How NOT to Network on Twitter: 5 Common Pitfalls and how to Avoid Them

There are countless articles circulating the Web about how to network on Twitter, how to get more Twitter followers, how to tweet, when to tweet, what to tweet, who to follow, what URL shorteners to use, Twitter SEO, and so on. With all of that information available, it’s not hard to imagine that Twitter users, particularly Twitter beginners, can go a bit overboard and actually end up driving otherwise willing followers away while thinking they’re following all the ‘rules’.

Are you guilty of the following Twitter networking faux pas?

Overzealous following

“Follow me and I’ll follow you back!” Have you heard this one before? Don’t be tricked into thinking that following magnitudes of people will make you an instant Twitter star. While there are many that follow the “you follow/I follow” mentality, be aware that this often leads to little substance.

Your time is much better served reaching out to thought leaders you admire and other professionals in your industry. If you regularly reach out to others (with the @ symbol), tweet about things relevant to your niche, and retweet thoughtfully, you will see your follower list begin to grow naturally!

Tweeting once a year

We’re exaggerating a little bit here, but twitter, much like blogging, can be a trap for some where they get really excited at first and tweet like crazy and then the excitement wears off and their tweets dwindle to once every couple of days, maybe once a week, and sometimes…months go by with no tweeting at all. Can you hear the crickets chirping? If you’re not using your voice, no one is going to listen to you! Be sure that you keep your twitter account active. This doesn’t mean you have to tweet every time you blink (which it seems that some people do), but try not to let too long go between your interactions on twitter or you’re likely to lose followers.

Tweeting TMI

TMI stands for Too Much Info, and this can be a scary line to cross if you’re tweeting, particularly if your tweets aren’t protected (which, if you’re looking to build a large following, it’s usually a good idea to go public), and if you’re representing a business, yours or otherwise. Twitter makes it so easy to express yourself that a hasty tweet in moment of bad judgment can occur without even realizing it. Even though you want to be yourself, unless you are a comedian known for your lewd jokes or a brazen celeb whose fans thrive on the drama, be mindful of what you say or what pictures you post. Potential employers, competitors, and other influencers take notice.

Tweet Spam

While it’s true that twitter can be a great way to spread news about your business, as in any venue where your voice can be heard, you need to maintain a balance between promoting yourself and sharing non-promotional things. If every tweet becomes “check out my latest item I listed on eBay!” or “click for the best deal on cell phone ringtones!” or “15% off with this special code!”, people are going to start seeing your tweets like they see ads and tune them out. Having your link in your twitter bio will draw traffic from your followers, and the more interesting content you give them when you tweet, the more they’ll trust you and be likely to click when you do share that occasional promotional tweet.

Conversely, if you are a business that uses twitter solely for product updates and discounts, be up front about your twitter account with followers and post wisely!

Tweet Fraud

Okay this title makes this sound like something truly awful (and if you are genuinely stealing someone else’s identity on Twitter, you probably aren’t reading this article right now), but the point here is be genuine. Twitter was created as a means for social interaction and connection with other people. If you are tweeting on behalf of a business, have a voice and give people the sense that you are accessible and real. By being genuine with your followers, you’re giving them the chance to feel a connection to you and feel that their voice also matters to you. Business is business, but at the end of the day, twitter is social.

Avoid these Twitter mistakes and you should be well on your way to developing a solid following of loyal twitter fans! Do you have any tips to add? By Lesley DeSantis

How to Virally Grow Your Facebook Fan Page

Facebook introduced the "People Talking about This" metric a few months ago.

Initially, many were skeptical of how useful it would be.

As it turns out, it's actually one of the best metrics you can use to gauge your Facebook marketing.

This one number tells you how effective your Facebook Marketing is on a weekly basis. And it's the key to virally growing your Facebook fan page.

Why?

Your "Viral Reach" is closely tied to how many people are "Talking about You".




So the more people that "talk about you", the more your Facebook page will virally grow on its own.

But there's a huge problem. Something is stopping you.

What's stopping you from virally growing your Facebook fan page?

EdgeRank.


Facebook EdgeRank 101

The truth is that it doesn't matter how many fans your page has. This is a harsh reality for your social media plan.

If you don't have engagement, then people will never see your updates.

Facebook's EdgeRank is an algorithm that determines how many of your Facbeook fans will actually see any updates.

It's made up of three parts:


1. User Affinity

The first part measures each individual user's engagement level with your page.

The more times a user Likes, comments, views, or responds to a question on your page, the more likely they will receive updates.


2. Status Weight

Facebook wants users to stay on their site as long as possible. So they give more credit to these types of updates.

Video is given the most, followed by photos, links, and then regular status updates.


3. Freshness

As a rule of thumb, most people have seen your status update within 4 hours.

So updating at consistent intervals and at the right time of day can pay off tremendously.

But be careful. Posting more frequently than once every four hours can actually hurt you in the long run.


How Do You Defeat EdgeRank?

The key to defeating EdgeRank, is by increasing your user engagement on each update.

