1. Red Giant Consulting
Twitter 101

2. Definition of Twitter [Twit-er]
• Twitter is a social networking and microblogging
service that enables its users to send and read
messages known as tweets.
• Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters
displayed on the author's profile page and delivered
to the author's subscribers who are known as
followers. (Wikipedia)
 Simply put, Twitter is a public short messaging service to
share news and information and have conversations with
groups of people or individuals

3. Who Uses Twitter and Why?
• Business People
 Expand network and build personal brand
 Promote company, products, and services
 Find people with like interests
• Companies
 Provide customer service
 Engage with community
 Promote products and services
 Generate incremental revenue
• Personal users
 Find people with similar interests/hobbies
• i.e. reading, cooking, etc.

4. Deciding if it’s Right for You
• Listen – the conversation is happening, decide if you
want to be a part of it
• Determine your goals
• Create a strategy for Twitter use whether it be for
personal or business use (or a combination of the
two)
 Decide what you want out of your involvement with Twitter
 Configure how you will measure your success in relation to
your previously stated objectives

5. Signing up for Twitter
• Sign Up
 twitter.com/signup
• Choose a handle (username) that is:
 Short
 Memorable
 Personable
 Connected to you or your business, what you will mostly be
Tweeting about
 Has longevity

6. Fill out Your Profile
• Choose a photo/avatar/logo
 Having a photo will allow you to be taken more seriously by
other Twitter users
 Your photo should be professional and recognizable
 For a corporate account, use company logo or a photo of who
will be Tweeting on behalf of the company
• Create a bio
 Use full amount of space available
 Reflect what you do/what you are interested in
 This will show potential followers what you will Tweet about
 Include location to help people build their own networks
 Don„t forget a link to your website or blog!

7. Start by Listening
• Set up searches for:
 Company or personal name
 Categories/keywords (e.g. inbound marketing, mobile
advertising…)
 Competitors
 Partners
• Monitor searches daily to follow conversation & get to
know community
 http://www.search.twitter.com
 Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Seesmic, etc.
• Listen and observe how people are communicating
before jumping in

8. Find People to Follow
• How do you find people to follow?
 Upload existing contact/customer list to see who is already on
Twitter
 Follow bloggers/reporters/analysts whose work you enjoy
reading
 Find people talking about your interests via searches:
• search.twitter.com
• Subscribe via RSS to stay up to date
• Use search column to Tweetdeck, etc
 Use 3rd party services:
• WeFollow keyword based directory
• Listorious directory of Twitter lists created by others
• Mr. Tweet recommendation service
• Twitter Grader evaluates your Twitter presence and provides lists of top
Twitter users in geographic areas

9. Joining the Conversation
• Replies – to respond to someone publicly
 Use @ in front of user handle (e.g. @tgruber)
 If you use the Reply button or start your tweet with @ -- only those
followers also following that person will see the response
 If a word is put before “@” everyone following you can see the
tweet
• Send a Direct/Private Message (e.g. DM)
 DM @tgruber
 User has to follow you back for you to direct message them
• Retweet (RT)
 If you like something, retweet it to share with your followers
 Use “RT” button or include RT in tweet
 RT as is or edit
 If you add content, separate from original tweet [e.g. RT @tgruber
Twitter 101 is now available (cool, can‟t wait to read it) ]

10. What Should You Tweet About?
• ~40% Sharing
 Links, news blogs
 Use URL shortnening services to preserve your 140
characters when sharing such as bitly.com
 With a free Bitly account you receive stats to assist you in
measurability
 Connect your Bitly account with your TweetDeck account
under settings to simplify and measure all short URLs shared
• ~40% Engagement
 Replying to people
 Having conversations
• 10-20% Self Promotion

11. Where to Tweet?
• Twitter.com
• Third-party desktop applications
 Tweetdeck, Co-Tweet, Hootsuite, Seesmic
• Mobile applications
 m.Twitter.com
 Tweetie (now Twitter for iPhone)
 Echofon, Tweetdeck, Foursquare….
• From the web
 Connect to Facebook and/or LinkedIn but cross-post selectively
 Retweet from others blogs
 “Share This” button

12. How Often should you Tweet?
• Rule #1: Don‟t expect to read every Tweet
• Time spent depends on goals
• Plan to check in periodically throughout the day to
see updates on groups, keywords that are of interest
to them
• Create a “must follow” list if you want to see every
Tweet by a key contacts
• Tweet once a day at a minimum

13. Best Practices for Businesses
• Use the bio to identify who is managing the account and/or link
to site with Twitter/Community Manager bios and alternative
contact points
• If managed by multiple people, consider using identifiers to
show who is responding (e.g. ^TG)
• Monitor throughout the day, assign times for
evenings/weekends
• Train individuals in corporate messaging, customer service,
crisis communication, and other policies
• If you are experiencing a high volume of Tweets, seek
alternative tools (Co-Tweet, etc)
• Consider more formal social media monitoring tools such as
Radian6

14. What the ####?
• A hashtag (#) is used to identify and thread
conversations about a certain topic
• Conferences use hashtags to integrate everyone in
attendance
• If you want to be found by association with a certain
topic, use a hashtag in your Tweet
• Search using hashtags to see who is talking about a
certain topic
• Common hastags include:
 Wireless Wednesdays #WW, Music Mondays #MM
 Follow Friday #FF (recommend other people to follow)
• Hashtags are also used to thread Twitchats (set time,
day discussions such as #sbbuzz, #soloPR…)

15. Measuring Success
• Go back to your goals
 Customer satisfaction
 Brand favorability
 Brand awareness
 Sales revenues through Twitter channel
• Twitter-specific metrics
 It is NOT about the followers, it is about engagement
 # of replies
 # of RTs
 # of clicks/opens of short URLs shared (via Bitly)

16. Now What?
• Twitter 201 will cover:
 Auto tweet or not?
 Turning location on or off
 Scheduling tweets
 Cross-posting to other social networks
 Alternative tools for using Twitter
 Participating in and creating TwitChats
 Building lists
 Creating custom backgrounds

17. Follow me on Twitter
http://www.twitter.com/tgruber