Audience by Adam Hawkins http://anodiseproductions.com

How influential are you? (really?)

I got into trouble recently because I was having a rant (as I do from time to time) about people making a fuss about how influential they are on Twitter according to a dubious tool called Klout, (which, incidentally, recently gave a perfect 100 score to a celebrity I’ve never heard of who had had an account for only a week).

What got me going was this whole idea of ‘influence’.

You see, in my book, and that other more famous one, the dictionary, to influence means to be a compelling force on the behaviour or opinions of others.

Now, I am often entertained, informed and helped and sometimes, even provoked and infuriated by people on Twitter but I don’t think I’m often influenced by them to the extent that I’ll change my opinions or alter my behaviour.

Do you make a difference?

Getting excited about being recognised as an ‘influencer’ is understandable. Most of us want to make a difference in our own way and using social networks to influence behaviour and opinions has worked really well in a number of cases like the backlash against The X Factor at Christmas, the subversion of the Daily Mail ‘hate’ polls and most famously, the way emergency services were mobilised by Twitter participants in the plane in the Hudson crash.

However, in these cases it was the medium and the viral nature of the message that was important and not the person who started the campaign.

Becoming a real influencer takes more than gathering followers, fans or arbitrary scores. It’s not about the transitory nature of celebrity or seeming popularity but about establishing a reputation and becoming the person that others turn to when they want information they know they can trust.

In business, its probably the most valuable thing we can achieve but influencers don’t set out to deliberately become influencers, its something that happens as a by product of the ‘real’ work they do, when others start to seek them out or recommend them and they gain very little from it directly.

Are you an influencer or a manipulator?

When someone asks your opinion do you give it honestly or are you afraid of upsetting people? Do you only give your best when you are being paid for it?  Do you deliberately build a large following so that you can brag about it and use it to your own advantage? (This is the opposite of building a following organically because people are interested in what you have to say.) Do you do deals for commission before recommending a product or service? If so, you’re a manipulator rather than a real influencer.

If you feel the need to try and measure your influence, you’ve already lost the plot. If you need to shout about it on a social network that touches a tiny fraction of the 6 billion people on the planet, there’s no hope.

Influence is about the number of people who trust your opinion, not the number of people you collect and those who join social networks as a vanity exercise are missing not only the point but most of the fun.

Can you really get business from Twitter?

“Yes you can, and this is how.”

Business Basics

Twitter can do what every business owner wants and needs: it can allow you to listen to what potential clients and customers are looking for, need and think and it can be the means by which you connect with them directly as individuals and create rewarding relationships. In Twitter terms you ‘follow’ the people you want to listen to and attract the people you want to talk to as your “followers” (more of this later).

Ignore media Reports

You probably need to ignore most of the media reports about Twitter which are either focused on celebrities and totally irrelevant or intent on rubbishing a new media that threatens the established ways of reporting world events. Neither of these viewpoints has much to do with using Twitter for business.

Getting started is easy

If you haven’t already got a Twitter account go to www.twitter.com and follow the instructions. Do write down the password you use for your account as you’ll need this for all sorts of applications that come later. It is essential to personalize your profile. Use your own name rather than a company name but make it short, simple and memorable.

First impressions count and you will be recognised both on-line and in face to face meetings from your avatar picture so its really important to use a good one (close up head shot is best) and don’t change it too often. People form relationships with people not companies so don’t use a company logo.

Include a link to your web site or blog but also some information that is not just about business. For the same reason make sure you turn off the “Protect Updates” option. There is no point in using any social networks if your aim is to be private. Lighting a beacon fire or using semaphore is likely to be more private than any communication via the internet.

On your Twitter home page is a menu bar where you can change your profile and settings and “Find People”. Use this tab to enter in the names of people you know are already on Twitter or people that you are interested in. Click on the “follow” tab to add them to the list of people whose conversation you will be able to see. Their “tweets” will start appearing in a “stream” on you home page. If you find them boring or irrelevant you can click on their profile and “unfollow” them whenever you like.

