Here are some quick points about how not to annoy people while promoting your organization from Amber MacArthur (via Guy Kawasaki)…
Getting Started with Twitter
December 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
For us that deal with social media on a daily basis – Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, RSS feeds, etc – there is a risk that we become disconnected with understanding where the rest of the country is in their understanding of the tools we take for granted. This point was emphasized to me last week through a conversation I had with Bob and Carol Marek – owners of American Period Furniture on Ponce in Atlanta.
Bob and Carol are great people that have run the store for years. As with any business owners, they want to reach their target audience – they have a high quality product with great service and know there are patrons that would love to find them, but the challenge remains how to reach them? They have heard all of the buzz about online promotions, but don’t know where to start – what is Twitter, what is Facebook, what are blogs, what are iPhone apps? More importantly, how does an organization use these technologies and which ones are best suited for changing needs? This conversation has inspired me to write some very basic posts about this new world… starting with Twitter.
What is Twitter?
To answer this question, I refer people to my post for a super basic introduction – http://www.o2p.org/twitter-super-basic-intro-for-organizations. This covers the topic in a very easy to understand way. My next post in this series will cover the topic of how to gain Followers on Twitter (http://www.o2p.org/attracting-followers-on-twitter).
What is the value of Twitter?
In my conversation last week, I emphasized that tools like blogs and mobile apps are more about delivering unique to people and not direct advertising. Twitter, however, seems like a good place to start for someone that is used to traditional promotions, but wants to move efforts online. It’s a place to start building a more intimate relationship with patrons, but can still be used to announce special offers and business-focused news without offending Followers. Twitter is a way for organizations to connect to patrons real-time (or close to it). Users choose the people and organizations they want to Follow – they want information from you!
Setting Expectations
- Your Followers will not see every announcement you post (called tweets).
- Your Followers are looking for short posts that tell them what is new with your organization – upcoming sells, new shipments, change of hours, special events, etc.
- Your Followers will not respond to every tweet they read. They won’t come in for every sell, event, etc., but you will have a way to keep them informed.
Think of Twitter as a bulletin board that is full of short messages. Some posts get read and some don’t, but it’s a public way to connect with your target audience and every now and then your message gets to the right person at the right time, leading them them to take action (come in and buy something, attend your event, whatever). If this sounds ineffective, think about advertisements that you might have posted in newspapers or other print publications – there are lots of people that flip through the pages, but how many see your announcement much less take action? The advantage of Twitter is that people have indicated that they actually want to plug into you. Extending the analogy, imagine a newspaper where the classifieds are limited only to the organizations of interest to the reader – when they want to find information, they only see posts from organizations they like. Here’s how it works:
- People discover you on Twitter (more information in later posts)
- They choose to Follow you, which means all of your tweets will be sent to them in Twitter alongside everyone else they Follow. Sometimes they are paying attention and sometimes they aren’t.
- By periodically looking at their stream of tweets (ordered chronologically) people are able to take the pulse of what’s going on with everyone they follow.
Creating your Twitter account
Twitter Sign up page (click for full size)
Twitter Sign up page (click for full size)
This is super easy. Go to https://twitter.com/signup and follow the directions to setup your profile. Make sure to select a username that identifies your organization. For example, American Period Furniture chose APFurniture, meaning that their profile can be viewed at www.twitter.com/APFurniture. This isn’t rocket science and creating your account is super simple, so don’t be intimidated!
Customizing your Twitter Profile
At any point after creating your Twitter account, you can customize it by logging in and going to Settings (http://twitter.com/account/settings). You can play around with the properties, but the most important are:
Twitter Settings (click for full size)
- Name – this helps people find you on Twitter. American Period Furniture should be used for APFurniture, for example.
- More Info URL – this provides people with a link to other places you might promote online, such as your organization’s website. You can also use a link to your Facebook page, profile on a local search solution like Yelp or Citysearch, etc.
- One line bio – enter something descriptive here so that if people find your profile they can determine if they want to Follow you. Also, think about keywords – if you deal in antique furniture, include that in the bio.
