Tweeting&Business-v28 by Dimo Stoyanov

Strategy

Why Your Twitter Follower Count Matters p78

Tactics

Sure-Fire Ways to Get More ReTweets p94

Premiere Issue | www.TweetingandBusiness.com

Marketing

Jeffrey Hayzlett: Using Twitter to Grow Your Business p6

Inside

How Twitter Rules the Press p69 On Being a Good Twitterzen p82 10 Tips for Twitter Marketing p90 Dan Millman’s “Reality Check” p96

Unofficially Improving Businesses One Tweet at a Time

You Say You Want a Revolution…

The “Arab Spring” and the riots in Britain have one thing in common: Twitter. Here’s how to harness this $7.95 U.S. tremendous grassroots energy for your business.

Table of Contents

INSIDE:

Columns

6 Jeffrey’s Notebook

By Jeffrey Hayzlett, Celebrity Editor

8 Stop the Presses! By John Persinos

30 Social Media Marketing and Word-of-Mouth Marketing:They’re Now The Same By Steve Olenski

100 Our Publishing Manifesto By Larry Genkin

On Being a Good Twitterzen By Melissa Klepacki

Social Media, Revolution—and Your Business By Gary North

Departments

36 The Feed

By Emerson Kim Lineses

78 Why Your Twitter Follower Count Does Matter By David Kerpen

90 10 Ways to Market Your Company on Twitter By Tammy Kahn Fennell

How Twitter is Transforming Journalism By John Persinos

94 The Art of Getting More Retweets By Tina Cook

96 Reality Check By Dan Millman

103 The Power of One Changing the World with $1

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TWEETING & BUSINESS MAGAZINE LARRY GENKIN CEO, Publisher and Founder JEFFREY HAYZLETT Celebrity Editor JOHN PERSINOS Editorial Director JAY ABRAHAM Co-Founder STAN GENKIN Co-Founder JAN STEJSKAL Co-Founder ERIC YAVERBAUM Associate Publisher & Co-Founder MITCH AXELROD Associate Publisher Business Strategy DONNA EASTMAN Production Manager WEBSTAZE DESIGN STUDIO Graphic Design and Production MIKE ANGLETON Associate Publisher KIM NORKETT Associate Publisher KENNON FORT Business Development Manager TIERRA JONES Business Development Manager AED ROBERTS Business Development Manager Address: GSG WorldMedia 1301 Skippack Pike Ste. 7A, #218 Blue Bell PA 19422 Disclaimer: Tweeting & Business magazine is owned by GSG WorldMedia LLC and has no affiliation with Twitter速 whatsoever. Twitter速 is a registered trademark of Twitter Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Jeffrey’s Notebook

Using Twitter to Grow YOUR Business By Jeffrey Hayzlett, Celebrity Editor

People often ask me, with everything business owners and executives have to do in a day, why I take the time to use social media to the extent I do and strongly recommend others do the same — why I am a celebrity editor for the largest circulating magazine and the only one dedicated to social media and business!

started using Twitter to keep in touch with my family while I was traveling for work, but soon realized the benefits of updating my fellow employees, customers, press and bloggers, and anyone else who wanted to keep up to date on what was happening with my life and business. Of course, I always engaged with all these groups of people, but as they have grown and our relationships and connections have evolved, I realize I have direct, unfiltered channels to and identify them as business or marketing. This thousands of them. helps you build followers with relevant brands, No matter what the size of your company, and you can follow them as well. or the town you live in, Twitter connect you You want your messages to connect with in ways that are the next best thing to faceyour business, but keep your feeds and posts to-face communication. When using Twitter as balanced as possible. They can’t be too within your company, be sure to follow some commercial. I may tweet about a hot new product guidelines to steer your messages to your we have, but I also tweet about my weekend followers in the best way possible. hunting trips or my favorite places to eat. MESSAGE ACCURACY In order to ensure your messages are reaching the right audience, I tag all of my messages

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BE REAL You know someone has automated their messages when you get this in response

to a follow – “Thanks for the tweet! Would you work and hour per day, to make $5,000/month? If so, go here…” – talk about “lose before you begin!” Be Personal, after all it is social media. Unsolicited blasts or responses like those solicitations for male sexual deficiencies have ruined e-mail. Without personalization in your social media messages, they lose effectiveness over time – a short time. THE HUMAN SIDE OF BUSINESS When I tweet, I am always going to be me – and you should always be you. Sometimes, I can’t help to get excited at some of the great things my company does. This is not selfpromotion! Talk about all of the great things your company is doing, but also talk about the human side of your company. If someone in your company has a new baby, ran a marathon, or went on a great vacation, tweet about it! Show your followers the real human being behind the slogan. Do this for companies you work with too. I do this all the time for our clients because I love their products, and want to help other businesses succeed with the same products.

About the Author

Follow Me on

Jeffrey is a business “cowboy” who led the turnaround of one of the most iconic brands in the world as the Chief Marketing Officer of KODAK with some of the most innovative approaches to marketing. He’s one of the top ten C-level executive twitterers in the world and he’s probably more popular than your kids on Facebook www. facebook.com/Jeffrey.Hayzlett! He is the author of the BEST SELLING book The Mirror Test - which was named one of the top three business books of 2010.

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BE A GOOD TWITTER CITIZEN – DON’T BE A TWANKER! I have no tolerance for people who use any kind of electronic media in bad form or are rude – something I tend to be direct about when confronted with it, no matter what the form, online or face-to-face. But I reserve a special contempt for people who abuse social media. That’s how marketing media can be destroyed – by the businesses, large and small, deluging us with countless impersonal solicitations and exploiting it as part of their

marketing mix. And to show you how far I’m willing to go, I even invented a new term for people who misuse Twitter: TWANKER (NOUN) 1. A person, organization, or company who uses bad form or exhibits bad behavior on Twitter

Stop The Presses!

When Marketing Goes All a’ Twitter By John Persinos, Editorial Director

Old school journalists sneeringly dismiss Twitter as a vehicle for trivia, but that just reflects their obtuseness about social media. The question that you need to ask is not what’s trivial on Twitter, but how this microblogging site can be intelligent and useful—indeed, necessary.

began my journalistic journey as a reporter on daily newspapers; I eventually segued to magazines. In recent years, I’ve been compelled to stay up-to-date with the Digital Revolution, by producing webinars, podcasts, blogs, and by disseminating real-time information through various forms of social media. However, my greatest love remains the magazine format, whether it’s digital or hard copy print, because it bestows an in-depth “holistic” have 200 million users, generating 200 million Tweets a day and reading experience that other handling over 1.6 billion search queries per day. We’ll show you media can never quite match. how to put those Tweets to good marketing use. Simply put, a magazine has Long before the founding moguls of Twitter, there lived a media personality; it has a soul. mogul of even greater influence. A MAGAZINE SHOULD BE The focus of His name: Johannes Gutenberg. LIKE A “CLUBHOUSE” FOR ITS this particular More than five centuries later, CONSTITUENCY—A FUN AND magazine, INFORMATIVE PLACE TO HANG OUT his transformative technology— Twitter, was movable type—still pervades WITH PEERS. launched in July society. Today, despite the 2006. Since then, Twitter has mind-boggling advances of technology and the decline of the gained enormous popularity newspaper business, magazines continue to enthrall, influence— worldwide and is estimated to and generate large, devoted followings. 8

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A magazine has a tangible identity; it’s colorful, it’s entertaining, and it fosters reader engagement. A magazine should like be a “clubhouse” for its constituency—a fun and informative place to hang out with peers. In the grand sweep of communications history, the emergence of new media has never completely obliterated the existing technologies. Instead, the modes of production fall by the wayside. Linotype printing presses and typewriters became obsolete, not the written people remember only about 10% of the news that they read, journalistic word. Radio didn’t see or hear. destroy newspapers, and What you must consider is how the Internet has altered the television didn’t destroy radio. relationship between journalists and their audience. Consumers of All of these media evolved news can now take ownership of how they want to receive news. to accommodate each other. Indeed, these consumers now make the news. People still read, The same dynamic holds but not necessarily in a linear fashion. Readers skip from one true for the Internet and its document to another, from one hyperlink to the next, fracturing stepchildren, social media. time and space. With the Internet, consumers of information can And yet, despite this chose from a banquet composed of all forms of media. broadening of journalistic The famous character Auntie Mame, from the eponymous sources of options, your Broadway play, movie and novel, said: “Life’s a banquet and most task as a marketer—to get poor suckers are starving.” This magazine will set the table, and ink (and bandwidth) for your show you how to get plenty of nourishment from social media. message—is just as difficult as ever. Less than 10% of About the Author the Author the news that’s disseminated by the wire services (e.g., John Persinos is Editorial Director of GSG WorldMedia. You can reach him at Associated Press and jpersinos@gsgworldmedia.com. John has enjoyed a long career in media and public Reuters) and other centralized relations. Notably, he served as a staff writer at news agencies gets picked Inc. magazine; a reporter at The Orlando Sentinel; managing editor at Campaigns & Elections magazine; up by newspapers, television, publisher of the web site, Aviation Today.com; editorial director at Aerospace & Security Media; and radio, and Internet news sites. a press secretary to a U.S. congressman. Follow Me on Further research shows that

Cover Story

Social Media, Revolution — and your business

By Gary North

The recent social unrest in Tottenham, England stunned the world with its suddenness and ferocity. Roving mobs of rioters were able to create mayhem—and stay one step ahead of the police to evade capture—by instantaneously communicating with each other via social media on their mobile phones.

Tweeting & Business Magazine | Premiere Issue Twitter® is a registered trademark of Twitter Inc.

In this feature story and its related sidebars and videos, we explain how Twitter and Facebook served as catalysts for the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Arab Springâ&#x20AC;? and the recent riots in Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; and how you can harness this grassroots energy for your business goals.

