FINGER CANDY FRIDAY Jessica Northey

Finger Candy Friday from Jessica Northey Full Throttle Country is now on Twitter. You know the deal, Follow us and we’ll follow you because on Twitter that’s what we do! http://twitter.com/ftctweets We already have 751 people following us! I used the tricks below and some others I have up my sleeve to get us there is less than a week. These are ALL relevant and interesting people (at least to me or Country Music Radio.) Yesterday I posted an article about How to Measure Social Media Success. I mentioned a Twitter How-To Get Started Step by Step Guide and had a few requests for this information. So here it is: Getting started with Twitter - A Step-by-Step Guide 1. Visit Twitter.com and click on the "Get Started - Join" button in the middle. The rest is simple enough that I think you can figure it out. 2. Setting up your profile a. Choose a good picture. Something candid that portrays you in an engaging way. b. Write an interesting bio that will capture attention in 160 characters Example: Queen of the 3rd Screen, Twitterologist and FeeBer who loves God, her dog Sissy, country music, social gaming (Mafia Wars) & being of service to others! c. Put your website address (if you have one, otherwise use Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn) d. Make sure “Protect My Updates” is NOT checked e. Change the background from Twitter under setting designs. Nothing says I don’t care more than the generic default twitter background. Finding People to Tweet with: Use http://search.twitter.com/advanced to locate people of like interest Use http://www.twellow.com/ to find people to follow of like interest Register with http://wefollow.com/ a directory of Twitter users organized by interests. You can find people with similar interests. Use the #hashtags that make the most sense for you. I use #Tucson, #Arizona and #SocialMedia Use Twitter Karma to automatically unfollow those people not following you back http://dossy.org/twitter/karma/ Twittiquette and some other helpful Twitter Twools 1.) First and foremost no one cares what you had for breakfast or the last time you made a bowel movement! There is such a thing as TMI. The Twitter experience is different for everyone. I won’t assume that your followers want the same thing I give my followers but with that said I think most people on Twitter want: -cool links with entertaining or educational info -interesting quotes from historic figures, movies etc -something that is worth responding to -things to Re-Tweet to their own followers -build a relationship with you 2.) The golden rule is ALWAYS follow back! Twitter has the 2,000 and 10%-of-followers limits. Newer accounts cannot follow more than 2000 people until your follower count gets up to about 1850. Once your account goes over 2000, you can only follow 10% more than your follower’s number. Example: If you have 2000 followers, you can follow 2200 people. In order to grow your account you need to continuously unfollow the people that are not following you back. I think it’s rude to not return a follow! So to get past 2,000 followers, unfollow those who don't follow you - including Ashton, Britney, Demi and Ellen. 3.) Ways you can make Twitter useful Branding, getting feedback from clients, hiring people, outsourcing jobs, directing traffic back to websites, emergency news/weather updates/alerts, To-do list or Grocery list, business management, company intranet, let customers know about new products and services, take notes, event updates, find prospects, provide live coverage, time management and analysis-use as a detailed record of what you are doing every day, set up meetings, voting and building trust/relationships with other people. 3.) Re-Tweet and Re-Tweet again people love this. You should constantly hold a mirror up to your customers to see what they want. By RT’ing you are basically saying that you appreciate and think what someone is saying is cool. This only takes a few seconds a day but is a powerful way to build relationship with followers! 4.) Twitter is GLOBAL and PUBLIC. Everyone who follows you can see what you are saying. That means if you are Twittering you will want to represent your brand/product/service in the best way possible at all times. 5.) HOW MUCH TIME DO I HAVE TO DEVOTE TO ALL THIS?? NONE if you hire me! Jessica is the Social Media Editor for Full Throttle Country-Country Radio's newest full-service and free interactive idea sharing and new media on-line service. She specializes in big ideas and is known for her ability to create complete marketing campaigns and bridge marketing partnerships. Her company Finger Candy provides interactive experiences on mobile handsets and social media networks. jessicanorthey@gmail.com 559-349-5933 fingercandy.info twitter.com/jessicanorthey facebook.com/jessicanorthey