Taming Twitter was the topic of the recent Dallas Social Media Breakfast meeting at host BravoTECH’s offices. Tom Jackson led the discussion and offered several key takeaways:
Keep Twitter posts relevant to your business objective, if you sell spa services don’t Tweet about your morning coffee experience;
Sound Social Media Strategy includes Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and Blogging – there is no single platform silver bullet;
When to Tweet? Consider the Dr. Pepper strategy: 10am, 2pm and 4pm (adjust to your customer base’s local time zone if different from yours);
Leave character space for Re-Tweets, ideally at least 20 characters;
Consider setting up AutoFollow for new followers (and always DM a ‘thanks for the follow’).
Tom also offered these Twitter and Social Media Traps to avoid:
Be careful about who creates your company Twitter account. Consider having it set up in the name of a company officer and that the username and login are in safe hands;
If you’re a new user and just starting building your friends and connections, think twice about loading up with your clients right out of the gate. It exposes your customer list to any savvy competitors monitoring your digital activities;
Do not make all your Tweets links to something else; simple, value added messages are important.
There is a lot more great information in Tom’s deck. View it here and feel free to share.
Next month’s meeting is July 29th at BravoTECH. Register here, we’d love to have you join us!
Last week’s Bellingham Social Media “Breakfast” was a great success. Speaker James Burnes, CEO of Mobiltopia, gave a fantastic 45-minute presentation to the crowd of nearly 60 local social media enthusiasts, business owners, and entrepreneurs. Held at Bellingham’s Glow Nightclub and sponsored by Sibley Public Relations, the event was enhanced by a classy, open space and fantastic views of downtown and the setting sun in the distance. The atmosphere was comfortable and energized, with some great connections made among the attendees.
Burnes’ presentation focused on the evolving role of social media in modern business practices, emphasizing the increasing role it will play as a foundation for future marketing, rather than as a specific career path. He suggested that, while there may be room for committed “social media experts” within existing organizations currently, the likely reality is that those positions will be phased out in the next few years as traditional marketers tune themselves in to new strategies.
Burnes had quite a few good points, a few of which really stood out for me.
Write about the people you want to work with: Everybody likes to see their name in print, especially in the business world. Writing glowing reviews about the products, services, etc. of potential employers or customers is sure to get you noticed.
Passion is more viral than ambition: Savvy employers and professionals know the difference between ambition and passion, and they understand that a person who truly believes in what they are doing is going to more effective, productive, and accountable.
Perception is reality: Having a clearly defined goal will help you stay focused and increase your credibility. Sometimes, simply saying that you are an knowledgeable is enough to get your foot in the door. People will believe you if you present a passionate, confident face. Of course, you’d better make sure you know what you’re doing…or you’ll eventually regret it.
Use LinkedIn to expand your network…proactively: Ask your current connections to introduce you to theirs. Getting recommended by a trusted associate will boost your credibility and your message.
All-in-all, the event was a big win for the budding Bellingham SMB group. The group seems to have hit its stride here and looks forward to future events with a growing membership. You can check out photos taken at the SMBellingham event as well as download James’ presentation.
Other than to say thank you to our speakers: Geoff Living (@geoffliving), Shashib Bellamkonda (@shashib), and Alex Howard (@digiphile); our Heads of Table: Andy Carvin (@acarvin), Daria Steigman (@dariasteigman), Shonali Burke (@shonali), Josh Greene (@josh_greene), and Mike Schaffer (@mikeschaffer); and our guests! … there is not much left to say.
Our inaugural Social Media Breakfast DC (#SMBDC) was terrific!
Don’t believe me? Alex Priest did an AWESOME job recapping the event here.
Before leaving for the Breakfast, Geoff posted a “Get Mobile Now” manifesto on his blog.
After the event, Shashib recapped the discussion and included a Flickr slideshow with pictures of the breakfast on his Examiner blog.
One of our Heads of Table, Shonali Burke, wrote a post about the Breakfast table talk, the engaging crowd and the new friends and connections our guests were made that morning.
Thank you all! You have us COVERED!
Check out our event pictures, courtesy of Rachel Rule (@rachelrule), Social Media Breakfast Co-organizer.
The presenters from our year-end SMB Austin event earlier this week have shared their social media predictions for 2010 in written form.
Those predictions are being shared here in the embedded document below (RSS and e-mail subscribers: You may need to click through to the original blog post to see the embedded document). I invite you to read the predictions, debate them, and share them with your co-workers and colleagues!
SMB Austin’s year-end breakfast at Mandola’s Italian Market this past Monday featured predictions on where social media is headed in 2010.
Ten Austin-area practitioners (including Tim Hayden, pictured above) had three minutes each to share their visions on how social media will shape and impact their respective industries in the year ahead. Among them: the view from Deirdre Walsh that we’re moving toward a state of Social Media Pangea.
Looking back at SMB Austin 11–through photos and tweets
What were people tweeting during the breakfast presentations? Check out this collection of memorable tweets, complemented by photos from Callie Richmond (RSS and e-mail readers: You may need to visit the original blog post to see the embedded presentation)
Thanks to a helping hand from Brent Annear and Steve Levine from the Texas Medical Association, SMB Austin was streamed live on Ustream. The video archive can be found on our new SMB Austin Ustream channel, and the second of two segments is also embedded just below (RSS and e-mail readers: You may need to visit the original blog post to see and stream the video).
What’s next for SMB Austin?
Our Austin breakfasts will return again in early 2010. Video content creation, mobile, and social media for small business are some of the topics we’re considering for upcoming events. If you have additional suggestions, please drop me a line: bryan | AT | SocialMediaBreakfast | com.
Burnes’ presentation focused on the evolving role of social media in modern business practices, emphasizing the increasing role it will play as a foundation for future marketing, rather than as a specific career path. He suggested that, while there may be room for committed “social media experts” within existing organizations currently, the likely reality is that those positions will be phased out in the next few years as traditional marketers tune themselves in to new strategies.
