Carol Stephen, Author at

What Story Do You Need to Tell?

February 9, 2017 By Carol Stephen 10 Comments

What story do you need to tell?

Everyone has a story to tell. And your business or brand has a story to tell, too. You might already be telling it through the social media posts you decide to share, through the organizations you support, and through the articles you write or comment upon.

Photo by JelleS

Why Do We Crave Stories?

Storytelling makes time stand still. When we hear a story, the outside world goes away during the time we are listening to that story. We want characters with positive attributes, and we want to know what happens to them. We want to care about them and we want to know what happens next.

Every Business Has a Story

How was your business born? Did you always know what you’d do in your business life? How did you decide to do what you do now? There are probably quite a few stories intertwined in the making of your business. My business began when I started doing social media for myself, and then friends started to ask for help. One of them suggested that I do social media as a business, and I started to get some training. How did your business begin?

Photo by Paul Robertson

Buying is Emotional

Whether you’re selling a widget or a service, people buy on emotion, then justify with data. Most of us make our minds up very quickly. So having a story helps people who might otherwise be on the fence make up their minds. For instance, if I know that the local supermarket also supports a cause that is important to me, I’d be much more likely to go there.

Politics

These days, many brands have decided to be left- or right-leaning, often with catastrophic results. The on-demand car ride service Uber, for instance, has gone to the right. In response Lyft, the other big on-demand car ride service, has gone to the left. The Uber boycott and subsequent donation by Lyft to the ACLU has people squarely on one side or the other. So far, Lyft’s move has resulted in more downloads of their app than ever before.

A4. The best stories for clients is the stories of other clients. It casts vision for their own success. The hero isn't you. #digiblogchat

— Chris Lema (@chrislema) February 7, 2017

Telling Stories About Clients

During #digiblogchat, my weekly Twitter chat, @ChrisLema (follow him on Twitter, by the way!) put an emphasis on focusing on others. “The hero isn’t you,” he says, and I concur. Let potential clients know what they can expect working with you! A happy client story is worth his weight in gold.

Photo by jurvetson

Have a Happy Client Story?

Do your happy clients have positive stories to tell about your business? What do they say about your brand? Leave me a comment! Thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: branding, story, storytelling

How to Effectively Stand out in a Noisy World

February 2, 2017 By Carol Stephen 6 Comments

How to Effectively Stand out in a Noisy World

Embracing Your Quiet Nature

By nature, introverts gather their strength from being alone and having quiet time. They tend to turn inwards rather than outwards, toward themselves rather than toward others. With the world becoming noisier, especially with the crazy changes in government lately, what’s an introvert to do?

The Power of Quiet

What if you didn’t have to compete in the same arena with extroverts? What if the loudest person didn’t automatically win every argument? As introverts, we gain strength and creativity from alone time. Original ideas spring forth from solitude–something that many don’t honor. Here’s my post Six Facts About Introverts and Social Media That Will Impress Your Friends, in case you missed it.

The Great Blue Heron

Here’s a great quote from the article Leaning Back: The Power of Introverts by Bonnie Marcus in Forbes Magazine:

“Have you ever been to a meeting where people are talking very vociferously about a topic, and there are a lot of individuals engaged. But then, there’s that one person, at the end of the conference table who chimes in, and just nails it. There’s been all this chatter – as one of the introverted leaders told me, he said, it’s like having all these cackling geese. And he says, he sees himself as the great blue heron that swoops in with the compilation, with the concise statement that really sums it all up.”

That person at the end of the table? That would be an introvert. The only issue that others may have is not always being able to “hear” the introvert. Often someone else may mistakenly believe that they themselves thought of an idea that the introvert came up with. It happens.

Being a Tortoise in a World of Hares

Ritu Kaushal, in her lovely post about Accepting Yourself as an Introvert and Loving Your Inner Tortoise on the TinyBuddha blog, says “As introverts, most of us have heard messages about all the things that are wrong with us. We are too intense, too solitary, not fun enough. We may not have asked our own questions back.”

