Using Twitter makes for good Business

In a previous post “How to Create Credibility and Trust on Twitter“, I highlighted the importance of combining the use of Twitter with blogging to create a social media content marketing “Synergy” with substance.
These Twitter tips and tactics for business should be read in that context. It also important to keep in mind that creating a “Strategy for Twitter” is also valuable and essential.

Networking

This is never urgent but it is important as people like doing business with people. Networking with the right people will bring you medium to long term strategic business.

1. Find bloggers and authorities in your industry and follow them on Twitter and see what they tweet about and what content they link to
2. From this content look at what content you can create to tweet and blog about for your own blog
3. Retweet their content regularly not just once whether it is a tweet or from their blog
4. If they are local, ask to catch up for a coffee
5. Request an interview via Twitter and record the interview on video or if that is not possible use a list of questions that you can turn into a written blog post Q & A interview format.
6. Publish that interview on your blog and then promote it on Twitter. I can almost guarantee you that they will then promote it to their networks
7. Promote them on Twitter with referrals recommending them
8. Use Twitter’s private “Direct Message” channel (DM) to connect with influential bloggers and influencers as you may find they respond to that better than an email.

Remember it is not about asking them for a favour, it is about how you can help them with no expectation of anything in return

Research

Research keeps you ahead of the curve and is never urgent but often ignored or forgotten.

1. Put search items into Twitter using key words that are imporatant in your industry or niche. You will find out what is happening globally!
2. Search on Twitter to see what is being said about and by your competitors
3. Put your brand name into Twitter to find out what is being said about you in real time
4. Use # Tags to search on Twitter that will keep you updated on key terms that are vital in your industry. A great tool to do this quickly is hashtags.org
5. Use “Advanced Twitter Search” (this provides the capability of doing local searches with a certain mile radius) to keep an eye on news and events locally in your city or region.
6. Discover trends using Twitter with tools such as Monitter.com which even allows you the capability to narrow the search to a particular geographic location.
7. Tweet links to your surveys on Facebook, blogs or website

Twitter will deliver real time updates and research on your industry that will surprise you

Marketing

Twitter is capable of delivering information, content and marketing messages globally and locally to your particular niche. Twitter should be integrated and embedded on as many of your online properties as possible.

1. Increasing your Twitter followers is the foundation to your Twitter marketing efforts. This should be done in a focused manner by following people in your category using the Twitter “Yellow Pages” tool Twellow.com. Another app that I have found useful to follow the followers of top bloggers in your industry is Tweepi.com
2. Run special deals and promotions on Twitter that you can use to drive traffic or move slow moving stock (exanple Dell)
3. Announce an event on Twitter
4. Include retweet buttons on your content areas of your website and blog that makes it easy for people to share your content
5. Integrate Twitter into Facebook
6. Load the Twitter app on LinkedIn
7. Seek sponsors for an event or contest
8. Promote your blog posts on Twitter
9. Use # tags at your events to crowd source online mobile marketing
10. Include Twitter ID on all your offline and online marketing material
11. Automate relevant tweets that span 24 hours so your global customers can receive it in their time zone. SocialOomph.com professional edition can do this both as a once off and as recurring tweets.
12. Tweet special Twitter only coupons so you can track the success of your Twitter marketing efforts

Share on twitter constantly and make it easy and frictionless for people to retweet your brand. Marketing is about being everywhere. Allow and enable the social network power of “World of Mouth” !!

Personal Branding

Position yourself as an expert within your company and industry. Personal branding synergizes your corporate brand. A personal Twitter account and blog can enhance both you and your company.

1. Help solve other people’s problems by answering questions on Twitter
2. Tweet links to your blog posts that answer problems and provides tip, tactics and ideas
3. Tweet links to your Powerpoint presentations on Slideshare
4. Tweet links to presentations recorded on Video and posted to YouTube
5. If you are speaking at an event, tweet about it prior to the conference
6. Include a link to your personal blog on your personal Twitter account
7. Share photos on Twitter that validate your speaking at events and conferences, this will aid and enhance your credibility visually. Twitpic makes this easy and convenient to do on Twitter

Customer Service

Customer service is the the “ultimate” marketing tool as great customer service delivers those all important referrals that take you from compete to collaborate.

