An introduction to Twitter with tip and tricks to setting up your profile, creating your niche community, crafting your tweets, tracking links and getting followed.
2. In a nutshell
A social media channel or social network
Tweeting - sharing information, opinion, links, photos or a status publicly
Find out what others are doing, latest news, events etc. instantly
Accessible via a feed made up of those you ‘follow’ via Home
Each tweet allows 140 characters
Your identity is represented by @yourshortname
Accessible via internet connected device - PC, Macs, smartphones, tablets
A mar-comms tool for research uptake – direct connection with your target audience
3. How to present yourself
Create a short but meaningful @name – up
to 15 characters
Bio text should explain who you are and
what you tweet about –
passion, specialism, etc. Use keywords that
will get you found
Bio text allows 160 characters so keep it
short
Include your Location and website / blog
URL
Images and branding
Upload a good square profile image which
works well in small dimensions
Header image – landscape allows creativity
Background image for branding
4. Create a niche community
Follow those who share common interests
Create lists to organise who you follow
You may gain followers by following them
Instead of ‘following’ people you can
add them to a list
Who you want to influence
Who influences or inspire you
Twitter’s own search and
recommendations to find new people to
follow
Follow those who use #Hashtags that you
would use - for instant search filtered –
simply click on #hashtag word as a link
Examples:
your work colleagues
News websites
Bloggers
Funders
Event attendees or speakers
Up to 20 lists can be created
Look at other users’ Lists for new potential
followers
5. How to use Twitter
Tweeting
Engage with others
140 characters per tweet – luckily Twitter
will count down the number remaining
Reply to others – show them someone’s listening or
mention (MT) others – keep the conversation going
Share links (inserting web address gets
automatically shortened) to web pages,
videos, anything with a URL
Retweet – (RT) others who your own followers would
appreciate
Share images (photos, infographics etc.)
#Hashtags – common subject keywords
which create instant search/filter function
(have different colour and can be clicked
on)
DM (Direct Message) – sometimes works
depending on who (big accounts may ignore, be
unaware)
Favourite – bookmark a tweet for later (useful for
recording your influence) – indicates success
6. Good etiquette
Don’t use CAPITALS – looks like you’re SHOUTING!!
Mention others by their Twitter @identity
#FF (Follow Friday) – a chance to thank those who have retweeted, mentioned, replied or
those you can recommend to others
Use #Hashtags with purpose but don’t over use them in a tweet – looks spammy
Don’t clog up others’ feed by tweeting multiple times in short time spans
Exception to rule is Events
Before attending an event warn your followers or introduce others who maybe event
tweeting
Commentate on key points at a seminar, take photos, share links if mentioned in seminar
7. Tips and tricks
Tweeting
Engaging
Get noticed by Mentioning another
@identity in your tweet if they have
something to do with the communication
Use the @Connect tab to see mentions and
interactions
Before tweeting check who else is talking
about the same subject then Follow them
just before sending tweet
Distribute and schedule your tweets
Timing for maximum exposure
Retweet those who’ve mentioned or replied to
you
Search for tweets that mention you or your
organisation’s full name not @name then
Retweet
8. Craft your tweet then edit again
Check the spelling to look professional
Shorter the better – someone may want to
quote you (without having to edit)
Avoid duplicate words
Remove unnecessary words
w/ = with, TT = Translated Tweet
Insert URL between text to increase click-thru
rate
Use #hashtags within the sentence rather
than an afterthought
Instead of using Reply to respond to
others, write new tweet & quote @name
prefixed with a full stop so it will appear on
your followers’ feed (otherwise hidden)
9. Tracking your links
Bit.ly - https://bitly.com/
URL can be customised
banned in Ethiopia
Google’s URL shortener service - http://goo.gl/
for tracking click-thru’s (when logged in to Google account)
Google’s URL builder - https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867
Essential if using Google Analytics for statistics
Use ‘social’ as Source, ‘twitter’ as Medium and some text to identify your Campaign Code
E.g. http://www.ids.ac.uk/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=fhstrain
10. Twitter for research
Your mission: Become respected, become the expert
Tweet whitepapers for peer review
Highly tweeted articles are 11 x more likely to get cited than
less
Tweet your blog to engage like-minded peers
