Finally!! What I’ve been waiting for…

Every time I meet with clients I stress the importance of why social media is going to be sooo crucial to your search engine presence… I say, “Once Search Engines can index real-time results you’ve gotta be relevant ALL of the time”. And today it will  be announced that Bing, not Google, is the first to strike a deal with Twitter and Facebook!!! Yahoo. This is exciting news for Social Media Dorks like myself and even  better news for the small businesses of the world who can’t afford massive Pay-Per-Click budgets. Now it’s time for all of us to put on our game face… it’s your time to become RELEVANT. (Of course this will require alot of work and fierce competition… but bring it on!)

Twitter 101: Tips

To continue my series on Twitter, I offer some beginner tips on how to use Twitter. (It’s important to remember Twitter is not just for business… and not just for consumers. It is a way for both to interact with one another and use Twitter to each of your benefits).

1. Once your Twitter is registered and set-up, download a Twitter management tool. AL Marketing’s preferred choice is TweetDeck. Other great applications exsist though such as Seesmic Desktop. Search the net for “twitter management tools” and see what the best fit for your needs are.

2. In addition to a desktop tool,  you may want to download a mobile application. There are tons of them out there, so search your mobile App store. (I’m big on “Tweetie” for iPhone these days). Some are free and some are inexpensive… both are equally as user-friendly.

3. Now you’re all set up! So who do you follow?

If you’re a business: Follow industry experts and other sources of interesting (and relevant information). For                     example: the AL Marketing Twitter page, we follow those who are also experts in marketing, design, search engine            optimization, etc. This is so I can “retweet” (or RT) all of this valuable information to my network and vice versa.               This allows be to become a relevant source of information among my industry peers, as well as clients.

If you’re a consumer: Use Twitter to your advantage. Follow those who provide interesting information that is                    relevant to YOU and those brands/services you use. You will find great deals, bargains and special offers on Twitter.

4. Maximize your Twitter feeds: Get the most of your Twitter exposure by marking “keywords” with hashtags (#). “Huuuuh?” Say I send out a tweet, “Check out AL Marketing for the latest #SEO, #socialmedia and #marketing news and tips”. Now, you go to twitter search and type “social media”… my tweet has been indexed and will pull up under the search results.

Another, more advanced, use for the hashtag is aggregating feeds to add to your own source (since twitter is an open-source tool) – for an example, check out #blamedrewscancer.

Want to learn more? E-mail/comment me for other topics you’d like to see covered. Want to become a pro? AL Marketing is always available for private and group lessons!