Twitter – Dennis J. Smith

Keep On Top Of Your Social Media Game With Nutshell Mail

January 4, 2011

Feel like you are struggling to keep up with your social media? Don’t get buried in status updates, pokes, mail and Tweets. There’s a whole lot of services out there that make it easy to manage social media. The one I like the most is Nutshell Mail from the makers of Constant Contact. Setting up an account is easy and you can use Facebook Connect, MySpace or Twitter to start your account. It’s perfect for a small business or even for personal use and its free! Nutshell sends all your social media updates, likes, tweets and more to you in a convenient e-mail. You get to set the frequency of when you receive that e-mail. It’s also very customizable so you pick what information you want to see. Below is an example of the e-mail you receive to keep you on top of your social media. Think of it as a snapshot of all your social media sites. No logging into several sites because Nutshell Mail takes care of all that for you. If someone has commented on any of your sites you can respond right from the email. It support Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yelp, MySpace, YouTube, Foursquare, and CitySearch. See it in action today by creating your own free account here. Know of another other great social media tracking tools? Feel free to comment and let other know below. Content by Dennis J. Smith Promote Your Business Or Cause Using Social Media Available on Amazon.com in Paperback and on Kindle

Track Social Media With POSTLING

November 28, 2010

Like many out there you might be finding it tough to manage your Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, blogs and various other social media networks. I’ve had the same problem myself and have finally found a solution that I like. Postling was created to simply the process of managing your social media networks. I no longer have to check each one of my Facebook Fan Pages for comments. Postling lets me know when someone comments on one of my several post. That way I stay on top of interacting with my followers and build engaging relationships. Publish From One Location With Postling you can post right to your Facebook Fan Pages, WordPress Blogs, Blogger accounts, Twitter, Linked in and more. There is no need to go to each one of those locations to post something new or update your status. Do it all from Postling and save time! You can also schedule the date and time you would like your post published at. I know from experience what a great time saver this is when managing your social media networks. Dashboard The Postling Dashboard gives you easy access to all your social media networks. Update your status, respond to comments, track keywords and more. Try Postling There is a free version of Postling with full features you can can try for 14-days. The premium version lets you monitor social media sites like Twitter for keywords. This can be beneficial for those looking to target a certain type of customer. It can also be set-up to look for chatter about your business in case you receive negative feedback or even kudos. You don’t have to login to all your social media sites because Postling will e-mail you a recap of comments, reviews and keyword tracking results. Just click on reply in the e-mail and respond back to any comments right away. What a great time saver and an easy way to stay on top of the game. Head on over to http://www.postling.com and get your free account today or upgrade to premium and enjoy all the benefits. Do you use something different to manage your social media? Feel free to leave a comment below and thanks for reading! Postling on Facebook ““ Postling Fan Page

Twitter’s Official Analytics Product Has Arrived

November 22, 2010

Reposted from Mashable Twitter has started inviting a select group of users to test a new analytics product, Mashable has learned. Such a product has been rumored for some time, and a Twitter executive said earlier this year that Analytics would debut by the end of 2010. With Twitter Analytics, users will be able to see a plethora of data about their account; for example, information about which tweets are most successful, which tweets caused people to unfollow, and who the most influential users are that reply and retweet their messages. In the images below, you can see how some of this data is charted. A bar graph over 6-hour increments shows you mentions, follows and unfollows, for example, and you can filter tweets by categories that are defined as “best,” “good,” and “all.” In what will no doubt come as a blow to the third-party vendors that are already providing similar tools, we’re hearing that the product will be free and that Twitter has no immediate plans to charge. We’re working to gather more information, but we may hear more about it later this afternoon, when Twitter’s Evan Williams takes the stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Stay tuned.

Book Trailer–“Promote Your Business Or Cause Using Social Media

October 29, 2010

Promote your Business or Cause using Social Media is a handbook for beginner’s interested in using social media to grow a small business or take any cause to the internet. Learn how to create a blog, start a blog radio show, upload videos to YouTube, Tweet on Twitter and build a fan page on Facebook with social apps and even eCommerce. Purchase your copy today for just $7.95 through CreateSpace or Amazon.com: CreateSpace ““ Order Now Online Amazon ““ Order Now Online -Available in Paperback and Kindle – Learn how to add a shopping cart to your Facebook fan page and sell product right from your fan page. – Learn how to get your own personal Facebook URL. – How to get started with WordPress and your own blog. – Twitter Tips! About the author: Dennis has been creating websites and browsing the web since the days of Netscape 1.0 while living in Seattle, Washington. His technology background goes back to the days of the Commodore Vic 20 and 64, Pong and Pac-Man. He later turned his passion for technology and web design into a love for Internet Marketing, blogging and now Social Media. He is the owner of IgniteHost and GreenHostUSA website hosting, search engine optimization and social media consulting located in Boise, Idaho and writes the tech blog GigaDroid.com for the popular Android phones. During his free time he enjoys road trips back to Seattle, exploring Idaho, microbrews, great coffee, sharing his knowledge with friends and Facebook acquaintances.