- Location – make sure to indicate what town or city you are. A big driving factor for people is local organizations.
Twitter Design (click for full size)
You also want to make your profile stand out a little more by customizing your background.
Under settings, there is a link to Design where you can set this. At the very least, you should choose one of the pre-defined templates, but at the bottom you can also upload your own custom image.
Finally, make sure you click the link to Picture. This allows you to set an image for your profile that will show up to the left of any tweets you post as well as showing up on your profile. Try to choose a picture that represents your organization – for instance:
- A DJ might show turntables
- A restaurant might show pictures of entrees
- Any physical location might choose a picture of their building
Congratulations, you are now a Twitter user! Watch for additional posts to see where to go from here.
Notes:
American Period Furniture is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/APFurniture and is located at:
1097 Ponce De Leon Avenue (map)
Atlanta, GA 30306
(404) 892-8576
Help them get their feet wet by Following them!
Twitter – super basic intro for organizations
June 22, 2009 By 4 Comments
It’s likely that you have heard people talking about Twitter and Tweets. Senators are using it, CNN is reporting world news based on it, and CEO’s of large companies are using it to keep tabs on what people are saying about their brand. This blog tackles the question, “What the hell is twitter and how can I use it for my organization?”
What is Twitter?
Imagine that you are a famous actor or musician. There are a ton of people that are very interested in everything about you – just look at the magazines in a grocery store check out if you don’t believe me. Now imagine that there was a way they could keep up to date with everything you are doing as soon as you do it:
- I just signed a deal for a new blockbuster movie to be released next summer!
- I just broke up with my girlfriend/boyfriend
- Cops just pulled me over and it looks like I’m going to get a DUI
Twitter is a tool that allows you to announce to the world what you are doing, thinking or experiencing right now. People that “Follow” you receive these short messages (140 characters or less) as soon as you post them. You can post these announcements by going to your account at twitter.com, by sending a text message to twitter or by using a ton of other applications that we’ll talk about in a future post.
What you are reading is from my blog, where I can write a ton of words to express brilliant ideas. The short messages on twitter (referred to as tweets) are known as microblogs. In the same way that people write blogs because they think they have something to say that will be of interest to someone, Twitter allows people to post small messages because they think others will be interested.
If you use a social network like MySpace or Facebook, your status (the text box where you answer the question “What are you doing?” or “What’s on your mind?”) is another example of a microblog.
That sounds duuuuuumb!
Well maybe. Actually, I would have said it’s narcissistic, but people are using it… including your patrons. Here are some more realistic examples.
- There are a lot of people and organizations in the entrepreneur community in Atlanta and, by Following them, I keep up on new company buzz, upcoming events, who is talking to who, etc… it allows me to take the pulse of Atlanta’s entrepreneur activity in real time.
- Of course, I also Follow my friends and receive a stream of information about what they are up to. I have found out about break ups, births, and local events just by checking the most recent tweets.
- My Councilman – Kwanza Hall - uses Twitter to keep Followers informed about what the city of Atlanta is up to that might affect me.
- A local school – Imagine Wesley - uses Twitter to post announcements. Parents that Follow this feed with text message notification would be immediately informed in case of any emergency… or if there was an upcoming event.
The value to organizations
So people use Twitter to broadcast information into the ether and hope that people will be interested in what they say. On the flip side, people are Following others in order to keep informed about what’s going on with the people and organizations they associate with. It is probable that some of your patrons are using Twitter which gives you an opportunity to establish an ongoing dialog with them. How much would you pay for traditional advertising that recipients “opt-in” to that can go from thought to distribution in less than 10 seconds? Twitter is free.
How do I get started?
- Get and Account – I can blog all day about the theory of using Twitter, but the best way to start seeing the value is through using it. Go to Twitter.com and create a personal account already.
