Social media networking is here to stay, growing and expanding in ways
unimaginable.
Perhaps one of the most publicized, least understood of social media tools
is Twitter. For creative businesses, Twitter is certainly more than just a
channel to post the answer to “What are you doing?” (Twitter’s
tagline and call to action). Twitter is a valuable PR tool, and when used strategically
could
multiply your visibility and help you reach into new markets, brand
your art or product, change public perception, bring tangible results, even
sales.
Only two months after creating Haley
Art Gallery Twitter,
I was contacted by a buyer from India interested in a seeing more images from
one of our gallery’s exhibits that I had twittered about.
I was also able to follow and then be followed by a blogger publicizing events
and programs in the state of Maine. I sent her a DM (Direct Message) asking
her to post our gallery events (since we are in Maine). I received a DM from
the
blogger with a link to her blog where she had listed our upcoming exhibit.
This meant in addition to my Twitter followers, her few hundred followers
might visit our gallery’s web site and be directed to our blog.
I had successfully used Twitter to multiply our gallery's visibility.
I started following and then was followed by an online Maine-based magazine.
Soon after I was followed, I sent a DM to the editor pitching a profile on
our gallery. After a week, I received a DM from the editor asking me to email
information
about the gallery. I was then contacted by one of the magazine’s reporters
who asked to schedule an interview. The interview was conducted, and the profile
on the gallery was posted the next day with links to our gallery’s web
site and images of paintings by our gallery artists. I would have never been
able
to
place this article
if I was not using that Twitter.
The hike in in-bound traffic coming into our gallery and blog web sites certainly
helped increase our search engine optimization. Based onour gallery's web
site analtyics, the day the article on the online magazine was posted, we received
61 visitors and it continued strongly.
Still wondering if you should use Twitter?
Twitter is a condensed form of blogging – micro-blogging – that
allows users to post/send brief messages and communicate via messages limited
to 140 characters or less. This challenges the author to create short, concise
messages or provide valuable links that direct followers and the public to
a particular
web site or web link (read more about this below).
Twitter was started in March of 2006 by Obvious Jack
Dorsey, Evan Williams who helped launch Twitter, and Biz Stone, co-founder.
Twitter has become a national and international phenomenon. The New York
Times calls Twitter "One of the fastest-growing phenomena on the
Internet." TIME
Magazine says, "Twitter is on its way to becoming the next killer
app," and
Newsweek noted that "Suddenly, it seems as though all the world's
a-twitter." The
June 15, 2009 TIME Magazine’s cover story was on Twitter and
a great read on the history of Twitter sand its founders.
In our fast paced “e” world, creative businesses must leverage
all the available free PR tools to better position themselves
within their target market/industry. Used properly, Twitter can be one of
the most valuable
PR tools.
Its free “green” micro-blogging allows users to connect with target
audiences globally – the public as well as the media – without
leaving home, office or studio. It allows you to send brief messages and
communicate
with your buyers, colleagues, galleries, art collectors and other target
audiences about your:
• Art and art sales
• Exhibits and workshops
• Upcoming events
• Blog posting – allowing you to link your tweet to your blog
• Articles published about you - allowing you to provide a link to the article
• Your web site
• Your other social media networking tools; links to LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc.
Twitter allows you to connect with groups of like-minded people, exchange
ideas and thoughts, and learn about other creative businesses and how
they use Twitter.
You can connect with your local community or region, to arts groups worldwide,
and more, all for free. It only requires your time.
To “tweet” or “twitter” you must first create a Twitter
account or “handle” as it’s known in the Twitter world.
To start, sign on at www.twitter.com
Click on Get Started/Join
Fill out your information
Full Name
User name; your twitter "handle."
Password; create one
Email; your primary email
Create an account.
Complete a few more parts of your account before you can start to “tweet”
Settings – include all the information you would like
to have public, from design for your Twitter, to color. Using Devices in your
Settings you can connect
to your iPhone, as well.
Profile – fill out all the pertinent information you
would like to have public For example, Haley Art Gallery's profile is:
Name - Haley Art Gallery
Location - Kittery, ME
Web- http://www.haleygallery.com
Bio- : HAGallery offers original paintings, sculptures, pottery and Fair Trade crafts from global cottage industries.
Once you’ve completed your Settings and Profile you are ready to “tweet”. Remember, tweets are limited to 140 characters or less. Messages have to be:
to the point
quick
succinct
honest
carry a web link
To post tweets, click on Home tab on your homepage and start typing your message
in the box just below What are you doing?
