Business Blogging

Before diving into tips for building a following, lets take a deeper look at Twitter, the communication tool.

Twitter can be a social communication system OR a marketing tool; knowing which you want will dictate how you build your following. You can read more information about using Twitter as communication tool on the right side.

Target Profiling

To build a following, first you need to develop a target customer profile. Who do you want to do business with. While the normal tendency is to answer EVERYONE, when finding followers, using the concept of “success by association” can produce more efficient result. Meaning you spend less time per lead qualifying business prospects.

Using the Twitter Yellow Pages (www.Twellow.com) you can find Twitter users in specific categories to follow. The idea behind building a following is first you need to follow other people.

Possibly the MOST influential way to build a good Twitter following is to publish valuable, keyword centered, information. That means, when publishing your twitter posts, make sure to provide “value” to your reads AND a link to information that “rewards” your read for their time.

The idea behind using Twitter as a marketing tool centered on the valued of the publication. If you are publishing “billboard” type messages that don’t help the reader, then people are less likely to reward you with a follow.

Following Followers of those I Follow

Another approach to building a large Twitter following to to follow to followers of people you look to for information or entertainment.

For example, if you love reading Stephen King novels, then finding a fan club or the author’s twitter account can lead you to a source of “other” like-minded people. Associating with other people with whom you have a common association or affinity is a quick way to build a strong following. Visit the target association followers and follow a hundred or so.

Limits and SPAM

One quick way to blow all your Twitter effort is to follow too many people at once. Tens of millions of people are flocking to Twitter, many are doing so in nefarious ways. They follow thousands of people with the only goal of building a big following so they can land blast them with a sales pitch. Our recommendation is don’t!

Twitter is fight SPAM with silver bullets that instant kill the wolf like accounts permanently. So long as you keep your following number with in a hundred so so people as are following you back, then you’ll fine.

Unfollow those who don’t Follow You Back

Twitter has limits on the number of people you can follow over the number that follow you in return. Because of this limit, you will need to clean out your Twitter account on a regular basis. Visit you Following screen and unfollow those you can not “Direct Message”. If you can not DM then, then they are NOT following you.

Return the Follow

Just as you need to clean out your following list, you need to follow those who are following you with whom you have not returned the follow. Visit your followers list and follow those you are not following.

Moral of the Story

Twitter will give you back the effort you put in. If you manage your lists, send valuable information that link people to your blog or website, then you will build a large following.

Twitter allows you to see micro-blog messages from all those your follow, and, thus, all your followers to see your micro-blogs. In addition to your followers, the public timeline also receives your posts, which is crawled by the major search engines (save this tid bit in the memory banks for a moment.)

As a community tool, Twitter allows you to send responses (@messages) directly to any Twitter user. @messages are also posted in the public timeline, but because they go to the recipients @reply box, these messages can be considered SPAM. You should only use @messages when replying to a question, adding to a public discussion, recognizing the individual for an idea, or engaging the individual in conversation. Avoid sales pitches via @messages–doing so can get your Twitter account flagged as a SPAMMER, resulting in permanent termination.

DM’s (Direct Messages) are private messages that only your recipient sees. Sending sales presentations via DM’s is also considered SPAM. We strongly suggest you avoid sending sales messages via DM to any user.

If you are asking yourself how Twitter can be a good communication tool, then you have caught my subtle hint–don’t! Twitter is a HORRIBLE communication tool. Tryign to hold a conversation via Twitter is about as effective as using tin cans and string to pass messages around in your office.

With thousands of messages flying by your screen in real time, it is impossible to hold a meaning full conversation. You are better off give the recipient your phone number or eMail address. Thus, the best social communication system use for Twitter is asking someone online in real time to contact you off line. This leads us to what I believe is the preferred use for Twitter–as a marketing tool.

Follow Me

Building a follow via eMail and other website publications is a viable way to build a good size following.  Be sure to add a Follow Me On twitter link.

Twitter can be an excellent web traffic tool to help you improve your:

1. Customer Conversion Optimization
2. Number of Inbound Links
3. Search Engine Optimization

The first step is to visit Twitter.com and click on “Get Started – Join”

Enter your real name (unless anonymity is required).  We feel personal branding has a huge internet marketing benefit.

