Tag: Twitter

3 ways to get people talking about your business!

For business owners, having an online presence is key — especially if you own an online business. Sure, that means having the obvious Facebook page for your business, but what about a Twitter account? Yes, you’ll need one of those too – preferably one that lists your businesses name, website and information and not your own.

Once you’ve setup your Twitter profile – see my Twitter profile tips, the next thing you’ll want to consider doing is to create a Twitter background. Sure, sounds boring, but if you’re creative, you can come up with some pretty nifty designs that make your Twitter profile standout and make you look like a Twitter superstar.

Below are two different types of Twitter accounts that have created a custom background.

Branding yourself:

In the above example, this person has added their person contact information along with a graphic and a larger photo. This is a great use of space, as it helps to let others know how to contact them and where else they can connect with them at.

Branding your business: Continue reading 3 ways to get people talking about your business!

The follower to following ratio dilemma on Twitter

So now that you’ve gotten set up on Twitter, you’ve probably received a few follower requests from Twitter and followed even more people in the process.

Following other Twitter users is important. This is because when you follow someone you’re essentially saying I want to see what this person talks about because it may be something I want to retweet (or send) to other people that are following me as well.

This is all fine and dandy to follow people because you want to hear what they are saying. This will help you create content or “social media” which you can then send to the people following you. This will keep them engaged and help you gain followers in the process.

So how do I gain followers? Simple!

  • Use Twitter Search to find people to follow that seem interesting
  • Retweet or forward content from Twitter users
  • Post your own tweets – remember to make your tweets public so that they can be found when someone is using Twitter Search

Once you begin gaining followers, it is important to maintain a good Twitter ratio. Basically, a Twitter ratio is having a balanced number of followers to people following you. Why is this important? Once you follow 2,000 people, you cannot follow anyone else until you have 2,000 people following you back. You’ll then get messages saying ‘unable to follow’ and so forth.

Once you reach this point, you’re either Continue reading The follower to following ratio dilemma on Twitter

Public vs. Private Tweets

As a social media strategist, I see a lot of good and bad things being done on Twitter. One particular area I wanted to highlight is the importance of setting your tweets to public vs. private.

Setting your tweets to private is a big no-no on Twitter, that is if you want to attract followers and build your network. If you’re not interested in networking with other people, having others see what you’re saying so that they can add to it or share with their friends – and possible opening a few doors along the way, go ahead, set them to private.

Sure, you’ll be able to control who follows you – this way only the people you approve only see your tweets, but you can already essentially do that, simply by looking at the types of tweets someone writes. You can also go to www.twitter.com/username and see their profile directly too. This way you have an idea on what they typically talk about. Also, remember, you choose who to follow and besides, the whole point of Twitter (and any social network for that matter) is to attract followers and to network with others right? Definitely not doing that with private tweets.

Here are a few reasons why your tweets should be set to public

  • Public tweets are seen by everyone (even those people you don’t know)
  • With Google live search, you have a chance that your tweets will be seen by other people searching because public tweets are included in Google search results.
  • They allow people to retweet (or forward) your tweet w/links, pictures, thoughts to other users
  • More exposure = more connections and higher chances for conversions, visitors to your website, blog articles, new friends, etc..

For those Twitter users that want to make their tweets public again, you can do so by following these simple instructions for unprotecting your tweets.

  1. Login to Twitter
  2. Click your name (right side)
  3. Select “Settings”
  4. Uncheck the box next to “Tweet privacy”
  5. Click the “save” button

There you have it! Public tweets vs. Private tweets and why you should go public!

Would love to hear from Twitter users that have their tweets set to private. Why did you do it? What benefits do you think you’ll get using private tweets and are you serious about networking?

Leave a comment!

The art of the tweet

2010 was a great year and I wanted to thank everyone for helping make big things happen. So how is 2011 going? Sticking to those New Years resolutions which you set?

I sure hope you’ve made one resolution – to use social media more for personal and business growth – it helps!


Over the past few days, I’ve had people email me, asking for a few tips on tweeting. I’ve put together a few things to remember on the art of the tweet which should help get you started and keep you focused in 2011.

For those of you that are completely new to Twitter, please consider downloading my free social media manual which covers Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.

Download: The Social Media Manual: A Guide on Using Social Media to Grow Your Business

I’ve put together a brief list of Twitter Tips to help you with the art of the tweet. While you’re typing away, please remember these tips:

Continue reading The art of the tweet

5 ways to promote your Facebook page

Having a Facebook page for your business is a great way to get started – why? Facebook currently has a page rank of 2 according to Alexa – that’s just behind Google. What this means is that your Facebook page will get indexed faster by Google, thus improving your ability to get people to your Facebook page.

Once you’ve created a Facebook page though I’m sure many of you are expecting traffic to just start flowing in automatically. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Here are 5 ways to promote your Facebook page and drive Facebook traffic.

#1: Invite your friends

The most convenient way to increase traffic to your Facebook page is to simply tell your friends. To make it easier, I recommend setting up a list – call it “Facebook page invitations” or something easy to remember.  Once you’ve done this, begin adding friends to this list.

Once you have your list setup to invite friends from a Facebook list you have created, visit your Facebook page and click “suggest to friends” and begin typing the name of the list you created. This will invite just those individuals in that list.

Remember, not everyone checks Facebook everyday, so it may take time to build up the number of likes on your page.  As you make more friends, remember to add them to the list you created. and to continue inviting that list.

Note: If someone that is in the list you are inviting has a pending invitation, they will be grayed out meaning you cannot invite them until they like your page or a certain amount of time passes.

Continue reading 5 ways to promote your Facebook page