Never Have a Blank Avatar

The blank avatar space is filled with a Twitter bird or an egg shape. Neither adds anything to your profile.

• Add the profile picture you use elsewhere online. This helps people recognise you at conferences, networks, and meetings. It helps break the ice at such gatherings. People can easily approach you with, “Dawn?  I recognise you from Twitter.”
• Alternatively, use a logo. However, people prefer to see a face, as it helps connect the words you tweet with the personality followers will eventually get to know.

Add a URL

If you do not enter a URL in the requested space, those you follow have no way of telling who or what you are.

• Those who forget names easily may not follow back, or block you.
• The URL is a clue to how you may have already met in person, or demonstrate a shared interest. This will encourage followers, and is more likely to result in replies to any messages you send.

Complete the Profile

Avoid crypric fragments, that are likely to make sense only to you and a few in the know. This, combined with a missing URL makes you look flaky, weird, or just plain frightening.

• Instead add a brief list of your main professional roles.
• Alternatively, add a brief list of interests, skills, or specialisms.

Either tactic will help potential followers determine if you will have anything of interest to say, and encourage the right people to your profile.

Tweet!

Recently, I’ve used JustUnfollow to pare back my Following list. I’m also pretty particular about who follows me. Once a week or fortnight, I peruse the list of recent Followers, and remove anyone who doesn’t abide by the advice I supply above. I’m not interested in engaging with those with no name or interests.

• Surprisingly, I found that many Followers had a dull Twitter profile. They were mostly removed.
• A sub-set had an interesting profile, but simply did not tweet. They’re taking up space on my list, so they were removed. First, those who’d not tweeted for 6 months, then those who’d not tweeted for 3.
• A smaller subset again have a really interesting profile, tweet seldom,  but when they do, it’s not about their craft. They’re slowly being removed too.

I like to know who I’m tweeting with. And what they do for a living. And where they’re from. I like to find out more about them, from an online profile, a blog, or a website.

If you don’t supply these basic details, you limiting the amount of people who will follow back, and you limiting the meaningful exchanges you can have online.

What are your thougths?

If you are new to Twitter, use a tool such as Hootsuite or Tweetdeck and filter your All list, for #followfriday or #ff.  This will highlight who those you follow recommend following.  It’s one place to start, to increase your contacts on Twitter.

Many of those you follow will follow back; some won’t.  Don’t worry too much about non-followers.  You can always tweet them in the normal way.  If someone isn’t following you, the only thing you can’t do is send them a Direct Message.

The Hashtag

Hashtags are key words that appear somewhere in the body of the tweet, to indicate what the tweet is about.  They are –by convention – preceded by a hashtag (#), to designate their importance.  (In practical terms, however, the hashtag has no function.  So, as long as you include a word or phrase in your tweet, there is no need to duplicate this in a hashtag.)

When people perform searches on Twitter for certain words and phrases, they will find your tweets among anyone who tweets your key words.  In the example below, if someone searched on Twitter (or a search engine such as Google) for nursing recruitment Belfast, this individual tweet’s URL would appear in the list of results.

This helps your Search Engine Optimisation.  Simply put, SEO refers to how well your online location can be found by people specifically searching for you, or by people searching randomly for what service or product you provide.

Who Should I Include in Follow Friday?

• Helpful people you’ve been chatting to on Twitter during that week
• Your clients and customers
• Your suppliers
• Your colleagues
• Those who tweet information your think your followers would find useful
• People you want to notice you and what you’re doing

The Format

It’s useful to give a reason for including someone in a Follow Friday list:

@balmoralhc provides information on nursing jobs in Belfast, Northern Ireland and beyond. #tweetni #recruitment #ff

Alternatively, many people simply list Twitter users by username:

@balmoralhc, @balmoralhcare #ff

Tips

• Always put the @ infront of the username, so those Twitter users can see that you’ve recommended them.
• Don’t feel you have to do Follow Friday every week, only when you have people to recommend.
• Schedule your Follow Fridays, and add people into the scheduled tweet, as it occurs to you.

Above all, those you recommend with the Follow friday device should add value to your followers.

Do you have any methods for deciding who to add into a Follow Friday tweet?

1. Log into Facebook
   
2. Navigate to your Page
3. Click Edit Page
4. Click Add featured likes
5. Select the Pages you wish to profile, and click Save
6. Click Add featured owners
7. Select the owners you wish to profile, and click Save
8. Click View Page, to view the featured Pages and Owners

Simples!

Before you begin, you may wish to read Profiles and Pages on Facebook: The Difference.  You will also need the event description, an image and a booking link ready to go. 

Add the Facebook Events app to your business page

Facebook Events is a Facebook application (tool) that will add a tab to your Page for adding and sharing events.

1. Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/apps/directory.php.
2. Type Events into the Search box (top left), and press Return.
3. From the results, click Events by Facebook.
4. Click Add to my Page (bottom left).

Add Facebook Events to your business page

You can get images from Flickr.  Ensure you read the rules before using anything available there.

• You can create a booking page from EventBrite (our recommendation) or EventElephant.  EventBrite allows for recurring events, multiple (automated) payment options and provides an excellent system for reminding and contacting attendees and tracking event links.  It truly is a one-stop-shop.  Pay close attention to EventBrite’s link tracking options; this will help you identify where the views and bookings come from.  You may find, for example, that sharing links on Twitter is the best place for views on your page, whereas Facebook is the best place for bookings.