Create a Twitter User Account

Enter your eMail address.  We suggest you create a special eMail account for Twitter messages so you can isolate the increased eMail traffic.

Complete the rest of the form and click “Create My Account”.

Your first option will be to invite your friends to follow you on Twitter.  We suggest you skip this step.

The next option is to following some people.  We suggest you skip this step too.  We will use The Twitter Yellow Pages to follow a select group of people based on the industry they self-identify with.

This is a good time to mention the goal for your Twitter account.  Build more web traffic AND more links on Google.  While you could use Twitter as a communication tool, we feel the time commitment for this strategy out weights the ROI.

Once your account is created, the first step is to update your profile.  This is the information screen people see when they visit your Twitter account.  It includes your account name, real name, web address, location, and 160 character description.

Your profile description will be the content evaluated for most Twitter searches.  While your tweets are also index by the search engines, your profile is an important information section for starting to identify you with your business industry.

The picture tab is where you upload your avatar.  We suggest you use a photo of yourself.  A head shot helps build a personal connection with people.

The Design tab is where you can manage your Twitter background.  You can use one of the default patterns or create your own picture.  We suggest you create a pic that measure 1400 pixels by 1200 pixels so that you background completly fills most all computer monitors.

The two most important Twitter tasks is managing your following/followers and broadcasting messages.

Twitter does not like SPAM anymore than you.  To try and control SPAMMERS, Twitter puts limits on the number of people you can follow.

The main idea behind building a large following is first following people who in-turn follow you back.  Over time you will find in your “Followers” screen that people are following you and you are not yet following them in return.  You can tell that you are NOT following a follower because the option to follow is shown under the Twitter account name.  See image below.  To follow the person back, click on follow.

The question of limiting who you follow to protect your reputation is a personal decision you will need to make.  While we suggest you follow anyone who follows you, your personal or business needs may dictate otherwise.  As you will alter see, Twitter is a numbers game and your account will receive preferential treatment as your follower count increases.

Since you will, more often than not, first follow someone, you will need to (eventually) unfollow those who don’t follow you in return.

Why?  Because Twitter limits the number of people you can follow until you have enough followers.  For example, you can not follow more than 2,000 people until at least 2,000 people follow you back.  After 2,000 followers, you are only allow to follow a few hundred people more than are following you.  The message is your will need to spend time daily managing your followings.

When you click on the following tab, you will see the people you are following.  To make room for more people to follow, you need to unfollow those who don’t follow you back.  How often you do this clean-up is up to you, but we reccomend you do this task daily.  If you have the ability to “Direct message” a follwoer, then that follower has opted to follow you back.

• Protective
• Supportive; encouraging
• May be provocative
• Skilled interpersonally; more concerned with people than with ideas
• Seeks situations with other people
• Altruistic; attends to others
• Intelligent; shies away from physical skills
• Generally outgoing
• Satisfied with career; likes work; likes to exert influence
• Practical
• Slightly inhibited
• Slightly compulsive

Source: Writer’s Guide to Character Traits – second Edition by Linda N. Edelstein, PH.D.

Discussion

When trying to gain government contracts you’ll more than likely start with someone who can be classified as a Social Worker.  When communicating with Social Workers your safe zone topics are those which help other people.  They generally prefer to work with extroverted people and appreciate politically savvy people who don’t appear to be playing politics.

• Self-Controlled, practical
• Introverted, introspective, and serious
• Judgmental, demanded, and reserved
• Responsible; makes a good impression
• Wary of impulse; plans ahead; organized
• Willing to give advice
• Conservative; conventional; a conformist

Source: Writer’s Guide to Character Traits – second Edition by Linda N. Edelstein, PH.D.

Career Discussion

Generally busy people, especially around tax season.  Generally people who cut to the chase.  They like the facts, but prefer them to be concise.  When writing for accountants keep your style focuses on the facts without adding too many flowery prose.  While they appreciate good literature, they expect business blog content to be business focused.

