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From understanding its culture and attracting followers to choosing your following and using desktop applications, there are a number of factors that can increase your odds of social media success when it comes to using Twitter for business.

Part 8 of the Minnesota and North Dakota BBB’s 2009 Focus Seminar, offers simple tips and information to help you succeed when it comes to using Twitter as a business and social media marketing communication tool. Driving community participation is key and the best way you can get participation is to publish the fact that you are on these channels. Put it on your website. Use it in your email signature. Promote it on your offline materials.

Aside from creating a following and getting real participation, another item that’s going to effect your success with Twitter is finding the right programs.  We mentioned earlier that by itself, Twitter is not exactly “user-friendly” but there are desktop applications and software programs that work with Twitter to make it easier and more convenient for the user.

Tweet Like A Pro

• Desktop Clients – view tweets, replies and direct messages all in one interface, group people together, handle multiple accounts, monitor what others are saying
• Twitter Search – Find other people
• Tweet Schedulers – setup tweets to be published at a later time, auto follow people, send automatic direct messages to people who follow you
• Integrate Files - images and video
• Twitter Mobile - tweet and monitor your twitter account from your mobile phone

The more you know about Twitter and the people who use it (tweeple), the easier it will be for you to use it to leverage your business and marketing goals. Watch Part 8: Setting Up for Social Media Success now and be sure to tune in next week for the exciting conclusion of “How to Use Twitter for Business.”

If you haven’t had that “ah-ha” moment where everything becomes crystal clear, the clouds part, sun comes out and the little Twitter bird starts a chirping… or I mean tweeting, you are not alone. Using Twitter for business and marketing is still new for a lot of companies and even the ones who have been using it for a while are still playing around with their accounts, trying new things to really get the most out of their time and efforts.

Keep in mind that every business is different, so what works for one company will not necessarily deliver results or even make sense for yours. But to get an idea and good example of a real life business application of Twitter in action, check out Part 7 of the Minnesota and North Dakota’s Better Business Bureau’s 2009 Focus Seminar presentation, “How to Use Twitter for Business.”

This should help shed some light on what we’ve been building up to for the last few weeks now and maybe even help you reach your “ah-ha” moment.

Using Twitter for Business

• Think of Twitter as vehicle to get the word out
• Twitter works in real time
• Your followers represent your audience
• Twitter is a great place to find new people
• You need to participate - it’s suppose to be social
• It is not a dumping zone  - that’s what your blog’s for!

Watch Part 7, “Twitter In Action” now for a real life example of how Twitter can be used for business and be sure to stay tuned for more useful tips on using your business Twitter account.

All of us at TMA E-Marketing are working with fingers crossed since being notified as a finalist for the Minnesota & North Dakota Better Business Bureau Integrity Award.  It will be tricky working on our computers in such a position until the October 28th awards ceremony, but we’ll do our best!

The Better Business Bureau presents the Integrity Award each year to companies who display ethics and integrity toward their employees, vendors, customers and their community.  Each year the BBB invites anyone to nominate a company they feel demonstrates exceptional ethics.

As a nominee, TMA E-Marketing had the opportunity to submit an entry which was composed of a summary of why we felt we were deserving of the award, and answering a number of questions posed by the BBB on how we conduct our business.  We are competing with other companies based on the number of employees.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul and features Bill George as the keynote speaker.  Bill is professor of management at Harvard Business School and author of three best sellers.  The event spotlights companies that are using ethical business practices as their secret advantage to overcoming a bad economy.

The TMA E-Marketing staff will uncross their fingers prior to the awards announcement to enjoy the great food, drink, and good company of the other nominees and BBB personnel in attendance.

We’re excited to be a part of this event and humbled to be a finalist.

“And the winner is………..”

Often times the most difficult or challenging part of learning a new technology is understanding the lingo. When you don’t understand the jargon, it can seem as though what you’re reading is in a completely different language.

If you’re not familiar with Twitter, Part 6 of the 2009 Minnesota BBB Focus Seminar presentation, “How to Use Twitter for Business,” will help you learn the foreign tongue of Twitter lingo. And once you’ve mastered the lingo, it will be much easier to go about using your business twitter account.

The Language of Twitter

• Tweet – Update or post
• DM – direct message
• RT – retweet
• @username – public reply (dialogue)
• #keyword – hash tag
• Tinyurl.com, Bit.ly or is.gd – url redirects (used to shorten and track urls)

Watch Part 6, “Learning the Lingo” now to get a handle on the jargon Twitter uses. And be sure to check back again next week for more useful tips on using your business Twitter account.

Search Engine Optimization Cartoon

Originally uploaded by tmaemarketing

Humorous cartoon depicts the importance of search engine optimization to a website’s existence.

Have you ever wondered how many searches are done in Google each day? A report by comScore estimated that Google hosted 235 million searches last July in 2008. When compared to 1998, that’s roughly 50 times the number of searches done per day. Not a bad reason allocate some of your hard earned advertising dollars towards search engine optimization:)

For more information regarding Google’s search statistics, check out this Google article on Forbes.com.