To add an event:

1. Navigate to your Facebook Page.
2. Click Events on the left side of your page.
3. Click Create an Event (top right).
4. Click Add Event Photo, then Choose File and insert an appropriate photograph.
5. Enter the date and time of the event.
6. Enter the title of the event.
7. Enter the venue.
8. In the More Info field, paste a brief event description, including a booking or registration link, and contact information. Posting a Facebook event without a booking link agitates many online users; people expect to be able to find and event, read more information and book (all online).  Don’t be insanely inefficient, by asking them to print out and sign a booking form, enclosing a cheque!
9. Keep the guest list and non-admins options selected (our recommendation), and click Create Event.
10. The full details of the event are displayed.  Click I’m Attending (if appropriate).
11. Click Edit Event if any of the details are incorrect.  (This can be done at a later date.)
12. Click Update Fans of, to send a message to fans to let them know about the event.  (This can also be done at a later date.)  If you are Using Facebook As [Your Business Name], Facebook will prompt you to Continue as [Your Name]. Click this option and proceed. (This can also be done at a later date.)  Fill in a brief Subject and Message and click Attend.  Fans will receive a message to their Facebook Inbox, informing them of the event and providing them with a link to the event on Facebook, where they can also click I’m Attending, Maybe, or No.

Promoting Your Event

It is important to share the event after you have created it.  Remember, not everyone will see your link as soon as you post it.  Statistics show that the best times to share information like this are 6-8am; 11am; 3pm; 8pm onwards.  Feel free to share your link in multiple locations online.

1. Navigate to the event page and copy the URL (website address).  This may look like this: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148869141844430.
2. Paste this URL anywhere you’d like to share the event.  It can be used in a Facebook status update (first click the link option), an email, a website or a document.  Don’t depend on Facebook for event promotion. It is only one of many tools that can help spread the word quickly.

If you have any queries, let me know. We’d also be delighted if you’d comment with your recommendations for event promotion via Facebook. 

The email marketing charlatans are busy emailing us promises of thousands of targeted contacts and email addresses.  They’re happy to charge for it too.  And, they seem to love the colours red and yellow, which make my eyes hurt.  Are their promises worth it?  And, are you purchasing a list that is legal?

Lay the Foundations

The following is a list of several ways in which you can grow your business contacts database, without falling foul of the law.  See below for some points of caution.

1. Trawl through your Inbox and Sent Items folders and subfolders, carefully recording each name and contact details of those you wish to keep in touch with in a spreadsheet.  Yes, this takes an almighty long time to complete!  This spreadsheet can then be uploaded to a database, CRM software or email marketing package, as appropriate.
2. Unsubscribe from those email newsletters you don’t read.
3. Mark as Junk all those irritating unsolicited emails, such as people promising you a £7m cut from a recently-deceased relative’s estate, for passing their frozen legacy through your account.
4. Establish rules and diverts for those regular emails you receive that you won’t have time to read immediately.  This keeps your Inbox a little clearer for those random emails that often require a swift response.  Rules set up by email address, or sender, often work better than those containing a certain word, or phrase (unless it is a particularly unique phrase), since many other emails may get diverted into a folder and missed in error.
5. Gradually, remove all businesses who are using personal Profiles on Facebook from your list of friends. Yes, this is painful, but it will declutter your lists significantly.  Similarly, remove spurious Causes, those who you have no contact with, and those who’ve not been active for months.  Ensure that you are connected with them in some other way, if you wish.
6. Look through your LinkedIn profile.  Add contacts to the spreadsheet.
7. Peruse your Facebook Profile friends and fans on your Pages.  Add contacts to the spreadsheet.
8. Scan your Twitter profile.  Add contacts to the spreadsheet.
9. Consult the growing spreadsheet, and connect with selected people on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, bearing in mind which network they seem to prefer, depending on their level of activity on a particular network.  Consider how you know them.  Many people consider Facebook to be a little more intimate than LinkedIn, for example.  For contacts you don’t know that well, consider connecting only on LinkedIn.  Go with their preference, not yours.
10. Look at your calendar.  Who have you met recently, at training and networking events, meetings or while conducting work for clients?  Add from that list to your spreadsheet and connect on your online profiles, if appropriate.
11. Take that expanding accordian of business cards and add the contacts to your spreadsheet or online profiles.

Get Your Paperwork in Order!

By this stage, you will have decluttered your online profiles and added depth to your network of contacts.  Further, you now have a spreadsheet of contacts to do with as you wish.  If using this for email marketing, consider the following points.

• In terms of sheer numbers, bought email lists may provide a decent ROI, but are they legal?  The chances are, no.
• Have you been provided with a list of contacts who’ve opted in to receive your email marketing?  Take care.  How would they, if the list is being sold online to thousands of random businesses?  If people have not voluntarily signed up to your email newsletter or alerts, then it’s probable that sending them unsolicited emails is illegal.  You are allowed to send people regular marketing emails if they have opted to receive them.
• You may, in addition, email someone if they have had a previous business contact with yuo, until they tell you to subscribe.
• Another issue arises.  Do you supply an unsubscribe link in your emails?  You are required to.  Just do it.  It is a legal requirement, as people are entitled to opt out at any stage.

Bring in the Professionals

• Use an email marketing package such as Constant Contact, eWeber, or Mailchimp.
• Use a CRM system to deal with your growing list of clients.  This will help you stay in touch and on top of quotations, proposals, invoices, credit control, and telephone calls.

Maintenance is Key

• Get rid of email addresses that bounce.
• Keep in touch with your contacts, especially regular clients.
• Process new contacts’ information monthly, inviting them to connect on a social networking site of their preference, or via your newsletter.

It’s bricks and mortar.  Blood, sweat and tears.  Ensure your tears aren’t caused by prosecution over illegal practices, or the anger of irritated clients.

Image credit: strandell.