Work is an important element in people’s lives and, when things are going well, generally enhances their self-esteem.  For many individuals, the choice of a career represents an extension of personality.  Career also represents a preferred lifestyle.

In developing our business blogging strategy, we must first identify with the individuals we intend to be our audience.  While the traits listed in the associated pages do not represent every person with-in the particular career field, using these traits and personality discussions as a starting point can help you start to build your own target customer profiles.

Source: Writer’s Guide to Character Traits – second Edition by Linda N. Edelstein, PH.D.

Do you feel like you are trying to market your business from the upper deck of Yankee Stadium during a game against the Mets?  The crowd is overwhelming, the noise is deafening and you don’t think anyone hears you…

Marketing messages require a measurable feedback loop in order to improve sales.  Poor sales from expensive marketing leads to frustration.  During times of recession, frustration can turn to panic.  Panic-based reactions lead to mistakes.

What should a small business person do?

First, stop and take a breath.  Don’t plan while emotionally charged.

Lets get started:

1. Complete a SWOT analysis of your business (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).
2. Seek out professional guidance such as a local small business development center to evaluate the SWOT results and help you plan.
3. Set a realistic time frame for recovery.
4. Create an ironclad method of measuring results.  Measurement could be as simple as adding a tick-mark to a form:  Counting the number of messages going out versus the number of responses.

No response?  Make one minor change and repeat.  Keep repeating until you can influence action on the part of your target customer.

Don’t give up and don’t take money from the government–unless your business could be run better by congress?

Here is the most important part:  Kiss your spouse, pet your dog, and spend time with your children.  Keep in focus that which is important in your life.  Running your own business is hard and knowing why you do it will help you over come the obstacles.  Oh yes, and occasionally watch the ball game.

Ed Bejarana BusinessBlogging.net a division of Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

Follow me on Twitter

SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies.

Strategic Use: Orienting SWOTs to An Objective

A SWOT analysis must first start with defining a desired end state or objective. A SWOT analysis may be incorporated into the strategic planning model. An example of a strategic planning technique that incorporates an objective-driven SWOT analysis is Strategic Creative Analysis (SCAN). Strategic Planning, including SWOT and SCAN analysis, has been the subject of much research.

• Strengths: attributes of the person or company that are helpful to achieving the objective.
• Weaknesses: attributes of the person or company that are harmful to achieving the objective.
• Opportunities: external conditions that are helpful to achieving the objective.
• Threats: external conditions which could do damage to the business’s performance.

Identification of SWOTs is essential because subsequent steps in the process of planning for achievement of the selected objective may be derived from the SWOTs.

First, the decision makers have to determine whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is NOT attainable a different objective must be selected and the process repeated.

The SWOT analysis is often used in academia to highlight and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is particularly helpful in identifying areas for development.

Creative Use of SWOTs: Generating Strategies

If, on the other hand, the objective seems attainable, the SWOTs are used as inputs to the creative generation of possible strategies, by asking and answering each of the following four questions, many times:

• How can we Use and Capitalize on each Strength?
• How can we Improve each Weakness?
• How can we Exploit and Benefit from each Opportunity?
• How can we Mitigate each Threat?

Ideally a cross-functional team or a task force that represents a broad range of perspectives should carry out the SWOT analysis. For example, a SWOT team may include an accountant, a salesperson, an executive manager, an engineer, and an ombudsman.

Matching and converting

Another way of utilizing SWOT is matching and converting.

Matching is used to find competitive advantages by matching the strengths to opportunities.

Converting is to apply conversion strategies to convert threats or weaknesses into strengths or opportunities.

An example of conversion strategy is to find new markets.

If the threats or weaknesses cannot be converted a company should try to minimize or avoid them.

Evidence on the Use of SWOT

SWOT analysis may limit the strategies considered in the evaluation. “In addition, people who use SWOT might conclude that they have done an adequate job of planning and ignore such sensible things as defining the firm’s objectives or calculating ROI for alternate strategies.” Findings from Menon et al. (1999) and Hill and Westbrook (1997) have shown that SWOT may harm performance. As an alternative to SWOT, J. Scott Armstrong describes a 5-step approach alternative that leads to better corporate performance.