On your Twitter homepage you can also find hyperlinks with numbers of:
Following – allows you to see # of people you are following
Followers – allows you to see # of people following you
Updates– allows you to see a history of tweets you have posted
@ Haley Gallery – allows you to see people who have re-tweeted your tweets
Direct Messages/DMs – allows you to see a history of direct messages you have sent. DMs are different from updates as they go directly to the person selected and can not be read or seen by others in your network. You can only DM those who also follow you.
Favorites – allows you to file away your favorite tweets
RT – Re-Tweeting someone else’s tweet.
To post a tweet, start typing in the box directly under "What are you doing?"
After you enter your 140 character message – a character counter on the
right hand side of the update box provides a character count – click
Update to post your tweet to cyberspace. If your tweet is over 140 characters
you won’t be able to click Update. You simply have to shorten your message
to be allowed to post it.
Tweet at least once a day if not more. Set aside an hour daily to work on your Tweets. Search Twitter for relevant news and find other tweeters you would like to follow. Tweet about newsworthy issues.
Always tweet with a link to your web site, blog, web site. Since you
can only use 140 characters, you can use different applications to shorten
the
link to your web site. I recommend using www.bitly.com to
shorten your URL/web site address. Register at www.bitly.com with
your Twitter username and password. Bitly provides analytics about your tweets – how
many clicks were recorded on each of your tweets, etc. To get analytics,
use the Search link and enter your
Twitter handle. You will see Total Clicks and will be able to
obtain locations and # of clicks with dates of clicks. This allows you to
measure
the effectiveness of your tweets.
Provide a link to your web site. Use or www.bitly.com to
shorten your URLs.
Provide thought provoking headlines and links to an article written by you
or about you.
Tweet smart messages, not useless information. You’ll gain more followers
with smart tweets and lose followers
when you post useless or improper tweets.
Tweets can be deleted. Place your mouse over your tweet to highlight it.
You will see two symbols on the right hand corner of your box. The star symbol
allows you to log your tweet as a “favorite.” The trashcan symbol
deletes your post.
Just as in traditional networking, Twitter allows you to jump into a conversation
and express an opinion as well. To get into a conversation simply read through
Tweets that result from your Search. Highlight the tweet you are interested
in. Two different symbols will appear on the right hand margin of the tweet.
A star symbol allows you to file it as a favorite. An arrow symbol allows you
to Reply to the tweet. Click on the arrow and a box opens up with the Twitter
handle
of the person you are replying to. Type your reply and
hit
Update to send.
Think of Twitter as a business or social networking gathering on cyberspace. It’s always on. With traditional networking you go through the motions of getting dressed, driving to a social networking event site, paying a door entry fee, buying a drink, and awkwardly standing around a room trying to find the right people with whom to network. In the virtual Twitter networking, you remain home in your office or studio, and networking right from your laptop, PC, or mobile device; all free of charge. Similar to traditional networking, Twitter involves finding the right people with whom to talk and listen or be heard by. Finding these individuals, however, is a bit different on Twitter than in traditional networking event.
To find your target audiences on Twitter, you can use the Find People tab on
your Twitter home page. Select from few options to connect with your target
audiences:
• Find on Twitter: type in the name of a person you are searching for. If they have a Twitter handle, you’ll see their page and can click Follow directly under their name.
• Find on other networks: provides a search on Gmail, Yahoo, or AOL email.
• Invite by email: allows you to enter multiple email addresses and send an invite to your contacts to follow you on Twitter. Your contacts will receive an email that includes a link to your Twitter handle, allowing them to click Follow and start following your tweets.
• Suggested Users: Twitter offers you, based on your profile and settings, a list of users you may be interested in following.
You can also use the Search tab at the bottom of your Home page to:
• type in keywords relevant to your target audience
• use hastags – insert # before your keyword (#art, #gallery, #pastel painters, #artists, etc.) to find a grouping of people tweeting about the topics
• review the list of results
• Select those that are relevant to you, or you would like to follow
• Most often those you follow end up following you
• With each of these search results, review profiles before selecting the Follow hyperlink which usually appears under the logo/handle name
• Once you click on the Follow box, you will see a confirmation or a check mark and the word Following.
