140 Twitter Marketing Tips from @KylePLacy
January 14, 2010
Kyle asked his followers on Twitter to share tips and then compiled 140 of them into this slideshow. Brilliant.
(Oh, and find @socialarts on slide 109)
Brizzly: The Best Way to Manage Multiple Twitter Accounts
January 8, 2010
“A simple way to experience the social web” -Brizzly
Twitter told me to try it, so I did…and I love it!
A Twitter “reader” that allows you to add up to 5 Twitter profiles to your account. Turns out, the CEO used to work at Google, specifically in the Google Reader dept…which explains why this application is so heavily geared towards usability when it comes to MY experience of Twitter. In my opinion, Brizzly is the best way I have found so far (and I have not tried Co-Tweet or HootSuite) to manage and monitor multiple Twitter accounts.
Why Brizzly Works So Well:
- You can view multiple twitter accounts at once, click in between each one easily, and perform all of the regular Twitter actions as if you were logged in to each separate account;
- Videos, photos and full links appear directly in your stream (no shortened URLS or links to twitpics);
Social Media Going Corporate
November 7, 2009
Well, it seems like the Mainstream Media are catching on to what we who work the social media have known for awhile. Businesses are getting on board with the realities of a Social Web.
The November 7, 2009 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle has an article “Social sites invade corporate culture” discussing how corporate attitudes about social media are shifting.
Written by Benny Evangelista, the article talks about Comcast’s big shift in attitude brought on by one employee’s using his own Twitter account to respond to customers tweeting about service issues. The employee, Frank Eliason, now heads a staff of 11 who monitor social networks, offering help to customers.
The article quotes Comcast’s CEO Brian Roberts who says that their Twitter strategy has helped change their corporate culture “from inside the organization, not just top down.”
“That’s the Best Buy Promise!”
September 21, 2009
This is a love story.
A story about a girl who fell in love with more than just a social network…she fell in love with a way of doing business, a philosophy of customer service, the innovative spirit of real-time social media community building…
Ok, I’m getting a bit carried away. This is really just another story about how one company has successfully integrated social media into their customer service strategy and managed to harness the power of viral marketing and word-of-mouth reputation management. @ComcastCares does it, so does @RichardatDELL, @Ask_WellsFargo, and @JetBlue. Recently, I discovered that @BestBuy is on Twitter as well, and that is how my story begins.
Actually, it begins months ago when I bought a new external hard drive and when I opened the box a month later, it didn’t work. The people at Best Buy told me that I had already waited too long to be able to return the drive to the store (30 days), so I had to contact Western Digital, the manufacturer. They required that I purchase postage, package the drive in it’s original box and send it back to them in order to receive a replacement. Weeks went by and I finally was sent a new drive…all by itself…with none of the cords or cables (which I had sent back in the original package!), so I could not use it at all. To make a long (and frustrating) story short, I could not get on the phone with a human at Western Digital for the life of me, so last Friday I was fed up. I tried calling Best Buy, to see if they could help. Again, NO HUMAN. The phone rang and rang and rang.
As I sat there, staring at the receiver and wondering what was wrong with the world, I had a flash of inspiration… “Maybe Best Buy is on Twitter,” I remembered seeing their name mentioned somewhere…a quick search revealed that they indeed were present on Twitter, so I sent out a cry for help:
My first tweet to Best Buy
Within literally 1 MINUTE I received this reply:
The speedy response
How Zazzle Creates Community
August 12, 2009
The Zazzle Mission: To Re-define Commerce. Powered by the World’s Imagination
Last week I spoke on the phone with Erik Pemberton and Patrick Briggs, the marketing team at Zazzle. (What is Zazzle? Find out more here). Beforehand I was online browsing through their social media presence, and what really impressed me was the level of activity on all of their networks; customers and employees engaging all over the place. Granted, they have three blogs, a Facebook page, a busy Twitter stream and more….links to all of which are aggregated on their community page.