These criticisms are addressed to an old version of SWOT analysis that precedes the SWOT analysis described above under the heading “Strategic and Creative Use of SWOT Analysis.” This old version did not require that SWOTs be derived from an agreed upon objective. Examples of SWOT analyses that do not state an objective are provided below under “Human Resources” and “Marketing.”

Internal and external factors

The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. These come from within the company’s unique value chain. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories:

• Internal factors – The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization. – Use a PRIMO-F analysis to help identify factors
• External factors – The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the organization. – Use a PEST or PESTLE analysis to help identify factors

The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their impact on the organization’s objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective. The factors may include all of the 4P’s; as well as personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities, and so on. The external factors may include macroeconomic matters, technological change, legislation, and socio-cultural changes, as well as changes in the marketplace or competitive position. The results are often presented in the form of a matrix.

SWOT analysis is just one method of categorization and has its own weaknesses. For example, it may tend to persuade companies to compile lists rather than think about what is actually important in achieving objectives. It also presents the resulting lists uncritically and without clear prioritization so that, for example, weak opportunities may appear to balance strong threats.

It is prudent not to eliminate too quickly any candidate SWOT entry. The importance of individual SWOTs will be revealed by the value of the strategies it generates. A SWOT item that produces valuable strategies is important. A SWOT item that generates no strategies is not important.

Use of SWOT Analysis

The usefulness of SWOT analysis is not limited to profit-seeking organizations. SWOT analysis may be used in any decision-making situation when a desired end-state (objective) has been defined. Examples include: non-profit organizations, governmental units, and individuals. SWOT analysis may also be used in pre-crisis planning and preventive crisis management. SWOT analysis may also be used in creating a recommendation during a viability study.

SWOT-landscape analysis

The SWOT-landscape grabs different managerial situations by visualizing and foreseeing the dynamic performance of comparable objects according to findings by Brendan Kitts, Leif Edvinsson and Tord Beding (2000).

Changes in relative performance are continuously identified. Projects (or other units of measurements) that could be potential risk or opportunity objects are highlighted.

SWOT-landscape also indicates which underlying strength/weakness factors that have had or likely will have highest influence in the context of value in use (for ex. capital value fluctuations).

Corporate planning

As part of the development of strategies and plans to enable the organization to achieve its objectives, then that organization will use a systematic/rigorous process known as corporate planning. SWOT alongside PEST/PESTLE can be used as a basis for the analysis of business and environmental factors.

• Set objectives – defining what the organization is going to do
• Environmental scanning
  • Internal appraisals of the organization’s SWOT, this needs to include an assessment of the present situation as well as a portfolio of products/services and an analysis of the product/service life cycle
• Analysis of existing strategies, this should determine relevance from the results of an internal/external appraisal. This may include gap analysis which will look at environmental factors
• Strategic Issues defined – key factors in the development of a corporate plan which needs to be addressed by the organization
• Develop new/revised strategies – revised analysis of strategic issues may mean the objectives need to change
• Establish critical success factors – the achievement of objectives and strategy implementation
• Preparation of operational, resource, projects plans for strategy implementation
• Monitoring results – mapping against plans, taking corrective action which may mean amending objectives/strategies.

Marketing Main article: Marketing management

In many competitor analyses, marketers build detailed profiles of each competitor in the market, focusing especially on their relative competitive strengths and weaknesses using SWOT analysis. Marketing managers will examine each competitor’s cost structure, sources of profits, resources and competencies, competitive positioning and product differentiation, degree of vertical integration, historical responses to industry developments, and other factors.

Marketing management often finds it necessary to invest in research to collect the data required to perform accurate marketing analysis. Accordingly, management often conducts market research (alternately marketing research) to obtain this information. Marketers employ a variety of techniques to conduct market research, but some of the more common include:

• Qualitative marketing research, such as focus groups
• Quantitative marketing research, such as statistical surveys
• Experimental techniques such as test markets
• Observational techniques such as ethnographic (on-site) observation
• Marketing managers may also design and oversee various environmental scanning and competitive intelligence processes to help identify trends and inform the company’s marketing analysis.

Using SWOT to analyse the market position of a small management consultancy with specialism in HRM.