For example, for our gallery my targeted people are:
Interior designers – because we offer special discounts
Architects – need art for their new home or office
Home stagers – can use our art and décor
Art collectors – to purchase
Real estate agents – can purchase art or use for home staging
Art magazines, blogs – to be informed about our exhibits and artist and publish articles about our gallery
Maine state web sites– for local news
Twitter sends out email notifications each time someone starts to Follow you
or sends you a DM. Once you receive these email notifications, you can leverage
them in a few different ways:
• View each one of the followers homepage to determine who they are by reading their profile
• Read through their updates listed on their home page to determine whether they contain serious topics or useless information
• Visit their web site, if they have one listed, to learn more about them, their art, their business
If you consider them a target audience, select to Follow them as well.
Review their list of Followers which you can see on their homepage; most
often you can find additional people you may want to Follow.
You also have the choice to Block Followers, in the event they have
no relevance.
In just a matter of months, I’ve been able to attract close to 300 followers,
and growing everyday. I’ve posted more than 100 updates and continue
to add more each day.
There are virtually hundreds of Twitter applications created by third-party
companies that allow you to use Twitter more strategically. Tips on these appear
on your
homepage, or you can read more on www.mashable.com.
For instance you can find Twitterers in your geographic area, community, state,
town by using any of these applications. Visit the following sites and select
the one best suited for your needs:
http://nearbytweets.com
http://www.twellow.com/twellowhood
There are a number of iPhone Twitter applications for location-based search
include. Some are fee-based, others are free to use. Check these out:
http://itunes.apple.com – free
http://itunes.apple.com- free
http://itunes.apple.com - $2.99
http://itunes.apple.com - $4.99
You can also start your own Twitter group of Tweetup by using www.tweetup.com. These are groups on Twitter that have a mutual interest or are from a particular geographic area. For instance we have a Maine Tweetup.
You can use the same techniques discussed in Power
Up with PR to publicize
your twitter. Post your Twitter link on your web site, then visitors/customers
can follow your posts.
Include your Twitter handle in
• Electronic Newsletter - eNewsletter
• Direct emails
• Business card .
• Email signature, such as:Jackie Abramian
Haley Art Gallery
178 Haley Rd.
Kittery, ME 03904
207-439-7612
haleygallery@comcast.net
www.haleygallery.com
https://twitter.com/haleygallery
Once you have a good number of followers and are involved in discussions with other people tweeting, join the discussions and monitor the tweets by signing onto www.tweetDeck.com which is billed as “your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more. TweetDeck shows you everything you want to see at once, so you can stay organized and up to date.”
You can upload TweetDeck and place an icon on your desktop. I usually leave
the TweetDeck open on my desktop. Its “tweet” sound effect
allows me to be alerted each time a Twitter is added. I usually check every
half hour to monitor Twitters for anything that may be relevant, favorite,
or in need of Reply. I also use TweetDeck to post my Twitters, using Bitly
to shorten and condense my URLs, allows me to get analytics on my Twitters.
Keep tabs on your Followers. Read their tweets. Respond to Tweets so you can
fully participate in the discussion. That’s the only way to successfully
network on Twitter.
There are numerous tools to use to improve your Twitter strategies. I follow www.mashable.com on
Twitter and enjoy the wealth of information and tips it provides on how to
better use Twitter.
Twilert is
an email notification of search results much like Google Alerts.
Tweetdeck sits on your desktop
and “tweets” each time there is a
tweet about a search keyword you entered in the search key located across
the
top of the
deck.
Twellow is a Twitter yellow pages which
allows you to find others who use Twitter in your local town, city, state
and country (only
US and
Canada).
I use these tools to find others who Twitter around a 50 mile radius of our Gallery. I started following 30 people in one day. By the next morning, I was being followed by all 30.
Reply or RT
Tweet from Tweetdeck.. Open Tweetdeck on your desktop so you can
monitor relevant keyword tweets.
The more you use Twitter the better you’ll be in figuring out how
to best use these tools.
Take note of Twitter tips: These appear on your twitter homepage and provide
direct links to various applications that help you use Twitter better.
It’s
a continuous education. The more you Twitter, the more there is to learn
and explore and discover.
It is important not to overwhelm yourself with Twitter and Twitter monitoring. Designate one hour - preferable in the morning - to post all the updates. Then monitor your Twitter account on Tweetdeck from your destop during the day. Don't be obsessive. At the end of the day, review all the tweets received, and select which ones you would like to reply to, or re-tweet.
If you create a Twitter handle, then make sure you Tweet often enough to make it worthwhile. Like any other PR tool, don't create it and forget about it. It's a daily process and results can only be gained if you practice it daily, just like art.
Happy Tweets!!!!!!!!!