Betsy Emmons has a background in public relations, healthcare consulting, political campaigns, and marketing. She is now an assistant professor who researches social media, particularly Twitter. Her presentation covers how businesses can use social media like Twitter to build relationships and engage customers. She discusses aligning social media strategies with business goals and provides examples of effective Twitter tactics like sharing useful information, curating content, and acknowledging trending topics. Mobile usage and visual content are growing in importance for social media strategies.

1. Twitter for Business
Betsy Emmons, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Journalism & Mass Communication
Samford University

2. My Background
Strategic Communicator and Educator
-Public Relations work in Washington, D.C.
Non-Profit, Advocacy
-Healthcare Consulting in Las Vegas, N.V.
-Political Campaign work in Las Vegas, N.V.
-Marketing and Public Relations in Birmingham,
A.L.
-Assistant Professor at Samford University
-Fun Fact: Co-owned & managed pizza restaurant
Social Media Researcher
-Twitter dissertation
-Mobile media and live event focus (social TV,
second screen, social media crisis response)

3. What I’ll Cover
• Social media and online presence
purposes & business functions
• Twitter overview & research findings
• Twitter tactics
• Twitter tools

4. Social Media Purposes
• “Social Media” does each medium a
disservice
– All are “social” but not the same
– Facebook: usually known relationships
– Twitter: professional or interest-based follow,
information and news, real-time social
– Instagram: photo-based, known relationships
– Linked in, Pinterest, Vine

5. Online Presence
• Required in 2014
– “Googling” is a primary way to be found
– “SEO” therefore follows
– Social Media presence legitimizes you just as
a Web site does
– Credibility tied to presence

6. Online is Now Mobile
• 2014: mobile searches now overtake
desktop searches
• Smartphone saturation in some
demographics
• 70% of mobile searches lead to action
• 80% use while shopping
• Apple announces mobile pay

9. Online Presence

10. Online Presence
• Paid Media
• Owned Media
• Earned Media

11. Content Marketing
• Create useful, interesting content for current
and prospective customers
• Answer questions
• Build awareness and trust
• Show how the product/service solves a
problem.
• Tell stories, testimonials
• Publish on Website
• Share through social media

12. Twitter
• “Follow your interests”
• Unknown relationships as important as
known
• #1 real-time
• #1 breaking news
• #1 social TV/second screen
• #1 conversation
• #1 journalists

13. Twitter Works Best…
• As relationship builder (interpersonal)
• Engagement
• NOT as just another post
– People follow on multiple platforms
– Why see repeated messages over and over?
– Facebook “front door” Twitter “kitchen”

14. Relationships
• Businesses are people
• Inevitably, just a few or even one person
makes a purchase decision
• People want to be understood and heard
• People buy from trusted sources
• Relationships build trust

15. Aligning Twitter to Business
• Business objectives
• Develop social objectives to support
business objectives
• Align social strategy
– Create tactics to carry out strategy (when,
who, what, frequency)

16. Twitter Business Example

20. Twitter Person Example

21. Did you see the link?

22. Be helpful.

24. Tell Your Story.

25. Share Useful Information

26. Host a Twitter Chat.

27. Curate Relevant Content.
• Remember you are NOT a news dump!
• Do not be a silo unto yourself. Sharing
(content) is caring.

28. Be a part of your community.
What Birmingham or Alabama-related news might
apply to you? What charities do you support? What is
your spokesperson up to? Do your employees have cool
volunteer gigs?

29. Replies @
@ = only accounts that both follow see
.@ = meant for public viewing
*Do one or the other depending on intent

30. Example of .@

31. Name Drop.

32. Use trending hashtags – carefully.

33. Use a common hashtag.
Will help with hashtag searches.

34. “Newsjacking.”

35. Join the Meme Party.

36. Embed Praise.

37. Cross Post Sometimes.
It’s your job (or your social
media specialist’s job) to
make content appropriate
to each platform – or else,
why would someone
follow you on each?

38. Keep Twitter As Organic As
Possible.
• Conversation dynamic is best.
• Scheduling tweets is OK.
– Tweetdeck
– HootSuite
– Buffer
But, be aware of Twitter’s primary use as a
breaking news space and proceed carefully.

39. Don’t Forget
The Other Side of the Relationship.
• Monitor a few times a day.
• Respond as needed.
• Just listen.
– Use “favorite” to acknowledge reading or
agreeing.
– Retweet to agree.

40. About Retweets
• Exponential Rise
• Comfort Level Increased
• Suggests Alignment with Product/Person
• Adds Credibility
• Try to use “RT” instead of

41. Acknowledge the Second Screen
• Twitter #1 for second screen
• Does your business align with live events
or appointment TV (sports, awards shows,
The Walking Dead, Scandal, voting shows)?
– If so, can you participate?
– Demonstrate presence by favorite or retweet
even if not posting

42. Expanding Beyond Twitter
• Branding is good, but...
– Allow each social medium’s strengths shine in
each of your accounts
– Avoid too many stock photos
– Avoid being too polished
– We like “real” people and “real” companies

43. 2014 and Beyond
• Social response replaces phone calls
• Twitter #1 for customer complaints

44. Measurement & Scheduling
• Analytics widely available (some free)
– analytics.twitter.com
– Twtrland
– Tweetdeck
– HootSuite
– Topsy
– Tweetcaster
– UberSocial
– Tweetreach
– Tweriod
– HubSpot
– …and more

45. How to Choose?
• Some optimized for features
• Some better for multiple users
• Some better with mobile
• Some schedule better than others
• Some “talk” to your contact lists, email, etc.
• Some are free
• Uh, Twitter is OK as is too
• …what works for you.

46. Mobile is Now
• Apple Pay
• Twitter Pay
• Donate to charity via Twitter
• iOS8 has easy Twitter and other social
update features
• 24/7 is the norm
• 20 minutes average customer service wait
• Smartphone saturation 18-24 y.o.

47. Visual is Now
• Twitter embeds photos & videos
• Photos and videos increase interaction
• Can link to YouTube, Vine, Instagram,
Facebook for cross posting
• Did you know there are Vine and
YouTube celebrities?

48. 11,000,000 YouTube views for ONE video
1.2 Million Instagram followers
1.8 Million Vine followers
41,000 Twitter followers

49. Final Thoughts
• No one is an “expert” per se; these are
relationships
• Relationships take time
• Relationships take maintenance
• Remember the “social” in social media
• Twitter is an endless, ambient
conversation – and a lot of fun

50. Contact Me:
Betsy Emmons, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Journalism & Mass
Communication
Samford University
(205) 726-4159
ememmons@samford.edu
@betsyemmons