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Reputation in marketplace Shortage of consultants at operating level rather than partner level Well established position with a well defined market niche. Large consultancies operating at a minor level Expertise at partner level in HRM consultancy Unable to deal with multi-disciplinary assignments because of size or lack of ability Identified market for consultancy in areas other than HRM Other small consultancies looking to invade the marketplace Track record – successful assignments

strength- market related , finance related , operational related , research and development related, hr related

market related- product quality, packaging , advertisement, service, distribution channel finance related- optimum debt/equity ratio, number of share holders, inventory size , optimum use of the financial resources, low cost of borrowings proper investment of the financial products

operational related- low cost , higher productivity , excellent quality , modernized technology

Source: Wikipedia

Here is a video from YouTube that describe Twitter…But keep reading for advise on using Twitter to help your Small Business.

Besides being a platform to answer the question what are you doing, Twitter is also an excellent platform to help people find what you’ve done.

Looking at Twitter as historical reference page to your ideas, suggestions and links you can begin to see the hidden power behind twitter.  Your customers don’t care if you are eating eggs and toast, they care about new ideas and business happenings.  If your business is already using a blog (and you should be) then you should use Twitter as a second landing page for data.

Thinking of twitter as your business’s own personal news wire, you will post important links to information, blog articles and new web pages.  Visitors to your Twitter page will see a consolidated list of information and link to the appropriate location.

Because your links can get lengthy, using a url shortening tool is critical.  My favorite is cli.gs, but there are dozens of tools available for FREE.  I like Cli.gs because it keeps track of the number of times people click on my link.  It also allows me to re-tweet older messages with timeless knowledge.  This leads me to tip number 1.

Tweet about important info and give enough of a lead-in so the visitor knows the full intent of the link.  People HATE bait and switch, if your blog article is about a trade show display, say so in your tweet, don’t reference some cheesy suggestion of massive business growth.

Twitter is just the first of MANY micro-blogging opportunities (Jaiku, FreindFeed, Pownce, Tumblr, and Indenti.ca are but a few others).

Created by a Cornell student, Jack Dorsey, Twitter originally started as an idea for a dispatch service for couriers and taxis.  One of the most used website on the internet (Compete.com) Twitter has gained name recognition alongside, Microsoft, Apple and IBM.

But Why?

The short message and multi-platform (i.e. computers and cell phones) nature of twitter takes away the need for careful attention to language.

Most of us are timid when it comes to writing business blog articles because we fear our writing skills are below par.  However, Twitter only allows messages of 140 characters (or less) to be sent; this gives the user a pass on crafting compelling messages.

Short instant messages does not mean the information will be read, just that it will be easy to send.  So much of the dot com revolution has been stimulated by the dream of simplifying marketing.

Without spending much time at all on Twitter, you’ll find a bevy of useless blurbs, feeble attempts to grab attention and lots of spam.

If I have Not Scared You Away…Good, because Twitter can become a pivot point for your marketing program.

Everything you do in business should be thought of as news.  Therefore, Twitter could be used as a press release announcement tool.  Putting extra links to important information in places where search engines can grab and catalog–and more importantly, find new reasons to visit your company website.

Micro-blogging is another way to deploy company press release data.

Put simply, twitter is an internet / cell phone instant messenger.  The software limits your “tweets” to 140 characters or less.  Using the “follow” option, you can have “friends” tweets delivered directly to your account window.

So What? What is all the Hoopla? Why does everyone you meet say, “You’ve got to get on twitter!!!”?

Like any new communication medium, understanding the various applications of the technology is a process of experimentation.  I am not going to suggest you rush out and join twitter, but I will suggest there is a business application.

Over the next few pages and posts we will explore practical small business applications for twitter.  We will explain the pros and cons of internet marketing via twitter.  We will also talk about how to use twitter as your own personal news delivery system for company happenings.

• Overview of Technology and Small Business Application
• Getting Started With Twitter
• Building a Following
• Marketing Campaign Kick-off
• Evolution of the Message
• The Future

(Stay tuned as the content is created–lots of GREAT news and suggestions for how to use Twitter is coming soon!)