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he dictator of Tunisia was overthrown in less than one month after being in power for 23 years. The same happened to the dictator of Egypt, who had been in power for 30 years. There is no question about how opponents of these regimes were able to topple it. Two words describe it: Facebook, Twitter. These two social networking sites enabled protesters to take to the streets, organize the opposition, recruit new protesters, and overcome the police force and the military. There is no question that if these Middle Eastern governments had chosen to use machine guns to cut down the protesters, they probably would have succeeded in suppressing the revolt. If they had combined machine guns with switching

Cover Story

off the Internet, they would have been able to cut the protest down, both literally and digitally. But to do that, these regimes would have had to act extremely fast, and they would have risked coming under international condemnation. They would also have created a permanent opposition, ready to revolt again. The forces unleashed by social media also were in display during the riots in Britain, although in this case, the energy of the protestors was devoted to sheer mayhem rather than a yearning for democracy. Still, the anger and violence in England probably reflect underlying social tensions, such as high unemployment and draconian government cutbacks. The government was forced to sit a moment’s hesitation. But this is not the era of the Soviet up and take notice. Union. We are living in a digital age, and almost nothing can be In both the “Arab spring” and concealed from the public for very long. If a tyrant is weak, this the British riots, opposition will become common knowledge. There are few Goliaths and a forces are now connected, yet lot of Davids online. not organized. This has never It is the power of the communications networks, when coupled happened before in recorded with a willingness on the part of protesters to gather in the history. The masses can streets, that spells a period of crisis for every autocratic regime communicate with like-minded on earth. The autocrats have seen in January 2011 that it is people for the price of a computer difficult to put a lid on any unorganized protests. The organizing and an Internet connection. did not come from some little group that can be infiltrated or In the good old days of the arrested. This was as close to a spontaneous protest as anything Soviet Union in the 1960s, the we have seen in modern times. leaders would have applied The ability of the social networks to organize a protest almost that degree of force without overnight, because people of similar beliefs and commitments 16

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Why social media equals word-of-mouth. See Pg. 30

are in close communication with others, has completely changed the nature of political resistance DISCOUNT REVOLUTION and revolution. This system of From an economic standpoint, this is easy to explain. When the revolution toppled two Middle cost of political mobilization falls, more is demanded. When people Eastern dictatorships, Tunisia and Egypt, in less than a month. can mobilize thousands of protesters without any centrally directed agency and without any organization that can be infiltrated and It threatens to topple several subverted, they are in a position to impose enormous political more, from Yemen to Libya to damage on any existing regime, as long as the regime really is Syria. We have entered into a corrupt, tyrannical, and hated. When a dictator can control the new period political resistance. society for 23 years, and get 89% of the vote when he runs for office, you can be

Flash Mobs!

Using the same principles as the protestors and rioters in the Middle East and England, marketers are organizing “flash mobs”, a form of guerilla marketing via social media, to promote new products and services or to reinforce a brand. These “mobs” are summoned by marketers to congregate in a designated public place, perform their proscribed function, and then disperse.

For detailed, step-by-step instructions as to how you can successfully organize a flash mob for marketing purposes,

More than 200 dancers performing the song, “Do Re Mi” in Antwerp’s Central Station, as part of a promotional stunt for a Belgian television program, in which the TV producers are looking to cast the leading role in a TV remake of “The Sound of Music”.

T-Mobile organized this dance event, in the Liverpool Street Underground Station, to promote its brand.

Click here

And here are videos of two especially clever and effective examples of flash mob marketing:

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Cover Story

confident that he is hated. It is corrupt. Nothing survives that long in a democratic society with 89% support. The revolt that took place in Egypt is a direct result of the success of the revolt in Tunisia. The social networking organizations are again at the center of the revolt. There is a similar revolt going on in Yemen. Across the Arab world, it is becoming obvious that protesters have a tool available that will enable them to cause enormous discomfort for the tyrannical regimes of the region. Regimes have established systems of control, including thought control, based on the price of communications in the era of print media. They can control paper, ink, and distribution. They cannot control telecommunications through the Internet without shutting down the Internet entirely. This is what Egypt did, but it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t work, because other means to hook up to the Internet were unearthed by resourceful protestors. Because Egypt had fewer than a dozen major without creating enormous problems for the economy. Internet service providers, Any government that attempts to do so on a long-term basis the government was able to is going to find its tax revenues falling, more people becoming shut down the Internet at one alienated from the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s policies, and more opportunities time. The government also for troublemakers to increase the amount of trouble. At some shut down landline telephone point, the government will have to reestablish Internet services and communications in some landline telephone service. At that point, it will probably face an regions of the country. This even more alienated population than when the protests began. was not simply an attack on The governments of the world are caught between the proverbial the Internet. The government rock and a hard place. If they allow the Internet to stay up, and had to shut down other forms if the social networking systems continue to recruit people to go of telecommunications. into the streets, a corrupt government will face a rapidly escalating The difficulty that the crisis. Its legitimacy is being called into question, and the only way government faces is to restore order under these conditions is to begin to shoot people. obvious: it cannot continue Tear gas is no longer working. to keep the Internet and Here is a video of the riots in Cairo. The government had an landline telephone service armored vehicle rolling through the streets, and it was firing from the general public. The canisters of tear gas. People were not only paying no attention, modern economy is becoming they were kicking the canisters across the street into areas in which increasingly dependent upon there were no protesters. the Internet. It has already I have been subjected to a very mild administration of tear gas, become highly dependent upon when I was a high school student, and a local police chief was the telephone system. It is not showing a few of us what it was like. He had an aerosol container possible for any government of it, and he held his finger on the button for only a few seconds. to intervene into the delivery of We were perhaps 10 feet away, and it was unpleasant. I cannot telecommunications services imagine anybody staying in the streets when the police are firing 18

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Cover Story

canisters. But that is what I saw in this video:

Governments have become fearful of bringing out the machine guns, for fear of international condemnation. Dozens of people will be videotaping the event and will immediately upload the videos to a satellite, which will spread around the world in a matter of seconds. The low cost of telecommunications is making it possible for protesters to expose the policies of their governments so that all the world can see. Universally, governments do not want exposure of what they are doing. They want to control the flow of information, and they want to be able to spin it rapidly. They can do neither when the Internet is operating, because the images are out there so rapidly, and picked up by the news media so rapidly. The governments cannot spin away the visual information. They are caught in a situation as characterized by Groucho Marx, when he declared to someone who interrupted his meeting with an attractive young woman: â&#x20AC;&#x153;What are you going to believe? Me or your own eyes?â&#x20AC;? The fact that this is taking place in the Arab countries indicates that the whole region is vulnerable to more revolutionary resistance. 20

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The telecommunications network is well developed in all of these nations, and the people who use them are educated. They have enough money to plug into the Internet. A lot of them are college graduates. Worse, they are unemployed college grads. They understand the media, and they are in social network arrangements, connection by connection, with thousands of similarly unemployed, equally educated people. Unemployed intellectuals who are young have always been a threat to established tyrants. These are the people who have relatively little to lose, and they think they have a great deal to gain, by taking to the streets. When they are not shut down fast, they are emboldened. They assume that nothing can stop them, because tear gas and rubber bullets are not so great a threat. When people around the world can see street protesters, this encourages thousands of other protesters, who had attempted to sit the fence, to get off the fence and go into the streets. There is safety in numbers. When they can see on television or on the web that there are thousands of people in the streets protesting, they assume that they will gain a degree of invisibility and anonymity if they join the protests. So, they leave the safety of their homes and join the protest movement. Because of social networking, this can take place so rapidly that government officials are unable to respond fast enough to put a stop to it before it is obvious that there are thousands of people in the streets. The social networks can become a liability if the revolt fails to dislodge the existing regime. The government can use the Internet to track down

Cover Story

those people who were activists in the early stage of the revolt. There is no way to hide your communications retroactively on Twitter and Facebook. The government is going to find out who sent out messages, and it will be able to trace the spread of these messages by means of the very technology that enabled the original protesters to recruit thousands of volunteers. But how many can the police arrest? There were too many protesters to put all of them in jail. The people the government will have to investigate are highly educated, and have enough money to own a computer and be plugged into the Internet. These are exactly the the result of the spread of rhetorically effective kinds of people the government does not want to communications in a decentralized system of alienate. These people have connections, they telecommunications, the government cannot cut have money, and they have time on their hands. this off in advance. It cannot arrest the organizers When you are talking about thousands of in the days before the great plan was about to protesters going into the streets, you are talking be executed. There is no great plan, and the about a protest without any organization. government has no time to react. You cannot stop the organization when By speeding up the mobilization process, and you cannot control a handful of the by flattening it out, the protesters have been able organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaders. The social network to topple entrenched, well-armed regimes in a system enables rapid response protesting matter of a month. They were able to challenge without any clear-cut chain of command. There the existing political structure of approval for really is no chain of command. That is the whole autocrats who have held power for decades. point of social networking. It is horizontal; it is The ruler in Yemen has been in power for 32 not vertical. To stop something from spreading, years. The ruler of Egypt has been in office for the government has got to shut the entire almost 30 years. Yet the social networks brought system down. these two regimes to disintegration in a matter of A SPONTANEOUS REVOLT Social networks are changing the nature of social protest. This has finally produced a situation in which the old rhetoric of the revolutionaries is true: the revolution is a spontaneous work of the People. There is no clandestine group of conspirators who are organizing a conspiracy in such a way that it looks like a spontaneous insurrection. Governments can deal with that kind of revolutionary organization by infiltrating the organizations at the very top. They have done this for centuries. But when revolt really is 22

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days. How can governments mobilize resources to head this off at the pass, when there is no pass? We are therefore seeing a shift in the balance of power away from centralized government, which has control over most of the print media in the country, to broad masses of people with money and computersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;people who are in no way dependent upon paper, ink, and paste to put up posters. The government can react rapidly to the older media, but it cannot react as rapidly as the social networks call out the anti-government troops. The government had the edge in speed back in the days of printed manifestos and posters. That world is gone.

Cover Story

So, as we watch the digits undermine the foundations of Middle Eastern autocracies, we get a picture of what is likely to come in the next generation. Every government in the world is now threatened by the visual power of street demonstrators. The protests will be posted on YouTube within minutes. None of this existed six years ago. Governments have used money, recruiting techniques, propaganda techniques, and all the rest of it for the last hundred years in terms of a particular technology. That technology is the printing press. Martin Luther created a social and religious revolution in northern Europe by means of pamphlets, broadsides, and posters with cartoons almost 500 years ago. For almost five centuries, the technology of communication did not change radically. And then, without warning, the rise of the Internet began to shift the balance of power in the direction of citizens. With the advent of the social networks, Yes, it is true that governments can temporarily there has been a quantum leap in the ability take away the hammer. They can shut down the of protesters to register their protests publicly, Internet. Anyway, small governments in the Middle with no comparable increase in response time East can do this. It is highly unlikely that the by the authorities. Telecommunications are government could do so in the United States. The instantaneous, and they are delivered at no tendency of the system of telecommunications marginal cost to the participants. When the price is to decentralize. The government that would of protesting falls, more of it will be demanded. dare to stop the spread of telecommunications is This is what is taking place today. asking to lose the next election. The development of the social networks is beneficial to the extension of liberty. Digital You may have seen this story in one of our technology, because it is price competitive, other magazines. This is not a mistake. Some penetrates the broad masses of individuals in information is so relevant that it bears repeating... the West. It is price competitive, and therefore and maybe even re-reading. is inherently decentralized. Everyone can have his own printing press in the new system. The About the Author ability of governments to control the spread Gary North is the author of many of ideas is not keeping pace with the ability of books that delve into the nexus of politics, philosophy and social the Internet to enable people to communicate media. You can reach him at ideas. The competitive system is asymmetric. garynorth@garynorth.com. This time, it is not asymmetric in favor of the Visit: www.garynorth.com. government; it is asymmetric in favor of the citizens. They hold the hammer. Follow Me on 24

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Cover Story

It Does Happen Here!