On the right of your home page is a search box. Enter a particular subject or area you are interested in and this will bring up a list of “tweets” that have mentioned it. You can decide whether or not to follow any of those people depending on how interesting you find them. Another way to find people to follow is to use www.twellow.com (the Twitter Yellow pages) www.tweepsearch.com is another way to find people based on keywords in their bio.

You may find that some of the people you follow will follow you back or random people will find you. You will get an email to let you know who they are. If any of these look like spam accounts or have content that you find distasteful (remember Twitter is completely uncensored) you can use the “block” facility. No-one knows if they’ve been blocked or by whom. It just means that you won’t see their tweets and they won’t see yours.

Sending your first tweet

To send your first tweet type something in the box at the top of the page – max 140 characters. This will go to all the people who have already decided to follow you. What you’ll see on your home page now is a stream of tweets for the people you are following. Hover over the right of the message and two symbols will appear. The star enables you to store that tweet for later in the “favorites” on your Twitter homepage. To reply to that tweet click on the shooting arrow. This will put an @ symbol in the text box with the twittername of the person you are replying to. Type your message and send. Your tweet will be seen by that person and also by everyone else who is following both of you.

When you see a conversation or a comment that interests you, just join in. They are public not private and most people are happy to hear new comments. It’s sometimes hard to follow conversations because people dip in and out but don’t let that bother you. Anything really interesting will probably come round again. Think of it like a party in a big house – you can’t join in every conversation at the same time.

If you want to send a private message to someone (not often necessary) use the Direct Message (DM) option on the right hand menu bar. You can see all the DMs you’ve sent and received on this page. You can also see all the replies that have your @twittername in them. Always try to reply to these as they’re from people who are talking to you or about you!

What to tweet about

Join in as many conversations as possible, establish relationships, be as interesting as possible and your number of followers will build. Unless you are really, really funny or the circumstances are exceptional please spare us weather reports, your tea making habits, ablutions, TV viewing and health reports. Think about standing in a room full of people – would you spew out quotes or endlessly repeat everything that others are saying? I hope not!

As with all networking you need to get to know people before you start selling. A subtle link to a subject on your blog or website will start to build an interest in what you do but if you blast out sales messages or are just plain boring you’ll lose followers pretty quickly.

When you get a really interesting tweet or a request for help, for example: “anyone know a great packaging company/hotel/printer?” etc., you can re-tweet the message using the re-tweet button.  You’ll build a lot of goodwill and friends by re-tweeting. A good strategy is to send as many tweets as possible that other people think are worthwhile re-tweeting. Some people seem to think that if they re-tweet the millions of inspirational quotes that come their way their name will get re-tweeted too but if they’re not original or really funny you’ll just bore and annoy your followers and lose them.

Remember that the people you are interacting with aren’t virtual people. They are real people in a virtual meeting place so behave as you would if they were in the same room as you and treat them with respect.

Some people use a system called autofollow which means if someone follows you, you automatically follow them back and if they unfollow you, you automatically unfollow them. This is generally only used by people who care more about the numbers than the quality of the people they follow. It’s easy to get thousands of followers if you choose to follow thousands of people but you are probably following a lot of automated accounts that just spew out sales messages rather than having meaningful conversations with people. Its better to choose who you follow by looking at their profile. If I get an automated Direct Message (DM) I generally unfollow that account as I’m not interested in anyone who treats me like a number instead of an individual.

There are lots of scams offering ways to get more followers but these often link to automated systems that take over your account so treat anything like that with extreme caution.

That’s the basics covered and I’d recommend you spend a few minutes every day getting comfortable with those and build your followers before looking at what else is going on.

