The Executive's Introduction to Twitter

After following social media for some time now, I've noticed two places where currently available information falls short. For one, most blogs and articles assume the reader is currently participating in various social networks. Additionally, most literature is geared towards social media marketers and online entrepreneurs, not toward c-suite leadership. This blog exists to address the second issue; this post will address the first.

So you've heard about Twitter and tweeting, now it's time to get your hands dirty. Getting started is extremely simple.

Creating an account

1. Visit http://twitter.com (obviously)
2. Press the big green "Sign up now" button
3. In the Full Name box, you can put whatever you want. However, using your actual name is helpful because colleagues, friends, and fans can locate your Twitter profile by searching for you buy name
4. The user name is what you will use to sign-in, but more importantly, it make up your unique Twitter address. When you have your account setup, you can direct people to your profile by directing them to twitter.com/your_user_name.
   
• Be careful! Don't misspell your name. You don't want to publicize the wrong address. But if you do make a mistake, you can change your user name later, provided the name you want is still available
• FYI: your user name is often referred to as your "handle," in a throw-back to the days of CB radio
5. Your password must be at least 6 characters
6. Your email address is used to contact you when you have a new follower or a new direct message
7. Just enter the two words in the reCAPTCHA box (as spam prevention) and your all set!
   

Your first Tweet
When you first log in, you'll notice that Twitter is somewhat pushy about your personal life. It asks, "What are you doing?" Of course, you don't have to be honest, but the box immediately below is where you type your Tweets. In Twitter lingo, anytime you announce something to the Twitter universe, it's called a Tweet. Some people really do share what they're up to ("On the way to dinner"), or share useful information ("Check out the new post at The Social CEO"), or even to send messages to other Twitter users.

NOTE: You have to be a creative Tweeter, because your Tweets are limited to 140 characters, including spaces and alphanumerics.

Following and Followers
Over in the side bar, you'll see two numbers: one for following and one for followers. These two concepts comprise the web of twitters network.

When you follow a person, you receive their tweets on your homepage. When you log in, you'll see a list of tweets in chronological order. This can be helpful if you follow leaders in your industry, or authors you admire, or even news companies. If you follow CNN for example, you'll receive a stream of news updates from around the world right on your Twitter homepage.

How do you find people to follow? One way is by using the Find People link in the top navigation bar. If you search CNN, for example, you'll get a list of handles currently used by CNN for various news genres. To follow any one of these profiles, just click the "Follow" button.

As you follow more and more people, you'll notice your "Following" number will rise. You may also notice that when you follow others, quite a few will follow you back. In Twitter world, this practice is considered good etiquette by many. In the same way you receive updates on the people you follow, your followers will see your tweets on their homepage.

You can also find new people to follow by seeing who your friends are following. Each time you view someone's profile, you can see a list of their followers as well as who they follow. This is a great way to find people of similar interests or others in your field.

This is the power of Twitter, in that you can instantly send information to potentially thousands of interested parties. You may have a personal account that updates your friends and family about your weekend plans, but your branded account may update many thousand customers of a new promotion or product. Or, if you're especially sneaky, you might even create a pseudonymous account and follow all your competitors to see what they're up to.

Now you're up to speed
Now that you're up to speed on how to get involved in Twitter, we'll discuss advanced functionality in a coming post. You'll want to know about hash tags and using the @ symbol to pinpoint other Twitter users. Retweets, direct messaging, and profile customization will also be covered. So stay tuned!

Casual Friday: Social Media Weekly Roundup

Each Friday, the Social CEO will bring you some of the best pieces on the social marketing space and deliver them to you here. We scour the net for resources so you don't have too!

The Importance of Social Media Audits by Jeremiah Owyang

Is Social Commerce the New E-commerce? by Yeshim Deniz

How Do You Report Social Media Success? by Dirk Shaw

2 Studies on Twitter Profiles from Kru Research

If I missed anything, feel free to link in the comment section.

Social Media Tactics: Easy (and Legal!) Corporate Espionage

Imagine going to a cocktail party with all the competition in your industry. The industry leaders are there. The up-and-comers are working the room. The movers and shakers in your space are talking shop with everyone there.

