Archive for How To
How To Get Traffic To Your Website From Twitter
Posted by: | CommentsTwitter is still the newest craze that a lot of people are using now and still growing. Not only is it a way to get to know more people, it can also be used to get traffic. Getting Twitter traffic can maximize your exposure in ways you may have never imagined.Twitter is simple to use, yet it is really powerful. You might need a couple of hours to get familiar with the basic functionality of Twitter and of some of the extras it has but you can harness its power, even if you don't know it very well.
Twitter is simple to use and this is what made it so popular. Twitter is fashionable right now, so enjoy the moment. Even the creators of Twitter admit that as with MySpace and other Web 2.0 sensations, Twitter will inevitably go out of fashion some day. If you don't have a Twitter account, then you will need to sign up for one. It's easy and it only takes a few minutes. The best part about having one is that it is free.
Unlike most of the other places you can get traffic for free, Twitter is a microblogging platform, which means that there are restrictions on the number of characters in a message. Therefore, you need to be concise in your Tweets and use your space wisely. In addition to being concise, here are some more tips to help you get traffic from Twitter:
1. Make Your Profile Interesting
Your profile and your username are the first two things your visitors will see when they go to your Twitter page. If your profile looks boring, people won't bother to read your tweets, not to mention visit the links you post in them. You can't write a very long bio of yours, but you can enter a few words about you – i.e. your occupation, your interests, etc. You can also include a couple of keywords in your bio. You really should try to make your bio interesting or funny.
2. Pick a Username Targeted to Your Niche
Your username is also very important. You need to pick a username that is targeted at your niche. For instance, if you are promoting your search engine optimization company and want to drive traffic to your SEO site, you can choose something like SEOcompany, SEOmarketing, SEOservices, etc. Your username will show in searches other users make and this is why you must pay attention to what you choose.
3. Make Sure to List Your Website URL In Your Profile
According to some statistics, 80% of Twitter members don't provide an URL in their bio! Well, maybe these people are not SEO experts or internet marketers on Twitter and they don't need this traffic but you as an expert in your niche can't afford to miss it. So, don't forget to include your URL in your profile! The best place to have your URL if before you start your bio to make sure it doesn't get cut short.
4. Share Your Twitter Profile Link with Everyone You Know
Your friends, coworkers, and acquaintances will be your most loyal audience, so if they don't know about your Twitter page, make them aware of what they are missing. If you have their emails, or know their accounts on other networks, you can send a mass invite.
5. Search For Other Twitter Users Who Share Similar Interest With Your Niche
You can use the advanced search functions on Twitter and find people with similar interests. http://search.twitter.com/advanced You might have millions of friends, but more followers are always welcome. Find as many as you can and invite them all. These people might not be as loyal as your friends, coworkers, and acquaintances but still you will get hits from them as well. Some Twitter users report that about 1-2% of their followers visit their site a day, which means that if you have 1,000 followers, you might expect to get at least 10 or 20 visits a day to your site.
6. Interact With Your Followers On Twitters As Much As Possible
If you don't post tweets, then your followers will think that you are not interested anymore and will stop tweeting at your Twitter website. When you are active in Twitter, respond to the posts of your followers and visit their links, this seriously increases your chances that you will get the same in return. Getting the most out of Twitter traffic hinges on whether or not you participate in engaging with your followers.
7. Post Your "Tweets" Regularly
As with all other kinds of media, if you want to keep your audience, you need to feed it regularly. Writing a short tweet takes just seconds, but it is enough in order to keep your followers happy. It goes without saying, that your posts should contain substance and meaning. Your followers will be interested in what you have to say and will continue to come back for more. If you can't think of something meaningful to post about you or your sites, it is quite alright to post a link to a news article, a funny video, a blog, etc. that you found online.
8. Do Not Spam
You might be tempted to make as many users as you can aware of your Twitter page and your latest "tweets" but you'd better refrain from doing this, unless you want to see if you can get baned. To keep the relationship going, you can tweet on comments that were sent to you from previous tweets. This way, you can post your tweet again and include your link. This is a subtle way that you can use to promote your business. It would not be considered spam because your purpose was to comment on the tweets
9. Make Live Search Love Your "Tweets"
Twitter has a great search function and its main advantage is that it offers real-time results. Google now offers real-time search results, too. People are hungry for hot news and nothing beats a real-time search. Many users report seeing their "tweets" show up in Google search results as soon as they post them. Some users get more visitors from Twitter than from the major search engines.
