The David All Group team consumes and develops best practices for communications to ensure that our valued clients efficiently achieve their objectives. Historically we have memorialized and distributed these tactics and strategies to the community via free, downloadable guides: “The Essential Guide to Twitter,” “The Essential Guide to Pinterest” and “The Essential Guide to Google+.” The evolution of these efforts is an ongoing series of events, "DAGtalks: Sharing Knowledge + Growing Community." At the first DAGtalks session, our editorial and research director discussed strategies, best practices and case studies to help brands and trade associations use Twitter.

2. Why Twitter Matters
‣ 140 million+ active users
‣ 400 million tweets daily as of June
2012 -- up 18 percent in three
months
‣ Three-plus years to get to 1 billion
tweets, an amount now posted in
less than three days
‣ “Twitter lets me hear from a lot of
people in a very short period of
time.” (Robert Scoble, tech blogger)
‣ While only 16 percent of CEOs use
Twitter now, that is expected to
grow to 57 percent in five years
(IBM study, May 2012)

3. The Contrarian View
“[Twitter] demands attention and “I hardly go on Twitter anymore because of
response. It is the enemy of [@mentions]. Twitter is just so negative. ... It's
contemplation. brutal.”
-- Bill Keller, New York Times -- Mardy Fish, U.S. tennis player

4. Strategy
Inform Converse Learn Promote Reward
Spread the message about your organization or brand. Increase your control over the
conversation by leading it. Tell your story, your way.
‣ Tweet pull quotes and facts from your best stories
‣ Curate the conversation about your industry
‣ Live-tweet at conferences
‣ Host industry/issue Twitter chats
‣ Stay focused (but add doses of personality)

5. Case Study
The American Butter Institute turned to social media to tell consumers “the benefits
of butter in home cooking recipes.”

6. Case Study
Harvard Business Review has inserted its brand into the Twitter business community
by hosting the weekly #HBRchat.

7. Strategy
Inform Converse Learn Promote Reward
Twitter demands equal parts listening and talking. Converse with your audience to build
relationships and foster goodwill.
‣ Talk more, broadcast less
‣ Connect with “influentials” (peers, press, etc.)
‣ Respond to all questions (even if only to move the chat offline)
‣ Grant Twitter interviews to journalists and bloggers
‣ Make retweeting a daily habit

8. Case Study
Netflix talks with customers and retweets them regularly.

9. Case Study
The Brewers Association consistently answers fans’ questions.

10. Strategy
Inform Converse Learn Promote Reward
Twitter is a great research tool. Do your homework to discover what people want and
what they are saying about you.
‣ Solicit feedback on new offerings/ideas
‣ Follow and build lists of key audiences
‣ Monitor your Twitter reputation
‣ Research journalists, policymakers, other influentials

11. Case Study
H&R Block monitors Twitter for positive and negative remarks about company
services and directly engages customers.

12. Strategy
Inform Converse Learn Promote Reward
Use 90 percent of your time on Twitter to inform, converse and learn. The other 10
percent can be all about you.
‣ Tout new products, services and features
‣ Give loyal followers key information about your brand so they can take your story to friends
‣ Ask people to retweet (but don’t be pathetic)
‣ Encourage followers to take action
‣ Advertise to build audience and share company messaging

13. Advertising On Twitter
‣ Target existing audiences based on who they follow
‣ Run ads before/during/after major events (i.e., Super Bowl)
‣ Build ads around airing of popular TV shows
‣ Post Twitter-exclusive discounts

14. Case Study
Inform Converse Learn Promote Reward

15. Case Study
Inform Converse Learn Promote Reward

16. The Best Of The Best

17. Strategy
Inform Converse Learn Promote Reward
Your brand activists don’t need incentives to tell your story, but they deserve them and
certainly will appreciate them.
‣ Start with a simple “thank you” for retweets
‣ Sponsor contests that offer compelling rewards (including brand products and services)
‣ Grant insider access to your most loyal “ambassadors”

18. Case Study
The National Lottery UK gave away VIP tickets to the Summer Olympics.

19. Case Study
San Francisco-based Esurance gave followers the chance to win VIP concert
tickets for answering “insider” questions.

20. Twitter Timing Is Everything
Timing Frequency
‣ Peak times and days: 1-3 p.m. ‣ “Users who tweet between 10 and 50 times per
Monday through Thursday for the most day have more followers on average than those
link clicks, two hours earlier for the that tweet less frequently” (HubSpot)
most visibility and retweets (bit.ly)
‣ Average: 4 tweets per day
‣ Spread tweets throughout the day;
‣ Sweet spot: 22 per day, or one per hour
don’t bunch them together
‣ Rule of thumb: three tweets per blog post
‣ Schedule evergreen tweets for off
hours and weekends ‣ Know when to blog instead of mini-blog

21. How To Write For Twitter
Attention spans are short in the Twitter era. To be noticed, you must write tweets that
are not only concise but also precise.
‣ Use proper grammar, and adopt a consistent Twitter style
‣ Consider the 4-U approach to writing
‣ Be as short as possible -- but as long as necessary
‣ Spurn the canned promotional language of press releases
‣ Avoid automated content (be a person, not a robot)
‣ Tease the story with links and engaging quotes
‣ Highlight key facts, ask compelling questions
‣ Start tweets with topics when relevant (i.e., VIDEO, INFOGRAPHIC)
‣ Use hashtags sparingly and with purpose

22. Mind Your Twitter Manners
DO DON’T
‣ Be evil (i.e., mean)
‣ Say thank you
‣ Auto-follow or auto-DM
‣ Give credit (retweets, @mentions, links)
‣ Engage trolls and flamers
‣ Provoke thought
‣ Provoke people
‣ Be transparent
‣ Retweet without comment if you’re not
‣ Use direct links endorsing the view
‣ Drive traffic to your home page