?>?> twitter

Lance Armstrong Reports on Lance Armstrong; What does it mean for your Brand?


lance and levi after stage 15 — powered by http://www.livestrong.com
Two weeks ago Lance Armstrong stopped talking to the press. Initial reports were that he took this step after being angered over some media reports that he was responsible for a rider protest that occurred in Milan during the Giro D’Italia. But what’s interesting is that he is still talking to his fans, daily. And he is talking to  his fans directly through Twitter and his video blog postings without the traditional media.
In Robert Mackey’s article in today’s New York Times Lance Armstrong Covers Lance Armstrong” Mackey writes:
Given his immense fame, and the power of the new media tools he has obviously mastered, Mr. Armstrong is now free to cut out the middle man and go straight to the people.

Ever the competitor, Mr. Armstrong even seems to be enjoying tweaking his new rivals in the press corps, secure in the knowledge that he is scooping them hour after hour as he posts regular updates to his chatty Twitter feed, where he banters with other cyclists, comments on his comeback and even answers questions from some of his more than 933,000 followers.Last week he even took a moment to post this comment on a news report saying that some members of the cycling media had stopped quoting his tweets, in an effort to force him to engage with them:

Bitter sports reporters are boycotting @lancearmstrong’s Tweets. Good luck with that, and welcome to 2009.
Whether you applaud Lance for his media blackout or not what lessons can your brand take from his use of social media to stay in touch with his audience?

Questions Brands Should Be Asking About Twitter

I had other plans for my blog today but on my way to writing I stopped by Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang and read his blog “7 Questions Some Brands are Asking about Twitter.” This is an excellent blog for any company contemplating their Twitter strategy to read.

Below are the questions that Owyang wrote that a handful of others brands are starting to ask:

  1. Should we create multiple accounts for different divisions? How should we name them?  How should the content be different?
  2. Is it ok to just tweet out news on our main corporate account? Or should we be conversational?
  3. How do we get our corporate reps (sales, product teams) to use this tool, and be conversational?
  4. Should we follow folks? If so, what’s the protocol? Should we only follow folks that follow us? We don’t want to appear like ‘big brother’
  5. What are the tools to use to manage multiple authors/tweeters?
  6. How can we find other examples of B2B twitter examples?
  7. How should we brand our Twitter backgrounds images?

Twitter
Creative Commons License photo credit: respres

Based on my experience with clients, Brands should also consider asking:

  • Whose voice should we be using? CEO, Marketing? Should we identify who is posting?
  • How do we jump into conversations? And should we?
  • How much time should we be spending on Twitter?
  • What image for our Brand should we be using? Should it be a photo of the author or company or brand logo?
  • What’s the proper balance on our Brand’s tweets? Should it all be self promotion or should we be informational?
  • What is our purpose?

Any questions I missed?

Ashton Kutcher Gets Social Media — Do You?

By now– unless you have been living under a rock for the last week without any Internet connection and have taken an oath against listening to any news—you have heard about how Ashton Kutcher challenged CNN to see who could get to one million followers first on Twitter. Kutcher won. But maybe his challenge means we all won.

On Friday, April 17, 2009 after winning his challenge, Kutcher told Oprah that he believes that “We’re at a place now with social media where a single person’s voice can be as powerful as an entire news network — that is the power of the social web.”

He went on to say that as a celebrity his life “somewhat on display anyway, and not always by choice… so instead of them publishing pictures and videos I don’t like, I can publish pictures and video of myself… that I’m happy with. If there’s some sort of fallacy that’s out in some magazine or that some blogger has written about, you can respond to it, and you can actually respond to it in a genuine way, directly with your fans.”

In an article for The Huffington Post titled “Changing the Face of Media: Kutcher vs CNN” Andrew Cherwenka, vice president of business development at trapeze.com wrote:

Kutcher gets new media. His livecast during the race – a continuous live video stream over the internet – was an engaged conversation. He read followers’ tweets on air, asked questions, and actively engaged his audience using Twitter. He linked us to YouTube clips and his chosen charity, www.malarianomore.org. He advanced his next cause, fighting human trafficking.

At the end of the day, Kutcher has been able to raise almost one million dollars for Malaria No More and maybe he also showed the power of social media to the non-believers out there. What do you think?

Backing up your Tweets


Chris | Live Tech Support | Video Help | Add to iTunes

Should Your Company be Tweeting

Last month it did seem that no matter where you went or whatever news channel you watched, the conversation was all about Twitter. According to Compete, a stat tracking service, the conversation was really about Twitter. From February to March, Twitter grew 76.8% and now reaches more than 14 million Americans monthly. My social network
Creative Commons License photo credit: luc legay

But is Twitter the right place for your company? It all depends. What are your reasons for joining Twitter? Does your company already have an online presence? Will you have to have each tweet approved by legal and or by Marketing? If so, Twitter is probably not the place for your company.

In Advertising Age today B.L. Ochman wrote the  “Top 10 Reasons Your Company Probably shouldn’t Tweet.”

Here are my four favorite reasons from the article on why your company shouldn’t tweet:

You plan to use Twitter for nothing but broadcasting headlines or deals. People follow people they find interesting. Followers are earned on Twitter. Be interesting, make only every 10th tweet about you, and you’ll gain and keep a following. If all your tweets are a one-way street: Block!