10. Add Twitter Widgets To Your Website or Blog
Lots of free Twitter widgets are available and new ones are being released every day. The cool thing about Twitter widgets is that your blog visitors can become your Twitter followers. If your Twitter followers have many followers, chances are that some of these followers will notice you and will join your network. If you have a lot of followers, then your chances are greater for people to visit your website. Facebook apps can let you update Twitter/Facebook together. This means your Tweets can become your Facebook status and vice versa. Facebook is the most popular network around. Between Facebook and Twitter, you can build quite a following.
In my experience Twitter works best if you have a service or an offer that will fulfill a need. Seek out the people looking for your services and let them know how you can help them. If you can, offer solutions for free and soon you'll be the go-to person in your niche. These are just some of the ways you can use Twitter to drive traffic to your website.
5 Steps to Become a Better Social Media Marketer
Posted by: | CommentsIf you want to be more effective with driving traffic to your website or blog with social media, here are five steps that are sure to improve your results.
1. Targeting the Right Sites
There are hundreds or maybe even thousands of social media sites that you could be using. Obviously no one has the time to use them all effectively, and some of them aren’t worth your time anyway.
One of the first things you will need to do is find a few sites that will work well for you. Of course the larger sites like
Digg, StumbleUpon, FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube
are popular choices because of the large traffic volumes that they send. But if you are looking for sites that can send high quality traffic, first look for niche-specific social media sites.
Also targeting a general news website like Digg or Reddit can be helpful because once you have developed a strong profile you can promote all types of content, not just stuff that fits into one specific niche.
2. Consistent Use
If you hope to ever become a true authority on social media, you’ll have to implement consistent use. As you use the sites that you have targeted every day you’ll become familiar with what works and what doesn’t, and you’ll get to know some of the other consistent users.
3. Development of Content that Appeals to the Audience
Driving traffic to your website through social media will require content development that meets the expectations of social media users. Creating blog content that targets social media users doesn’t mean that you have to alienate your subscribers, contrary to the opinion of some people. What it does mean is that you will have to dedicate the time and effort to find a topic that is of particular interest to your readers and present it in a way that also appeals to social media users. For example, social media users like lists, breaking news, photos, controversy, and informative topics.
4. Networking and Helping Others
Content creation and networking are the two most important aspects of social media marketing. Great content without a network will have a harder time becoming popular and a strong network is an asset, but its value will not be realized without great content.
Networking on social media sites involves voting for the submissions of others, leaving comments, adding friends, and generally getting to know other users. With a strong network your submissions and votes will get more attention and you’ll have some friends to call on when you need help getting those extra votes needed to get over the hump.
5. Conversion
In most cases just getting traffic to a website will not be your ultimate goal. Social media traffic is pretty much useless if you are not able to convert some of it into what you want. Maybe you want to convert the traffic into links, or maybe subscribers. The conversion rate of social media traffic will usually be lower than the rates of other types of traffic, but the huge volumes sent by social media can offset a lower conversion rate and make it very valuable traffic.
While these steps will all help you to reach your goals of promoting your site with social media, they all require one very important step – taking action. So go get started today and build some momentum with social media.
7 Secrets to Tweeting Your Corporate Culture
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I admit I’m a Twitter addict. I enjoy the flurry of tweets and the variety of information my followers share with me. But even though I like the variety, it’s still important for me to feel some sort of connection to the people and companies I follow. On the people side, the way I connect is by getting to know someone’s personality. It’s the same if I’m following a company. Where the person is offering personality, the company is successfully tweeting their corporate culture.But if all you’re doing is sending out auto-tweets, I’m not sure either of us is getting the full benefit of your presence on Twitter . Some people don’t like communicating with a company logo. But when a company offers a pleasant look and feel, and tweets out information of value to customers, then it is possible to connect with them. Here are 7 suggestions (along with some Twitter examples) for establishing a rock-solid corporate culture on Twitter: 1. Share Your History
I’m not talking about chronicling the 42 year history of your firm 140 characters at a time. Although, I guess if you really wanted to, you could. What I mean by share your history is that you should tell the Twitterverse when you make history. For example, if your company is named one of the Top 50 Places to Work or wins an industry award; that’s making history and you should tell the world by tweeting about it.