Questions such as:

What’s wrong with alone time?
Who says you shouldn’t think deeply about issues?
Why not enjoy small groups rather than huge parties?

Introvert Superpowers

As introverts, our superpowers are thinking deeply and (often) not caring much about what others think. Add to that intuition, forging our own path, and observation and creating deep and meaningful connections with others. And if you need a good listener, then you’re going to want to have an introvert in your corner.

Speaking of Listening

One of the benefits of being a good listener is that there is less expectation during a conversation. An introvert can read between the lines of the your words and hear what you’re not saying, as well as what you are saying. There are other hidden benefits of listening, too. You can get the jump on what others are really thinking. And that makes everyone feel good. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: extrovert, introversion, introvert

Social Media with No Safety Net: Being Unafraid to Fail

January 26, 2017 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

Social Media with No Safety Net: Being Unafraid to Fail

Old Familiar Ways

So many people use the all-familiar pattern of headline, link, and hashtag on their social media posts. But what about the age-old art of conversation? Wouldn’t it be more fun to just talk to people for a change? The good news is that you can! The bad news is that it will take more work.

Being Unafraid to Engage

In case you don’t know how to get started, you could always read my post with multiple parts on How to Engage on Social Media: the Complete Guide. There are sections for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

The Lost Art of Hello!

The important thing is to get out there and say hello! As in something along the lines of:

“Hello, I like your profile picture!”
“Hello, what’s the weather like where you are?”
“Hello, how are you today?”

If the person doesn’t answer back, maybe they’re not used to people engaging, or maybe (shudder) they’re a robot.

Photo by gabia party

Failure to Try

There are so many quotes on failure, but here is one of my favorites:

“Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I’ve met people who don’t want to try for fear of failing.” – J.K. Rowling

If that doesn’t ring your chimes, here are 30 Powerful Quotes on Failure–you’re sure to find one you like.

But I digress.

Photo by Ryan Harvey

Begin Chatting

There are several ways to begin talking. Set yourself a modest goal. Say hello to 3 people a day. You might notice others having conversations–you could always step into a conversation that others are having. “Excuse me, but I couldn’t help overhearing…” you might begin. Would that be difficult? No, I didn’t think so!

Photo by The U.S. Army

Get an Introduction

If there’s someone you’d really like to get to know, you could use the old-fashioned idea of an introduction. This works very well on LinkedIn, as outlined in 4 Great Ways to Break the Ice on Social Media.

Photo by quinn.anya

Blog Comments

If you really, really want to get to know someone, read their blog and comment! Quite often they will answer you and reciprocate. Leave me a comment and see what happens! And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Engagement, failure, greetings, Social Media

How to Catapult Your Tweets Farther? Use a Powerful Hashtag!

January 19, 2017 By Carol Stephen 10 Comments

How to Catapult Your Tweets Farther? Use a Powerful Hashtag!

What if I told you there was a free way to give your tweet wings, and let it travel farther and last longer? Would you want to join that club? I know would! Hashtags have entered popular culture these days, with TV shows, baseball teams, and just about everyone using them to organize searches. If you’ve never used a hashtag before, you might want to check out the basics.

Hashtags are Easy

Here’s the skinny: Tweets with hashtags receive twice the engagement of tweets without hashtags. So if you’re considering whether to hashtag or not, that should help you make up your mind! Not only will people follow others who use similar hashtags (for instance, I have #startups in my Twitter profile, and many startups find me that way), but you can reach out to those with the same hashtags as you. Win-win!

Use One or Two: More is Not Better!

If you use too many hashtags, your engagement will go down. One or two hashtags is fine. More than that, and a tweet is looked upon as spammy.

