The three R’s of Twitter – why Twitter is so good for business

Last week we were lucky enough to attend a fabulous two course lunch at MUMU Grill, Sydney’s only sustainable steakhouse. This wasn’t just any lunch, but a lunch to discuss why Twitter is so good for businesses. 

As we ate, we discussed what exactly Twitter is, how it can be used to drive business, how much time to allocate to Twitter and the strategies behind a successful Twitter account. Leading the discussion was one of Australia’s most successful online foodies, Rebecca Varidel (or @frombecca) and MUMU Grill head chef and owner, Craig Macindoe (@chefmumu).

@frombecca shared with us, her three Twitter R’s – her reasons why those of you who are not on Twitter should create a Twitter account for your business.

1. Reputation – Twitter is an excellent way for others to get to know what you do, learn about your skills and your expertise in a completely unobtrusive way. By tweeting useful information you can help others learn and this will help position you and your business as an expert.

2. Revenue – Twitter can be used to help build revenue, but you have to remember it is not to be used as a tool for direct marketing. In between useful, informative and relationship building tweets, the occasional link to your website and promotion of your event, product or service is acceptable.

The real revenue raising comes from building relationships with people who would not have otherwise been aware of your business. They will keep you in the back of their mind for when your services are needed down the track and might even refer you to a friend.  According to @chefmumu Twitter is like networking on steroids!

3. Research – Twitter can be used to help you research your target market, but you need to keep in mind that the average Twitter user is between 35-50 and fall into the higher socio economic demographic.

Twitter can be used to research how people really feel about something. You can type in a keyword and search what people are saying, or you can tweet a question out to your followers asking their thoughts and get a few suggestions. This can help you gauge if an idea will be successful or not and can often help stop some expensive mistakes. @chefmumu uses this strategy to ask what kind of special events people would like to see organised at his restaurant.

Here are some other helpful tips to keep in mind when using (or starting out on Twitter).

1. Register a Twitter name that refers to your name or business now, before it gets taken (if it already hasn’t) even if you don’t do anything with it just yet.

2. Chose an appropriate image (known as your avatar) that will show who you are and what you do. An image of yourself or your team is much for effective than a logo. Try not to change it very often as this is how people will remember you.

3. Think about the time your target audience engage on Twitter. Between 8 and 11pm are the best times to reach a Sydney audience but try to restrict Sydney specific information later on in the day if you have a global following. Get clever with your timing – if you are trying to reach foodies, the best time to tweet is during a Master Chef episode with the hash tag #masterchef.

4. Follow everyone. Don’t be afraid to follow more people than follow you and don’t be too fussy, as you never know who will interest you in the future.

A good way to increase your reach to relevant tweeters is to find your competitors and “harvest their followers” as @chefmumu calls it. This is where you go through the list of who is following your competitor and who they are following and follow them yourself.

5. Remember the three Twitter C’s, which are conversation, community and collaboration. You need to engage on Twitter. Just hanging out and listening isn’t enough. You need to stimulate conversation, provide useful content and become part of the community in order to be truly successful on Twitter.

6. Think before you Tweet. Once you have pressed enter and put a tweet out there, it is there to stay. You might be able to quickly delete the tweet from your Twitter profile, but your tweet can still be found through Google searches. Remember that your tweets go out to all your followers, you can’t tweet to a specific few, so make sure your tweets are appropriate for all your followers.

Another interesting fact that you may not know – Direct messages aren’t private. No, your followers can’t see them, but if someone really wants to see what you are saying in private there are programs to help reveal all.

@chefmumu said that Twitter is like being at a massive cocktail party and you choose which conversations to be part of. Some people are loud and talk nonstop, some are quieter and some are there to listen. Whichever type of tweeter you are, remember to enjoy yourself!

Preparing for a live TV interview

Our client, Andrew Griffiths, author of The Me Myth and the 101 business series was recently interviewed live on Sunrise. In the interview he was so relaxed, clear and memorable. Considering it was being filmed live, with an audience of somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 people, that is a real skill.
We asked him to share his tips for preparing for the TV interview.

Preparation

1. I get all the details about the television show or radio show that I am being interviewed for. In particular I find out about the audience so I know how I need to act to connect and engaged with them. For example is it a serious environment or is it more relaxed?

2. I ask for a list of questions and as much information as I can about the subject. Is it the theme for the show/edition? Who else is being interviewed?