1. Improve customer service (A good case study on this is “ Zappos” an online shoe retailer) by picking up conversations about your company that you might not be aware
2. Respond quickly to any problem tweets on your Twitter account to shut down any impending service or potentially damaging PR disasters.
3. Check your Twitter account regularly and respond to questions and comments in a timely fashion

What is worth also keeping in mind is that Twitter is now embedded in the Apple’s iPhone native menu along with text messages with the announcement of the new Apple iPhone 4s with its new mobile iOS5 operating system.
So Twitter is about to be a native app in all of Apples new mobile products and will lead to Twitter becoming more viral and embedded in an increasingly social web.
How do you use Twitter for your business? Look forward to hearing your stories!
More Reading

• How to Get Targeted Twitter Followers
• The Marketing Secret About Twitter that Most People Don’t Know
• How To Write A Mind Blowing Headline For Twitter So People Will Read Your Blog
• 30 Terrific Twitter Facts and Figures
• Do Shared Links Last Longer on Twitter or Facebook
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter?
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Global appetite of Universal Soldier

De vier onderstaande kant-en-klare menu's zijn resp. voor de Amerikaanse, Italiaanse, Canadese en Zuid-Koreaanse troepen.


Het Amerikaanse menu met onder ander pork ribs, BBQ sauce, tortillas, aardappel-cheddarsoep en pindakaas.
 
Het Italiaanse: o.a. pasta en bonensoep, tortellini, makreel in olijfolie en worstjes in blik.
 
Het Canadese: broodje kaas, broodje hamburger, chocoladekoekje en een tandenstoker.

Kimchi, gebakken rijst, worstjes en witte bonen in saus in het Zuid-Koreaanse pakket.

Christopher Hitchens - Religion Is Insanity - YouTube

Thinking of Creativity

One of the best ways to kick-start our creativity, is to ask ourselves questions, which lead us to creatively search for answers and new ideas.

Here are 32 questions, designed to help you think creatively about the development of your business.  Remember to share them with anyone in your network, who you think might find them useful, using the links below!

1. What additional, valuable products or services can I offer to my existing clients or customers (herein called clients)?  This is the fastest way to generate a massively profitable boost to your revenue and profits.
2. Am I fully utilising technology in my business?  Are there processes that I could streamline, which would give me more time to deal personally with my clients and prospective clients?
3. How can I improve the way I deliver my services?
4. Do I take time out, to thank people as often as I should?
5. What new markets could use my products or services?
6. How can I improve the quality of my products or services, so that they are of even more value to existing and prospective clients?
7. Am I associating with the right kind of people, for what I want to achieve?
8. What three things could I do, which would improve the visibility of my business?
9. How can I reach 500% more prospective clients with my marketing message?
10. How can I make my day-to-day work more fun?  This is really important!
11. What’s the best way for me to encourage more people, to recommend me to their contacts?
12. Is my marketing focused enough?
13. How can I improve my time management?
14. Do I take action on the ideas I generate, so they have a chance to make a real difference?
15. Should I be thinking about doing some kind of joint venture with another, high quality company?
16. Am I limiting the development of my business, by not investing in professional help in the areas where I am weakest?  If so, which area do I need to invest in first?
17. How often do I ask my clients for their feedback, regarding the service they receive from me and what additional services they would like me to offer?
18. When was the last time I sat down and studied my marketing goals?  If you have not got any written, measurable, specific marketing goals, stop reading this and write some down right now!
19. Is it possible that my services look too similar to my competitors?  Most service providers look way too alike, so the marketplace uses their fees as a way to judge their value.
20. If my services do look too similar to my competitors, how can I differentiate myself, so that I have something uniquely valuable to bring to the marketplace?
21. Do I get enough leads and enquiries via my website or blog? If not, how can I increase this, so my site becomes a lead generating machine for my business?
22. When was the last time a client sent me a “thank you” note?  If this has not happened for a while, it might suggest that you have not exceeded their expectations lately!
23. Who would make a good endorsed relationship partner for me?
24. Do I attract enough word of mouth referrals?  If not, what is this telling me?
25. How aware am I, of my client’s problems and challenges?  You need to know what’s happening in your client’s world, if you want to be able to really help them.
26. Do I have a shallow a network, spread over a wide area – Or a deeper, more meaningful one?
27. How many other websites or blogs link to my website or blog?  This is important, as inlinks account for the massive majority of your search engine optimization (SEO)
28. Am I working to a marketing strategy or am I simply doing tactical marketing?
29. Just how good is my customer service?  Remember, you don’t compare yourself to what your competitors offer – But to the finest level of service you can possibly offer.
30. Do I still have the same passion for my business that I used to have?  If the answer to this is yes, get passionate again!
31. How many of the people I network with on Twitter, have I actually spoken to or met?
32. Are my online marketing activities producing bankable results, or just a ton of meaningless, social media numbers?  If you have the friends, followers and fans but not the bankable results, you might want to review your strategy.
33. Do I exceed people’s expectations?

