When talking about social media, Elvis had it backwards. One of the biggest reasons social media is effective is because you are able to have a conversation with your peers and potential clients. Twitter has often been compared to a room full of people shouting and it is your goal to be heard, however as a business owner, it is important that you are also listening, listening to what your consumers are in need of. One way to do this is by monitoring specific keywords that are related to your industry and following the conversations that are happening around those words.

One way I like to do this is by creating a column within HootSuite.com (which I use to manage most all of my social media accounts) and enter 3-6 keywords; keywords that people would be using to find your product or service. Take a salon for example: if there is a local salon in Denver Colorado trying to monitor keywords that their audience is using, they might watch words and phrases like “salon in Denver” “massage in Denver” “need a hair lady in CO”. You might have to play with what keywords deliver you the best results. Once you see someone post a tweet that has the keywords you are monitoring you can quickly respond introducing yourself and solve their problem by giving them your address, setting an appointment, sending them to your website, etc.

Another way to participate in the conversations is through search.twitter.com. Twitter doesn’t have the best search capabilities, but this site does make it easy to hop into a relative conversation quickly. Just enter the keyword or key phrases that someone would use when looking for you or talking about your product/service and see where it would be appropriate for you to engage.

Finally, Twitter Lists are a fantastic way to filter through all the millions of Twitter users and hundreds to thousands of Twitter users that are following you. You can either create a list or subscribe and follow one that has already been created, but just make sure it is a list where you would find your perfect client. Mashable has a fantastic post about How to Use and Create Twitter Lists, I highly suggest you check this post out.

Remember, social media is about building relationships so make sure you aren’t only talking but also listening, all while jamming to Elvis

I was introduced to Pluggio.com by a good friend of mine and when I received an email from them asking for feedback, I thought I would write a blog about my thoughts and comments.

First off, I recommend this website. One of the biggest things I love about it is the ability to publish what is called “Rolling Tweets” to my networks. A rolling tweet is essentially a bunch of tweets that are titles of articles that others have written that include the link to those articles for my networks to check out. These posts are generated by the RSS feeds I choose to have pulling into my RSS section. This makes it easy for me to push valuable content out to my networks pretty much effortlessly. For me, I picked Twitter and Social Media outlets like TechCrunch and Twitter Alltop to feed into my RSS section since I’m in the social media and internet marketing world, but you can add any type of website to this section as long as they have a RSS feed.

Another thing I liked about Pluggio.com is their suggested follow and unfollow feature. Each day when I login to my account, I am given up to 20 suggestions of people to follow and unfollow based off of my bio and keywords. This makes it easy for me to clean up my followers but also add ones that are in my industry.

I also love that I can have multiple Twitter account synced to one Pluggio account. So all of the above features above, I can do to all of my personal and professional accounts, as well as my clients’ accounts which mainstreams my work and saves me time!

One thing I have come across is the downtime is a little higher than I would prefer. I’ve been on their site daily and probably at least once a day – every other day, their site is down. It is a new site and I think they are making changes daily so I’m patient with them, but it can be annoying.

For more information on Pluggio.com check out the video below are visit their website. Definitely try it out, it’s worth it!

With the growing number of users on Twitter (now at 105 million registered accounts) it’s important to treat your followers the way you would like to be treated…or tweeted J

Here are a few tips to make sure you are being respectful on Twitter:

Never Spam – Many people, especially business owners think Twitter, as well as other free social media platforms, are a place where they can sell their products or services within a week and drive instant traffic to their website. In rare cases this will happen, however if you create a Twitter account and all you do is talk about your product(s) or services, you are spamming your following. Make sure 70% of the content you are tweeting is adding value to your audience. Things like links to industry news, new laws or standards, quotes, tips and advice, and just general networking; talking to other Twitter users. 20% of your posts need to be the sharing piece meaning you are ReTweeting/RTing (reposting) other people’s post and making comments on their posts/blogs. Only 10% of your tweets will be self promotion, so make sure you start following this rule so you aren’t spamming your followers.

Be a Human, Not a Robot – The thing that is beautiful about Twitter, but also overwhelming, is how many applications there are to manage and automate your Twitter account. Even though there are many tools for automation, I strongly urge you to have human participation with your Twitter account, especially if you are using it for business. You have probably seen Twitter accounts that put out several feeds at once linking to blogs or promoting squeeze pages and that can be ok to do, however you must combine your automation with human interaction. Also, I recommend turning off auto Direct Messages (DMs). Since Twitter users have been given the ability to auto-respond to new followers via direct messages, the DM section has become complete spam and I rarely check my DMs due to this issue. I also know of people that will automatically unfollow you if you send them an auto DM. Use DM’s for private conversations, not to sell.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T and Customer Service– Hopefully as a business person, you are already treating your potential clients and peers with respect, but now with advances in technology people get to see a much more insightful look into our lives and businesses. I’ve seen a lot of people on Twitter start fights and arguments and they’re business owners starting arguments under their business accounts! This behavior will put you on the fast track to damaging your credibility and reputation which can take a very long time to rebuild. Think of Twitter as a customer service tool and know that tone is very hard to read via Internet, emails and texting. Be attentive and helpful and if someone is upset with you and challenges you online, think before you type! Make sure you are handling the person with professionalism. There might also be times when it is just not necessary to respond to someone if they are intentionally starting a fight. Remember, people can see what you say and it can be saved to use as proof or to be used against you, tweet wisely.

As you tweet, remember that Twitter is a free brand management and relationship tool, don’t abuse it and always Tweet people how you want to be Tweeted! J

If you are a part of the Twitterverse then you have surely seen #FollowFriday or #FF used before, perhaps you’ve even seen it… every Friday? #Followfriday has become the most popular social convention tool used on Twitter but if you don’t know what it is or how to use it, you might feel a little out of the loop.

#Followfriday made its way into the Twitter spotlight in January of ’09 with one simple tweet with the intention to help others find interesting Twitter users to follow. So how do you do it, you ask? Many people just list a bunch of users followed by the #followfriday hashtag. To me, this is not the best way to utilize #followfriday because I am left to wonder, why should I follow them? What will they bring to me? In fact, clumping a bunch of names together just appears to be spam.


It’s just as easy as a normal tweet, however you want to list the user you recommend and why. Give people a reason to want to follow that user and make them feel like their Twitter efforts do not go unnoticed. It’s karmic and above all else it feels good to be endorsed and also to be the endorser. It’s just another way to say, “I think this person is great and I suggest you follow them. Here’s why…” That’s it!

One more thing! Don’t forget to to add the hashtag! #Followfriday or #FF needs to be somewhere in the tweet so it can be indexed and others can find it easily. It’s just another way to build your Twitter network with people who were recommended to you which will also be a great asset to your Twitter lists.


If you’re looking for interesting new tweeple to follow, you can find everyone else’s follow Friday suggestions through a Twitter search (that’s why it’s so important you use the #Followfriday hashtag because that’s how they will be found).


Today is the day, Happy Friday! Show some love! Who should we follow?
If you have a great #followfriday feel free to leave a comment, we’d love to pass it along to our networks!

This edition of Happy Minutes includes Mari Smith, name the Pied Piper of Facebook by Fast Company. Mari explains how to research your demographics on Facebook. It’s important to know what your target audience looks like as well as where they are on and off line. Mari gives you a great tip on how to see the number of people that are within your exact target audience on Facebook.com.

2nd Episode of Happy Minutes…Cause Who Really Can Be Happy For an Hour? 3 Ways to Find People to Follow on Twitter brought to you by ME and Beth Buczynski.