Category Archives: Twitter

Making Your Social Media Matter

Posted by: | December 20, 2012 | Direct marketing, networking, Online advertising

Few small businesses today question the marketing ROI of sites like Facebook and Twitter. Still, many small firms remain stuck in an awkward adolescence, unsure how to best use social media to engage their customers and integrate these standard tools with their overall business strategies.

But why?

While many small business owners realize it’s no longer sufficient simply to have a Facebook page, LinkedIn profile or Twitter handle, they often find themselves asking “now what?” after signing up for a social media account. For many, taking the social network plunge can be a daunting undertaking.  But it’s not impossible if you keep these two concepts in mind. (more…)

Exclamation points: The ugly truth revealed!

Posted by: | July 28, 2011 | Blogging, E-mail, Journalism

Any reputable grammar and style guide tells you to use exclamation points sparingly. Never! Ever! Abuse! Them!

But there’s a caveat. Grammar and style guides are writers’ bibles. They tell us whether health care is one word or two and when to use a comma or a semicolon. Lis and I refer to them because we want our copy to be professional and error-free. The content we provide, however, is for blogs, websites, e-blasts, newsletters and other marketing collateral. The guides we rely on are intended for these uses.

Where does that leave email and texting? Both forms of communication have exploded for business and personal use. And they’re often more informal than other kinds of writing. Exclamation points are creeping in because they convey emotion. The same goes for their evil twins – smiley and frowney faces.

One is the loneliest number

Writers often have the space to set an emotional scene or atmosphere with words alone in an article or Web page, but emails, text messages, Facebook posts and tweets aren’t that generous. You’ve got to get in and get out. The limitation seems to encourage an exclamation point – or even two.

I don’t seem excited when I text, “I can’t wait to go to the Cubs game.” But consider, “I can’t wait to go to the Cubs game! (smiley face)” Is there any doubt I’m fired up now? Of course, the only thing Cubs fans are looking forward to is next year, but that’s another blog topic.

Just for fun, I asked our clients what they think about exclamation points and smiley/frowney faces in emails and texts. My informal poll of 17 people shows that exclamation points and faces are A-OK more often than not.

“I hate to admit it, but I’m the exclamation point queen,” says Dianne Ransom, senior editor and editorial programs manager at PDI Global. “I put them everywhere, but not in official articles. In email, it’s game on. And I love smiley faces.”

Christy Baranowski, CPA at Morrisey Associates, says, “I use exclamation points all the time, particularly when I’m expressing happiness, congratulations or anger. I use smiley faces as well, but pretty much only in texts since it’s easier.”

It used to be that less is more, but now more is more among some proponents.

“I’m prolific with my use of exclamation points,” says Robyn Traub, program coordinator for the Family Business Council at the University of Illinois at Chicago.” I find that I’m using them two or even three times in an email, and have tried to limit myself to just one per email as necessary.

“In texts, I think it’s OK to use as many as you want, especially since those are usually intended for friends or family,” Robyn adds. “Smiley and frowney faces are definitely a must in texts.”

Just say no

Not everyone is a fan of exclamation points and smiley/frowney faces.

“Texting can give you some liberties: People accept more abbreviations given the more difficult nature of entering the message from various keyboards,” says Dan Oscarson, vice president of Global Buyer Marketing at Insurance Auto Auctions. “It’s best to spell things out and punctuate appropriately, however. A text doesn’t give you additional license to be goofy or more lighthearted than you would in regular communication.”

“I hate exclamation points,” adds Lucy Ramirez, communications and marketing manager at Chicago Family Health Center. “I think they make people seem obnoxious and angry, even though I know it’s impossible to tell the real demeanor of the person who is texting or emailing. For me, they are as bad as typing in all caps.”

Beating temptation

In the end, I would apply common sense. Just as I wouldn’t send an expletive-filled email to my boss, I wouldn’t go crazy with exclamation points and smiley faces in business or personal communications. The more you use them, the less power they have.

Get my point?!!!!!!

SOCIAL MEDIA SAVVY PART 5: Keeping it short and sweet on Twitter

Posted by: | March 18, 2011 | Best Practices, Social Media, Social Networking Sites

NOTE: This is the fourth part of a six-part series designed to help businesses jump-start their social media campaigns. Check out our earlier posts on getting started, LinkedIn, blogging and Facebook.

140 characters. That’s all you get on Twitter, the social media site that makes a blog post look like War and Peace. Created to be compatible with texting software on smart phones, Twitter allows users to post brief messages in real time that even the most time-crunched person has time to read.

Around since 2006, Twitter is named after the tweeting sound that birds make; in the founder’s words, tweets are “short bursts of inconsequential information.” Yet the site’s popularity has proved to be quite consequential for many businesses — 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a corporate Twitter account with at least one tweet issued in the last 30 days, according to research from University of Massachusetts Amherst. That’s up from 35 percent a year ago.

The next best thing to the easy button

Here’s the breakdown on Twitter:

How to use it: Once you create an account, you can post messages, photos, videos and links to other sites that appear on your profile. Anyone can see your profile by searching for it, and the Twitter users that “follow” your profile will see your messages pop up on their Twitter walls when they sign in. You can also send direct messages to other Twitter users; “retweet” another user’s message, which means you send it out to your own network; and incorporate “hash tags” into messages that users can search for on the site (i.e., #wintersale).

The goal: Twitter is a hassle-free way to alert your customers, employees and prospects to your business’ interesting new content and to build relationships with them through back-and-forth dialogue. It’s quick and easy for you to post, and it’s equally quick and easy for your followers to glance at your new messages. Think of Twitter as the bow that ties your social media presence together — you can use it to direct people to your blog, your Facebook page and your website, as well as provide small bits of new content.

Potential uses:

  • Announce sales, specials or events
  • Drive traffic to your website
  • Provide live updates during conferences or events
  • Invite prospects to in-person events
  • Create multiple targeted accounts for different sectors of your audience (clients versus employees, for example)
  • Set up alerts to find out when other users mention your company
  • Follow users that are relevant to your business
  • Sync your Twitter messages to also post on LinkedIn and Facebook

Time involved: Writing posts doesn’t take much time, but you need to update your feed frequently and respond to other tweets quickly. In a medium that moves this fast, logging in once a week isn’t going to cut it.

Money involved: Twitter is free to join.

Drawbacks: Everything you post is public, so this isn’t the venue for you if you want to share information with a select few. And again, it’s a fast-paced tool, so you have to be prepared to keep up.

More free expert tips

Get more of our insights on Twitter, including specifics on how to use it to solve common business problems.

The end of our social media series is in sight. Wrapping things up will be YouTube, the platform that takes your tech skills to the next level — and if you’re lucky, takes your company viral. Check back Monday for more.