Another historic moment is when an organization grows and expands, especially in the current economic climate. Dunkin’ Donuts did a great job announcing their entry into the Birmingham market.2. Talk Vision and Mission
Kris Dunn, vice president of people for DAXKO, explained to me why Twitter is a great fit for his company. “We’ve got a culture that calls for a lot of communication, so the transparency and immediacy of Twitter fits that. Also, we believe in our team members being active in their professional communities (their profession – marketing, software engineering, etc.), so Twitter fits that as well.”His point is well taken. People want to be engaged with companies that look engaging. Think about the purpose of your organization. Twitter can be a place to talk about goals, plans and offer a glimpse of what life is like at your place of work.
3. Reveal Industry Insights
Many companies are using Twitter not only as a place to talk about their organization but their industry. For example, looking for the top 10 cruise vacation destinations? Rather than hoping customers find that information via some travel survey, then put two and two together, Princess Cruises smartly tweets that info out and at the same time lets people know they have cruises that take you there.
Another company setting the standard in this area is Pandora Radio. When a piece of legislation that could impact their business was introduced in the U.S. Senate, they turned to Twitter to educate listeners. They regularly updated their followers on the progress of the legislation. And, they thanked their tweeps for the support. (Very important!)4. Recognize Employees
There are so many ways you can share with Twitterland the things you do from an employee standpoint. Everything from healthcare coverage, to free gyms, and employee orientation can all get the Twitter treatment. But when it comes to tweeting about employees, the leader is really Marriott International.
First, they very smartly tweet about their company’s commitment to diversity. As a reader, this speaks volumes about what’s important to Marriott as a company. Second, I have been equally impressed with the sensitivity they expressed for their associates and others during the recent tragedy in Jakarta. That puts a very human face on the corporate Twitter account.5. Profile Customer Successes
Twitter, like many other social networks, is made up of groups of really supportive individuals who want to see positive happenings and big wins with social media.Jessica Lee, senior employment manager for APCO Worldwide, feels that as Twitter matures we’ll start seeing companies share more of their own and their clients’ successes. “I personally like sharing even the very smallest things – clients wanting to get more involved in social media, or how our own Facebook Fan Page is growing – because it’s exciting to see the growth along with new and different ways of being applied in the business world.”DAXKO, meanwhile, is combining the popularity of Twittering by their customers with their company user’s conference by setting up a Twitter account for the conference. According to Dunn, they’ll use the site to “live tweet from the conference so our customers that couldn’t attend can follow what’s going on and hopefully get some value out of it.”
6. Be Responsive
Using Twitter for sharing business messages is one thing. But as your culture becomes more defined on Twitter, you might find yourself using it provide customer service. @ComcastCares has raised the bar for addressing customer service matters via Twitter.
Much of the success attributed to @ComcastCares is their responsiveness. Dunn agrees. “I think I’d rather have no Twitter account than an account that wasn’t responding to replies or DMs within 5 to 10 minutes. Customers that are savvy enough to use Twitter are going to expect a lot of responsiveness.”And, it’s not only how fast you respond but how you respond. Lee reminds us that “whether your customer is a consumer of your product or service, or in my case, a potential employee who is interested in working for APCO – the tone should still be conversational and friendly. And ultimately, you want it to be an extension of yourself and a reflection of your organization’s culture.”7. Ask Questions About the Future
If you’re looking to reach into the mind of consumers, Twitter can be a medium to get real-time information. Just ask a simple question, what are you concerned about?
Or, what do you want to see in our tweets?
As a consumer, I love it when companies ask me for my opinion. It shows me they care about me and what I have to say. And, I love it even more when I see a company take suggestions and ideas seriously.Conclusion
So whether it’s an individual talking about their organization or a company tweeting about what makes them special, Twitter can help to define and promote your corporate culture. Even with 140 characters you can say a lot about yourself, your workplace, and what you do.Use the examples in this post as the starting point for a conversation or training session about Twitter best practices and your corporate culture. By sharing with your team the right way to leverage Twitter, we can all celebrate our successes together. If you know any other good examples of companies using Twitter to share their corporate culture in a positive way, please share them in the comments.By Sharlyn LaubySharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com.