- Follow people – Having a Twitter account without Following people is like having the world’s only FAX machine… pointless. Etiquette for following is: there is none. People are putting their information into the world, so you can choose to follow famous people or even random strangers. You can use the “Find People” link to get started and the “Find on Other Network” option is great if you have a gmail, yahoo, or AOL address book. Otherwise, you can look for specific people using “Find on Twitter”, such as:
-
- Me – search for Marcel Crudele. Profile page: http://twitter.com/mcrudele
- Don Lemon from CNN – Search for Don Lemon. Profile page: http://twitter.com/donlemoncnn
- Newt Gingrich – Search for Newt Gingrich and you will get a few results. Profile page: http://twitter.com/newtgingrich
- Harry Reid - I found a link to his twitter profile on the first page of his website… http://twitter.com/SenatorReid
- Ashton Kutcher - Search for Ashton Kutcher. Profile page: http://twitter.com/aplusk (2 million + followers, but he only follows 170 people? pbbfffffff)
- Larry King – I found a link to his Twitter account on his CNN homepage. Profile Page: https://twitter.com/kingsthings
Text Notifications
One final thing I would recommend to give you an idea for how Twitter can be used for promotions is to setup text notifications for at least one of the people you are following.
- While logged in, go to Settigns -> Devices
- Follow the instructions to set up your cell phone
- Go back to your profile and click on one of the people that you are following that probably updates on a somewhat regular basis, but not super frequently.
- Under their picture, there is an option to turn Device Updates on… set that.
The next time they tweet, you will get a text message with the details.
Conclusion
That should be enough to get your feet wet, but stay tuned; I will be providing more information about how to turn your efforts into results! Below are some other resources you might want to check out:
Jake’s Ice Cream – Jake Rothschild’s Atlanta Ice Cream Dream
June 8, 2009 By 2 Comments
On June 3, 2009, I had the opportunity to sit down with Jake Rothschild – a serial entrepreneur in Atlanta that started Jake’s Ice Cream 10 years ago. Since that time, he has grown the company to 3 locations and established distribution deals with local businesses as well as national chains. Here are some of the highlights and advice he offers other organizations – sorted into the CC: ScoreCard.
Click here to listen to the whole interview
Jake's Ice Cream
PROMOTIONS
Where should time and money be spent regarding promotions?
- Traditional Advertising – Jake is not a fan of advertising with media like printed publications, TV, and radio. Historically, this hasn’t produced great results for him and there are no real metrics that can be measured to determine the effectiveness of these efforts… no traditional advertising for this ice cream business.
- Online Advertising – this experience consists of working with Citysearch and, to some degree, Yelp. While Jake’s has paid for promotions with Citysearch and doesn’t think that it has been a waste of money, he has no plans to continue the effort because there’s no indicator that it’s been effective enough to justify the cost. Most of the value has stemmed from the user generated content on these sites (user reviews), which is free.
- Jake’s Website – the website provides a place that serves as the authoritative source of information about the business and has proven to be a good way to publicly present what the company is all about. It’s the easily accessible marketing face of Jake’s and is frequently one of the first places a potential patron learns about the business.
- PR – Jake’s Ice Cream has been featured on msn.com, NPR, Zagat, Wall Street Journal, and Frommer’s. It’s these less bias sources that have added fuel to the business’ growth – “it means so much more to (people) than a full page ad.”
- Cause Marketing – he recommends being a co-sponsor of organized events. Working with organizations like Special Olympics – Georgia has helped to reach new patrons and drive sells.
- Social Networking – tools like Twitter and Facebook have given Jake a way to stay connected with existing patrons and he thinks these are great for fostering the customer relationship – the most important thing about his business.
LEVERAGE
Jake believes that word of mouth is the number one way that people find out about Jake’s. Social network tools like twitter, the Jake’s Ice Cream group on Facebook, and user reviews on sites like Citysearch and Yelp help to accomplish this as does providing a great customer experience that leads to traditional word of mouth… ya know, where people actually talk to each other.
