Into The Twitter-Sphere!

Connerty's North Woods Inn to host Internet Marketing Workshops for businesses in the Adirondacks

2009-05-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

Connerty’s North Woods Inn initiates series of Internet Marketing Seminars

“Twitter for Business and Pleasure” is the title of the first in a series of hands-on marketing workshops to be held Friday, June 5th from 10:30 am- 1:00 pm at the North Woods Inn on Rte. 28 in Old Forge. Participants are requested to bring a laptop and a downloadable photograph of themselves in order to submit a profile and begin to use both Twitter and the many downloadable applications that make “Tweeting” more enjoyable and efficient.

Twitter is the fastest growing free “social network” site in the world. Individuals create a unique profile and share bite-size pieces of information about themselves to other members of the website. It offers wonderful opportunities for direct marketing to potential new visitors to the Adirondacks and educating the Twittersphere on the beauty and uniqueness of what many are now calling the “Twitterondacks.” It’s highly social… and as one exchanges information with individuals from all of the world, word-of-mouth reputation (and current information about your business) can spread at breathtaking speed.

The High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid is filling formerly-empty mid-week rooms with their marketing efforts on Twitter.

The Adirondack Tourism Bureau has used Twitter this spring to forward live photos of whitewater stream conditions to a caller from NJ from someone actually kayaking the stream in question!

But “it’s not easy,” admits the CEO of Twitter, Evan Williams. It really takes a great deal of knowledge of other web-based applications, such as “Tweetdeck” or “Twibes” to put Twitter to good use for marketing.

With that in mind, this hands-on workshop is designed to power start local businesses by helping each download, set up and actually begin to use these web-based applications, as well as discuss and learn suitable approaches designed to fit each individual business.

The workshop, led by Catherine Light of Blue Line by Design, will begin promptly at 10:30 am. Registrants must each bring a laptop and a downloadable photograph of themselves. Pre-registration is due by June 2nd. The $35 fee for the workshop includes lunch; space is limited to 45 participants. Connerty’s North Woods Inn is located at 4920 NYS CRT 28, Fourth Lake in Old Forge, NY 13420 Call now to reserve space at 315-369-6777 or Email: info@northwoodsinnresort.com

The Twitter Song

2009-05-13T02:52:00.000-07:00

Great Workshop for Innkeepers!!!

2009-05-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE!

With GREAT HOW-To Videos here, such as how to set up your account, how to follow, how to attract followers, and more. Very simple.

CLICK HERE FOR the GREAT HOW-TO GUIDE (VIDEOS)
TO GET YOU SET UP ON TWITTER
http://www.squidoo.com/twitter-video-guide

INTO THE TWITTER-SPHERE!

2009-05-11T22:50:00.000-07:00

Flying high over the "Twitter"-ondacks...

Twitter CEO admits "Twitter" is "way to hard" to use

2009-05-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

9 Twitter Tips for Business

2009-05-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

How to strike the right balance when using this popular messaging service
by Jason Snell , Macworld.com

Twitter is so red-hot right now that it’s united Shaq and Oprah. It’s also so good at attracting buzzwords that I can’t decide whether to call it a microblogging service or a social-networking Web site. But it doesn’t really matter what you call it, or whether you prefer to follow Ashton Kutcher or Britney Spears. What matters is that users are taking to Twitter in massive numbers. And your business should be there, too.

Does this mean that plumbers need to start posting messages about what they had for breakfast in order to drum up sink-repair orders from desperate Internet hipsters? No, but you can and should use Twitter to connect with your customers, clients, and fans in a way that you couldn’t do before. Here are some tips on how to use Twitter effectively—and a few cautions, as well.

1. Don’t automate it
If you’ve got a blog that’s connected to your business, you can use a service such as TwitterFeed to directly channel your new blog posts into Twitter posts. Sounds nifty, doesn’t it? Well, don’t do it. Your business’s primary Twitter feed ought to be hand-fed. If you publish a flood of impersonal links, your Twitter account will just seem like a faceless promotion machine. And that’s not any way to engage people on Twitter. Link to the very best stuff on your blog, as well as relevant stuff you see elsewhere on the web, and also post items that don’t contain links at all. (Don’t forget to use a URL-shortening service such as tinyurl, is.gd, or xrl.us for your links.)

2. Be conversational
Your business’s Twitter account should talk like a person—even if it’s a collective “person” representing your company or brand. Think of your Twitter account as a character in a little Internet play—it’s a walking, talking personification of your entire company. If you feel like it, take it to the limit: Use the first-person (“They’re putting my stuff on sale again!”), invent a personality. Or just use the royal “we” and “our”—”Our editors have the latest on so-and-so.” But be chatty.

Some companies prefer to disclose members of their team when they’re tweeting from the company account. That’s a valid approach, too. For example, the clever group-tweeting service CoTweet (currently in beta) can automatically append your initials to the tweets you make while representing your company. (Macworld is testing out this service to see if it makes it easier for a group of our editors to jointly operate our various Twitter accounts.)

3. Follow people who are relevant
From your Twitter account, follow everyone on your staff who uses Twitter. Follow colleagues in related companies and in your industry. Follow relevant brands and journalists and pundits in your market, even those who compete with you. It’s polite to follow people. And by following people you are creating an ecosystem—people will see who you are following and consider those as suggestions for users they should follow as well.

