Sweetmantra: Internet Marketing Advice

10 Twitter Tips for Professionals

After the unexpected popularity of my article 10 Facebook Tips for Professionals, I figured I would follow it up with some tips for the micro-blogging platform known as Twitter.

Although Twitter has been around since 2006, it's only recently started to generate interest from the public at large. One of the things I like the most about Twitter is that it is an open platform and the uses for it are limited only by people's imagination. Every day I discover new and creative ways that people are using Twitter, some good, some bad. As with any new medium, there are and will continue to be growing pains as we all figure out what the ground rules are and how best to use this new tool. I, for one, still consider myself to be in my 'kindergarten' years with Twitter, however I have learned a few tips and tricks along the way that I am happy to share with you:

I hereby present my list of 10 Twitter tips for business professionals who want to get the most out of Twitter without making too many newbie mistakes:

1. Use your real and (length permitting) full name as your Twitter ID and Display Name - Don't start Twittering using some cutesy or cryptic alias; that just makes it hard for people to find you and figure out who you really are. If you can, avoid using an underscore in your Twitter ID: JaneSmith is way more professional than Jane_Smith and is also easier for people who are using mobile devices to type. And capitalize the first letter of your first and last name; it makes them easier to read.

2. Make sure you upload a photo of yourself right away - If you don't include a photo of yourself as part of your Twitter account, you will limit the number of followers you will get. And use a real photo, not an illustration, avatar, or your company's logo. People want to have a relationship with you, not an illustration. Choose a recent colour or black and white headshot of yourself, and make sure the photo is tasteful. For best results, the image should be a JPEG sized about 128 by 128 pixels, but remember that it will be displayed in much smaller sizes on different Twitter clients, including small screens on mobile devices, so make sure it is legible even when tiny.

3. Include a compelling and accurate description of yourself in your Twitter account - People will refer to this when deciding if they want to follow you. Make sure you include pertinent information such as the name of the company you work for, your job title, a brief description of what you do, and a link to your corporate Website or blog. Remember to keep search engines in mind and feature keywords that are relevant to your profession in your description. This will make it easier for new people to find you via Twitter search.

4. Choose a professional looking Twitter profile design, or create your own - The Twitter account settings allow you to choose from a number of simple design templates for your profile. I recommend that you pick one that best (or at least better) aligns with your professional brand, or tinker with the colour schemes until you get something that works. If you really want to present a slick image, get a custom Twitter background design created for you. There are numerous free and affordable paid Twitter background design services. One of the ones I have used and can recommend is Twitbacks.

5. Understand the important difference between a public reply and a Direct Message (DM) - When you reply to someone that you are following, using the "@BillSweetman" syntax, everyone following you and them can see your conversation, and a permanent public record is made of the exchange. A Direct Message, using the "D BillSweetman" syntax, is strictly between you and that one other recipient (although in order for this to work both recipient and sender have to be following one another). Confuse the two and you could end up in an embarrassing situation.

6. Be judicious about Re-Tweeting - Twitter is about sharing, however if all you are doing is continually re-tweeting other people's posts instead of contributing your own original content, this will soon begin to grate on your followers. After all, if your followers really cared about what someone else was Twittering about, they'd follow them.

7. Watch your P's and Q's - Twitter is a public forum, and your posts are archived forever. While it is always advisable to avoid getting into a war of words with someone, Twitter is the worst possible place to have a dustup since everyone has a ringside seat. Sadly, that hasn't stopped some folks from getting into some very nasty, and very public, Twitter fights. Try to avoid making the same mistake.

8. Be careful about mixing business with pleasure - Consider creating two separate Twitter accounts, one for business use and one for personal use. If you tie your personal email address and a more 'casual' photo to your personal Twitter account, your friends and family will easily be able to figure out which is the right account to follow.

9. Follow but don't expect to be followed - While you are free to follow anyone on Twitter that you so choose, don't expect them to follow you back. Not everyone wants to follow hundreds or thousands of people, and just because you followed them doesn't mean they are obliged to follow you, nor should you be upset if they don't.

10. Don't try to "market" on Twitter; try to "share" instead - Just because Twitter allows you to post promotional messages 24/7 doesn't mean that anyone is interested in that kind of content. If you want to attract and keep followers, focus on contributing items of value. Let them know about something you just heard or discovered. Solicit feedback on a project or ask a question. Sing the praises of a product or person. Recommend other people they should follow. Or provide an update on what you are working on right now. Think sharing, not shouting.

