Month: May 2010

Tagging in Twitter

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If you are new to Twitter marketing, you may be confused by the strange symbols and references that are used. But there is a simple explanation to this. It all makes sense when you consider that Twitter was initially conceived with SMS in mind. This meant that a character limitation had to be put in place which in turn left very little space to do other functions.

The @ – The “@” symbol is used to draw attention to a user. For example, @Harry Johnson accidentally squirted ketchup all over himself at Disney world today. However, you should note that this is used in a broadcast sense. If you need to talk to Harry privately, just send him a direct message.
The RT – “RT” is used as courtesy to others. Let us say that you saw an interesting post from one of your friends and want to post it to your own followers. But you also want to give credit to the person who originally posted it as well. This is where you use “RT” and the “@” symbol. Using the previous example this would be posted as, RT @Harry Johnson accidentally squirted ketchup all over himself at Disney world today.

The # – The “#” or hash tag is used to draw attention to words and help with filtering. This way, you can have one channel that shows you Tweets that you are really interested in and think are important. Using the previous example this would look like, @Harry Johnson accidentally squirted ketchup all over himself at #Disney world today. So everyone who is following you and is interested in Disney will see this message in their filters.

If you need further help in twitter marketing and promotion , we recommend hiring a company like iClimber, who specializes in social media marketing services.

How Social Media can Help Patients

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It is easy to class social media as something used by those who have nothing better to do or by those who have something to sell. But in reality, social media has the potential to be a very powerful tool in a variety of different fields. One such field is healthcare.

Patients often find themselves looking for answers. They usually resort to looking online for information, because they simply do not have access to enough of a doctor’s time to completely satisfy their queries. Another reason is that, questions pop up in the mind long after they leave the doctor’s office. In these cases, it is always useful to look online for a solution.

But rather than get confused in medical jargon that may be found in medical articles, there is another method patient can utilize to find answers. Social media represents a way where patients can interact with others, especially those suffering from the same ailments. This allows them to compare notes and medications and try to find a way to alleviate suffering. This also enables them to find better medical care by finding doctors and facilities recommended by other patients through personal experience.

It also enables patients to inform and others about particular ailments or diseases. By creating awareness they are able to prevent others from contracting diseases, avoiding injuries and other medical nightmares. Social media has given patients a forum where they can openly discuss their issues without and fear and has also given them an avenue for hope.

Making Social Media Work for Offline Businesses

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Not every business can afford to be online and in some cases they don’t need to at all. But that doesn’t mean that they will not appreciate any extra advertising and promotions. It may sound surprising, but if you think about it social media marketing can indeed be used to promote a non-online business. Let us look at what Twitter can do for a bricks-and-mortar store.

1. Hold a contest via Twitter. Pick a product you want to promote and advertise in the store window that this product is the prize of a Twitter contest. The rules of the contest should be simple. Tell the people that all they have to do is become a follower of the store on Twitter and make a Tweet about the store. You can now see where this will lead to. Not only are you increasing your offline opt-in list, you are also getting some free publicity for your store every time one of your followers Tweet about you. Keep the promo going for a month before you hold the draw.

2. Dish out code words. Once again pick a product and using your store front, advertise that discounts will be given to those who use a code word when making a purchase on that promoted product. Let the people know that the code word will be Tweeted on a certain day of the week. You will be surprised at the number of people who start following you.

3. Mass Tweeting. Don’t overdo this, but this method will give you lots of attention very fast. Hold a contest for the most Tweets about your store. If you offer a decent enough prize, you will have a flood of advertising on your behalf flowing out on the social media circuit.

4. Build followers. In order for Twitter marketing to work effectively, you need to have a lot of followers. How do you build followers? First way it to post on regular basis, so people that like what you post will start following you. Second way is to follow people who think will be interested in following you and hopefully they follow you back. Your could use some twitter tools that can automate some of these tasks, or you could also higher a company like iClimber that does twitter marketing and promotion services.

Preparing for your Social Media campaign

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Social media is a fantastic way to promote your business whether it based online or offline. It offers a cost effective way to get coverage, awareness, traffic etc. But it is a tricky medium to use. This is because it is all about relationship building. So before diving in blindly, prepare for it so that you get the maximum out of it.

1. Visualize – Create a picture in your mind of your audience. Take into account their gender, age, surfing habits, spending habits etc. What do they look like? This will help you design the rest of your campaign.

2. What are ‘they’ doing? Scope out your completion and get to grips with their techniques. Then analyze their campaign to see if they are getting the responses they should be getting. See how effective it is. If it is working for them – learn from it, if it’s not working for them – then you know what not to do.

3. Enforce a policy – Putting a social media policy in place is essential if your employees are going to be spending a lot of time on it.

4. Trusted blogger – Whomever you put in charge of blogging has to trustworthy, tech & business savvy and very good at writing & conversing.

5. Plan – Get your goals and strategies defined at the outset. Monitor them closely and have clear milestones. Don’t be afraid of adapting along the way according to your learning’s.

6. Take care – Everything you put out there is more or less permanent. Don’t get sloppy, put a lot of thought into the information you put out there.