2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com A presentation on: Twitter: It’s Not Just for Bored Celebrities by Kalena Jordan Search Engine College

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Who the heck is Kalena Jordan? One of the first people to offer Search Engine Optimisation services in Australia/NZ, back in In 2004 I co-founded the online search marketing training institution SearchEngineCollege.com. I’ve been blogging about search since 2002 and currently author an “agony aunt” style search engine advice column at and I blog at SiteProNews.comwww.Ask-Kalena.com From skeptic to Twitter *Power User* Rely on it almost entirely for industry news & business

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Audience Question: Hands up – how many of you are Twitter users? Keep hand up if you use Twitter once/month or more. (below average) Keep hand up if you use Twitter once/week or more. (average) Keep hand up if you use Twitter once/day or more. (above average) Keep hand up if you use Twitter once/hour or more. (power user) Keep your hand up if you use Twitter more than once/hour…

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Key Twitter Facts Twitter.com – free signup Founders are ex–Googlers Evan Williams and Biz Stone. Launched March Fastest growing community site on web. 1,382% growth in 12 months to Feb 09. The largest user group is year olds. 50 million tweets a day being sent. Source: Neilsen

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Key Twitter Moments Mumbai terrorist attacks. Oprah’s on-air tweet. Ashton Kutcher beats CNN to 1m followers. Plane ditches in Hudson River. Michael Jackson dies. Kanye West steals Taylor Swift’s limelight. Earthquakes / tsunamis in Samoa & Indonesia

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Is Twitter Useful for Business? Ok, so lots of celebrities are on Twitter and it’s great for breaking news. But is it useful for business? Are NZ businesses actively using Twitter?

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Some NZ Brands on Twitter Air New Telecom Best Epic Mr Wine Hell Te All NZ Book a Tourism ASB Google NZ

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com NZ Personalities on Twitter John Rhys John Paul – not indexed by many search engines now – use keyword phrase combinations where possible (don’t dilute the relevancy by adding more words than necessary)

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Audience Question: How many of you use Twitter for your business? (Survey)

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Why Twitter is Good for Biz Conversation is a powerful, persuasive business tool. Twitter is where the conversation is happening. People are already talking about your brand. Placing your business on Twitter is like being at the water cooler, handing out the cups. Twitter allows you to engage directly with customers and potential customers in real time in front of an impressionable public. It’s fun! As an effective advertising tool, the dusty old Yellow Pages seems prehistoric in comparison.

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com How Do Businesses Use it? Manage & contribute to your online reputation. Interact and engage with your customers. Help and offer solutions. Offer incentives to buy / sign up. Give your brand a personality. Virtual PR and marketing activities e.g. Vodafone Real time competitions e.g. *Find Ms Parker* Learn from your customers. Adapt accordingly.

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Set Up Your Brand on Twitter Reserve your Twitter name ASAP Connect your account with a logical address. Template your Twitter page to match your brand (e.g.)(e.g.) Assign a staff member to monitor /use the account daily. Create keyword alerts (TweetBeep / Google) and assign someone to process and respond to them. Flesh out your Twitter profile for viewers. Set goals for your Twitter channel and review / revise them regularly (# of followers, # of tweets, links posted). Design a dedicated Twitter landing page (e.g.)(e.g.)

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com <Back

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Case Study – The Pizza Win Silicon Valley pizza chain Tony & Alba Used keyword tracking & Twitter Search tool to monitor conversations on Twitter for the keyword *pizza*. Noticed a local tweeting to his buddy suggesting their families visit a particular pizza parlour. Tweeted to them suggesting Tony & Alba’s instead. Further away, but gave incentive of reserving table and providing free soft drinks for the whole family. RESULT = future business from 2 families & those who observed Twitter conversation.

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Case Study – The Burrito Fail Mexican restaurant chain Costa Vida Utah store sent a one-day-only offer for a free sweet pork burrito to their 80 followers. Offer required electronic coupon sent to cell phone. Followers tweeted/txted offer to THEIR followers & so on. More than 2,500 people inundated Costa Vida’s Utah restaurant looking for their free burrito. RESULT = demand outstripped supply and burritos were gone in first hour. Costa Vida spent several days fulfilling promise to coupon holders. WIN or FAIL?

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Is Twitter Used by Customers? So there are plenty of Twitter users. But are they really interested in connecting with businesses? How do end-users interact with brands on Twitter? (Survey)

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Why Twitter Works for Business 63% of poll respondents conversed with a company on Twitter. Nearly half of those people had an issue to resolve with the company they contacted. Represents huge potential for customer retention. Direct, instant feedback via tweets is cheaper and more accurate than market research. Twitter account can replace or supplement help desk and customer support lines. Size of business is irrelevant. It’s free advertising!

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Twitter Business Etiquette Tweet regularly! Don’t do this.this Follow people, interact, offer incentives or guidance. Be polite and helpful. Take any heated conversations to DM. Refrain from sales speak and self promotion. Be human not corporate. Let personality shine through. Don’t push your brand, wait for people to pull it. Be careful using auto-tweet & auto-follow tools. Don’t use auto-responder tools. Non sequitur! (e.g.)(e.g.)

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Tweet Regularity FAIL <Back

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Auto Tweet Response FAIL

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Auto Tweet Response FAIL

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Case Study–Search Engine College Main several accounts for specific course TweetBeep.com alerts to monitor keywords and phrases e.g. “seo course”, “learn adwords”, “seo certification”. Monitor alerts regularly via Gmail & filter them manually. Monitor alerts to those persons suggesting our courses as alternative to offline training & competitors. (e.g.)(e.g.) Tweet lesson updates, competitions like #findMsParker.#findMsParker RESULT = Qualified leads produce more enrolments. Interactivity creates sense of community for virtual campus. Next>

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Case Study–Search Engine College <Back

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Case Study–Search Engine College <Back

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Human Tweet Response WIN

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Human Tweet Response WIN <Back

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Case Study – The Free Bouquet Saw a special tweeted by Auckland florist Placed order, received a call confirming same day delivery Bouquet arrived but wasn’t quite as expected. (e.g.)(e.g.) I let Best Blooms know via DM I was disappointed & they apologised via public tweet. Case closed? Next day a replacement bouquet & box chocs arrived (e.g.)(e.g.) RESULT = Customer disappointment became customer delight and earned a blog post, lots of Twitter RTs and personal recommendations. Customer service WIN. Next>

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Expectations Not Met <Back

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Expectations Surpassed “This was how it was supposed to look! Our mistake. Sincere apologies Best Blooms” <Back

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Case Study – The Wine Vault Auckland’s own Wine Vault uses Twitter Small brand successfully leveraging social media. Jayson cross-promotes WineVaultTV, his daily video blog with special guests eg. John Campbell. Co creator of #TweetBunchNZ – live Twitter wine reviews. Tweets wine specials, competitions like #findthewine.#findthewine 20%-25% of sales directly attributed to Twitter & Facebook. RESULT = Brand evangelism. Create a sense of fun around your brand to win loyalty and lots of RT’s. Next>

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Case Study – The Wine Vault <Back

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com Final Piece of Advice

THANK YOU

2 October 2009www.searchenginecollege.com