By John Persinos

Twitter and Facebook served as catalysts for the “Arab spring” and the British riots. This phenomenon already is happening in America— and here are the business lessons you can derive from it. Twitter and Facebook played crucial roles during the uprisings that toppled authoritarian Arab governments. Social media also figured prominently in recent riots in Britain, whereby disaffected youths in major cities organized “flash mobs” that resulted in looting and mayhem. What are Americans to make of all this? A famous 1935 novel by Sinclair Lewis, called It Can’t Happen Here, chronicles the rise of a right-wing populist politician in the U.S. The ironic title refers to the rise of fascism in Europe during the 1930s, and the rather smug belief among Americans at the time that their democratic Republic was immune to the evil charms of any homegrown Adolf Hitler. As we observe the social media-fueled unrest in regional hotspots around the world, should we pose the same question? Could it happen here? It’s already happening! In late August, in Kansas City, Missouri, the shooting of three teenagers at a large late-night “flash mob” prompted local authorities to pass an ordinance that set curfews 26

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as early as 9:00 p.m. Meanwhile, Philadelphia has experienced a wave of flash mobs that led to the destruction of private property, rioting, and severe personal injury. Similar flash mob incidents have recently occurred in other cities around the country. Also consider the deep-seated anger of the Tea Party and its ability to quickly mobilize scores of furious supporters. What immediately comes to mind is the “Death Panels” imbroglio of 2009, when congressional town hall meetings were disrupted by angry conservatives opposing President Obama’s health care legislation. Many of these seemingly spontaneous protests were in fact organized through Twitter and Facebook. Violence hasn’t reached critical mass in America—not yet—but today’s highly partisan rhetoric and polarization suggests that it wouldn’t take much to ignite the tinderbox of the American body politic. Whether the Tea Party is an authentic grass roots organization, or merely “astroturf” funded by rich right-wing industrialists opposed to government, is beside the point. Social media is an enormously powerful tool to channel human energy, whether it’s political anger or consumer desires. The Tea Party uses it; the political left uses it; and you should use it. Facebook and Twitter have fueled an explosion in grassroots media. Citizen journalism, in the form of bloggers, protestors, agitators, dissidents, and anyone else with a grievance and an Internet connection, will continue chipping away at hierarchical corporate and political structures. Force-fed programming will go the way of

Twitter tricks made simple. See Pg. 41 the radio soap operas and movie newsreels. The early 21st century is the Era of the Amateur. Just as the printing press of the early Renaissance empowered individuals, the Internet is empowering the average person. As you craft a media strategy for your business, never lose sight of this fragmentation. THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE

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The great futurist Alvin Toffler wrote a seminal book, Future Shock, published in 1970, that widely influenced society. Indeed, the title entered the language as a sociological term. Today, his book is more applicable than ever. The basic premise of the book is that many social ills are symptoms of the failure of individuals and organizations to cope with rapidly accelerating social and technological change. People are threatened and disoriented by this change and pine for a return to simpler times—halcyon days that never really existed. A yearning for a bygone and romanticized “golden era” is a familiar phenomenon in human history, but it’s particularly acute today as the Information Age throws many comforting assumptions into the dustbin. The fact is, many people prefer to run from freedom, because taking responsibility for your own life and facing the inherent messiness of the human condition is too frightening. It’s far easier to place your fate in the hands of a Big Daddy, whether that daddy lives in a national capital or in the sky. Recent riots in the Middle East

and Britain underscore how angry, alienated individuals can use social media as a digital Molotov cocktail. As a businessperson, you can take advantage of these trends. Train your mind to detect media opportunities, and get into the habit of reflexively jumping on them. Unexpected chances to manipulate the media will spring up every day. Those changes are serendipitous gifts; don’t pass them up. As today’s cyber-fueled social unrest makes clear, the only constant is change; your greatest weapon in an uncertain world is perseverance. Your personal and business life has been reduced to a swirling, existential miasma of 1s and 0s. Take a constructive tip from the rioters in the west and east, who organized instant mobs through their hand-held devices, always staying a step ahead of the police. Learn to navigate the miasma, with speed and agility. As Marshall McLuhan would say, social media is now an extension of the human being. Back in the 1960s, McLuhan had the foresight to coin the term: Global Village. Today, Twitter and other social media serve as physical extensions of our mouths, in a chattering, gossipy, interconnected village that spans the globe. The ramifications for governments and for businesses are deeply profound, and in some cases quite unsettling. For business managers, marketers and PR professionals, the accompanying sidebars and videos drive home my point in a very practical way.

Guerilla Marketing

Social Media Marketing and Word-of-Mouth Marketing: They’re Now The Same Previous Story

By Steve Olenski

Reading several articles all based on the same survey made me realize that many people still don’t get it... they don’t get the fact that Social Media Marketing and Word of Mouth Marketing are now the same thing!

he first place I saw it was on the blogs section of the Wall Street Journal website... To Heck With Twitter, Business Owners Say. Then I saw it on MediaPost.com: Small Biz Ambivalent About Social Media. Then just yesterday I read this headline on MarketingProfs.com: Social Media Gets Mixed Reviews From Small Business. 30

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The survey was commissioned by the Hiscox Insurance Company who worked with marketresearch firm Opinium Research LLP to query 304 U.S. small business owners this past May. Overall, 47% of small business owners and managers surveyed said they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use social media for business purposes at all. The survey also broke down each of the big players in the social media world, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin and the numbers for each of these individually are low, with Twitter bringing up the rear as only 4% of respondents said they use Twitter. And good luck trying to decipher what kinds of businesses these were that were surveyed, were they B2B, B2C, what industries were they in, etc., because I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find that information. You can click on any of the above links for the gory, not-very-detailed details if you so choose but ... what caught my eye and raised my proverbial ire

Guerilla Marketing

was the fact that 50% of the respondents cited Word of Mouth Marketing as the one channel they couldn’t do without compared to the 12% vote social media received. Of the three articles I referenced earlier, only one, the MediaPost.com piece even made a reference to the connection between Social Media Marketing and Word of Mouth Marketing: “... Notwithstanding the obvious potential for overlap between social media and WOM...”

POTENTIAL OVERLAP? No, there is no potential overlap—there is a very real and distinct overlap! I’m reading these articles and wondering aloud: “Doesn’t anyone get this?” There was one commenter on the WSJ piece who got it for sure: “...What these business owners... are missing is the fact that Social Media is set to become going back into their homes and going on THE way to spread word of mouth. Facebook is their computers or back into their garages and becoming the sewing circle of the future, and if whipping out their smartphones and telling all you can get a group of people buzzing to each their friends-their ONLINE friends-all about the other online about your business, you can bring new laundry detergent and great restaurant. in more customers.” Their PCs, smartphones and tablets are now I will disagree with this POV only in the fact extensions of their mouths, in a matter that Social Media is not set to become the way to of speaking. spread word of mouth ... it already is! They are now using their keyboards in addition C’mon people, business owners, marketers, to their mouths to spread the word. advertisers, etc... where do you think people are Why does that seem so obvious to me yet “talking” these days? seems lost on so many others? I will surely not trot out the latest Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin stats nor remind you of the accelerated growth of Google Plus. By now, you About the Author know and have seen all the statistics. Steve Olenski is Creative Director of Digital Services for The Star Sure, are neighbors talking to neighbors as Group. He describes himself as they mow their lawns about the new laundry “just a guy who likes to write, create, conceptualize, generate detergent one just used or the great restaurant ideas, use social media and drink way too much coffee.” This column the other one went to the night before? Of was republished with permission course, that part will never change. from the Star Group and originally appeared on the Star Group blog, But what HAS changed is now those same stargroup1.com/blog. Follow Me on neighbors, after mowing their lawns, are 32

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Emerson Kim Lineses

Our Roving Managing Editor Scours the Globe for How-To Advice From The Best Minds in Social Media. replies

Twitter History Lessons Andrew Hard

Don’t Be a Weiner! Twitter Tips for Small Business After the Photo Flap as it appeared on Following link

Remember former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and the sexually charged tweets that ended his political career? Here are four lessons to learn from this Twitter scandal: 1. Twitter is just a tool — it’s how you USE the tool that matters. 2. Be CAREFUL with what you do in regard to technology overall … especially social media! 3. When sending anything using text messages via mobile devices, or over the web via e-mail or social media, understand that the potential for your message to go beyond just intended recipient is huge. Whatever you’re sending, assume that your grandma also will see it — along with the rest of the entire world. 4. Employers: train your employees on social media. DO NOT have your 20-year-old or 62-year-old staffer post anything if they haven’t received said training. (Basically, think about it as the sex-harassment training of today.)

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Timesaving Twitter Tools Cindy Ratzlaff 8 Free or Low-Cost Twitter Timesaving Tools as it appeared on Following link

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Some small companies that are gaining a large number of Twitter followers are worried about the time demands of managing this constituency. Cindy Ratzlaff compiles eight free or low-cost Twitter time-saving tools to help you manage time on Twitter: 1. Twellow. This is Twitter’s “yellow pages”. It’s free to sign up and it allows you to list your Twitter account under three keywords. Anyone entering here can look you up and find what product or service you have to offer. 2. Twitter App for Facebook. Any app that hits two birds in one stone is a time saver. Use this app so that your posts on Facebook enter your stream on Twitter. 3. SocialToo. This app allows you to auto-follow anyone who follows you. 4. Hootsuite. This manages your social networking sites and accounts on a dashboard. It also helps in creating client reports and provides insights into which marketing messages are working.