New Look and Features Coming To Twitter This Fall

October 4, 2010

If you use Twitter to promote your business get ready for a a change this fall. Many people like Twitter because its minimalist design and easy of use. But as the site grows Twitter is looking for was to maintain its lead as a social media powerhouse. Do you visit the website or just post your Tweets? Here’s a video Twitter release to YouTube showing some of the upcoming changes: What do you think about the planned changes? Helpful? Here’s more information on the upcoming changes provided by the folks at Twitter. New design You will now find @mentions, retweets, searches, and lists just above your timeline ““ creating a single, streamlined view on the left of the screen. On the right, you can see the features you’re familiar with, including whom you recently followed and who recently followed you, favorites, and Trending Topics. View photos, videos, and other media content Now, it’s easy to see embedded photos and videos directly on Twitter, thanks to partnerships with DailyBooth, DeviantART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube. Discover related content When you click a Tweet, the details pane shows additional information related to the author or subject. Depending on the Tweet’s content, you may see: @replies, other Tweets by that same user, a map of where a geotagged Tweet was sent from, and more. Mini profiles You can click a @username to see a mini profile without navigating from the page, which provides quick access to account information, including bio and recent Tweets. Follow @Twitter Rollout timing These changes will roll out as a preview over the next several weeks. During the preview, you’ll be able to switch back and forth so you have time to grow accustomed to the way things work. Eventually, everyone will have the updated version of Twitter.com. So what do you think? Think Twitter has something good coming down the pipeline or do you think that things should be left alone? Feel free to contribute and leave a comment below. Posted Dennis J. Smith with content by Twitter

5 Must Have Social Media Plugins for WordPress Blogs

October 1, 2010

With the explosion of Social Media many bloggers are discovering the power of sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz and LinkedIn to name a few. With WordPress plugins you or your readers can share your blog postings with others just with a click of the mouse. Here are 5 plugins for Social Media that I think are the must haves if you are serious about promoting your business or cause. Update: Some of these plugins have been discontinued or have not been updated by their developers. WP FB Like With the exploding popularity of Facebook this is a must have plugin because it post to the king of social media. WP FB Like is easy to setup and will add the Facebook “Like” Button at the top and bottom of all your post or pages. When your reader clicks on the button a link to your blog post is added to their Facebook wall. If their friends click on the link they are sent to your blog and directly to the post. Update: This plugin hasn’t been updated in over 2 years. It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when used with more recent versions of WordPress. Sexy Bookmarks Here is a WordPress plugin that does it all when it comes to sharing out your blog post. Sexy Bookmarks lets you pick and choice the social media networks you’d like your readers to share to. Plus you can drag and drop them into the position you’d like them to display on your page. You can display the social media networks at the top or bottom of your post. There over 80 social networks to choose from but I would suggest that you keep it under 20 so as not to overwhelm your readers. WP Google-Buzz With all the buzz about Google Buzz and Google’s jump into the social media arena you’ll want this plugin for sure. If you prefer to keep a minimalist look to your blog you might want to consider going with just a few buttons. Facebook, Twitter, Digg and maybe even MySpace depending on the demographics of your readers. WP Google-Buzz is easy to configure and has several customization choices to fit any bloggers needs. Update: This plugin has been discontinued Disqus Comment System This plugin replaces the default WordPress commenting system by adding elements that will drive more traffic to your blog. Both new and repeat traffic can be generated from the use of this popular plugin. Most major newspapers and news organizations use Disqus on their websites. Readers can check a like button just like the FB like button and can post their comments to Facebook and Twitter. Readers can also subscribe by email or RSS and get notified when someone replies to their comment. What’s not to like about this plugin? PostRank PostRank shows off the top post on your blog and is updated automatically as the rankings change. The look and feel of the widget can be set to match the color of your WordPress theme. Monitor your PostRank scores and social media analytic metrics right from the WordPress dashboard. The PostRank plugin is easy to install and setup is a breeze. Keep in mind that it might take a few hours for the top post to start displaying. Wibya The ultimate social media plugin for your WordPress blog is the Wibya Toolbar. Integrate both your Twitter and Facebook Fan Page feeds into your blog along with a host of other choices. Show off your YouTube videos or pick what videos you’d like displayed. Customize the look and feel of the toolbar to match your WordPress theme. Do you use any of the above plugins with your WordPress blog? Have something else that’s a favorite? Please feel free to leave a comment below and add to this list by letting others know your recommendations. Interested in other WordPress Plugins? Check out this post from the blog ““ How To Make My Blog Best WordPress plugins ““ 18 most downloaded WordPress plugins ever If you know someone who could benefit from the information above please feel free to share with others. I appreciate it and hope you’ll return again. Thanks!