#203K Hashtag for Mortgage Loans via Hashtagify

Neat Tools to Help with Hashtags

Hashtagify – tells you hashtags related to your hashtags. For instance, if you’re a loan broker, and wanted to use the hashtag #203K, you could see what other hashtags you could use along with that hashtag.
TweetReach – tells you how far your hashtag has traveled. For instance, I use it during my tweet chat, #DigiBlogChat, and then tell everyone the numbers during the chat (and later on Facebook as well). If you don’t know what a tweet chat is, you might want to check out this post on 101 tips for success with tweet chats.
Hashtags.org – tells you what hashtags are trending on Twitter right now. So theoretically, you could catch a trend before it gets big and ride the wave all the way in.

Hashtags As Snark

Hashtags used to be used to sort, group, and categorize tweets. But then one day, not too long ago, people started using hashtags to self-identify, and add an Element of Snark to posts. Now people are using “air hashtags,” and according to some, ruining the English language. So if the hashtag #FirstWorldProblems doesn’t get your metadata all up in a knot, then you might like using hashtags in a snarky manner. #JustTryingToKeepItFun

Click Through

One very effective way to use a hashtag is to see who else is using it. For instance, if you’re using a location-based hashtag, click on it and see who else is nearby! For instance, this weekend is the inauguration. Heck, you could even go to Top Hashtags (dot com), type “inauguration” and see what the top hashtags are if you’re going. Or use the hashtag of your city, county, or state, and see who else is out there.

How Do You Hashtag?

Do you use hashtags? Or do you think they’re ruining the English language? Leave me a comment! And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: hashtags, Tweets, Twitter

Surprise! Your Dog Is Actually a Cat. Guaranteed.

January 12, 2017 By Carol Stephen 6 Comments

Surprise! Your Dog Is Actually a Cat. Guaranteed.

You know that saying “if it looks like a cat, meows like a cat, and walks like a cat–it’s a cat!” (Something like that!) So, if you’re using your personal social media (your “cat”) like a business page (your “dog”), you’re not going to get the benefits. If you have a personal account (d0g), but you’re using it for your business (cat), then you may think you have a dog, but what you have is a cat.

Can I Convert My Dog?

It depends. On Twitter, it’s easy to change your account by renaming it, putting up a businessy avatar, and getting the analytics. You can even keep the old tweets. On Facebook, you don’t convert–you add a different account, which kind of hangs off your personal account. On Pinterest, you need to add a piece of code to your website, but it’s fairly easy. And on LinkedIn, you can add a LinkedIn business account easily.

You Want the Analytics

You might not think you do, but you do. Because otherwise, without the numbers, how will you know that what you’re doing is working? You won’t! It’ll be all guesswork. So get the analytics, please!

Social Media and Business

Here are some good articles for using social media for your business:

Twitter for Business
How to Set up Facebook for Business
Pinterest for Business (why you want a business account)
LinkedIn for Business

Shoe-in.

Know anyone who’s using their personal account as a business account? Or are you using your personal account as a business account? Why? Leave me a comment! Thank you.

Photo by mikelemmon

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Cats, dogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Social Media, Twitter, using personal account as business

How to Engage on Social Media: LinkedIn

January 5, 2017 By Carol Stephen 6 Comments

How to Engage on Social Media: LinkedIn

This is part five of How to Engage on Social Media: The Complete Guide. The other parts are here:

Photo by poolski

Why LinkedIn?

A quarter of online adults use LinkedIn, a proportion that is unchanged from the 28% of online adults who did so in September 2014, according to the Pew Research Center. With over 3 million using company pages, having a solid presence there makes sense. With its focus on business, is it any wonder that LinkedIn has the most mature users, with the highest net worth?

Photo by hyku

LinkedIn Basics

If you need some basics for how to use LinkedIn, you might want to read:

Photo by Castles, Capes & Clones

Business to Business

For B2B companies, LinkedIn is a giant. Take a look at this infographic from Social Media Today on Why LinkedIn Matters. If you want a more active presence on LinkedIn, it’s a great article. I particularly like the part about what platforms LinkedIn users don’t use. 83% don’t use Pinterest. So if you’re doing B2B, you want to be on LinkedIn, and probably not so much on Pinterest. After all, 94% of B2B marketers distribute content on LinkedIn, with many of them making purchasing decisions on LinkedIn.