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Say “Yes” to Brand Monitoring! Marco Giunta Monitoring Your Brand on Twitter as it appeared on

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If your business is on Twitter, your brand will be talked about whether you like it or not. And that’s exactly the reason why you should monitor your brand. Marco Guinta builds a strong case for brand monitoring on Twitter. In his words, “It’s an essential part of reputation management.” Businesses should have control over what is said about your brand on Twitter. Whoa, lower that eyebrow! This only means that businesses should have the opportunity to turn negative comments into positive outcomes, putting your brand in a positive light as well. Business blunders on Twitter range from minor customer service complaints, which you can address there (and even portray how well you receive complaints). That’s good points for your brand. But more complicated snafus may be solved by contacting the person (or company) offline and dealing with it like true professionals. You can’t be online all the time, so you will eventually miss some whispers and talks about your brand and about the industry. Luckily there are tools that can help you have eyes and ears pretty much most of the time. To monitor these, you must first consider these helpful questions: • Does social media presence equal more sales? • What’s in a (domain) name? • Can touching people be good for business? • Can niche blogs help you win more customers? Twitter Search is a built-in feature that’s very reliable. You can search your brand and your monikers so you can look for tweets that talk about your brand and industry. You can even save those searches and look for fresh tweets at a later time. TweetDeck and Hootsuite are also reliable tools for more advanced tinkering on Twitter.

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What Hashtags Mean for Your Business Carolyn Cohn How and Why to Use Twitter Hashtags as it appeared on

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It’s just one of the many words in the tweeting jargon, but this one you should remember and absolutely know about: hashtags. Carolyn Cohn explains why and how using hashtags on Twitter is good for your business. Basically, hashtags are an easy way to catalog tweets and join a certain topic and make it easier for you to find other tweets on the same topic. Twitter users search for keywords so that they can find out what people are tweeting about a certain topic. Using hashtags makes it easier to extend your influence by making your tweets available to your fans and followers and other people who might be interested in your business. You can also build deeper relationships with those whom you have previously established connections. There are many hashtags that are already in use and have been used many times, but you can create your own. Take Toyota for example; it used #CamryChat on Twitter when it unveiled its 2012 Camry model. And another pointer: remember to instruct and remind your followers to use your hashtag so that they can follow with the conversation and even enjoin those in their respective followers’ list. When using hashtags, use those that add significant value and interest to the discussion. And you have to be discriminating about the number of hashtags you use: one is good and three is the maximum, emphasizes Carolyn Cohn. Too many hashtags might be irritating to your Twitter community. Spamming on Twitter is also a no-no. Don’t populate you tweets with famous or trending hashtags so you can appear high on Twitter results.

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Twitter Tricks Made Simple

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Those who love text messages love Twitter for its Alexa Mei simplicity. And marketing on Twitter isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that hard as well. Twitter is a proven great resource Twitter Marketing Tricks For Online Business to promote product and services Success as it appeared for your business online. on Twitter marketing on Twitter is Following link fairly simple, and Alexa Mei has some great tips for those who wanna give it a shot. Twitter is not just a place to post and promote your product; it is also a place for discussion and networking. You should find people in your niche and your industry and talk to them. Be an expert not by always promoting in your tweets but answering questions by your followers and other people in the same line of business. As with other social media sites, your reputation will spread fast if you are helpful and a good source of information and help. Remember that Twitter is social and casual. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t spam your followers with pure promotional tweets. Engage in a conversation and discussion with them and try to build a bond of trust with them so that when you post a tweet with a link, they know they can click on it safely and with eagerness and confidence. Should you get on a following spree, following everybody you meet on Twitter? The answer is to limit the number of people you follow. Quality is better than quantity when it comes to building your niche. Besides, having a large number of followers demands a lot more of your time.

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The World of Twitter Advanced Search Carolyn Cohn How to Make the Most of Twitter Searches as it appeared on

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Many see Twitter as that famed micro-blogging site where you post 140-character updates. If you really know how to use Twitter, then you know the whole other world of Twitter search. Carolyn Cohn details the world of Twitter search and points out that many are unfamiliar with this service and thus don’t tap into its business-helping potential. Beside Twitter Search, many other third-party apps help you with searches on Twitter. TweetDeck and Seesmic allow you to search and follow a keyword or term instead of a person. The advanced search tool on Twiiter is an excellent aid in your search for information (or people) on Twiiter. You are brought into an online form where you fill out the details of your search. Alternatively, there are search operators available if those fields in the online form bother you. Here are common search operators: • news source:twitterfeed – for finding tweets that contain “news” and searched through Twitterfeed. • traffic ? – for finding tweets that contain “traffic” and asking a question about that subject. • flight – gives you a search result about “flights” and tweets with something negative. • movie romance – gives you a search result about tweets that are about romance movies and a positive message • near:NYC within:20mi - brings up tweets that have been sent from within 20 miles of New York City. • @mashable - tweets that reference an individual on Mashable. And to top these off, you can save your searches so you can do them again at a later time. It is always a good idea to save whatever search that brings in good results.

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Toyota Uses Twitter for Product Unveiling James R. Healey

2012 Toyota Camry unveiled on Web as it appeared on Following link

Not only small businesses flock to Twitter for promotion. Carmaker giant Toyota is using Twitter to unveil its 2012 Camry, USA Today reports. So why exactly would a big company that has a healthy PR budget resort to Twitter? Actually, Twitter will just be an additional tool. Toyota global President Akio Toyoda earlier posted a teaser video to announce the company’s new product. And during launch, a Twitter session will go live so customers, fans, and well-wishers can ask questions and discuss the product. USA Today explains: “Toyota hopes to draw a lot of attention for the event that includes a Twitter chat session in which you can pepper company brass with your questions.” Toyota obviously is not afraid of putting its top brass in a frontline Q&A battle with customers. It also announces an easy way to get into action on Twitter by assigning hashtags: #CamryLive and #CamryChat.

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The Rules of Tweeting Michael Cohn

What to Avoid on Twitter as it appeared on Following link

Ask any colleague or “tweeter” about Twitter etiquette and maybe they’ll answer with a couple of do’s and don’ts about how they use Twitter. But sadly Twitter etiquette can’t get summed up in just two or three rules. Michael Cohn provides this checklist of rules for Twitter: • Don’t constantly push your own products and services (the purpose of Twitter is not a selling platform; it is communication). • Don’t say anything negative about others in your tweets (this is just good common sense). • Don’t tweet trivial facts that are not of any value to anyone (as with all social media sites, you want to be regarded as credible). • Don’t have anyone else tweet for you (the words should be yours and yours alone). • Don’t tweet nonstop (that can get very annoying to other people). • Don’t tweet too little (or people will forget that you exist). • Don’t make your tweets too long (even though the maximum is 140 characters, you should leave 20 at the end for others to retweet). • Don’t retweet without giving credit to the original source (this demonstrates respect for your followers). • Don’t follow anyone and everyone (be selective). • Don’t forget your purpose with Twitter (social or professional). • Don’t neglect trending topics (those are important to cultivate interesting and stimulating discussions). Newcomers to Twitter could certainly use a good review of the rules of tweeting. And professionals and those who have their business on Twitter are also bound by good, respectable tweeting.

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Twitter Traffic: This Way, Please Michael Cohn Using Twitter to Drive Traffic to Your Website as it appeared on

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With the millions of Twitter users out there, tweeting the right way will surely get visitors to your site. But this doesn’t come easy. You have to choose the right words and idea that will fit in that 140-character limit. The first rule to drive Twitter traffic to your site is to build a list of followers, because with them you can gain exposure online and conversely they can gain exposure from you. Interacting with you followers make them interested with what you say or tweet, so tweeting important and relevant information must be a priority. According to Michael Cohn, the following are just some of the advantages of using Twitter: • Twitter participants drive the process. The decision to use Twitter is a personal one. It has nothing to do with solicitation. • Twitter operates in real time. The tweets are quick and short. • Twitter has a 140-character limit. This keeps things moving along. • The Twitter premise is about connections and communication. • Twitter participation is the key. You must be sincere in keeping interest with your followers. And your tweets don’t have to be always new and fresh; you can comment on old posts or on your followers’ comments and mentions. So how exactly do I get Twitter people to visit my site? Michael Cohn lists these tips. • Make sure that you have a Twitter/tweet button on your content. • Throughout your website, convey a clear message that you have a strong Twitter presence. • Include your Twitter URL on business cards, signatures, etc. Twitter is tremendous help to drive traffic to your site if it is used the right way, but there’s a lot of work. If you’re tool works real time, so should you.

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The Devil tweets Prada. See Pg. 62

Sure-Fire Ways to Improve Twitter Marketing

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If you’re on Twitter just for personal reasons, you might Starr Hall find it a good way to express yourself. It’s like shouting to the world what Five Ways to Use Twitter for Marketing That you think (or You Might Not Know what you ate for About as it appeared on lunch), then not Following link listening back or just listening to a few friends. Thankfully, businesses are on Twitter, too. And business people see Twitter as an effective tool to promote products and services. Starr Hall shares what she’s learned about Twitter and how it can improve brand exposure and marketing. Here’s an excerpt: • Use advanced search options to locate opportunities. Twitter search is useful as it is, but the advanced features will help you find people whom you can connect to and offer what you have and tweets that contain opportunities where you can present your product. • Tweet often to boost search-engine optimization. Tweeting often has twofold benefits: you stay active and visible in newsfeeds and you improve your ranking in online searches. Use keywordrich content in your tweets and make sure you mention your company name and monikers in your bio, in your Twitter handle, and in your tweets.

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For a Bigger Reach, Pinpoint a Smaller Niche Marla Tabaka How and Why to Develop a Niche as it appeared on

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Sure, when you tweet, your audience is the world. So why does an aimless stream of tweet from a business on Twitter doesn’t translate into sales upshot? That’s probably because it doesn’t have a niche. Marla Tabaka gives a good point why business owners on Twitter are frightened by niche marketing. She says that a struggling business owner given the suggestion to narrow their market would feel limited. They might think that if they can’t make a sale now, how will they ever close business by marketing to fewer people? Niche marketing gives you two advantages: effective networking and effective marketing. Knowing who your audience is makes it easy for your networking partners to recommend people for you. Before going into a niche, Marla Tabaka suggests answering these questions first:  Of all the people who could use my product or service, who am I most passionate about working with? Who do I most closely identify with, understand – even sympathize with?  Who will benefit the most from my product or service?  When I speak with, or sell to, _______ it excites me the most.  If I have to devote a lot of time and effort to learning about a particular industry or demographic which one would I enjoy the most? Which one do I already know the most about? Speak to your audience using a well-prepared speech and with the help of organizers, podcasters and organizations who would welcome you to speak to their networks. Then make a free information product that you can give away to you audience when you get to speak with them.

