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Except for the 800 Pound Guerrilla in the Room…

Feb 19

Posted by HeyAmaretto in customer service, guerrilla marketing, social media, twitter | No Comments

Who decides what is cool and what is not?

My daughter, aged 11, has recently become obsessed with the Vlog Brothers. One of these brothers is an author, gearing books at children about my daughter’s age, maybe a little older. In addition to the YouTube channel which these brothers run- which has incredible calls-to-action, they have a Ning social site- very popular.

We went to the book store the other day, and, in addition to looking for and begging for John Green (one of the brothers’) books, she insisted on printing and bringing along these papers to slide into books such as Harry Potter and those written by Maureen Johnson:

NerdFighters- another call to action

She then actually put the papers into the books!

What better advertising is there?

I saw an incredible post about guerrilla marketing circulating twitter today. Not all of it appears guerrilla in how I understand the term, but there is so much good advice on here that I am going to go through, write it down and work out a business plan from it.

The thing is: this is low-cost in money, and medium-cost in effort and thought. It can work with any kind of business with the correct targeting and consistency.

“Customer service is the new Lead Generation” - Matt Dollinger said that to me on twitter the other day, and it is true. What will you give to your customers today?

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United Airlines- how quickly word can spread

Nov 7

Posted by HeyAmaretto in customer service, social media, twitter | No Comments

This is why most people use twitter. It is a way to stay connected in short bursts, and networks can extend all over the world.

In the same way that people share bits of their lives, they will also complain about what goes wrong- and, where before the Internet their thoughts would have touched a small group of people, now online influence extends to the thousands- to the world really.

This video got over 2 million views. When I flew United, it was one of the first thing that the flight crew referred to. “We are experiencing a slight delay upon take-off; the ground crew is slowly and carefully stowing your luggage,” one quipped.

Twitter is an ideal way to step in and solve problems before they get big.

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Beginning with Twitter

Nov 7

Posted by HeyAmaretto in social media, twitter | No Comments

So we know what twitter is. Here is a brief humorous video of how to use it.

from Jason Preston of eatsleeppublish.com

Your responses have to be under 140 characters. If you don’t understand the acronyms, www.urbandictionary.com is a huge resource for all modern permutations, although keep your blinders on- it tends to be NSFW in parts.

You sign up at twitter.com. For company use, you probably want to find a name that can be used across all platforms, so if you decide to build a facebook page or expand your presence, you can consistently use a name. To search to see if the name that you like is actually being used anywhere else, try http://knowem.com/. I run my name through every now and then for the fun of it to make sure that someone else isn’t using it on other sites that I don’t frequent.

Sign-up is simple:

twitter Sign- In Screen

twitter Sign- In Screen

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Why does Comcast Care?

Nov 7

Posted by HeyAmaretto in customer service, social media, twitter | No Comments

Does an online presence work?

Here’s one example of a success story- and there are many others. Do you have fond feelings for your cable company? Most people don’t- and Comcast wanted to change that. They developed a twitter presence, choosing ComcastCares for the twitter name instead of just Comcast. This was actually a very smart move, because each time the individual trying to reach Comcast on twitter typed that name, he or she reinforced that idea.

Frank Eliason uses a search to track comments about the company: “Eliason discovered that by doing a search for the word “Comcast” (and occasionally “Comcrap”), he could find tweeters who just happened to mention service complaints he could address. In December 2008, he celebrated the handling of his 22,000th tweet.”

Instead of waiting for contact from the person who is unhappy with service, Eliason monitors a search and proactively deals with problems. This is very important in creating a strong customer service social media program.

Companies like Comcast are dealing with an individual’s issues very publicly in the twitter offer to help, as all conversation is seen in the public stream. Additionally, press releases announcing the addition of a social media component to customer service will reach a large audience in a more effective way than advertising. And Comcast itself has been the subject of a multitude of news articles, again more effective than advertising.

What does this mean? A company can add a whole new layer of publicity- but this can be a double-edged sword. You need a plan in place to be able to address any complaint that is brought up. Comcast’s offer of “Can I help?” would not be effective if systems for dealing with problems were not in place.

From http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/10/30/why-does-comcast-care-about-twitter-video/ by Jeremiah Owyang

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The List of Lists

Oct 19

Posted by HeyAmaretto in Uncategorized, lists, real estate, social media, twitter | No Comments

Lists of follows for twitter have been floating around lately. There have been many discussions about the validity of these lists, whether a list of followers does anyone any good, and even the motivations behind creating a list. And it is funny how twitter has evolved to be so different from Facebook; I looked to see if there were any lists of suggested followers, and could find none. I understand the difference in protocol, but I wonder if FB lite ever gets going if this will change.

followfriday
followfriday

One thing is true: when you are new on twitter, it takes a toll on you to wait to build up a list of friends. It’s like going to a cocktail party where everyone knows everyone already. The conversations, laughter and champagne are flying all of over the place, and you can’t even get the waiter’s attention. Not only that, but so many people have crashed this party that people are a little suspicious of newcomers. You aren’t really sure of the rules of the party- and they don’t seem to be posted anywhere; you can see bouncers all over the place and they are quick and blunt in pointing out if you screw up. I mean, for a long time my list of followers was 

@realtyman, one other person, and someone whose avatar was o_O.

A list seems like a lifeline.

I had been planning to make a list of TwitterQueens just because it would be that much easier on #FollowFriday. Most of the most engaging and interesting people that I know are there, and a lot of these people are newish themselves, and can remember what it’s like to be the new one at the party.

Then I saw another one of my followers doing the same thing on #FollowFriday- and he had an interesting looking list, too. A lot were people that I was already following, but there were some who looked like fun. *Click*

Here are a few lists that I think are interesting. There will be overlap, and that’s to be expected. But first, if you are new: consider why you are on twitter. Is it for fun? Are you here to improve your business? If the former, that makes it easy.If the latter is your reason, then be wise. This is work. You would not make up a business plan and engineer it around your hobbies. You need to build a list of followers around your target consumer.

Roost has a monthly list of 50 interesting RE people who are, well- interesting. Good mix, good people; list is put together by @doverbey, who is a great follow. There have been 3 lists so far for a total of 150 people.

Twitterholic publishes a top 100 list. These are mostly celebs and newsfeeds, and I follow maybe 3 or 4. @Mashable I really like- lots of good info, but this list is made of users with a large number of followers. You aren’t likely to get any engagement here.

Into Wordpress? Here is a Wordpress-centric list; it is from last year which is eons ago in twitter-years, but still has some good pics. Add your name to it.

@donttrythis – Adam Savage from MythBusters, just because if he jumped off a bridge, yes, I would probably try it

Out of work, or looking? Check out Resume Bear’s 50 People on Twitter Job Seekers Should Follow. Also see The Ultimate List of Employers Recruiting on Twitter by  @twitjobsearch, and 150+ Experts on Twitter ALL Job Seekers MUST Follow on Career Rocketeer.

MommyBloggers by  @bendtheweb.

Need a laugh? Funny People by  @skinbro

And my absolute favorite list. One of the first lists that I had ever heard of, by one of the best follows on twitter: @alex.

@alex and @HeyAmaretto
@alex and @HeyAmaretto

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