3. How long have I got? This is very important for TV – because you always have less time than you think. If you waffle on for too long, you might only get to answer one question and the interview becomes pretty ordinary.

4. Write my responses. I always do this and I make sure I have all of the bullet points that reflect the key messages that I want to cover. I spend quite a bit of time getting this right and making sure it flows.

5. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse – and time it. Again this is very relevant to television and radio when time is always tight. If you have been told that your TV interview is 5 minutes, don’t think you can waffle on for 10 minutes. You interview will be cut short and in reality not be that good.

6. Rehearse again. Yep, the more you rehearse the better. Get a friend to ask you the questions. For the following interview I rehearsed this at least 20 times and still things ran a little askew as I found it hard to hear the hosts due to the traffic in the background.
Finally, and most importantly of all, just enjoy it. It is a wonderful opportunity for anyone to get their name out there and their business out there. But if you do a great job, you engage the interviewers and the audience and you look relaxed, you will have a much better chance of being invited back.

On the day

1. Make sure you have plenty of time. There is nothing more unsettling than a mad dash to the studio. It is much better to arrive at the studio or the interview early and relaxed, rather than in a panic.

2. Rehearse again on the day. Be clear on the key messages, even if the interviewer jumps around a bit you need to be able to answer them.

3. Forget about the thousand of people watching. I always get into the head space that I am simply having a chat with a couple of friends who want to know more about what I have to say.

4. Work with the crew. They are there to help. If you are not sure ask them, but make their job easier. This way you will develop a reputation for being easy to interview and you will be invited back.

5. If you lose track, forget something or just go blank, just laugh and go with it. A big smile will get you out of most tricky situations.

Most importantly of all, just enjoy it. It is a wonderful opportunity for anyone to get their name out there and their business out there. But if you do a great job, you engage the interviewers and the audience and you look relaxed, you will have a much better chance of being invited back.

You can go to his BLOG and see the Sunrise Interview

This is my story. Well…only the social media chapter.

Way back in 2006 – which is a long time in social media – my friend Carol Skyring showed me how to set up my very first blog. I vividly remember writing articles so I would have them ready to upload as soon as I set up my blog.

And that was the first lesson in social media. Blogs aren’t like websites. You upload articles over a period of time – not all at once. It’s just like telling a story: you get to know the characters over time, not on the first page.

The reason I set up my blog was to understand how this new communication method worked. If you are in social media you know that you need to do it to get it. If you’re not in it, you don’t get it! As a communication professional I felt it was important for me to see how I could use it to share my client’s messages and stories.

I have been doing PR for nearly 20 years (yes I know I don’t look that old ) so what better way for me to share my experience and knowledge than through blogging.  So I used myself as a guinea pig, and started blogging.

My first blog was http://smallbusinesspr.wordpress.com/which I moved to a self hosted www.PublicRelationsSydney.com.au blog in October 2008. I can tell you, if someone said to me that I would love blogging so much I would pay every month to host my own blog I would have laughed at them. Now I have seven blogs! And the Public Relations Sydney blog was shortlisted as Mumbrella’s Media & Marketing blog of the year in 2009.

A few years ago I had heard about Twitter and thought “Why would someone want to know what I had for lunch?” I resisted, then someone tried to explain it, and I thought “OK I need to do it to get it”.

Well – how amazing is Twitter. I started networking and going to tweetups. I was the only PR person in the room and realised I was an “early adopter”. How funny! I was never into technology and thought it was such a geeky thing to do. Now I have accepted my inner geek. In fact, I have embraced it! Don’t let my exterior PR chick persona fool you!

Professionally I was listed as one of the top 100 PR people internationally to follow on Twitter. Personally I met the most incredible, interesting, inspiring and friendly people. I really believe that Twitter creates this energy where you attract similar people to yourself.

It is a powerful medium, but it becomes extraordinarily powerful when you meet the people you have been tweeting with. I think because you have a shared history and an established connection. So when you meet all the formalities are out of the way and real enduring friendships start immediately.

Northside Coffee Mornings really cemented many professional and personal relationships. One of those relationships was with the lovely Nancy Georges. Hanging out with Nancy is like being plugged in to an electricity socket – so much live energy. An idea about creating a group for women to collaborate and share social media experiences was turned into a reality with the help of the Bella Nancy. It could not have been done without her.

So we now we have Social Media Women where we can tell our stories and create new ones.