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New Fad: Tweeting with Photos

Twitter isn’t just a place to announce your press release; it Lauren Dugan has become a tool to literally show your followers the picture that comes 7 Tips Everyone Should Know About Using with it. With Photos As A Twitter Twitter’s Marketing Tool as it new photoappeared on sharing Following link service, it’s a great time to review your photosharing strategy as well to make you tweet multimedia with confidence. Here are a few proven tips: 1. Choose your photos wisely. These should be the photos you are proud to post online and show to your followers. 2. Don’t be afraid to snap a pic of the “underbelly.” What happens behind the scenes in your company is also of interest to your followers. They sometimes need to get a glimpse of the nitty-gritty processes of the business to appreciate your brand. Just don’t overdo it. A photo of afteroffice drinks is cute but the crazy pics after the drinking session are bad. 3. Let your employees snap and share (appropriate) photos themselves. Other employees with access to the business Twitter account may also have great ideas. But make sure that he or she understands the social media guidelines. 4. Don’t spam. Photo sharing might be a fun part of Twitter but too many photo tweets will turn off your followers. Two or three photo tweets a week may be a good frequency to start.

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How Many Tweet and Add Photos? Dan Rowinski How People Share Photos On Twitter Today as it appeared on

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Sure, a tweet to promote your product will probably come out better with a picture. But you may wonder, just how many people tweet with a photo or link or even video attached to it? Social media research company Sysomos took a sneak peek at an ordinary day (May 30, 2011) on Twitter and found interesting facts, Dan Rowinski reports. “Of all tweets that day, Sysomos found that 1.25% of tweets contained a link to a photo sharing service, or about 1/12th of all links shared. That translates into 2.125 million tweets that were pictures from third-party services. It is just one day of Twitter, but it’s probably indicative of day-to-day trends.” “TwitPic, even with its recent terms of service controversy, is the big leader of the group, with 45.7% of all pictures on Twitter that day. YFrog is second with 29.3% and Lockerz (formerly Plixi) third with 17.4%. With all the buzz surrounding Instagram and its devoted user base, it is a bit of a surprise that it only gets 5.2% of the market. If Instagram released an Android application, that would certainly rise. Flickr and MobyPicture round out the services with 2.1% and 0.6%, respectively.” But now that Twitter has ventured into photo-sharing service, tagging that product photo along your tweet does not take you out of Twitter anymore. Maybe Twitter found sense even in that small fraction 1.25% in the pie.

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Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

Thumbs Up / Thumbs Down

We rate the unfolding events in the world of Twitter, with cheers, jeers -- and brickbats. Of course, our ratings are intended to be strictly subjective, as well as wickedly entertaining.

By John Persinos, Editorial Director

The Second Coming Will Be Tweeted! The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, asserted what he believes will be the ultimate (and we do mean ultimate) trending topic on Twitter: the second coming of Jesus Christ. The evangelist recently said that social media and the Rapture would work hand-in-hand. “The Bible says that every eye is going to see [the Second Coming],” Graham said. “How is the whole world going to see [Jesus Christ] all at one time? I don’t know, unless all of a sudden everybody’s taking pictures and it’s on the media worldwide. I don’t know. Social media could have a big part in that.” Hmmm. Billions of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and whatever religion you can name might take issue with that. Whatever your religious beliefs, you’re certainly entitled to them. But when it comes to social media, “media agnostic” might an advisable perspective.

Faux Tweet on Fox Hackers took over a Twitter account belonging to Fox News and declared that President Obama had been shot dead. The @foxnewspolitics feed stated: “BREAKING NEWS: @BarackObama assassinated, 2 gunshot wounds have proved too much.” 60

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A group, calling themselves The Script Kiddies, claimed responsibility. “Fox News Politics” is one of the Twitter accounts associated with the conservative cable news network. In a statement, Jeff Misenti, vice president and general manager of Fox News Digital said the network has “[taken] measures to prevent future unauthorized access into FoxNews.com accounts.” The infuriating aspect of this malicious prank is that it took several hours for Fox News to remove the offensive posts. We’d like to think that Fox’s decidedly rightward political proclivities had nothing to do with the delay.

Gingrich Hits the Astroturf

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A big thumbs down to presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who recently claimed to have more than one million Twitter followers. Gingrich, self-proclaimed intellectual, loves to quote the futurist Alvin Toffler and portray himself as an early-adopter of leading edge media technology. The Republican often brags that he has more Twitter followers than any presidential candidate. Problem is, solid evidence exists that he’s been using campaign money to hire spam agencies designed to boost Twitter follower counts. New York-based search company PeekYou analyzed every Gingrich follower and came to this daming conclusion: The Consumer Ratio measures the percentage of a Twitter audience that is identified as a “consumer” or “voter” in Newt’s case, vs. business, private/anonymous and spam accounts. The average range sits anywhere between 30-60% human depending on this type of account.

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down

Newt’s was 8%--the lowest the team had ever seen by 5%. PeekYou applies a specialized algorithm that scrutinizes several details about each Twitter account, including name, location, social graph, social memberships, social network, social activity, and produced public content. Using this methodology, the wellrespected research company asserts that Gingrich’s genuine follower count is closer to 106,000, which means that about 1.2 million of Newt’s putative followers are fake. Hey, should we have expected anything less from a politician?

The Devil Tweets Prada The fashion world has its panties in a bunch, over @CondeElevator, the new Twitter account that anonymously documents snippets of conversation overheard in the elevator of Conde Nast’s headquarters in New York City. Conde Nast publishes several iconic and influential fashion magazines, including Vogue, Glamour and GQ. The Twitter account, operated by an anonymous employee of the magazine publishing behemoth, launched in August with this tweet: “Woman #1 to Woman #2, holding an omelet: “What’s the occasion?” Woman #2: “...huh?” Woman #1: “I would need an occasion to eat that.” Since then, the Twitter feed has posted a myriad of ironic, incisive, snarky, and just plain hilarious Tweets about conversations overheard in Manhattan’s glittering fashion world. In its first five days, the account generated 35,823 followers. Conde Nast execs are infamous for their ruthlessness, as exhibited in the best-selling book and its movie incarnation, The Devil Wears Prada, which skewered Vogue magazine edit Anna Wintour, played by Meryl Streep. But Conde Nast deserves kudos for its sense of humor and its tolerance. Commenting on the matter, a Conde representative said: “We have no idea if this is real or made up and don’t know who is behind it but it certainly suggests that many people care a great deal about what happens at Conde Nast.” Bravo (or…Brava?) to the courage and wit of the anonymous Tweeter. And a big thumbs up to Conde Nast for its tolerance, which probably also is a function of enlightened self-interest. Perhaps a marketing lesson lies in all of this?

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Cameron Calls for Twitter Crackdown

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In the wake of severe rioting in major Londonarea cities largely attributed to “flash mobs” organized via Twitter, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said that the government might ban suspected troublemakers from using Twitter and other social media tools. “Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organized via social media,” Mr. Cameron told Parliament during a special debate on the riots. “Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these Web sites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.” To which we say: bad idea! Repression never works. Maybe the prime minister should do something about the underlying social causes for the unrest, such as England’s high unemployment rate and draconian budget cuts. Better still, perhaps Twitter users concerned about losing their rights should get to work, to add Cameron to the ranks of the unemployed. That would make him rue Britannia.

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Tweaking China With Tweets Ai Weiwei, the Chinese artist and dissident, broke his silence on controversial political topics for the first time since he was released from detention in China, denouncing the Chinese dictatorship in Twitter postings and decrying the government’s treatment of our dissidents and colleages. “If I don’t speak out for them, this is not possible, even though it may bring damage to my condition,” he said. Ai, 54, an outspoken critic of Chinese restrictions and censorship, was arrested in April, and held for three months by the state. In October, he was named the most powerful figure in the art world, by the influential magazine, Art Review. In his Twitter post, Ai said that four colleagues who were arrested were “illegally detained because of me.” Referring to the four — Liu Zhenggang, Hu Mingfen, Wen Tao and Zhang Jinsong — Mr. Ai wrote in his Tweet: “Innocently they suffered huge mental devastation and physical torture.” Ai wrote that Liu “had a heart attack when he was at the detention facilities and almost died.” In a separate Twitter posting, Ai urged support for fellow dissidents Wang Lihong and Ran Yunfei. “If you don’t speak for Wang Lihong, nor for Ran Yunfei, not only you’re the sort that doesn’t speak up for fairness and justice, you have no love for yourself,” he wrote. Now that’s what we call a socially useful application of Twitter. Mr. Cameron, meet Mr. Ai. 64

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Journalism, Media and Business

Cary Grant in His Girl Friday (1940; Columbia Pictures)

Tweeting & Business Magazine | Premiere Issue Twitter速 is a registered trademark of Twitter Inc.

Sweetheart, Get Me Re-Tweet! By John Persinos, Editorial Director

How Twitter is Transforming Journalism — and Your Marketing Plan

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all it “Twarketing,” or whatever clever term you want to use. The fact is, Twitter conveys powerful value as a marketing and PR tool. Twitter, the online tool for “micro-blogging” (posting extremely concise messages limited to 140 characters) is designed to be compatible with smart phones through text messages. Therein lies Twitter’s unique power to leverage immediacy and split-second news events, to convey your marketing goals. comments or thoughts. Many people, even otherwise Twitter is to think of it as a sophisticated marketers, cross between a chat room and are confused about Twitter. instant messaging (IM), because A question often heard is: “I it’s an open forum, sure, but it’s don’t understand how Twitter is also restricted to the people with different from email.” The best whom you connect. way to get your mind around To learn the basics of using

Journalism, Media and Business

Twitter, watch this “Twitter 101” video that will help you get started... Once you’ve learned the basics, how can you graduate to the next level, and use Twitter for marketing and PR? Here are a few proven methods: • Set up a Twitter account in your CEO’s name. Twitter works best when it’s tied to someone’s “celebrityhood”, but there are many forms of fame. The Chief Executive Officer of a company is, in his or her own way and to varying degrees, a “rock star” in the business world. Set up an account using your top honcho’s name, face and bio—but that person doesn’t necessarily have to post the Tweets. You or an administrator with a flair for writing can perform this function as an unseen proxy. It’s a great way to forge connections with customers, advertisers and the media. It the CEO wants to do it on their own, all the better. always out and about in the field and around the world, gladAnd Twitter facilitates the handing real people and visiting facilities and making news. CEO taking ownership, When actual news happens that’s relevant to the CEO’s company because unlike, say, a blog or or market, he can immediately start Tweeting—and develop a large, conventional opinion column, worldwide following. It’s a marvelously effective way to get the the CEO only has to peck out attention of the media. a maximum of 140 characters • Up-to-the-second updates during press conferences, trade per Tweet. shows or news events. Twitter is well suited for the If your company is participating in a trade show, press CEO (or Board Director or conference, webinar, or any other sort of newsworthy event, you founder) who is a road warrior, can use Twitter to provide running commentary or updates. > 70

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Tweeting & Business Magazine | Premiere Issue Twitter速 is a registered trademark of Twitter Inc.