Beyond the basics

You’ll find that people on Twitter talk about the best way to use it, the various applications and options and send out links to guides and tips. This is the easiest way to learn about all the various ways that have developed, usually independently of Twitter, to make it even better. If you see someone doing something or using an application you’re interested in, just ask them how to do the same.

A couple of the most popular free applications to keep track of your account are TweetDeck www.tweetdeck.com and Hootsuite www.hootsuite.com which allows you to arrange your twitter stream into groups. You can group together people whose tweets you definitely don’t want to miss so that they all appear in one column. You can see all the tweets that mention you in a separate column. All remaining tweets will just stream past in another column and you can dip in and out of those conversations as you choose.

There are various other applications for PCs, Macs and mobile phones. You can use some mobile phones to tweet messages and photographs http://twitpic.com The best way to find out about these is to listen to others, experiment & play until you find what suits you.

One of the easiest and quickest ways to get more business using Twitter is to have a blog that is configured to update Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks whenever you post a new entry. As long as the blog subjects are of interest to your followers they will RT these links and lots of people will visit your blog and help you to build a reputation as an expert in your field and make you easier to find on Google and other search engines. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use www.killerseosuperblogs.com

There are lots of useful tools at www.tweetlater.com including setting up automated tweets and numerous analytical tools at www.twitteranalyzer.com. Again, use these with caution or your will either bore people or annoy them and lose followers.

How it works for me

I have been using Twitter since January 2008 and choose the people I follow very carefully. Because much of my business is local I started out by selecting local business owners and connecting with people I already know.
However, I quickly found and joined in some really interesting conversations about things that are nothing to do with my business and started following and being followed by a wide variety of people from different countries that include writers, artists, journalists, photographers, musicians and TV producers. I’ve learned a lot, expanded my interests, made friends and laughed so much that at times I couldn’t see to type.

I’ve built my business connections because all of these people are connected to others who have been drawn into the conversations. I’ve been invited to write for other people’s blogs and I’ve had blog posts re-tweeted by people who have no interest in my business but because they’ve grown to like me they promote me to their followers and I do the same for them. As a result I’ve had more people attend my workshops, mastermind groups and other events and I am building a reputation that goes way beyond the local people that I regularly do business with. I’ve also been invited to join and contribute to a private international discussion group of people who value my business ideas.
As all this activity is free, the only investment is my time which is a lot less than any efforts I could have made to get my business known by so many people.

I only ever tweet from my PC, never from my phone and I’ve never posted a twitpic.  I use TweetDeck and HootSuite as I find they both have features that are useful. I follow about 900 people and am followed by about 2,000 people. However, the people who are following me have between them hundreds of thousands of followers so the number of people I am able to reach goes way beyond my own account. My account is a small one by many Twitter standards but it’s manageable and gives me great results.

If you’d like to know more about using Twitter I’d be very happy to help. Just email me or send me a Tweet  http://twitter.com/AnnHawkins/

This article was first published in Aug 09 and updated in June 2010

Quotations and aphorisms are generally just verbal Christmas presents; enticingly done up in pretty paper and ribbons, but once you get them open they generally turn out to be just socks. Tom Holt (2007)

I frequently have a rant about the uselessness of quotes on Twitter. Not ‘quotes ON Twitter’ as in “He who tweeteth quotes shall be deemed as wise as the person he tweeteth” because that’s just silly and most of the people who are quoted were dead many hundreds of years before Twitter came into being.

There is nothing so ridiculous but some philosopher has said it. Cicero (106-43 BC)

No, I mean the endless, indiscriminate parade of stuff that is so saccharin it makes you want to throw up, has no interest or meaning for most of the people who receive it and in many cases is just bullshit.

Some recent examples are “Thoughts become things so choose the good ones.” This is an example of such sloppy thinking that I’d like to slap the originator but instead devoted a separate post to it.

