I’m a freelance illustrator who learned the old school way of marketing to potential art buyers (ie: project managers, art directors, etc.) which was by way of illustration directories and promotional postcards. I’m learning to adapt to the new marketing trends. Now I have a blog, several websites, email subscriptions, social media sites, one of which is Twitter. You are correct in stating that you need to provide something other than a “Visit us at http://www.markmonlux.com“. For me, its providing humorous cartoons to create and maintain a connection with current and potential buyers. Twitter feeds into that just perfectly. For a while there I was following more than being followed. I find that three to five tweets a day is easy enough for me. Twitter me at markmonlux.
Good post. Yes, Comcast has done a great job utilizing Twitter. Sometimes it can be difficult to rely on your satisfied customers to post comments about a good experience with your company, since it is the tendency only post when you are dissatisfied with a service. Setting up easy ways for your happy customers to spread the news on the web can pay huge dividends.
Brent Franson- Great point! I think the “old” marketing statistic I learned in business school was that happy customers would tell 1-3 people about their positive experience and dissatisfied customers would tell 7-9 people about their negative experience. Of course you can multiply each of those statistics by 1,000 with the emergence of Web 2.0.
Derek- Thanks for the comment. The reason I am on the fence is because with this post I was trying to look at things from both a business standpoint and personal standpoint. Honestly, there are times I get annoyed with the “noise” that is created by following a lot of people but then I see a great post by someone I don’t really know, but I am following and I’m glad I returned the favor and followed that person. So, as you can see, I think there is an argument for both sides. I think it just depends on what you are trying to get out of Twitter. If you are a business, its a good practice to follow everyone that follows you for branding purposes, if you are an individual and only care about what your friends are doing, then I would say not to follow everyone that follows you and to be more discretionary about it. There. I’m off the fence. Thanks for coaxing me down. I’m curious to know where you stand on the issue.
I really enjoyed this post. The comparison between URL shortening services helped me narrow down which service to try, particularly when sharing links using Twitter or text messages.
Allison- I’m glad you found it helpful. I actually have some recent experience with Digg’s URL shortening tool that I will be writing about later today. Stay tuned!
This is a good, concise list. There is a lot of information that should be considered, such as the objectives of your blog and strategies surrounding your blog or twitter; however, this list is a great reminder of the etiquette that should be used to insure the best response.
Search advertising always fares better than display advertising in a downturn, upturn or any turn. The majority of people desire a quick response to their needs period. I’m not sure what the argument is here but desperation comes to mind.
These are great tips! I’m wondering if you have any similar suggestions for internet companies / startups where publishing of the company phone number is not the norm. Thanks!
Tracy- That’s a great question and the first bit of advice I can think of would be to purchase a local number on a service like Skype for $3/month and have all of the calls routed to a voicemail message that says something along the lines of “because we’re a startup and we have limited resources we would obviously like to take all of the calls that come in but we’d rather put our time and resources into making our products/services better for you. Please email any questions you have to info@xyzcompany.com and we will get back to you within 24 hours. Messages left at this number will not be returned, etc, etc” Now you have another touchpoint and you can establish more of a local presence with search engines and IYPs. It would be a good idea to then add this number to the footer of your website along with the address as Google and other search engines rely on this to confirm your location for local search results.
Internet Marketing & Recruiting
Interesting article but I’m really surprised you didn’t include your twitter id anywhere in the article or in your contact details.
Good point Andy! That is now included. Feel free to follow me. I will follow back – @RainierDigital
I’m a freelance illustrator who learned the old school way of marketing to potential art buyers (ie: project managers, art directors, etc.) which was by way of illustration directories and promotional postcards. I’m learning to adapt to the new marketing trends. Now I have a blog, several websites, email subscriptions, social media sites, one of which is Twitter. You are correct in stating that you need to provide something other than a “Visit us at http://www.markmonlux.com“. For me, its providing humorous cartoons to create and maintain a connection with current and potential buyers. Twitter feeds into that just perfectly. For a while there I was following more than being followed. I find that three to five tweets a day is easy enough for me. Twitter me at markmonlux.
Good post. Yes, Comcast has done a great job utilizing Twitter. Sometimes it can be difficult to rely on your satisfied customers to post comments about a good experience with your company, since it is the tendency only post when you are dissatisfied with a service. Setting up easy ways for your happy customers to spread the news on the web can pay huge dividends.
Brent Franson- Great point! I think the “old” marketing statistic I learned in business school was that happy customers would tell 1-3 people about their positive experience and dissatisfied customers would tell 7-9 people about their negative experience. Of course you can multiply each of those statistics by 1,000 with the emergence of Web 2.0.
I must say this is a great article i enjoyed reading it keep the good work
You got April Fooled… ReadMyBlogToMe.com goes to a GoDaddy domain parking site.
You Suck- When you point a finger you have 4 more pointing back at you, because the joke is on you. April Fool’s!
Thank you Dan! I really appreciate hearing that!
This is awesome! Very informative!! Answered so many questions that I had!! Thanks!!!
Season- I’m glad you found it helpful!
I do not understand why you would pose as a marketing expert and then say you are sitting on the fence of a major issue? fail.
Derek- Thanks for the comment. The reason I am on the fence is because with this post I was trying to look at things from both a business standpoint and personal standpoint. Honestly, there are times I get annoyed with the “noise” that is created by following a lot of people but then I see a great post by someone I don’t really know, but I am following and I’m glad I returned the favor and followed that person. So, as you can see, I think there is an argument for both sides. I think it just depends on what you are trying to get out of Twitter. If you are a business, its a good practice to follow everyone that follows you for branding purposes, if you are an individual and only care about what your friends are doing, then I would say not to follow everyone that follows you and to be more discretionary about it. There. I’m off the fence. Thanks for coaxing me down. I’m curious to know where you stand on the issue.
I really enjoyed this post. The comparison between URL shortening services helped me narrow down which service to try, particularly when sharing links using Twitter or text messages.
Allison- I’m glad you found it helpful. I actually have some recent experience with Digg’s URL shortening tool that I will be writing about later today. Stay tuned!
This is a good, concise list. There is a lot of information that should be considered, such as the objectives of your blog and strategies surrounding your blog or twitter; however, this list is a great reminder of the etiquette that should be used to insure the best response.
Search advertising always fares better than display advertising in a downturn, upturn or any turn. The majority of people desire a quick response to their needs period. I’m not sure what the argument is here but desperation comes to mind.
. But this applied
Thanks for the shout out! cheers, Carin Galletta – Ink Foundry
Thanks Travis for a great and engaging conversation today! Now if only I could figure out that darn Outlook glitch.
That’s a really interesting search tool, thank you for featuring it here. I have bookmarked it and will be making use of it. Cheers.
These are great tips! I’m wondering if you have any similar suggestions for internet companies / startups where publishing of the company phone number is not the norm. Thanks!
Tracy- That’s a great question and the first bit of advice I can think of would be to purchase a local number on a service like Skype for $3/month and have all of the calls routed to a voicemail message that says something along the lines of “because we’re a startup and we have limited resources we would obviously like to take all of the calls that come in but we’d rather put our time and resources into making our products/services better for you. Please email any questions you have to info@xyzcompany.com and we will get back to you within 24 hours. Messages left at this number will not be returned, etc, etc” Now you have another touchpoint and you can establish more of a local presence with search engines and IYPs. It would be a good idea to then add this number to the footer of your website along with the address as Google and other search engines rely on this to confirm your location for local search results.