And the best part? They don't know who you are. Your true identity is shrouded in mystery!

Using platforms like Facebook and Twitter, executives using social media can create non-corporate accounts and follow their enemies' every move. Maybe they're promoting a price cut via their social networks, or spreading rumors of a new product launch. As one of their followers, you'll be the first to know and you'll be able to respond accordingly.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Register on Twitter with a handle unrelated to your company.
• Use the "Find People" link at the top of the page after you're signed in to find your targets
• Once you're following, you'll get updates on their every social network move
• If you compete in multiple spaces, you can create an account for each space
• Use a program called Tweetdeck to bring all aggregate all your accounts in one place (more on this tool in a coming post)
• Using Tweetdeck, you can also use saved searches that update automatically. So if you search for a competitor's name, Tweetdeck will notify you anytime anyone in the Twitter universe mentions them

These are just a few ideas to introduce you to social media espionage. In coming posts, we'll provide a thorough breakdown of the social media platforms as well as the tools executives can use to leverage the networks for results.

Stay tuned and stay sneaky.

Facebook Demographics

As you consider your social media marketing strategy, demographic knowledge is essential for thorough planning. Here's some info on the demographics of Facebook to help clue you in.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Marketing Relationships

What kind of friend are you? Are the kind of person who has a thousand acquaintances, but no deeply trusting relationships? Or do you have fewer, deeper friendships? Are you quantitative or qualitative (leave it to a marketer to define friendship on such terms)?

This is essentially the same question you must ask yourself when considering your marketing strategy. In the past, the only option was to be a quantitative friend, to hang out with anybody and everybody in hopes that someone might actually talk back.

Using social media, however, you can engage your target audience in a qualitative relationship, engaging in a mutually beneficial two-way conversation. And the power of social media is its ability to qualitatively engage thousands of people.

The Catch

Sounds great, right? Who doesn't want to be popular. The challenge, however, is in your willingness to accept your new qualitative data as valid. Social media is difficult to track, a scary proposition for many business leaders. But if you're willing to allow for a bit gray area in your reporting, your company stands to benefit from authentic conversation about your brand around the world.

Introduction to Social Media :: Social Media Paradigm Shift: From Waterfall to Waterpark

At a recent conference, our Venezuelan National Director stood up and told us how Angel Falls is the highest waterfall in the world with all the South American gusto fitting for such a situation. I've never been to Angel Falls, but I have witnessed the majesty of Niagara, where 6 million cubic feet of water tumble over the falls each minute. Few natural occurrences inspire such awe.

Waterfalls are majestic and powerful, and usually really photogenic. And that's about it. Sure, they're great for hydro-electric power, but the attraction of a waterfall is always somewhat removed. It's over there somewhere, out in the distance.

At waterfalls, crowds of people stand back and watch, maybe take a few pictures. The entertainment is in the distance; enjoyment is one-way.

Traditional broadcast media are like a waterfall: a single source generates all the value and users either view it, or they do not. This holds true for marketers utilizing these channels as well. We talk and hope people will listen. The target audience has very little input into what we tell them.

But what's different about a waterpark? Two things: community and interactivity. People don't go to waterparks alone, and a waterpark without people would be a very boring place. Waterparks invite participation. A single person slide is okay, but the slide that has the 4-person raft is downright amazing! And the more entertaining the people your with, the better your trip will be. You're friend Brett may be a bit of a trouble maker, but you always have a good time when he's around.

At a waterpark, people are in the water, not just looking at it. Some are in the wave pool, some are on the slides. But they're all immersed in the experience. No two trips to the waterpark are ever the same because participants have a hand in shaping their experience.

Welcome to the social media revolution, where communities trumps corporations and conversation is king.

Through social media, marketers have access to individuals like never before, but the strategic mindset must shift from Waterfall Thinking to Waterpark Thinking. When this kind of thinking comes from the top, leadership enables the company to venture into the wave pool of the marketplace and directly interact with the community. But how do you get there?

In coming posts, we'll continue exploring this paradigm shift, as well as the tools you can use to harness it's power.

We hope you brought your sunscreen!

Executives who use Twitter

One of the most popular social media platforms is Twitter. Business Week has posted a directory of CEOs using Twitter. View the list here.