Writer's Blog

What happens when you open your laptop and as the cursor is blinking? Your mind goes blank, right! Soon, you’re sure the cursor is mocking you and you slink away from the computer to eat some junkfood, play Nintendo, think evil thoughts about your ability to keep this blog going, and pretty soon, you’ve wasted four hours and the blog post is still not written.

We’ve all been there and we’ll all be there again. I, however, like to “light people up,” especially with regard to blogging, so here are some ideas to blow that writer’s block to smithereens and to get those fingers tapping away on your keyboard.
Make art by thinking about how you feel and how you want your readers to feel

This is a hard one, because most of us have numbed out to how we feel, so how in the heck are we supposed to know how we want other people to feel?

Art is where that edge is. It’s where you take a feeling and you explore it by creating something that takes people somewhere. A painting is like a blog. But too often, I think blogging has taken on this sort of half-robotic feel.

Too many of us recycle what has already been said, harp on someone doing something innovative because it makes us feel uncomfortable, or we hide from our readers and use our blogs to do it! We throw up all these fancy plans, or narcissistic “look at me” posts, when in reality, isn’t the goal of blogging to connect with readers? Isn’t it to share how you actually feel? Do you really feel good today? Do you really feel in control? There are moments we do not. That is where the art comes in.

Tell it like it is. Make art. Build it into the blog.
Make art by stepping away from the blog and actually creating something tactile

Cook something, sew something, paint something, or weld something. We’ve numbed out by sitting behind our computers and forgetting what it means to do anything else. Step away from the computer!

This activity doesn’t require the same blogging brain cells that have frozen up on you, and thus, as you make something awesome, those cells will begin to thaw out and suddenly, you’ll throw down the welding torch and rush to the computer. As they say, if you run a marathon, you’re more likely to also write a book. One thing begets another. But please take care! Don’t try to write a blog post while holding the welding torch.

Make art by dreaming big

This one fires me up. I can dream up huge results from my paltry blogging. Some days I want to be on Britain’s Got Talent because of a blog post, I want to get a proper book deal from the blog, but I never want to meet Richard Branson.

That sounds so huge and unreachable, but then if you put those goals in print somewhere, you are focusing yourself on them. Your brain will try to figure out how to make them happen. Britain’s Got Talent automatically TiVos every time it’s on and you have time to watch it, someone shows you a book that you swear you could have written yourself and the art begins to happen.

Perhaps you’ll hire a PR consultant, or you’ll outline the roughs of a book proposal. Perhaps we’ll one day see your welding-while-juggling (or blogging!) act scaring Nick Cannon half out of his wits! That’s doable! That’s making art!

The blogging of art is more about you than about the blog and that’s where the real magic happens.

Thinking Positively

(1) Ability to Trust Your Potential

We are all unique in our own way, we each view and experience the world through our own lens. Ultimately what this means is that nobody can use your abilities the way you can. This is why it is so important to believe in yourself completely. We can read all the books, gain all the knowledge, mirror others achievements and look to others for guidance, but in the end, there is no other person on this planet who knows how to use your abilities quite like you can. We can no doubt learn from others but it is only when we are truly being ourselves that we become powerful. Trust in your abilities and trust that you are the only person alive who can use those abilities to their fullest potential.