Photo by Lucy Maude Ellis

Not Just for Job Seekers

LinkedIn has had to overcome its reputation as merely a place for job seekers, and those looking for gigs. To do that, it has begun to offer users the ability to publish. Bloggers who share on LinkedIn receive over four times as many leads to their home page than publishing on Facebook or Twitter! If you use stats to make decisions, that should be pretty convincing.

The Sleeping Giant

LinkedIn is like the shy guest at the party whom you later discover is the CEO of a major corporation. She may not want to talk to anyone, so if you decide to engage with her, you’ll be doing both of you a great favor.

How to Engage

There are many ways to engage on LinkedIn. Here are four:

Give recommendations. Be generous and reach out to people first! Don’t wait to receive and then react. Like other forms of social media, your generosity will be rewarded.
Write testimonials (to those you’ve done business with). Say what you liked about the business.
Comment on others’ posts. Start a discussion on an article or post and see where it leads, like you would on Facebook or Twitter.
Share others’ posts. Once you comment on an article, share it. Don’t forget to tag that person so they’ll realize you’ve shared!
Offer introductions. This is my favorite part of social media. Connecting people you know to others you know. Like you’d do in person, you can say something like “Sharon, do you know Ellie? I think you two have a lot in common!” or words to that effect.

Photo by faulancr

Groups

Groups can be a great way to start a conversation since by being in a group you already have something in common with everyone else in that group. So you might be in U.C. Berkeley’s alumni group, where you can ask people where they’re working now, or what project they’re excited about. Or a group for marketers where you can post or answer questions for those in your area.

Company Pages

Company pages are a way to brand your company, share the pain points of your audience, and offer unique ways to fix your potential clients’ problems. Speak directly to your ideal client when you’re on LinkedIn and offer solutions. Social Media Examiner has an excellent article on ways to improve your company page, by the way. I couldn’t say it any better.

Are You Linked In?

How do you use LinkedIn? Or would you like to start using LinkedIn? Leave me a comment! And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Engagement, LinkedIn, Social Media

How to Engage on Social Media: Facebook

December 29, 2016 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

How to Engage on Social Media: Facebook

This is part of my series How to Engage on Social Media: The Complete Guide. The other parts are here:

Why Facebook?

Love it or hate it, Facebook is big and impossible to ignore. It’s not the elephant or the room, it’s the elephant AND the room! At over one billion users, Facebook is the most popular platform for social media marketers. Forbes has some of the top ten reasons to be on Facebook. Many people dislike the platform, since it has become “pay to play,” but you can’t deny that your audience is there.

“Fully 72% of online American adults use Facebook, a proportion unchanged from September 2014.”

~ Pew Research Center

Photo by The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas

Popular with Everyone

In addition, “82% of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Facebook, along with 79% of those ages 30 to 49, 64% of those ages 50 to 64 and 48% of those 65 and older.” (Pew Research Center). So it’s the perfect place to engage with others.

Engagement

There are so many ways to engage on Facebook now. There’s live video, there are the usual likes and comments, and you can share posts and tag people or companies. There are ways to send messages either privately or publicly. Here’s one way to proceed–decide which level you’d like to be at, with Level One being the easiest, and Level Five, the most difficult.

Photo by familymwr

Engagement: Level One

Simply read and “like” other people’s posts. This is the most basic level. If you’re engaging on behalf of a company or brand, choose where you spend your time engaging. Then make the rounds daily, just the way you might visit favorite relatives during the holidays.

Engagement: Level Two

The next level of engagement is to comment on others’ posts. Again, be careful where you spend your time. Choose those who are engaging! By the way, if you make a mistake while commenting, you can go back and edit your comments later.

Tip: Use a timer so you don’t get lost down a rabbit hole, distracted by endless cute videos of cats and puppies. Although that could be your reward once you get done!

Engagement: Level Three

Know your brand’s voice, and use it exclusively when you post. So, rather than posting with a generic headline, try writing a few different headlines until something comes to mind. Or, alternately, comment upon the content or the headline when you post. PostPlanner has an excellent article about using your brand’s voice to boost your engagement.