Find New Customers Using Twitter Search

July 10, 2010

Most people think of Twitter as a place others post what they ate for breakfast or tweeting ones every move. Millions of people send tweets every day and tweet about everything from an experience with a company, complaints or even a request for information. Twitter Search is a powerful tool you can use to connect with potential customers. Perform your search depending on the type of business you own. If you own an online flower shop type in “flowers” to see all tweets where the word “flowers” appears. If it’s a web hosting business enter “web hosting” to display all tweets mentioning web hosting. Just typing in a search term like “web hosting” could possibly yield several hundred tweets. You might have a flower shop business located in Boise, ID and only interested in local customer. With advanced Twitter search you can plug in your search term, specify a location and the distance from that location. You even have the option to filter tweets by specific dates or even someone’s attitude (smiley face or a frown in the tweet). Now that you have your list of potential customers you can consider sending them a tweet or put in a request to follow them. Below each tweet is the option to reply to the sender or view just that tweet. Just hit reply and start typing your tweet right after the @username. You might consider posting a link (use a URL shortener like bit.ly) to a special offer for Twitter users or recommend your business. Be careful not to make it look like you are spamming them. But most people looking for information will welcome your tweet. If you entice them with the right offer you might find some new clients. Keep in mind that you need to have a Twitter account to reply to or send tweets. The other advantage of using Twitter search is finding dissatisfied customers. Finding those who are unhappy with your business can save you heartache. Major companies like Qwest and HP are using this to connect with those who might be unhappy but don’t contact the company. Instead they post their displeasure with a company in the form of a tweet. Do a search of your company’s name to see what others might be saying. It might save you from losing a customer or a chance to correct a bad situation. You don’t need a Twitter account to perform a search so check it out today. How have you used Twitter Search to promote your business? Happy searching!

Drive traffic to your site via Twitter one tweet at a time

July 6, 2010

Twitter “Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.” ““ Twitter 101 A Special Guide So far we have learned about how you can use a blog and YouTube to promote your video. We talked about how you can share your video to social media sites. Twitter is one of those sites that let you share your thoughts to others in 140 characters or less. Twitter has only been around since 2006, but has exploded out of nowhere. Anyone from the average individual, business to movie star is on Twitter, either using it to promote a cause, a business, an event or to let the world know what they are up to. It’s not just people talking about what they had for breakfast this morning. The first thing you need to do is setup a Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com. It’s free! Choose a user name that is either the name of your cause or business. If you have a blog, website, Twitter and Facebook page, try to keep the name the same. Keep in mind that it is possible your name might already be taken. Make sure you add your website or blog address to your profile. In the bio field include important information about your cause. Customize your page to match the theme of your website/blog so you have that same look and feel across all your social media properties. Find free backgrounds at http://www.twitrbackgrounds.com or search “Twitter Backgrounds” for other websites. Below is the Twitter account for my hosting business IgniteHost. If you go to the website for the business you will see the same background used. IgniteHost Website showing the same graphic as the above Twitter Page Notice the Follow Us button on the right on the Ignite Host website. This is another way you can fully integrate social media into your sites. Make sure you make it easy for someone to follow you on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. Tweet Tips Spell it right When you are ready to send out your first Tweet, there are some important items you should not miss. You are broadcasting your views to thousands of people around the world. Spelling and grammar are important if you want others to take you seriously. I suggest that you use a browser like Chrome or Firefox that have spell checking built-in. There are also apps out there like HootSuite and Seesmic Desktop and web version. These applications can be used on the desktop, your web browser or mobile device. Download Seesmic: http://seesmic.com/ Download HootSuite: http://hootsuite.com/ Tweet 140 characters Getting your point across in 140 characters or less might seem a little tough. But if you plan ahead, it can be pretty painless. Here are a couple of things to remember when sending a tweet. Any links in your tweet should be near the beginning of the tweet. If you put them at the end of your tweet and someone re-tweets your tweet, the link might get cut-off. I recommend that you don’t use the full 140 characters. The power of Twitter is when someone re-tweets your tweet. What the heck is that, you are probably asking? Re-tweeting is when someone else on Twitter sends out your tweet to their followers. This is a great way to give your cause more exposure to those on Twitter. Here’s what a re-tweet looks like: Note that the Twitter name of the person posting the original tweet is first. In the example that happens to be @ConanOBrien. Next is a link, which happens to be a photo uploaded to TwitPic. This is one of several sites you can post a photo for others to view. It might be a photo of a political rally, your volunteers, your businesses storefront or maybe even one of your products. Shorten that URL There are many services available to shorten the length of your website links. Bit.ly allows you to track stats on how many have clicked on your links. Do a search for “shorten URL” and you should get a list of several to pick from. Get your tweet across by making it short and sweet and to the point. #hashtags Just like WordPress, Twitter has its own tagging system. In Twitter they are called a hashtag because they start with a hash symbol # or pound symbol. It was created by users of Twitter as a way to filter tweets and group them together. If your cause is about cancer, you would want to add the hashtag #cancer to your tweet to group it with other tweets about cancer. I suggest you do some research to find out what hashtags are already being used. You can do that by utilizing sites such as http://www.hashtags.org for real-time hashtag tracking. #hashtagtip – use a hashtag when it is beneficial and not all the time, so you don’t annoy your followers. Only use them when they add value to your tweet and will help others find your cause.

Category: Twitter