Despite the feverish tone of the recent media hoopla around Twitter, I am very bullish about the future of Twitter. We've hardly scratched the surface of its potential. Twitter was originally dismissed by many as a quirky geek distraction (I admit to being one of those skeptics), but it is rapidly emerging as a flexible communication platform for both business and personal use. I hope my 10 Twitter tips will help you take better advantage of this new medium. And if you want to follow me on Twitter, my Twitter ID is BillSweetman. Good luck, and happy Tweeting!

Discover "Minivertising" at 2009 CMA National Convention

Forget about thinking big. You need to think small!

That's the rallying cry for a presentation I am giving at the Canadian Marketing Association's National Convention in Toronto on April 28, 2009.

The Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) has invited me to present my newest talk, "Minivertising", at Canada's largest marketing conference. This national convention is held each spring in a different city and welcomes thousands of attendees.

Here are the details:

"Minivertising" – The Big Future in Targeting a Tiny Niche
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
10:30 - 11:30 AM
Register for the conference

Forget about thinking big. You need to think small! Until recently, it was expensive if not impossible to market to a highly segmented target audience. Not any longer. Discover how marketers and entrepreneurs can use social media and emerging Web tools for affordable and effective mini-targeting. No matter what the size of your company is, you can learn how to become a dominant player in a profitable niche.

If you’re a marketer, you will learn how to use the principles of minivertising to generate interest for your client’s products and services, no matter how constrained their budgets are. If you are an entrepreneur or business executive, you’ll discover affordable and measurable ways to attract highly motivated customers to you, almost overnight.

For more information and to register, visit the CMA National Convention Website.

I hope to see you there.

P.S. Here is a link to the list of Minivertising Resources.

Discover The Secret World of Domain Names at PodCamp Toronto

I will be attending, and speaking at, PodCamp Toronto next weekend, February 21-22, 2009 in downtown Toronto.

PodCamp Toronto is a free "un-conference" devoted to social media, and despite its name is about way more than just podcasting. I attended PodCamp Toronto two years ago and loved the energy and inclusiveness of the event. I highly recommend it, and you can't beat the price. Yes, it really is free to attend and hear from (and interact with) many of the sharpest minds in social media today, including Chris Brogan, Collin Douma, and Eden Spodek.

I will be giving a talk entitled "The Secret World of Domain Names" on Saturday, February 21 at 3:30 PM in Room 229. This will be a marketer's guide to domain names, and I plan to shatter some common domain name myths and show you how to buy, protect, and rescue your domain names. I will also explain how you can use domain names to generate a steady stream of targeted traffic. And for the first time ever in public, I will take you behind-the-scenes of the domaining (domain name investing) industry, a secretive, billion dollar industry that you can get a piece of for less than $10.

I'm really looking forward to PodCamp Toronto, hanging out with my fellow social media enthusiasts, and sharing my passion for domain names with everyone.

For more information about PodCamp Toronto, visit the PodCamp Toronto Wiki. See you there!

The One Question Every Entrepreneur Asks

If you're like most entrepreneurs, chances are you've asked yourself the following question at least once:

"How do I get more business without spending a fortune on advertising?"

This is probably one of the biggest challenges you face in your business, which is why I'm thrilled to let you know about an exciting event I am participating in on the evening of Wednesday, October 22nd in Toronto.

This event will be very different from other "seminars" you may have attended. It will help you tackle the challenge of boosting your business while at the same time you'll be helping support a fantastic program that helps youth in developing countries become entrepreneurs.

In one evening, you will:

• Learn practical and tactical techniques and tools that you can use immediately to find new customers fast and affordably. (By the way, I personally guarantee this is going to happen because I am giving one of the presentations! More on that in a moment...)
• Be inspired to take action on what you learn
• Have a blast with some "fiery" entertainment
• Experience all of this at absolutely no risk as this is a "Pay only for the value you receive" event. No Value...No Payment. Period.
• Make a big difference in the world. All proceeds go to helping street youth in the developing world become entrepreneurs, through Street Kids International

Sound great? It will be. It's called:

"Big Results For No/Low Dollars: Powerful and Inexpensive Marketing Techniques for Entrepreneurs"

and you can register for the event here.

This evening is part of an exciting, innovative and valuable program of practical education and training, exclusively for entrepreneurs, called Success Circle. The evening will include some amazing surprise entertainment and a roster of expert speakers you don't want to miss. The speakers will be:

• Warren Coughlin, one of North America's top business coaches, will discuss a) the key skills that must exist in your business to allow you to blast off, and b) easy-to-kickstart business building tactics available to any entrepreneur that generate quick leads, very inexpensively.
• The amazing Collin Douma (of Radical Trust fame) will share with you the wisdom he imparts to large corporations eager to exploit social media.
• Some Internet marketing dude named Bill Sweetman will reveal how to ensure you generate profits from the most universally, but non-strategically, applied marketing tool on the Internet. ;+)

How is this evening special?...

