Posted on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 @ 02:37 PM
With the rapid emergence of professional Twitter accounts, it has become more and more urgent to create a Twitter presence and manage it efficiently. Before your company begins Tweeting away, you need to create a Twitter Strategy or "Twittergy" as I like to call it.
Monitor the Online Conversations
First, you need to target your audience by selecting a list of 10 keywords to monitor on a daily basis and follow those discussing the topics your company should be weighing in on. A great way to find people who are writing about hashtags(#) based on your business is to use Blastfollow. Blastfollow will allow you to see anyone that is tweeting and using a "#" to identify the content of their tweets. Identifying these voices and following them is a great way to create a customer Twitter community.
Hashtags are trending topics that people are discussing, and can be seen on twitter in the following format; KeChange seeks answers to #SocialMedia. A hashtag will take the trending topic and serve as a resource for all users searching that topic. This will enhance your online presence and allow users to follow you based on your hashtag.
Project the Right Message
Once you have your 10 keywords in place, you need to establish yourself as an authoritative voice for these areas. Submit articles based on these 10 keywords that pose questions, concerns, and responses for your community of Tweeters. Providing your Tweeters with resourceful information is the best way to get your posts "Retweeted". Retweets are essential for getting your information out to multiple viewers. You can see in this diagram how a retweet can get viewed by hundreds and thousands of external Tweets that aren't apart of your following yet but are potential followers.
Here at KeChange we like to incorporate a content-based formula for Tweeting on an hourly basis. This content schedule includes approximately 8 tweets a day for our business with usually 4-5 of the tweets being business-oriented and 2-3 tweets that are more casual and fun. The combination of these techniques provides a personal way to deliver informative content.
Choose Your Platform Wisely
Twitter has many different outlets for keeping an eye on your followers and we found that a website called Hootsuite is one of the best outlets for staying up to date with your followers. Hootsuite allows you to see your homepage, @mentions, direct messages, as well as trending topics. Hootsuite also allows you to schedule tweets to be delivered at a later time and date. (FYI- @mentions are a public mention of a particular person during a post, designated by using the "@" symbol immediately before a person's twitter name. Responding and recognizing these @mentions is a great way to thank and encourage people to continue interacting with you.
Here's a list of some other effective Twitter outlets:
search.twitter, tweepsearch.com, refollow.com, oneforty.com
By Cameron Moulton, Internet Marketing Associate
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Posted on Mon, Mar 08, 2010 @ 02:46 PM
As an Internet Marketing Consulting Firm, one of the most fundamental elements of our work deals with search engine optimization. We've all heard of it, and at some point we have probably all wished we could just wave a magic wand across all our web pages to ensure they are, indeed, optimally optimized. Sadly, no such tool exists, but having a good understanding of keywords will put you on the right path to proper SEO.
The idea is to establish keywords pertaining to each page's topic, and effectively place them in the copy and metadata. Seems simple enough, but how much is too much? Have you ever felt like you're getting carried away inserting "dog-grooming services" as you build your new site to increase sales leads? You should be made aware that while the Internet does not have a judicial system, it is still policed to prevent people called "Black Hatters."
Black Hatters are dubbed the villains of the Internet;webmasters who, in the short-term, can get their sites ranked higher than it should be through tricks rather than Internet Marketing best practices. This can be achieved a number of ways: embedding paragraphs of hidden text that only a Google Spider can see, made up strictly with keywords. Black Hatters have also been accused of duplicating content from other web pagesas part of a content buildout plan, or even stealing content from other web sites. Essentially, these "criminals" are purposely flooding a site as a way to improve their Alexa ranking or Google SERP.
So what is the optimum density for which your keywords should appear? There's no concrete answer. A few weeks ago, a marketing director in Tampa Bay relayed that he believes it's between 3-4 percent. Last summer, a webdesigner and copywriter said 5 percent of your copy should be your keyword. Others, however, have rendered keyword density as "irrevelant." Tomorrow morning, maybe the answer will lie in my bowl of cereal.
What's my opinion? Don't stress about optimum density. Instead, focus on ensuring your keywords are placed in your headlines, metatags, page titles and page URLs. You prevent the risk of sacrificing good, readable copy for choppy sentences loaded with keywords. If you feel like you're going out of your way to insert your keywords, consider pumping the brakes or rethinking the phrases you're using to reach potential customers.
By Nick Fasulo, Internet Marketing Manager