Poll your followers for quick research results
E.g. #uksnow people tweeted their postcode and amount of
snow they had
11. Be a great party host
Welcome old and new friends (followers, #FF Follow Friday)
Introduce new friends to others (mention, retweet)
Stimulate conversation (tweet questions, well-founded opinions)
Quote others and be topical – keep the conversation going, use #hashtags
No one likes a party pooper – don’t moan or vent your anger about trivial
things
Take an interest in new people – (retweet those who offer similar opinions)
Thank those who have helped you – not just Friday’s (retweet, mention, reply)
Kindness gets rewards – Retweeting usually get returned or remembered
Ignore those who are rude or vulgar – avoid public spats
Evict those who annoy others (use the block/spam option)
12. Further resources
Twitter for researchers (slideshare) - http://www.slideshare.net/UniofYorkLibrary/twitter-forresearchers-22963915
Using Social Media to Increase your Research Impact (slideshare) http://www.slideshare.net/mishdalton/social-media-for-researchers-22433236
75 powerful ways to get more Twitter followers - http://twittertoolsbook.com/how-to-get-moretwitter-followers/
15 ways to increase the click through rate of your tweets - http://blog.bufferapp.com/15-waysto-increase-the-click-through-rate-on-your-tweets
Ultimate complete social media sizing cheat sheet http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2012/11/12/final-social-media-sizing-cheatsheet/#sr=g&m=o&cp=or&ct=-tmc&st=(opu%20qspwjefe)&ts=1384940675
Topsy - http://topsy.com/
Notas do Editor
Thanks to Jeff for inviting me to this webinar.I manage the social media & website for IDS. We’ve been using Twitter since 2009 and will be sharing some experience and skills we’ve learnt along the way.
But first let’s see what exactly is TwitterRead slide
1. Your profile page is how potential followers will judge you so its important to get it right2. Make sure your Bio text is written well so your profile can be found easily – use wording your audience will understand and would search for.3. Perhaps you deal with more than one language so insert two versions4. The square image will be used in different sizes so make sure you choose a one that works at different scales5. I’ve included a screenshot of the IDS public profile on the right. Our strapline is actually part of the header image6. For further help I’ve provided some links later in this presentation for the best image dimensions when setting up your profile.
1. Once you’ve set your profile up you need to create your community by following people which will in turn get you followed2. If you work with partners already on Twitter why not ask them to introduce your new account3. Read LEFT SIDE4. From the example tweet shown you can see the #Hashtags in red5. Don’t expect large institutional accounts to follow you but you can get their attention if you mention them and have tweet about topics that interest them.6. Read RIGHT SIDECreate List feeds in TweetDeck or Hootsuite
1. As well as sharing an opinion or status, you can share links which are shortened automatically.2. READ SLIDE3. As twitter is a social media so it should be used as a social tool so ENGAGE with others by…
1. Good etiquette will win you followers – it shows you’re listening and engaging with the conversation2. READ SLIDE3. EVENTS are the exception to the rule as perhaps your followers want you to commentate.4. Finally, your employer may have a social media policy so make sure you either use a disclaimer such as your personal account does not represent your employer’s views.
1. Twitter has been around for over 7 years now so there’s a lot of proven tactics out there to learn from.2. READ LEFT SLIDE 1st Part3. Timing is very important with Twitter – there’s no point tweeting when your audience are asleep for example so think about when‘s the best time4. Perhaps your audience commonly use Twitter at a certain time of the day so tweeting then makes sense.5. Think about the international time difference or when you would get the maximum impact6. Try repeating a tweet by changing the words slightly7. For the social aspect of twitter and engaging with your audience use the @CONNECT tab. Here you’ll find updates on mentions and interactions8. READ RIGHT SIDE OF SLIDE
Let’s focus now on how to construct and sending your tweetREAD SLIDE
Part of the reason to use Twitter is to influence those to visit your website or blog to read about your research or web content.The easiest way of measuring the success of this is to add tracking to your links. This means that you can see how many times your link go clicked on using twitter
1. I would say that your mission on twitter is to …2. READ SLIDE
Inconclusion, success with Twitter is like being a good party host…READ SLIDE - Be Opinionated – but be within reason.