She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit…W. Somerset Maugham (1926)

The next one was something along the lines of “Before starting a journey don’t ask advice of someone who has never left home”. Now, I get the idea of this but, you know, there are circumstances when the person who has never left home might be exactly the right person to ask. They may have studied the place you’re going to or they may have the best maps. Hell, they might have invented Google Earth! Does anyone really believe that the only person to consult on anything is someone who has had personal experience of it? (Pause until the screams of many coaches has died down). Frankly, I’d rather consult a doctor who is healthy than one who has the same illness as me.

At all events, the next best thing to being witty one’s self, is to be able to quote another’s wit. Christopher N. Bovee (1857)

Another was “The person who wants to demolish a mountain starts by moving a few stones.” You know what? If I wanted to demolish a mountain I’d hire a bulldozer. Even taking it literally, if I had a job that seemed insurmountable, I’d get help. Wrapping things up in allusions and metaphore doesn’t necessarily make them more powerful.

In a pinch, any orphan quote can be called a Chinese proverb. Ralph Keyes, “Nice Guys Finish Seventh”:

Then there was a quote from Einstein. Now Einstein was a great scientist but deeply flawed in other respects. He was widely regarded as oversexed, immature and lousy at sustaining meaningful relationships so forgive me if I don’t follow his advice unless it’s directly related to science.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. Oscar Wilde (1905)

Quotations can be used to great effect when used in articles or essays. They serve as really good hooks or attention-grabbers and can give emphasis to a particular point but on their own, with no reference point to their significance, they are just brain fluff.

Given all this, why do people feel compelled to share a quote, apropos of nothing, with their whole list of contacts?

Famous dead people make excellent commentators on current events. Ralph Keyes, “Nice Guys Finish Seventh”

I guess its because something in that quote spoke to them, which means that they probably need to take action on something that’s happening in their lives. It most likely doesn’t have any significance to anyone else unless they are sharing the same issues.

The great writers of aphorisms read as if they had all known each other very well. Elias Canetti (1942–1972)

What would be interesting would be to hear what folk did as a result of reading a quote but sadly, I expect the answer would be not a lot except nod wisely and pass it on.

Meanwhile nothing changes. Its thinking for ourselves AND TAKING ACTION that changes things not taking someone else’s thinking and believing it can change anything.

Immortality. I notice that as soon as writers broach this question they begin to quote. I hate quotation. Tell me what you know. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Journals (May 1849)

I’m stepping aside from talking about Mastermind groups today to celebrate

Ada Lovelace Day

Are you ready for the Social Networking party that brings a constant stream of new clients to your door?

Imagine you are the only person selling your goods or services in the marketplace and as soon as you set out your stall you are surrounded by people who are interested in buying…………

Did you know that a simple social networking strategy can bring you a constant stream of new leads?

This is a real scenario – I know because I am doing it now! I’ve made 400 new contacts in six weeks from people who have approached me and secured four pieces of paid work. (How many new clients did you get in December?)

When I hear people talk about on-line networking I see people switch off. I sympathise because I did too – until I was forced to look at the evidence of what is happening.

I resisted all the social networking stuff because it just didn’t seem business like and was definitely for a different generation – then I discovered a network where nearly 40% of users are over 45 and reporting great business results.

I was still resisting (no time, don’t understand it, etc., etc.,) until I was led step by simple step into the world of Facebook, Linked-In, Ecademy and Twitter. (I know these seem stupid names but hey, they work!)

During the past twelve months, UK traffic to the Twitter alone has increased by 63% and predicted growth for the coming year sits at 435% – that’s a pretty steep growth rate and unlike other social networks Twitter has a broader appeal. Many influential people are ditching their traditional website/newsletter method of communicating in favour of Tweeting, Blogging and Social Networking.

It’s cheap, its easy, it gets you a good SEO ranking and it brings you lots of new contacts. (And you don’t need a webmaster!)

Come and find out how it could transform your business in a workshop where I will take you step by step through the process and answer all your questions.

You can book here: http://bit.ly/jAHl