Photo by ivva

Engagement: Level Four

Consider the Five Ws and the H when you post: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

Who is your audience? Your ideal customer is the middle of your bull’s eye.
What issues bother them? Do a survey to find out.
When are they online? Check your page’s analytics to see.
Where do you want them to go once they’ve engaged with you?
Why do they need the content you’re posting?
How will the content you post help solve a problem?

In case you still don’t know why online relationships are important, Justine Pretorious answers that question: “Online Relationships — Are They Important?

Engagement: Level Five

Experiment and vary the types and amount of posts you make. So, for instance, do a newsy post in the morning, a more meaty post at lunch time, and a light-hearted post around dinner time. You might also post differently depending upon the day of the week. Having a strategy and then mixing it up is important–then keep track of what is working. Some social media managers post ten or more times per day. Others only post once or twice per week.

Which Engagement Level Are You?

Are you a six? Or are you closer to a two? Let me know in the comments! And thank you.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Engagement, engagement levels, Facebook, Five Ws

How to Engage on Social Media: Pinterest

December 22, 2016 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

How to Engage on Social Media: Pinterest

This blog post is part of my series on how how to How to Engage on Social Media: The Complete Guide. You might want to see the previous two parts:

More parts will be added on a weekly basis.

Pinterest a Rising Star

Pinterest is a rising star, and like certain other social media platforms, underutilized. If your audience includes women, then you need to be on Pinterest! Some 31% of adult Internet users use Pinterest, according to the Pew Research Center.

Photo by State Library of New South Wales collection

Can You Be Social on Pinterest?

The people at Pinterest claim that Pinterest is not a social media platform. In some ways, they’re right. But it is still possible to engage, to share, to comment, and to like posts. There is no live video (yet!), but that could be on its way. I’d definitely agree with Justin Horvath that Pinterest is Social Media’s Best Kept Secret.

Social Discovery

Pinterest is certainly a place for discovery. Say for instance you need a pair of shoes. But that’s all you know. Would you go to Google and search for shoes? No! Instead go to Pinterest, because you’ll automagically get visual search cues to guide you: green shoes, camo sneakers, velvety green heels, and more.

How to Engage?

When you’re tooling around Pinterest, like and comment on people’s pins (I know they’re supposed to be called saves, but pins sounds so much better.) Make sure that you tag the person whose post you’re commenting on! Hover over the person’s name and get their handle. For instance, mine is @YourSoMeWorks. Now, make sure to say something a little out of the ordinary. Put a little thought into it.

Use Direct Messaging Sparingly

If you already know someone, use direct messaging. Or if it’s really important. Otherwise, direct messaging can seem spammy, like a direct message on Twitter when you don’t even know someone. It’s a good way to get unfollowed!

Photo by nokia32

Send Pins and Boards

If you see something that a friend would like, by all means send it their way! Pinterest explains how to send either a pin or a board in a short post. You can engage with people that way as well.

Group Boards

Another way to engage on Pinterest is to either join or have your own group board. Engage with the other pinners on the group board, making sure to tag them when you do.

Are You Engaging on Pinterest?

Why or why not? Leave me a comment and I promise to write you back! And thank you!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Engagement, Pinterest, Social Media

How to Engage on Social Media: Instagram

December 15, 2016 By Carol Stephen 6 Comments

How to Engage on Social Media: Instagram

This is part of my series on How to Engage on Social Media: The Complete Guide. Last week’s post was about engagement on Twitter.

Photo by zoonabar

Instagram is Serious Business

Some people think that Instagram is all pretty pictures–which it is–partly. But Instagram is also a serious business, with 28% of adult Internet users on board. People mostly use Instagram on their smart phones, unlike certain other platforms, and with more and more people moving to using smart phones, Instagram can only become more popular.

Photo by ajay_suresh

Why Use Instagram?