4. Make sure your people are on Twitter, and refer to them
Individuals tweet different things than companies. It’s okay for your company’s employees to talk about making waffles or going out for drinks, as well as what they’re working on. Not everyone will embrace Twitter, but many of them will—and even the most personal stuff that leaks on to Twitter can help make stronger personal connections with colleagues and audience members alike.

This being said, you need to be aware of who your employees are—and make them aware that everything they write on Twitter (unless they’re using a “protected account” that limits access) is public. If there’s someone who works for your company whose Tweets are a bit risque, you should consider whether or not you want to refer to them from your company’s account. An alternative is to ask employees to create two Twitter accounts—one for work matters and one for their personal lives—and keep them separate.

Once your people are on Twitter, they’ll be able to mention what they’re working on—and reference the brand via Twitterspeak. For example: “Just wrote a cool story for @macworld about the iPod shuffle.” That will drive followers to your company’s Twitter account.

Likewise, your brand’s account can drive followers to your people. For example: “Our very own @vacuumguy thinks the new Dyson is awesome: tinyurl.com/example”

5. Answer your mentions
People will refer to your company’s account as if it were a person. You should reply to tweets that mention you, when relevant. This will give your account more personality and will make those people feel engaged directly with the brand. For example, a person might ask you a question directly: “@macworld Hi. Do you know when Apple will enable SMS message forwarding on the iPhone? Thanks.” “@janevans35 Apple’s not saying, but we hope it’s with the next major software release!”

6. Search for your name
Beyond mentions, which are specific references to your Twitter account, there are probably people using Twitter to talk about your business. Use Twitter’s powerful search features to find those references, either from the Twitter Web site, a Mac-based Twitter client program such TweetDeck or Tweetie that supports saved searches, or even via your RSS reader by subscribing to the RSS feed linked to from every Twitter search results page. There are a lot of companies offering great customer service and support on Twitter by watching what people say about them. When I groused on Twitter about my bad luck finding a JetBlue flight from Oakland to Boston, within a half an hour I had received a reply from the JetBlue Twitter account with an explanation.

7. Consider creating sub-accounts for sections of your business or customer base
If you’re part of a big enough company, consider creating smaller, more targeted accounts. Starting a new section of your site devoted only to fans of the banjo? It might be worth starting a new @joesmusicbanjo account, then Tweeting about it from your company’s main account: “Banjo lovers rejoice! Welcome our new friend, @joesmusicbanjo to the party!”

8. Use Twitter to ask your customers questions…and get good answers
Twitter is a great way to get answers to questions. Trying to figure out what your customers want to see or are interested in? Use Twitter to ask them. Sure, it’s not a scientific survey, but it can give you an immediate snapshot of the zeitgeist. This can be both instructive and productive. About five minutes before I went into a product briefing with Apple, I used Twitter to ask readers what they wanted to know. I ended up with dozens of great questions, and used them as the framework for the article I wrote after the briefing was over.

9. Be a good Twitter citizen
Can you persuade your Twitter followers to promote you to their followers? Sure, but be mindful: He who has the most followers doesn’t necessarily win. If you get people to promote you to their friends in order to win a prize or enter a sweepstakes, you may end up creating a harmful backlash. I’ve seen it happen myself: Recently, a software-deals site offered a free program to anyone who would tweet about its bundle to his or her friends. The people who tweeted were rewarded, but many of their friends felt like they were receiving spam. Even though the people who tweeted were complicit in the act, it was the company that induced the tweeting that received the bulk of the criticism. The etiquette of Twitter is still evolving—be wary.

Even if you’re not the type of person who uses Facebook or Twitter yourself, there’s no denying that these new forms of connection and communication are powerful and becoming increasingly important. That’s why your business should be on Twitter now.

Article Found HereL

http://www.macworld.com/article/140254/2009/05/twitterdos.html

2009-05-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

The Guardian offers this ADVICE for beginners...

Twitter Boot Camp

2009-05-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

Yet one more helpful site for Twittering For Dummies -

New TWITTER FEED ACCESS

2009-05-05T02:15:00.001-07:00

https://twitterfeed.com/feed/new

Utilizing the new FAN PAGE on Facebook. Important for marketing.

2009-05-04T01:24:00.000-07:00

Utilizing Facebook for Small Business Lead Generation from Eric Glazer on Vimeo.

Eric Glazer has great Social Media workshops... the secret to Facebook for marketing is the development of the Fan Page... which we should all create!
-Cathy

10 REASONS to LOVE TWITTER

2009-05-02T04:01:00.000-07:00

Twitter In Plain English

2009-04-30T00:32:00.000-07:00

The Twouble With Twitter

2009-04-30T00:31:00.001-07:00

Social Networking: the FACTS

2009-04-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

A few more reasons WHY you need Twitter for your business

2009-04-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more reasons why you need Twitter for your business:

1. Your message can reach many people instantly, so you won’t have to chase after customers.

2. You can grow your reputation as an expert by offering advice and/or referring people to interesting business-related articles. As long as you go easy on the self-promotion, people will come to trust your advice and will be more open to visiting your website to find out more about you and your business.

3. You can provide coupons and special offers in a matter of seconds with a Tweet.

When it comes down to it, Twitter provides tiny snapshots of what’s going on in your business world, all day, every day. The limited number of characters per Tweet means there is no over-thinking or having to craft everything perfectly. It’s about having relaxed conversations with your customers, your potential clients, and your peers in a no-pressure environment.

What could be more useful to your business than that?