You think all that matters on Twitter is getting a lot of people to follow you. Quality trumps quantity.

You want to protect your updates. If people have to ask permission to see what you’re posting on Twitter, you’re defeating the purpose, which is conversation.

You think you can just jump in and start tweeting. Listen first. Monitor what’s being said about your brand, your industry, your products. Then join the conversation and become part of the community. Then your occasional marketing messages will be accepted, or at least tolerated because you also add value to the community.

Beautifully put B.L.

Anyone else?

Twitter’s Evan Williams Describes Ideas Behind Explosive Growth at Ted

Last month Evan Williams, the founder of Twitter, returned to the stage at Ted exactly fours years after founding Odeo. Williams described how back in 2006 Jack Dorsey, one of the lead engineers at Odeo, came to him with a side idea he was playing with–Twitter. Williams was intrigued just as he had been intrigued a few years before with another hunch he had–Blogger. What both ideas have taught him is that it is important to follow your hunches even if they don’t seem to align with your current business.

During his Ted speech, Williams discussed that originally Twitter was intended to share moments of your life, both the momentus and the mundane, with family and friends. He has been surprised that Twitter has taken on a life of its own and is constantly evolving as users find even more interesting uses for Twitter. Back in the fall of 2007, Twitter took a big leap when it was used to broadcast news of the San Diego fires and then a year later was used by the hostages in India to give real time alerts of the terrorist attacks. Back in January, Twitter was again used to broadcast the pictures as they occurred of the miracle on the Hudson.

The talk is fascinating. Are you using Twitter in a new way?

Survey Says TweetDeck; LinkedIn Tweeple Group Rocks

As I mentioned in a post several days ago, last week I was intrigued with tip 4 of “10 Tips on being a good Twitterer” from CNN.com last week. This is the tip I needed:

4. Use Twitter from your desktop. Twitter has something called an API (Application Programming Interface), which allows programmers to create experiences around Twitter for the community. Because of this, there have been an amazing array of applications released that will allow you to manage your Twitter account easily. There’s Twitterrific, TweetDeck, and Twhirl — just to name a few.

I admit it has become impossible to track the more than 400 people, news organizations, and companies that interest me. But the last line of the tip stumped me, “There’s Twitterrific, TweetDeck, and Twhirl.” Which one to choose?

15 February 2009
Creative Commons License photo credit: dougbelshaw

Next stop, Google. I quickly queried Twitterrific, TweetDeck, and Twhirl”. Lots of results. Unfortunately, nothing jumped out that would quickly solve my dilemma. I then turned to Twitter. I tweeted my request, “Which one to use Twitterrific, TweetDeck, or Twhirl?” No responses.

I then turned to the LinkedIn Tweeple Group. Within several hours I was flooded with responses –41 to date. 31 votes for TweetDeck. I heard from Twitterers around the world. I also heard from Jesse Engle, CEO of CoTweet. According to Jesse, CoTweet was designed for companies that are interested in having their team tweet through the corporate or brand account. Definitely a product to check out.

So, what started as a quick question, ended up being a fun journey around the world courtesy of the Tweeple Group on LinkedIn. Now, for the download.

What are you using to manage your Twitter account?

Get Your Twitter Name Today

So here is the tip of the day. Go open your Twitter account today even if you think it is stupid and you will never need it. What if you are wrong? What if someone else grabs your brand name. And I am not just talking about your company name.

Twitter Bird
Creative Commons License photo credit: tashmahal

Open a Twitter account for your product too. And while your at it, just to be safe,  open a personal account with your name as well. If your name is gone–be clever.

Better to be safe than sorry. Do you really want to get into a “bidding” war someday for your own name?

Calculating Twitter’s ROI

Pete Blackshaw is exec VP of Nielsen Online Digital Strategic Services and author of “Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000”.

Have you tried to calculate your organization’s Twitter ROI?

Getting Started on Twitter

As I mentioned in my last post, in the last month almost any conversation I have had with my colleagues and even family members seems to quickly turn to Twitter. You have probably noticed that as well especially after Obama’s speech this week when some of our elected officials were caught “tweeting” on their cell phones.

There seems to be two camps: those that are using Twitter and love it and those that may have checked it out briefly and think it is stupid. I have to admit, back in the spring when I first signed up,  I was in the later camp. But, after using Twitter for a while now,  I admit I find it interesting and fun to use as well as a great way to engage people you might never meet.

Twitter Pack
Creative Commons License photo credit: carrotcreative

So, if you are interested in getting started on Twitter or refining your Twitter knowledge, you might be interested in “10 Tips on being a good Twitterer” from CNN.com.

1. Be yourself, but beware. Say whatever you feel like saying, but remember that whatever you write could exist in the digital universe forever. Proceed with extreme caution.

2. Don’t be afraid to interact with others. If you like something they say, reply by clicking the little grey arrow that appears when you hover over one of their tweets.

I was intrigued with tip 4 which led to a Google article search which led to a question I posed on both LinkedIn and Twitter.  Within several hours I was flooded with a number of responses. I’ll tell you in my next post where the answers came from and what advice I was given.

Do you have any Twitter tips to share?