Instagram has the highest engagement rate between brands and customers of any platform, according to Forrester.
If someone follows you, they will see your posts, unlike Facebook, which has become “pay to play”
People are becoming more image-centric, and Instagram is the land of images
More people are on their phones and Instagram lives on your phone
People are more engaged on Instagram
Great for local businesses, since you can target using hashtags (see below)
Instagram is simple and fun!

Photo by Elizabeth Yu Xiaoou

Hashtags

There are so many ways to use hashtags on Instagram. I like to bury my hashtags in the first and second comments of a post. There are quite a few ways to use hashtags:

Location-based hashtags. Any city, state, country, highway, or area can be turned into a hashtag. Search the people nearby and see which hashtags they’re using. For instance, #SantaCruzMountains is a favorite of mine for finding people near where I live.
Topic hashtags. Use the topic of your post as a hashtag. If you’re an SEO, expert, for instance, you could do #SEO or #SearchEngineOptimization.
Hashtags that work across industries. For example, #tbt or Throwback Thursday works for any brand.
Self-deprecating hashtags. These are my favorite! Use a hashtag to make a comment about your own post or yourself. #facepalm and #sosnarky, for instance.

Once you use a hashtag, click through and see who else is using it and like or comment on other posts. Be assertive and don’t wait for people to come to you! Go see who else is out there and be friendly. Do a Google search on hashtags in your industry and then experiment.

Photo by Leo Hidalgo (@yompyz)

Tag Others

If your business has a company outing or if you’re with someone else who has an Instagram account, upload a photo and tag that other business or person. This is a great way to get a conversation going. And you can use it in conjunction with another idea, such as Throwback Thursday, to double your interaction! For courtesy’s sake, you might want to ask before posting a picture of someone else.

Interact!

Comment on other posts, and tag the owner, especially if the account has many followers. Often people don’t check their own comments, so tagging ensures that they see your comment. Anything, such as “I love this picture.” “This reminds me of…” “I love that park, too!” can be good conversation starters. Often one word, such as “Beautiful!” works, too.

Photo by Mainstream901

Captivating Captions

At the very least, tell us where a picture was taken. Often, I skip by posts with no captions. Something about a picture with no caption makes me think it’s fake. Do you think so, too? But a wonderful image with a great caption? That can be very powerful. And some of the best Instagrammers use Instagram to tell a story. For instance, @thecuratedfeast uses Instagram to educate. Their posts are packed with information about food history.

Photo by BLMOregon

Regramming

If you really appreciate one of your followers, use their photo, especially if they’re a big fan of your product. One of my favorite accounts is Cutco Cutlery, and they often ask people to use the #shareyourslice hashtag for a chance to be featured. Could you do something like that?

Photo by Cydcor

Contests

Contests are an exciting ways to get your followers engaged. You might ask them to like your own or another account, tag someone who might like that account, for a chance to win a book or a trip! The @Whole30 people are very good at generating engagement this way.

Photo by BLMOregon

Who Do You Find Engaging?

Leave me a message in the comments! I promise to engage with you!

Photo by Trinetty Skytower

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Engagement, hashtag, image-centric, Instagram, Social Media

How to Engage on Social Media: Twitter

December 8, 2016 By Carol Stephen 9 Comments

How to engage on social media: Twitter

There is a bias in the business world against Twitter that I don’t comprehend. To me it is the friendliest and easiest place to engage in of all the platforms. Of course, that’s once you understand a few things about Twitter. The blog post you’re reading right now is part of How to Engage on Social Media: The Complete Guide.

Create Moments

Creating Moments on Twitter

Creating Moments

A relatively new addition to Twitter is called Moments. You can create your own Moments or look at other people’s moments. Anyone can create a moment. From Twitter Home ==>>Go to Moments ==>> Click Create Moments (upper right corner). Upload your own photos or add tweets — I called mine San Francisco Lights. Choose your tweets or photos, choose a cover and title and publish! It took me about 15 minutes.