Here are some simple tips that you can start doing today.


Use a Personal Tone.

Address your fans casually and be personal. Think about what your users are interested in, and use the vocabulary they would use.

Always put your audience's needs first. If you're posting a link to an article you just wrote, then specifically ask them "What they think about X", or "Do you like X or Y better?".


Always use a Call-to-Action.

You should always have a specific reason behind each status update. Don't just ramble or post garbage... this isn't Twitter.

If you want your users to take some action, then ask them to!

So try saying, "Tell me what you think", or "Like this update if you like X.


Spark an emotional response and debate.

People will feel compelled to respond when they have some deep interest.

The easiet topics that spark debate are sex, religion and politics. But I would urge you to avoid these for obvious reasons.

Instead, use current news stories or pop culture references. These inspire the same interest level, without the headaches and arguments.


Post during peak hours.

Finally, look at your Facebook Insights to determine when your best updates (in terms of Total Views) were posted.

If you can't find any patterns or clues, then you can't go wrong with the following schedule:

Early Morning (7am - 9am)
End of Work (5pm - 7pm)
Late Night (11pm - 1am)

Facebook use peaks during these time periods, and you'll have a better chance of exposing your content to more people.

Using these tips will help you immediately increase engagement.

And when you increase engagement on a daily basis, then you'll begin to virally grow your Facebook fan page.

The more people you get "talking about you" each week, then the better chance you have of meeting your social media goals.

3 Ways to Simplify Online Marketing

Technology makes the magical possible, but it’s also making marketing complicated. With ad exchanges, hyper-local targeting, and endless mobile options, it’s easy to get tangled up in an alphabet soup of advertising technology. Just one look at Terence Kawaja’s ad-tech landscape induces tears of empathy for over-marketed-to marketers. Basically, the time for simplification is here.

Simplicity is what consumers want, what marketers need, and what standard-bearers such as Apple and Google have shown as the way forward.

What did Steve Jobs do when he returned to Apple in 1997? He simplified the product line and, by extension, Apple’s whole business. That worked out pretty well.

The same goes for Google. Every once in a while the tech giant cuts products to move forward with new offerings. Sure, some of their initiatives — say, wind energy or self-driving cars — may seem to come out of left field. But Google’s basic promise to consumers is to develop products and services that help them organize and navigate the world in a better, geekier way. (I’m talking about you, Google glasses.)

We need to learn from these examples. When advertisers obsess over brand impact, and agencies insist on slicing and dicing every impression, it’s hard not to wonder if we’re focusing on the wrong things. For all the efficiency we’ve gained with the burgeoning of ad tech, we’ve lost a lot in the way of simplicity. Keeping marketing simple — delivering compelling ads and content that consumers actually want to engage with — could take the industry a long way toward improving performance for both brands and consumers.

Here are three rules that brands can follow to simplify their marketing for everyone involved.
1. Put Consumers in the Driver’s Seat

Let’s move away from strategies and metrics that aren’t really relevant for branding. Brands always look for some kind of number and stat to justify their online spend — CTR, view-through, attribution, “likes.” Does that make sense at all? Did brands worry about measuring the impact of a full-page spread in Vogue back in the day? The issue is over thinking the numbers and not thinking enough about advertising in the interest of consumers.

Give people choice, control, and relevance in their experience. Don’t put a roadblock between anyone and the story, images, or video they want to see. Create intriguing, value-add experiences that are relevant to the page, that make users want to click, view, and engage. Make it user-initiated and easy to start and stop engagement. Instead of real-time bidding (RTB), how about trying real-time relevance?
2. Get in the Content

We’ve seen a recent surge in attention for the “native ad,” sponsored content, and branded-content meme. But it’s really nothing new. Ever watch soap operas on TV? Those started out as radio broadcasts that were literally created by consumer packaged goods companies. Since the dawn of digital time, we’ve known that the traditional ad concept had to change and that brands needed to move into the content-creation business and get their content seen.

But what if your stellar campaign assets are part of the one-third of display advertising that, according to comScore, goes unseen due to banner blindness? Even if you have awesome, entertaining, useful branded content like Red Bull or Unilever, you still need to surface it. How will your brand’s content be discovered by consumers who have literally zillions of content channels to choose from?

Focus your attention where consumer attention is focused: in the edit well online, on mobile, and on the tablet. Surface your content through advertising technology that gets you in the words and images where a relevant, immersive brand advertisement or content experience will really make an impression with consumers.
3. Simplify Your Strategy

Instead of doing one thing on mobile, another on tablets, and something else on desktop, consider putting mobile at the center of the design process, then refining and customizing everything from there.

Brands can now respond directly to how consumers interact with all kinds of devices. In an era where we swipe, expand, and share an ad or useful brand content, it isn’t enough to rely on the same old creative approach. Brands need to leverage their great assets with amazing creative executions in high-impact, exciting ways that are native to devices, contexts, and formats.

So let’s leave the purchase funnels behind, and stick with these three simple rules. Chances are people will thank you with ever-coveted, ever-elusive, real engagement.