I have been noticing that a few (wise) companies have added this as a feature to their websites; a place designated specifically for interaction and community. The Zazzle company is definitely a leader in community engagement, which is why I am excited to hear them speak at the HyperArts social media event this week (Aug 13th, 2009 at 6pm).
Twitter Business Example Series (Week 2)
July 13, 2009
**Update: follow this series using #TwitterBizEx hashtag.
This week’s series (which lasted two weeks since my vacation fell in the middle) had a local-food-and-drink-business theme. Most of my examples ended up being restaurants, and all seemed to be using Twitter in similar ways in hopes of pulling in new customers and developing a following of fans. Here is a list of the companies that I reviewed:
Mon 6.29: @numitea
(Numi Tea: http://www.numitea.com/)
Wed 7.1: @penelopeoakland and @grandlake
(Penelope Bar/Café: http://penelopeoakland.com/)
(Grand Lake Theatre: http://renaissancerialto.com/)
Thurs 7.2: @yoshisjazz
(Yoshi’s Sushi and Jazz Club: http://www.yoshis.com/)
Fri 7.3: @olivetojournal
(Oliveto Restaurant: http://www.oliveto.com/)
Wed 7.8: @vosrestaurant
(Vo’s Vietnamese: http://vosrestaurant.com/)
Thurs 7.9: @acoterestaurant
(A Cote: http://www.acoterestaurant.com/)
Twitter Business Example Series (Week 1)
June 26, 2009
Why does it matter how other businesses are using social media?
By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter. -Confucius
I was inspired to do some research, observing how small businesses use Twitter and other social networks, after hearing too many examples and case studies of how big companies with recognizable names are leveraging their large existing consumer audiences to grow fan bases on social networks.
What about the little guys? Using examples of brands like Victoria’s Secret, Dell, and Patagonia, when pitching (or defending) social media marketing can’t possibly be relevant to the majority of businesses who are trying to decide if this new marketing paradigm is worth the time, energy, and, of course, the money.
**Update: You can now follow this Twitter Business Example Series on Twitter by searching for the #TwitterBizEx hashtag!
Make the right kind of noise on Twitter
June 17, 2009
Most of the people that ask me about Twitter are skeptical of the network due to its reputation for encouraging mundane or irritating noise from the masses. I try to explain how useful it can actually be for both businesses and consumers, but I think that words can be futile compared to concrete examples. Here are a few of the tactics I have used on Twitter that resulted in meaningful and helpful interactions with complete strangers:
1) Initiate a Conversation with a Brand
Interact with a brand to see how they approach customer service via Twitter. I first came into contact with a brand, Zazzle (customized business cards and more), when I got my new business cards in the mail and was so happy that I took a picture and tweeted it, making sure to include the company’s username with an @ sign in my tweet so that they would receive the message:
Social Media (sometimes you just have to laugh)
June 5, 2009
We all fall victim to the habit of taking ourselves and our jobs too seriously. For those of us who work in the young and mysterious realm of social media…be it marketing, consulting, specializing, advising, whatever you want to call it! Sometimes, one of the best ways to avoid losing sight of the bigger picture is to stop and laugh at the whole thing.
I have found some hilarious videos in the past few months, mostly via Twitter, parodying various social media networks, marketing and more. I thought I would share our favorites all in one blog post for fun. You can find all of these and many more on the HyperArts YouTube channel as well.
The Giving Tweet
May 29, 2009
I wrote a blog post last week about a Twitter schedule and realized that most of my 
tweets seem to involve sharing links to blogs and articles and websites that I like and find useful (specifically related to social media marketing). But I want to modify that trend a bit … I think only tweeting links must get really old to my followers. I recently started to follow @sanderssays on Twitter, who only just opened his account recently. It’s nice to observe someone who is new to Twitter and see how they approach tweeting with a fresh perspective and strategy. I started to think more about my own Twitter patterns after reading Sanders’ last 20 or so tweets.