The Number One Mistake People Make on Twitter

Don’t start your tweet with the “@” sign if you want everyone to see it. Add a “.” in front of the “@” sign so that everyone can see it. Yes, that issue’s been around forever. If you need to know more, head over to Gary Vee’s slideshare (it’s only a minute, trust me!).

Leave Some Space

Don’t use up all 140 characters. Use something like 100-130 if you want retweets. Your real estate is limited.

Add images for more retweets.

Add Images for more Retweets

Images and videos are gaining momentum on Twitter. In fact, you’ll get 313% more engagement if you tweet with images, according to Twitter. So do use images for more engagement.

Audience

According to Pew Research

Some 23% of online adults currently use Twitter, a statistically significant increase compared with the 18% who did so in August 2013. Twitter is particularly popular among those under 50 and the college-educated.

Is that your demographic? If so, then you’re in the right place.

The Language

Twitter is the land of hashtags (not too many–one or two is fine!), and abbreviations. Also, emojis are popular on Twitter. Here are some abbreviations.

@ sign = a user’s name. For instance, I’m @Carol_Stephen on Twitter.

RT = Retweet. Means you’re repeating something and giving credit to that person as well.

OH = Overhead.

MT = Modified tweet. Sometimes you have to remove/change a tweet and this is how you alert people that you’ve changed it.

# = hashtag. Hashtags help you organize your tweets. For instance, #cheese will organize tweets about cheese.

Hashtags

Don’t be afraid to use hashtags, especially if the hashtag can help others see the content of a tweet. A hashtag helps others to identify a tweet. For instance, if you’re tweeting about an article on autism, you could add #asd (autism spectrum disorder) to the tweet. If you’re tweeting about an event, you can add the hashtag event, such as #wcoc (WordCamp Orange County). Some brands have their own hashtags. For instance, the San Francisco Giants use #sfgiants and if you tag your tweet that way, you may be featured or retweeted by the Giants!

Emojis

If you’re on mobile, which most people are now, you have access to many emojis. Hearts and smiley faces can let people know the feeling behind a tweet, in case there’s any doubt–or if you want to add more sentiment.

Formality

Twitter is one of the most easygoing, informal of all platforms. Think of it as a backyard bbq. It’s easy to talk to people, and there’s a laidback feeling to it.

Getting colder Carol @Carol_Stephen but still great. Best wishes to you

— Toyota Equipment (@ToyotaEquipment) December 4, 2016

How to Engage?

Say hello to people. If you’re just getting started, this is the easiest way to begin. Above is one real example. You can start with asking about the weather, telling people to have a nice weekend, and so on. Notice that my tweet begins with the “@” sign. So only those who follow both @ToyotaEquipment and myself will see that tweet. @ToyotaEquipment’s reply to me starts with text, so that tweet is more public. See the difference?

Here are a few other ideas:

Ask a new follower a question about their profile.
Ask someone you’re connected with for advice for a topic they’re an expert at.
Comment on someone else’s tweet and retweet it.
Tell others to follow someone whose account you enjoy.
Introduce two people who have something in common.

Lists

Once you have found a few people who like to engage, you can add them to a list. Here’s a post about using lists on Twitter. For instance, you could create a list called Engagers or Friendly People.

Sharing

How much of your personal life will you share on Twitter? It’s a good idea to decide beforehand. My rules are to avoid sex, politics, and disasters. And when I’ve broken my own rules, I’ve had to pay. For instance, during the divisive election recently, I wrote about politics and lost followers. If you have to talk about something divisive, you may want to set up a separate account for that. As a business, I’d avoid those topics, though.

Tagging

Just because you can tag, doesn’t mean you should tag. If a conversation doesn’t really involve someone else, for the love of all that is holy, please remove them! It’s like being on a long bench of people and everyone between you and the person you’re talking to has to listen. Don’t force everyone to listen. On the other hand, if the people are actively involved in a conversation, then yes, keep adding them!

How Do You Engage on Twitter?

Leave me a comment! And of course send me a tweet!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Conversation, engage, Engagement, Social Media, Twitter, Twitter moments