Why your follower count matters. See Pg. 94

Case Study: Better Service and Sales Through Twitter The airline jetBlue isn’t just a pioneer in the discount air travel industry—it’s also a pioneer in using social media to stay on top of its market and to project a “hip” image. The airline joined Twitter in the spring of 2007, one of the first major brands to do so. Today, jetBlue claims more than 1.6 million followers. jetBlue first joined Twitter as a way to provide up-to-the-minute customer service. The company was getting inundated with questions and requests; it had the foresight to realize that Twitter would be a great mechanism for dealing with customer FAQs and complaints. The company’s communications staff, monitoring Tweets about the company on Twitter search, discovered jetBlue customers who were in transit would often Tweet about common travel hassles. This allowed the company to jump in and fix problems with lightning speed, endearing it to customers. It also

allowed the company to communicate with certain disgruntled customers oneon-one, via Twitter’s special private back channel, which kept the conversations away from a wider audience when necessary. When it made this decision in 2007, it was considered a daring and far-sighted move. Today, it’s much more commonplace, thanks for jetBlue’s groundbreaking efforts. And because it was one of the early adopters of Twitter, jetBlue has been able to evolve its use of it and take it to higher levels. jetBlue now offers “Cheep Deals” on Twitter, whereby passengers can find last-minute deep discounts on air fares via Twitter. These days, jetBlue devotes about six staffers to Twitter, who are authorized to post directly to the company’s Twitter account. The airline’s eventual goal is to staff its Twitter activities 24/7, allowing travelers anywhere around the world to receive instantaneous responses. www.TweetingandBusiness.com

Journalism, Media and Business

For example, let’s say you’re a large aerospace company that’s exhibiting at the Paris Air Show, which is the largest and most glamorous aerospace exhibition in the world. In my former life as an aerospace journalist, I’ve blogged from many Paris Air Shows. You can view my blog postings Here At a venue such as the Paris Air Show (or at any similar venue, in any industry), you could use Twitter to make such announcements as: “This just in! XYZ Corp. CEO John Smith to sign multibillion dollar deal for helicopters with the French Navy. Signing and subsequent press conference begin in five minutes, at noon, in the conference center’s main ballroom.” You’ll get far more press attendance and also generate considerable cache for web feeds that allows the online publication of frequently with reporters for using the latest technology and for being updated content (news headlines, blog entries, audio, video, etc.) in a standardized format. RSS allows marketers to as timely as possible. automatically syndicate any Tweeting that’s useful for their • Keep tabs on your marketing purposes. company’s brand on Twitter. • Announce discounts or special deals. Twitter can serve as the This tactic is especially helpful to retailers or any company custodian of the integrity that has a reason to make special offers or discounts. Twitter of your company’s brand. is a great way to unveil these programs in a personalized way, Through Twitter, you can to a wide audience. monitor what folks are saying • Promote blogs, columns, webinars, podcasts, and lots more. about your company and When you’ve uploaded a blog, column or article, or archived your brand and respond a webinar or podcast, you can easily link it to Twitter. The accordingly. In this manner, rule here is to link material that’s relevant to your business Twitter can provide you with a or market. Customer case studies, or technical white papers, “first strike” capability to rectify also lend themselves to Twitter linkage. Always add a any misimpressions or PR specific “hashtag”, a community-driven convention for adding problems before they develop, additional context and metadata to your tweets, so you can nipping them in the bud. monitor when the content gets “retweeted”. Twitter is a convenient way to monitor conversations and About the Author public perceptions about your company. Twitter has a search John Persinos is Editorial Director of GSG WorldMedia. You can reach him at engine that allows you to do jpersinos@gsgworldmedia.com. John has enjoyed a long career in media and public this; you can subscribe to relations. Notably, he served as a staff writer at these searches through RSS. Inc. magazine; a reporter at The Orlando Sentinel; managing editor at Campaigns & Elections magazine; RSS, usually defined as Real publisher of the web site, Aviation Today.com; Simple Syndication, is a family editorial director at Aerospace & Security Media; and a press secretary to a U.S. congressman. Follow Me on of interconnected formats 74

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Developing Followers

Why Your Twitter Follower Count Does Matter By David Kerpen

ecently, I’ve seen a lot of talk from social media experttypes and novices alike, arguing that the number of Twitter followers you have or Facebook fans you have doesn’t matter. It’s all about the quality of the followers and how engaged you are with them, they say. NUMBERS COUNT, A LOT. While I’d be the 1st person to agree with the importance of The main reason that both building a highly engaged, well- quality and quantity of followers targeted community across matters is thatquality alone social networks, quantity doesn’t scale. No large matters too. organization on the planet or 78

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employee of a large organization can claim that a highly engaged, high quality,small social network community is anywhere near as valuable as a highly engaged, high quality large social network community. Can you? Two months ago I launched a challenge to my entire staff: Demonstrate your thought leadership. Grow your follower count on Twitter as much as possible. Use Twitter’s new ad products Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets and see what you can do. I awarded prizes to the top 5 in number of followers gained. Of the 28 individuals in the competition, everyone gained at least 200 followers. Two people, Brian leadership on Twitter: Murray and Amy Kattan, each gained over Brian Murray: Don’t be afraid to take risks. 4,000 followers. They also gained lots of insight. Engage with everyone who seeks you out. You Here are a few of my staffs’ thoughts about never know where the #GameChanger is going to gaining followers, quantity vs quantity, & thought come from!

Developing Followers

Amy Kattan: You are your own brand, so promote yourself creatively. Utilize the resources you have, both on Twitter and off. Think outside the box. Jenna Lebel: Anyone who provides valuable, relevant content and has an outlet for getting it out there can be a thought leader. You get what you give. According to Google, there are over 2.4 million Allie Herzog: There are a lot of crazy Beiber “social media experts” out there. Unfortunately, fans on Twitter!…oh & be yourself, converse, too many of them are either preaching “it’s all share, RT & people will want to follow you! about quality” OR “it’s all about quantity.” I say Dhara Naik: Quality of followers that will the numbers do matter. Both quality AND quantity actually engage with your brand is more matter on Twitter and in social media. What do important than the number of followers. YOU say? Let us know in the comments! It seems to me that as important as engagement and quality of followers is, if you’re going to use social media to drive business About the Author results, you need a lot of followers as well. Dave Kerpen is the co-founder and Here are four examples of relatively high Twitter CEO of Likeable Media, an awardwinning social media and wordfollower accounts across different use cases of-mouth marketing firm. Dave’s driving real business impact: book, a New York Times Best Seller, is “Likeable Social Media: 1) Dell: @DellOutlet’s over 1 million followers How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be led directly to over $6.5 million in sales. Generally Amazing on Facebook 2) Jet Blue: @JetBlueCheeps has over 230,000 and other social networks.” Dave is proud of his Likeable business Follow Me on followers and have used the account to accomplishments but prouder of his wife and business partner Carrie generate thousands of flash sales. and two daughters at home in New 3) Ashton Kutcher: He has used his over York , Charlotte and Kate. 6 million followers to raise hundreds of Dave Kerpen, CEO Likeable Media thousands of dollars for several causes. Facebook: facebook.com/dkerpen 4) Likeable Book: On a much smaller but not Linkedin: Linkedin.com/in/ davekerpen inconsequential note, we amassed 1800 E-mail: dave@likeable.com Likeable Twitter: @LikeableMedia followers on Twitter in just 6 weeks, part of Likeable Facebook: facebook.com/ the reason we launched a New York Times likeablemedia Phone: 212-660-2458 bestseller. 80

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Community Relations

On Being a Good Twitterzen Previous Story

By Melissa Klepacki

Tweeting & Business Magazine | Premiere Issue Twitter速 is a registered trademark of Twitter Inc.

Create a Twitter Tsunami. See Pg. 90

Here’s the first in a series of articles, on how to become a good citizen of the Twitter community—and how doing so will accelerate your business goals.

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elcome to the "Good Messenger", a series of articles that will teach you good social media practices. Building a good social media strategy can be the greatest marketing move you’ve made to date. I’m here to teach you how. Let’s get a few things out of the way as we get to know each other. As I write, I will assume the following: • You are reading this to promote yourself/your can do a good job at that in about 20 minutes a day (less as you get more comfortable with my brand/your business via social media. • You have a decent website…not built in flash shortcuts). Your focus is running a business and not becoming a social media expert. A good social and somewhat mobile friendly. media strategy is just enough to take you to the • You have an interest in low-cost ways to next level. build your brand and are somewhat techWhat you can expect from me? savvy. I'm offering easy-to-implement strategies and • You have a Twitter account set up for concepts from which any company with an online yourself or your brand. SOMEONE IS NOT ADDING TO presence can benefit. From • You can dedicate 20 minutes IFYOUR TWITTER KNOWLEDGE a day to creating your "good" STREAM, THEY’RE POLLUTING IT. non-profits to bloggers to small businesses, here you’ll find lots social media network. of tips and tricks that have worked for my team in As you read, you should understand why I use creating effective social media campaigns for our clients. the word good and not great? I'll also make strong recommendations on My goal is to help you, a small business owner, what not to do when building your social media create a well-rounded, highly targeted social channels and include remedies for quick fixes. media strategy for your business. I think you So let’s start there.

Community Relations

Six Common Twitter Mistakes I'll give you a quick tour of the six biggest mistakes that folks are making with their Twitter network. If you are guilty of any of these, here is your big chance for a simple fix and a lesson as to why.