AUDIENCE
Jake describes his first-tier audience as “label readers” – the people that are concerned about what they are putting in their bodies – they are the people that shop at Sevananda, Return to Eden, or Whole Foods. His second tier audience is people that simply want a great quality product. His focus on high quality ingredients and a great product is the right message for this audience and he reaches them through Promotions and Leverage.
CONNECT
Jake’s uses the various means mentioned in Promotion and Leverage to Connect to their audience, however, the ongoing dialog is done through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter and the in store interaction. Due, in part, with the time required to update their website, they are also excited about implementing email marketing by using Constant Contact to keep all of the subscribed patrons up to date on the daily flavors available at each store.
ENTICE
How does Jake entice his audience?
- High quality product. Enough said.
- Superior customer service. Jake wants to know everything about his customers to personalize the experience – “we want to know their dog’s name, we want to know their kids’ birthdays.” It is also a goal to respond to any customer complaint within 30 minutes… by a personal call from Jake.
- High quality in-store experience. This includes providing a comfortable environment that can serve as a second home to patrons.
Jake also offers incentives to customers, with one of their most successful campaigns being the distribution of “Moolah.” These $1 and $5 gift certificates can be purchased in each store or can be distributed by Jake’s for promotions. This “virtual cash” can be redeemed for any purchase (versus a 2-for-1 or 10% off coupon) and is credited for the programs success.
SIMPLIFY
The main way that Jake simplifies is through technology:
- NuRol POS – Jake’s POS system is “monkey stupid easy” and has the ability to report on the sell rate of all flavors at any point in time, which helps determine the flavors that are successful.
- Quickbooks is used as the accounting system and is “extremely user friendly.” They did try out Peachtree Accounting, but it was more difficult to use.
SUCCESS
There are a few areas to evaluate when it comes to measuring success.
PR, Advertising, and Social Networking
Measuring the success of all of these efforts continues to be a struggle, as it is with all organizations. There is the feeling that traditional media hasn’t delivered the results desired and even the metrics provided by local search solutions like Citysearch that shows the number of profile views has not been able to measure ROI. There is a feeling that the efforts of Facebook and twitter are effective at keeping in touch with existing patrons.
Incentive Programs
The Moolah program does provide some feedback. There are relations that can be drawn between the number of virtual dollars distributed compared to the number of those redeemed.
Technology
As mentioned under Simplify, NuRol provides easily generated snapshots of what flavors are selling, which helps determine the quantities that should be produced and identify slow moving products.
SHOUT OUT’S
I asked Jake about any vendor relationships that he considers exceptional. He highly recommends:
- U.S. Food Service – Their customer service is excellent and they show their love of working with small business in myriad of ways.
- 360 Media – Our PR Firm loves on us like we are family.
- Carlton Fields – a great law firm that protects us, suggests to us, and nurtures us so that we are a healthy company
FINAL WORDS OF ADVICE
- Do what you love. If you are going to lead your own organization, make sure it is something you are passionate about and adjust the direction as needed to insure this.
- Never quit on your dream. Running your own operation is hard, but be persistent.
- Learn how to ask for help. You don’t have to know all of the answers.
BACKGROUND
Jake wants to be Willy Wonka when he grows up, but he doesn’t plan on that happening anytime soon. When he was 10 years old, he used to make children’s books as gifts for his grandmother. When he was in college at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he introduced the first instant, all natural hot chocolate on the market – something that caught the attention of Money magazine. His first physical business – a coffee shop in the Morningside neighborhod called MOCHA (Museum of Contemporary Humorous Art) – transformed into the first Jake’s Ice Cream over 10 years ago, with the original location in Old Fourth Ward, Atlanta.
Jake’s playful nature is much more serious when it comes to his products. He is dedicated to providing the community with high quality, uncompromised products – with a focus on all-natural ingredients and hormone free dairy. This diligence has led to a number of local restaurants including his creations on their menus and has recently resulted in an agreement with Planet Smoothie for a non-fat, agave sweetened yogurt called YMG, or Yo My Goodness. The focus on the product is rivaled only by his commitment to the experience of his patrons.
