Monday, July 20, 2009

Three things I learned from the Cool Twitter Conference

I am very happy I attended the full day "Cool Twitter Conference" and was able to expand my knowledge learning from 16 speakers. Plus I ran into some people I knew which is always fun. Here are three of the things I learned.

1. The Power of ReTweeting (RT): Share articles, resources, and tweets by ReTweeting them. Place the letters "RT" "@" "original senders name" and then the "tweet". For example I just read, "Twitter for Beginners: 5 Steps for Beginner Tweeters http://bit.ly/do322". I would RT this by putting RT@mashable in front of it and Tweeting it out. When you write Tweets, leave 20 charachters so if someone wants to RT what you wrote, they'll have room to do so.

2. No hard selling: Have your strategy in place and decide if your role will be feedback focused or leverage marketing tactics. Prior to this I thought I would be advertising all of my companies events and doing more selling but have learned it needs to be a softer sell and I should mention an article that might cover something that will be talked about at that event with a link to it. This is a place to be seen as more of person versus a static company and you can share resources, articles, offer fun awards, view updates and just join in on global conversations.

3. Sponsorships: It stuck with me to make sure you tell your sponsors where you'll be listing them in New Media as that is a huge draw to them. I made sure I went back & told our events director the next day. Great point as sponsorships are harder to get in this economy, but people know that Social Media travels fast & is so viral.

My website tip of the day...be sure as a newbie to visit www.mashable.com to sign up for their RSS feed or daily emails. Mashable is the Social Media Guide/internet blog that writes about Twitter, You Tube, Facebook, My Space, Google & start ups. I spent an hour or two on it today learning a lot of great information after being very impressed by Jennifer Van Grove after hearing her speak for a second time this month. If you want to learn Social Media, be in the know of this website and use it.

Interesting facts: Twitter started in March 2006 and has 25 million users.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Why Twitter?

For the past 3-4 months I've known I need to learn Twitter and then sell my company on the idea of us starting to Tweet. Twitter is an excellent way to communicate to the members of our company quick little updates on upcoming events, news stories in our industry, giving more exposure to our members by tweeting about their companies successes with a link to learn more.

I am on my way to spend a full day learning about Twitter at the www.cooltwitterconferences.com. I am looking forward to hearing from the variety of speakers, meeting other attendees with similar interests and furthering my collection of examples on why my company and others need to take advantage of Twitter. I'll share with you some things that I learn.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Social Media Conversations

Every day I hear or read the word Twitter, Facebook, You Tube, Flickr, etc. And a couple of times a week I learn about another organization that is putting on an event or webinar around Social Media. The ones I've attended are always very well attended. Want to put on an event and be guaranteed people will come? Have an event on Social Media. Just be sure to make sure it's a great one or they'll "tweet","blog" or tell friends on Facebook what their thoughts are.

As I work to participate more heavily with these conversations and get "on the curve," my plan is to continue with my Marketing Via New Media class that I'm enrolled in for the Summer, watch 11 webinars over the next five weeks through www.magicuniversityu.com, and attend an all day conference tomorrow on Twitter (www.cooltwitterconferences.com). After learning all of this information this Summer, my plan is to present a social media strategy to my company in hopes of implementing one this September. Why? I want my company to be right there with me on the curve. With me as the driver, of course.

Want to get on the "curve?"

New to Social Media? You're not alone. There are millions of other newbies out there just like us. Many don't realize how behind the curve they already are. My goal is to start by just "getting on the curve"...with the target of getting ahead of the curve.

Every day I am learning so many new things about Social Media and come across great examples, resources and articles. I've decided to start this blog to share my experiences as I go from being a newbie to a savy social media expert. Are you ready to ride this journey with me?

I have a few friends, family members and co-workers that I keep sharing tidbits of information with. Now, everyone can just come to my blog to see what I'm learning. This is going to be fun!