10 TWITTER TIPS

People don’t care what you had for lunch, but people love stories. Twitter allows you to give small bite-sized updates on the story of your firm. It can be addictive like soap operas. Listen and getting conversational is the overarching strategy. It’s not a video game…the number of followers is not important. You have to have an end goal and desired result: to meet and connect with someone so you can have a more personal interaction with them.

1. Customize your background. Spend the time to brand it.
2. Complete your bio. Write it well and use key words your customers will search for.
3. Link to your firm’s Website or blog.
4. Have relevant and frequent updates. Don’t just push messages out there.
5. Use contrast. Mix-up your content; share other people’s information; answer questions.
6. No auto dm’s. Take the time to customize.
7. No following gimmicks. Stay away from scripts; it’s about contributing and connecting.
8. Use Twellow.com; the most well-organized database of Twitter accounts with a searching mechanism to find twitter users and thought leaders you want to connect with.
9. Search and RESPOND to replies and brand mentions. Search for who is talking about you, your competitors, your clients, your prospective clients, and get in the conversation.
10. Use Hootsuite to manage multiple Twitter accounts and users.

12 STEPS FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA LAUNCH PLAN

Everyone in your firm should get involved. Make it part of your daily routine. Engage, contribute, pick top conversations and get involved. Make it real once a week. Grab someone for coffee; pick up the phone and call; send them to a seminar; help and connect with them. It’s about taking online to offline to business. You need to get great at listening; then you will be successful. What pain does your target market have and what pill do you have for that pain? Create content that is a solution to a pain. This will create a motivation to connect with you. Solving a pain and helping people can make you successful with social media.

1. Agree on goals and markets (get buy-in internally)
2. Pick your platforms; you might not use all of them
3. Assess resources and allocate them; some people will be more comfortable with certain tools
4. Develop your Social Media policy and guidelines
5. Implement your listening strategy and tools (includes analytics, alerts and social search)
6. Populate and customize platforms before you start promoting
7. Create your content and roll-out calendar (think notes in a symphony; each individual note builds the symphony)
8. Train and teach internal contributors
9. Recruit or connect with external contributors (encourage conversation and contribution; promote each other)
10. Train and develop external pro-active contributors
11. Market your social media destinations
12. Host blogger and press outreach (get real and have a party)

APDF Members can access Shane’s presentation in the Members Only Archived Presentation section.

Shane Gibson is a sales performance and marketing specialist, and co-author of Sociable!, a new book on profiting from social media. You can reach Shane’s resources through:

• www.SociableBook.com for events, book release information and free downloads
• www.ClosingBigger.net Shane Gibson’s social media and sales blog

Cathy Brownle

Executive Director, APDF

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