CONNECT WITH JAKE
Website: http://www.jakesicecream.com
Facebook Group: Jake’s Ice Cream
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jake-rothschild/5/b61/741
UPCOMING EVENTS
Non-fat Frozen Yogurt
June 5-7, 2009 – See Jake at the Virginia Highlands Summerfest.
June 8, 2009 – Jake’s new product line YMG (Yo My Goodness) – non-fat yogurt sweetened with agave – will be sold at Planet Smoothie at The Peach in Peachtree Shopping Center – 2900 Peachtree Rd, Suite 113 Atlanta, GA, 30305.
JAKE’S ICE CREAM LOCATIONS
| Jake’s Ice Cream – Irwin Street Market 660 Irwin Street Atlanta 30312 (678) 705-7277 |
Jake’s Ice Cream Cafe 2745 Lavista Road Decatur, GA 30033 (404) 343-3525 |
| Jake’s Just Desserts 2144 North Decatur Road Decatur, GA 30033 (404) 963-7151 |
PURVEYORS OF FINE JAKE’S PRODUCTS
| Anis 2974 Grandview Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30305 www.anisbistro.com (404) 233-9889 |
Valenza 1441 Dresden Dr NE Atlanta, GA 30319 www.valenzarestaurant.com (404) 969-3233 |
| Dave’s Cosmic Subs 1540 N Decatur Rd NE Atlanta, GA 30307 www.davescosmicsubsatl.com (404) 373-6250 |
Inman Perk at Inman Park 240 N. Highland Ave., Suite H Atlanta, GA 30307 www.inmanperkcoffee.com (678) 705-4545 |
| Haven 1441 Dresden Dr NE Atlanta, GA 30319 www.havenrestaurant.com (404) 969-0700 |
Inman Perk at Flowery Branch 5866 Spout Springs Rd., Suite D Flowery Branch, GA 30542 www.inmanperkcoffee.com (770) 965-6065 |
| Our Place Bakery 3387 Main St Atlanta, GA 30337 www.ourplacebakery.com (404) 767-3181 |
Inman Perk at Gainesville 102 Washington St. NW. Gainesville, GA 30501 www.inmanperkcoffee.com (678) 943-8080 |
| Planet Smoothie at Ansley Mall 1544 Piedmont Ave., Suite 301 Atlanta, GA 30324 www.planetsmoothie.com (404) 541-9124 |
You can also see this interview on UrbanSpoon.
Twitter Ads – coming soon
Twitter has released some preliminary information about it’s upcoming ad platform. Here’s what local organizations need to know.
Ads will be in Search Results
Ads will not appear on the right or left side of the page (like Google), they will appear in search stream results. So if you go to twitter and see all of the tweets from everyone you follow, you won’t see any ads. If you search for something (your organization name for example), you will see ads in the results. So if someone searches for “Italian Restaurant Atlanta” and you are an Italian restaurant in Atlanta, you’re ad might appear.
It’s unclear whether ads will appear in any Twitter lists you have created.
Ad size
Ads will fit within the 140-character size of tweets, so make sure you get your message honed.
Self Serve Ad model
The goal is for ads to be self serve, similar to Google or Facebook. That should mean that you will be able to go in and configure your own campaign, but details are fuzzy.
Success Obstacles
First, I hardly ever use Twitter to find information. In my opinion, Twitter.com is mostly unusable. I use tools like Tweetdeck and HootSuite and it is unclear how/if ads will propagate to these tools, although it sounds like there will be incentives for them to include them (revenue share?).
Also, Twitter is striving to mimic Google’s ad model, but Google knows a lot more about users that Twitter does, which allows them to direct ads based not only on search terms, but an understanding of who the searcher is. Twitter could overcome this by having cheaper rates, but it is going to be key to measure ROI!
Launch Date
Who knows.
Summary
It’s yet another place to allocate your marketing budget. We’ll see how it goes and I will keep you informed. Where do you spend advertising money now and how are your results?