1. SETTING AN AUTO-RESPONSE TO BE SENT TO ALL NEW FOLLOWERS ON your social media "klout" (www.klout.com) TWITTER AS A that you Re-Tweet (RT) often. Deciding DIRECT MESSAGE. which messages to RT will really shape As a professional, I use your social media voice. Choosing to Twitter for business and only RT messages that are newsworthy have my preferences set and informative send a message to your so that Twitter sends me an audience that you are professional and all e-mail every time I receive business. a new direct message (DM). Re-Tweeting messages that include The last thing I need is more feelings, opinions and abstract thoughts e-mail in my inbox but I feel is friendlier, of course. But it's not always that my DMs on Twitter are advisable. If you're a Twitter newbie, we important, because they're recommend you focus on Re-Tweeting often in need of a timely messages that are within the scope of your response. business. There will be time down the road I find it annoying to receive to get personal. direct messages simply Remember, you're cultivating a following thanking me for following of folks who came to you because of a someone. It is unnecessary. niche you created. Give them what they Don’t do it. want and then give them some more. 2. RE-TWEETING TOO OFTEN. It's important for building

3. FOLLOWING EVERYONE THAT FOLLOWS YOU. On Twitter, you don’t need to follow

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everyone that follows you. If you're using Twitter for business, I'm sure you have wondered as to the ideal ratio of Twitter followers to those you are following. It is really a question of quality vs. quantity; I'm here to suggest quality reigns. Don’t be lured into setting up auto-follow for your account, because you’ll just have to manually go through your account to weed out the folks that are wasting your time. Hand-select the accounts that bring you information that you need as well as information you want to RT for your followers. This is not a numbers game. From time to time, it is great to purge your “following” list. Open up your Twitter account, click on “following” and scroll through your list. Roll over the word, “following” and it will turn red and change to “unfollow”. Click it often and feel liberated. get an about.me page where you can include every Think of it this way: If someone bit of information on yourself and your business. is not adding to your knowledge (www.about.me) stream, they're polluting it. Same goes for marketing collateral and business

cards. Most of all, you need to start adding social media to your vocabulary. Get comfortable talking about your networks and ask new business contacts to connect with you on your SM networks. 5. DISCUSSING TOUCHY TOPICS SUCH AS RELIGION AND POLITICS. This is business, folks. There is no room for discussion or sides on the subjects of religion or politics in any of your social media streams. You don’t want to polarize your audience. If you wouldn’t bring these (or any other) subjects up at a client meeting, don’t bring them up in any SM dialog. Enough said.

4. FAILURE TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK. If you’ve got it, flaunt it. If you have taken the time to set up social media (SM) accounts you gotta finish the job by promoting your "good" work. If you’re a retail establishment, make sure you have signage prominently displayed that reads “Follow us on Twitter” so people know they can connect with you. Print the same messages on all receipts and make sure that your website has links directly to your Twitter pages. Add links to your SM profiles to your email signature or better yet,

6. EXPECTING IMMEDIATE RESULTS. Building relationships, whether it's in real life or via SM networks, takes time. Don't expect to make a whole group of new friends overnight or become discouraged when your networks aren’t bustling www.TweetingandBusiness.com

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Community Relations

immediately. Building networks means creating chances (read: posting lots of "good" messages) to have meaningful dialogues with your followers on regular basis. You’ll find yourself helping often by answering questions for people, making recommendations, and sharing links. Once you develop relationships with these people, you can begin to promote yourself. In the same way that you wouldn't introduce a good friend to a stranger at a cocktail party by saying “Hi, this is Mary, she’s a great friend of mine and also a dermatologist. She's offering 10% off this week on all services for new patients one-third of the time, and let them come to you and she has a complete line of for help and advice two-thirds of the time. We’ll skincare products for sale at discuss this in my next piece for this magazine. 20% off. Follow her on Twitter, Using these winning strategies to create your visit her website and you should good social media strategy will put you in a great read her blog.” position for building solid networks where you can Folks won’t get it and will begin dialogues with customers and set yourself most likely think you are pushy up as an expert in your field. In the meantime, you and head straight for the door. can follow me on I know you would never do that Twitter @agoodmessenger in real life, right? I’m sure you’d be much more likely to introduce About the Author your friend Mary as your good Contributing Editor Melissa friend who has taste and style, Klepacki is the founder of The went to Villanova and NY Scoop, Inc. Princeton, New Jersey’s first social media Medical College and happens to marketing and advertising agency: be a dermatologist specializing http://www.princetonscoop.com. is anti-aging skin care. You Melissa started her marketing career with RedBull Energy Drink would then let your friends ask in Boston in 1999. She holds a B.S. from Boston University Mary for recommendations or Follow Me on from their School of Education, advice. as well as a Master’s Degree in Acupuncture…go figure. The same holds true for social She lives in the Princeton area with her husband and two little media introductions. Assume Scoops. She likes french fries, that folks don’t know about your bourbon, Chapstick and dreams of owning a Manitowoc flake ice business and your expertise. machine. You can reach her at: Melissa@princetonscoop.com Feed them a little at a time,

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How-To

Create a Twitter Tsunami !

By Tammy Kahn Fennell

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Boost your re-tweets! See Pg. 94

Here are 10 ways to market small-to-medium sized businesses on Twitter.

mall and medium business owners are increasingly turning to Twitter as a powerful tool to engage with customers, provide customer support and market their products and services. For those companies with a limited marketing budget, Twitter is a “force multiplier” that allows these entrepreneurs to get a big bang for heir buck.

your tweets to a specific location ensures that you are only interacting with viable leads.

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Here are 10 of the most effective ways to put Twitter to use for your 2. KEYWORD TARGET. company. If location is not important, you’ll minimally want to narrow down the 1. GEO-TARGET. “Twittersphere” by niche. There are You want to connect with hundreds of thousands of tweets people who are in your going out every minute, so cutting area, especially if you through the clutter has to be a top are a brick and mortar priority. Perform searches based operation. Targeting

How-To

on keywords, and reply to relevant tweets. If you can phrase your interaction as a question, all the better. You’ll have a much higher response rate when you are asking someone to respond. An example is a webdesiginere finding someone tweeting about which Studio Press Wordpress theme Theme they should chose. “My favorite theme is Code Red - you can you. As in the example in #2, you want to start make lots of great modifications to it.” a conversation with qualified leads, and grow This sort of pro-active interaction is a perfect the conversation organically. You don’t need way to start a conversation with a potential 500 people a day to respond to you, having 5 customer. The person who tweeted the or 10 qualified leads will add much more to your question is likely to reply, and it can be taken bottom line. to the next level. “Studio Press is one of my favorite sites, if you have any trouble modifying 4. ALWAYS BE THERE. the theme drop me a line.” As a SME owner you are expected to wear a lot of hats, so when your social media hat comes 3. BE REAL. off for a little while, you don’t want to leave your When you’re having conversation with followers with nothing, so schedule up some potential customers, you want to be real. helpful tweets for your followers to read while Spam is one surefire way to turn people off to you’re busy doing other things. 92

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5. GIVE OTHERS CREDIT. One big mistake often seen on Twitter is tweeting out loads of unattributed feeds. If you know of a blog you think your followers will be interested in, mark it as RT @the blog owner’s Twitter account. This will help your followers know what is your personal content, and also shows up on the blog feed owner’s account as an “@ mention” which increases their chance of returning the favor to you, increasing your own traffic. 6. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS. Tools like Klout or PeerIndex are great ways to track your influence and make sure that you are moving in the right direction.

8. USE LISTS. You can create Twitter lists or, if you’re using a dashboard, search panes or search groups, for different groups of people. For SMEs this is a great way to curate the massive amounts of

9. DON’T BE AFRAID TO “UN-FOLLOW”. You don’t have time to read about 10% off on Viagra. Generally, if someone isn’t following you back, there’s not a whole lot of point of following them (the exceptions are larger companies or celebrities you may follow). Remember, if they aren’t following you they aren’t seeing anything you say, so the relationship is very one-sided. 10. MONITOR YOUR COMPETITORS. Set up searches for your competitors. If you don’t mind publicly following them you can add them to a Twitter list, but you may prefer to just set up searches privately. You need to know what your closest competitors are doing at all times, and Twitter is so realtime that you can be in the know almost as quickly as they launch something! About the Author

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Graduating with a degree in Strategic Communications from University of Wisconsin’s School of Journalism, Tammy has been putting her marketing expertise to work since 2003. At the age of 28, after spotting trends and recognizing the future in social media, she co-founded the popular social media marketing dashboard, MarketMeSuite. Her company now has a fast-growing global customer-base of small businesses and consultants. She also runs WeAreSocialPeople.com, the community driven blog, by MarketMeSuite users, for the world! Find out more about MarketMeSuite at www.MarketMeSuite.com.

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7. CRM IS KEY. Twitter is a great way to handle many customer requests, especially if you can do it as close to real time as possible. Set up searches for keywords related to your brand, and put in the time daily to handle requests and escalate them through appropriate channels when necessary. A happy customer is a repeat customer.

information that will come through your home timeline on a regular basis.

How-To

The Art of Getting More Retweets

By Tina Cook

R Previous Story

etweets on Twitter are not only a compliment, they wing your messages to new streams of users who may want more and click the follow button so you increase your digital reach and visibility. Retweets give you instant feedback: when you are retweeted that’s the sign your followers are finding your content worthwhile. Getting more retweets is an art. Like all artists, you need to observe and practice your craft till you achieve the tweeting balance and harmony that gives you a good retweet result. Here are some tactics to add to your palette channel. What will keep your target market and play with until you find the mix and match tuning in? magic to give your followers the content they Mix your mediums: appreciate enough to retweet. • Some text. 1. TWEET MORE GOOD CONTENT Tweet content relevant to your target market’s needs. Give your followers information that will help them solve their challenges and make progress. Use Hootsuite to pre-schedule your tweets so you can set up (and then get on with your other work). Be sure to check your tweets and mentions later in the day. Add variety to your tweets: • Some breaking news. • Some evergreen good stuff. • Some inspirational/encouraging. • Some promoting you. • Some promoting leaders in your niche. • Some for fun. Think of your Twitter stream like a good TV 94

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• Some videos. • More photos. (Especially now you can upload directly from Twitter.) 2. MAKE IT EASY TO RETWEET YOU Be clear and succinct. Keep your tweets short - 120 characters at the most - allowing space for your Twitter name in the retweet and their comment. 3. TWEET LINKS Twitter is a link economy, as Guy Kawasaki reminds us. 90% of your tweets need to have links. Links get retweeted. Mix links to your content with links to others’ content that your target market with find useful. When you tweet about your new blog post, start your tweet with [New Blog Post].

