peers.

In this episode of “30 Second Social,” Scott Kleinberg explains one way to use the hashtag in your own tweets.

Twitter: how to use #FF on Twitter

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Five for Friday on Social Media

Sally Duros — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:30:47 +0000

Some tasty news tidbits from the social media front this week.

Facebook, Google+ vie for news distribution

Facebook is reportedly working with a dozen news organizations to create exclusive versions of their news content to be delivered via app, reports David Cohen of AllFacebook. A Forbes report says these sources could include CNN, The Washington Post, and The Daily. Meanwhile Google is said to be in negotiation with media companies to create a portal of its own, Cohen said. The new Google+ beta has surpassed 10 million users and introduced its news badges last week, which basically amount to bragging rights for news junkies.

Could Facebook be the bank of the future?

Facebook has a mall called Payvment that has 60,000 retailers and is adding 400 a day, reported Tom Groenfeldt of Forbes July 15. Facebook also has a cozy relationship with credit system and game builder Zynga, Groenfeldt reports. Together the two could conceivably create a retail powerhouse running its own payment system. Original source: Chris Skinner at The Finanser.

Yelp hits the 20 million review mark

With its reviews business, Yelp continues to outpace Groupon, LivingSocial and Google in the local business space, Mashable reports. Yelp reported that as of July 11, it had recorded 20 million reviews with 53 million unique visitors. View a heat map showing numbers of Yelp reviews

Twitter will add promoted tweets, accounts

Twitter users will soon be seeing tailored, automated and bulk-published ads from major advertisers in their feeds, reports Alexei Oreskovic for Reuters. A beta test will allow a limited number of partners to deliver Twitter ads via application programming interface, or API, starting 4th quarter 2011. Reuters reported that Twitter only began offering advertising on its service in April 2010. The microblogging service currently has 600 advertisers that will generate about $150 million in ad revenue this year, according to research firm eMarketer.

Heads up! 435Digital Masterclass this Friday, July 22

The 435Digital masterclass is an all-day seminar designed for business owners and communications professionals. It will be held Friday, July 22 at Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago. Topics covered include website development, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media strategy.

The Masterclass will also include a panel featuring Chicago business leaders who excel in social media. Panelists include Geoff Alexander, executive vice president Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and managing partner of Wow Bao; Lindsay Avner, executive director of Bright Pink; Mari Luangrath, owner of Foiled Cupcakes; and Scott Kleinberg, director of social media strategy for RedEye. Learn more.

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