(2) Choose Wisely

It’s not what society thinks about how you live your life that’s important, but it is paramount to your success as a human being to take a good long hard look at the way you see reality without the interference of the masses who have been brought up to fall in line and live their lives in accordance with a flawed system based on conformity. The most powerful thing you have at your disposal at any given time is the fact that you have the power to make your own decisions. The choices you make today will create the situations and circumstances you find yourself in tomorrow…choose wisely.

(3) Successful Thoughts

Education is paramount to success (whatever success means to you) but education is not preparation for life itself…life itself is education, and every single day you are being tested by the thoughts you choose to entertain or repeat. The educated mind is the one that can entertain a thought without accepting it. The only thoughts that play a leading role in your life are the ones you choose to accept as true. Negative thoughts, doubtful thoughts and any thoughts that limit your growth have no place in your mind, so it’s your job as the governor of your mind to banish these useless thoughts from the community you rule inside your head. Your thoughts only have the power you give to them.

(4) Accept “what is”

Be willing to abandon any resistance to what “IS” in this moment. Most often we get uptight and dwell upon situations out of our control when we should just “let it go”. You have no control over the long line at the grocery store, traffic jams, or other people’s behavior…stop arguing with reality, you will lose every single time. A negative reaction is to wish it weren’t so, a positive reaction is to accept it as so. We hear people complaining all the time about things out of their control, they complain about the weather, the economy etc, Believe it or not, this is a habit just like everything else. Next time you are faced with a situation that is unpleasant but out of your control, remember that “it is what it is” and any negative response on your part is an argument against reality, and an argument you can never win.

(5) Automatic thinking

What have you done today that sets it apart from yesterday, or the day before that. The biggest reasons why people do not achieve their goals is because they haven’t set any to begin with, or they repeat the thoughts and actions as the previous day, month, year or even decade. Start to make at least one significant change each day and over time the results will show. Keep on doing the same things and inevitably you will manifest the same results.

(6) Self image

We all have things we believe about ourselves. We may believe that we’re too small, too tall, we’re beautiful, we’re ugly, we’re too sensitive or even too brash. The person we see in the mirror is not who we truly are…the person we see when we look within is who we truly are. Whatever your self image is, stop labeling yourself and begin to work on accepting your beautiful self completely. Life is about self discovery and it can be an amazing journey. Why rip yourself off of an incredible adventure by wasting time focusing on limiting beliefs created by a doubtful mind. If you really want to change your life, never give up on yourself, fall in love with yourself, and know that you’re worth the effort.

(7) influence

Taking responsibility for your reactions each day is so important. It is “us” who give power to the people and events that influence our lives on a daily basis. How much power and influence we allow these people or things to have over us is purely down to how we react. The more negative our reaction when someone pushes our buttons, the more power we give to that person, thus, we are more influenced by the outer world. By controlling our reactions and not taking others emotional baggage (anger, jealousy, bitterness) as our own and reacting in kind, then the personal power lies within, and we are more influenced by our inner world.

Writing the Perfect Outline

Screenwriters work the same way – the outline is your blueprint. Never write without a plan; that’s screenwriting suicide. An outline gets you thinking (and all writing IS thinking), but it also keeps you focused and on track.

But how do you design that prefect outline? First off, nothing is universally perfect. Some writers put together comprehensive 20 page point outlines, plotting in every scene, even tossing in lines of potential dialogue. For other writers, breaking down the broad strokes of the eight sequences and making sure there is a clear central obstacle within each sequence is enough. But still others simply clarify the five major plot points.

Part of discovering the perfect outline, however, is trying different approaches and using what works best for you as well as for the script you are writing at the time. The more formulaic the genre (e.g. rom-coms), the more useful a detailed outline can be. An indie drama, on the other hand, may breathe better with more flexibility in the plan.

Regardless the many variables, however, I would argue that the most rudimentary outline must include these FIVE CORE ELEMENTS:

1. the protagonist and his or her goal, 
2. the supporting cast and what they each want, 
3. the beginning and end, 
4. the five major plot points, and
5. the order of events, sequences, and act divisions.