4. RETWEET OTHERS The power of reciprocity works wonders. 5. GRATITUDE WORKS TOO Thank those whose content helped you. Thank those that retweeted you. Include their name and a well wish or interesting comment.

website the TweetMeme Retweet Button plugin is excellent. Install at the beginning and end of your posts and pages. The SexyBookmarks plugin is brilliant too. Some prefer to use Twitterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own official Tweet Button. Which ever is your favorite, make it easy for people to retweet you. Spreading your content and brand further with the recommendation of your followers will be your reward for your care in crafting and mastering the art of the retweet. About the Author

6. USE A RECOGNIZED LINK SHORTENER Bit.ly is the best and tracks too. 7. ADD A RETWEET BUTTON TO YOUR WEBSITE If you have a WordPress

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Tina has B.A. Degree (Psychology, Anthropology) and is a Certified Social Media Specialist and Certified Guerrilla Marketing coach. Her background is PR, photography and then 20 years in Television production from scriptwriter to co-producer of awardwinning TV series. She transitioned to an online communicator and marketer 5 years ago and steadily studied with the US leaders whilst marketing transformational workshops and trainings based on Louise Hayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teachings. Tina is an early adopter embracing new technology and trends. She has in-depth knowledge of all aspects of online marketing from web/blog design, SEO, online video, audio, web copy, automation, graphic design and networking. Learn more about Tina here: www.SocialMediaMarketingMentor.com

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Professional Development

The best-selling author shows you how to “keep it real” in the virtual age. His books have changed millions of lives; his advice here will change the way you use social media.

Tweeting & Business Magazine | Premiere Issue Twitter® is a registered trademark of Twitter Inc.

FIRST, SOME PERSPECTIVE…

n the context of human history, social media — a natural evolution of the Internet age — appeared like an explosion in the human psyche. We’re still reeling from its effects, even as we do our best to stay ahead of the curve, or at least ride that cutting-edge of the waves of change. New programs, apps, smart devices-who knows what will follow - ear-insets or embedded chips that propel us toward a virtual life in The Cloud? The purpose of my column, and the text, video, and audio reminders provide a grounded perspective about Real Life Here on Earth. Let’s use technology, but not let it use us. Our biology has been around far longer than our technology. So even as the pace of life, and access to information, grows exponentially, let’s take a deep breath, relax back into (the rest of) our body, and remember where we live — here and now.

REALITY CHECK By Dan Millman

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Other contributors to this magazine will provide you with insights and perspectives about Twitter and how to make the best use of it in service of your goals. My aim is to bring you back to your center, to support your health, reduce stress, and address some of life’s core issues that all of us face. Mark Twain once said, “I’ve had many troubles in my life — most of which never happened.” Profound words that may bring a smile, because most of us get lost in (cyber) space, forgetting the essential beautify of the here and now, even as we rocket ahead at digitallight speed, interconnecting, What a wonder we are part of! And it may do us good, now and networking (in every sense of then, to contemplate that wonder, that bigger-picture, so that we the word), and reaching out to don’t become preoccupied with “how am I going to use Twitter others in mutual support. to get my start-up off the ground / promote my book / build my If we view our Earth as a platform?” living creature, floating in When I was a coach at Stanford University, and later working with space — and ourselves as a professional athletes and Olympians, I would remind the athletes: part of that body — we can Don’t simply dedicate your life to your sport; rather, dedicate your grasp the vision of the Internet sport to your life. as the nervous system of our I would offer that same advice to you regarding Twitter. This planet. Our ever-increasing phenomenal social network avenue is a tool. Use it wisely and connection represents an in moderation. Focus on quality rather than quantity. Remember evolutionary leap of this your deeper, larger mission that gives meaning to your posts and Organism we call “Earth.” outreach. It’s not just about making a living, or gathering friends —

Professional Development

it’s about making a life online and offline (we call it the Real World). In that real world, we each face challenges that are part of the “spiritual weighttraining” in everyday life. By doing regular, moderate exercise, eating a balanced, nutritious diet, and getting enough rest, we are able to better face and move through the issues that rise and fall like waves. (We can’t predict or control them, but we can learn to surf.) In this first issue of Tweeting & Business magazine, I’ll offer multi-media guidance and reminders about some of life’s core issues, in support of your growth and wisdom, so that you can make better use not only of Twitter, but of all the changing opportunities and innovations that come our way. We begin this column with a two-part, 5-minute video on a universal topic relevant to us all, to help anyone face each day with a peaceful heart and a warrior’s spirit: here and the time is now; all other knowledge is

moonshine.” Whether or not one agrees, this topic of the present moment provides a solid foundation and a launching pad for all our outreach and networking. You send a tweet in the mouse-click of the present moment; others receive it in another present moment. We live and log in and log out here and now. Always. The rest is memory of a “past” and an imagined “future” that never comes, because it is always Now. Most of us know that there’s something good about “living in the present” — you’re about to learn how and why.

welcome your comments or questions: pw@danmillman.com HOW TO ABIDE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT Every great coach reminds us to return, every now and then, to the basics. So until we master the Vulcan mind-meld, and while we’re interconnecting with growing circles of friends and colleagues, Part One of this two-part video tutorial reminds us about a simple reality that helps us come back to center. Journalist H.L. Mencken once said, “We are 98

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About the Author

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Dan Millman — a former world champion athlete, Stanford coach, martial arts instructor, and college professor — is author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior (adapted to film with Nick Nolte in 2006), and 14 other books read by millions of people in 29 languages. Dan teaches worldwide and has influenced people from all walks of life, including leaders in the fields of health, psychology, education, business, politics, sports, entertainment and the arts. Dan and his wife, Joy, live in Northern California. His most recent book is The Four Purposes of Life. www.peacefulwarrior.com

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Publisher’s Note

By Larry Genkin, Founder & Publisher

Our Manifesto for Tweeting & Business Previous Story

“Internetization” (to coin a phrase) is one of the major inflection points in the history of business. As with manufacturers who, at the turn of the century, failed to embrace automation, companies today that don’t migrate fully to embrace the internet, and all it offers, will find themselves at a critical, and likely fatal, competitive disadvantage to those that do.

nd, to many in business today, using the Internet is nearly synonymous to using social media and, in specific, its four largest services: Google, Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin.

To illustrate how ubiquitous and important these social media services have become,

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you just need to compare it to the technology adoption cycle of other major media/business tools. For example, it took 37 years for radio

THEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM. The kind of content published is primarily news about the specific service/company. While potentially valuable to an investor or tech geek, this “news” is inherently not useful to a business person looking to use these services for their restaurant, consulting firm, dental practice or other kind of business. www.TweetingandBusiness.com

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to reach 50 million listeners, 34 years for the telephone to have 50 million customers and 13 years for television to reach 50 million viewers. By comparison today, Linkedin (the smallest of the four services) in just 8 years, has over 100 million users. Twitter, in less than 5 years, has over 200 million. Facebook, in less than 7 years, has over 750 million (roughly 1 out of every 12 people on the planet have a Facebook account). And Google, founded in 1998, has more users than Facebook. These are hugely important services for business, because today social media is impacting every single aspect of the enterprise. From sales, marketing and PR These business people need substantive, to HR and investor relations, no corporate actionable, how-to information that teaches function remains untouched. them precisely how to utilize these powerful However, because these services are services to enhance their businesses. The so new and are evolving so rapidly, most problem is that this kind of information is not businesses don’t fully know how to utilize easily available in one place ... until now. them. And those that do are constantly Each of our social media magazines will trying to stay ahead of the curve, which is solve this problem by finding the best content not easy given all of the rapid changes as available, wherever it currently resides (and these services roll out new functionality at a in whatever format, whether it’s written, audio remarkably staggering pace. or video) and make it easily accessible. Most These services are far from “under the importantly, we’ll make it USABLE for business radar.” Mainstream media covers Google, people everywhere. Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter extensively There are three factors that distinguish our everyday. Typical coverage will be stories like: editorial from the plethora of social media • Linkedin’s stock price and subsequent content that is spawned daily in the media. market capitalization > • Facebook’s privacy issues • Google’s algorithmic modifications • Twitter’s acquisitions or new policies

Publisher’s Note

#1: IT’S EXCLUSIVELY FOR BUSINESS PEOPLE In the early days, social media was dominated by tech geeks, music hipsters and teenage girls gossiping about their latest crush. They would all hate our magazines. We don’t talk about the IP protocols that make social media work. We don’t share any tips on cool new bands. And we wouldn’t recognize Justin Bieber if we stumbled across him at a Jonas Brothers concert. We are all about business. Specifically, how business people can use Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin & Google to help their businesses succeed. #2: IT’S NOT NECESSARILY THE NEWS Today, the vast majority of information written on social media is utterly useless to a business person. Dozens upon dozens of stories are • Nathan Kievman (LI & Business): published daily on topics related to social Recognized as one of the world’s leading media that are interesting for an analyst or experts on Linkedin. investor, but a waste of time for a business 2 The “unifying intelligence,” if you will, is person. provided by one of the most seasoned Our editorial is not about news. It’s about professional journalists that I know: John “HOW-TO.” Specifically how business people Persinos. As our Editorial Director, John can use Google, Linkedin, Twitter and ensures the highest possible journalistic Facebook to make their businesses better, standards for all of our magazines. stronger and faster. (Maybe even thinner and 3 We get our experts to tap their vast more attractive.) network of thought leaders to get the best and brightest minds on social media creating HERE’S OUR APPROACH: content for us. We start by heading our magazines with 1 Our editorial staff scours the Internet daily editors who are world-class experts: to find great content. We don’t suffer from • Jay Abraham (The Big G & Business): The “not created here” syndrome. Our only litmus highest paid marketing consultant in the test is: Is it great content? If it is, we’ll make it world—$5,000 per hour—and recognized available to our millions of readers. by Success magazine as “possibly the Today this approach may be cutting-edge. In greatest marketing expert alive today.” the future, we believe it will be obvious that this • Jeffrey Hayzlett (Tweeting & Business): is how all magazines should be created. Former CMO of Kodak, largely credited for their turnaround. One of the top 10 C-Level tweeters in the world. • Mari Smith (fb & Business): Recognized as the world’s leading expert on Facebook Larry Genkin, for business. Founder & Publisher 102

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