You will receive practical, tactical knowledge, tools and techniques you can use right away. This is not about giving you a teaser that requires you to drop $3,000 on follow up courses before you are able to implement. I hate those kind of things, and this isn't one of them.

Join me at this event on Wednesday, October 22nd and you will get knowledge, confidence, tools, and inspiration that will help you add to your bottom line, while making an amazing difference in the world. And you will have a ton of fun... All at no risk.

Register for this event now.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Seven Killer Reasons to Attend the 2008 Digital Marketing Conference

As you may have noticed, I've been busy spreading the word on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter about the 11th annual Digital Marketing Conference, which is being held in Toronto on October 29th and 30th. I'm on the Organizing Committee for this year's Conference and after months of planning we are now finally able to publicly share our excitement about the speakers and sessions we've arranged for you to experience.

Here, in my opinion, are seven of the best reasons to attend the 2008 Digital Marketing Conference:

1. Rob Master from Unilever will be talking about how one of the world's biggest traditional advertisers has fully embraced digital marketing, especially social media.
2. David Pogue, technology columnist for The New York Times, will be riffing about Disruptive Technology. David's brilliant and entertaining, which is a rare combination in my books. Here's a link to a funny video of David Pogue in action!
3. Everyone I talk to these days is struggling to hire good people. That's why we've persuaded Charlie Gray from Google and Bruce Powell from IQ Partners to talk about how to recruit and retain digital marketing talent.
4. The videogame industry is bigger than Hollywood, and so we've lined up Ron Bertram from Nintendo of Canada to reveal how he helped take the company to the top of the videogame market in Canada.
5. Just in time for the biggest shopping season of the year, Derek Szeto from RedFlagDeals.com will share an awesome and uniquely Canadian Boxing Week case study.
6. The Experience Exchange Roundtables are back by very popular demand. This is your chance to pick the brains of some of the country's smartest digital marketing minds. I'll leave it up to you to decide if I qualify for that title, but I will be leading a roundtable on Domain Name Strategy.
7. Coming up right after the Roundtables is the Networking Reception. The company I work for, Tucows, is sponsoring the reception and we've got a few treats in store for attendees so you definitely won't want to miss this.

So there you have it, a small taste of the inspiring and informative agenda we've got planned for you at this year's Digital Marketing Conference.

Don't wait until the last minute to register. For the last several years, the Digital Marketing Conference always sells out and we literally have to turn people away at the door. Head on over to http://www.the-cma.org/digital for more details and to register today.

I hope to see you there.

"Minivertising" - Join me in Vancouver to Learn About this New Marketing Strategy

Forget about thinking big. You need to think small!

That's the rallying cry for a keynote address I am delivering in Vancouver on September 11, 2008.

British Columbia Association of Integrated Marketers (BC AIM) has invited me to present my newest talk, "Minivertising", at a Marketing Luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Here are the details:

"Minivertising" – The Big Future in Targeting a Tiny Niche
Presented by BC AIM
Thursday, September 11, 2008
11:30 AM - 2 PM
Four Seasons Hotel, 791 Georgia Street West, Vancouver, BC
Register for this Event

Forget about thinking big. You need to think small! Until recently, it was expensive if not impossible to market to a highly segmented target audience. Not any longer. Discover how marketers and entrepreneurs can use social media and emerging Web tools for affordable and effective Mini-targeting. No matter the size of your company, you can learn how to become a dominant player in a profitable niche.

If you’re a marketer, you’ll learn how to use the principles of Minivertising to generate interest for your client’s products and services, no matter how constrained their budgets are.

If you’re an entrepreneur or business executive, you’ll discover affordable and measurable ways to attract highly motivated customers to you, almost overnight.

For more information and to register, visit the BC AIM Website.

I hope to see you there.

My Internet Marketer's Diary: Chapter 1 - Sewing the Seeds

Last week, I officially launched my newest online venture, Hollywoozy, the first Website devoted to reviewing movie domain names.

One of the many reasons I am always launching new things is that it gives me a chance to experiment with and refine different marketing tactics, and Hollywoozy is no different.

What is different this time, however, is that I am going to lift up the curtain and share some of the marketing tactics I am using to promote my venture, along with the results. In most cases, these tactics do not involve spending any money, although they all require spending some time to implement.

In this first chapter of my Internet Marketer's Diary, I am going to list five of the key tactics I used leading up to Hollywoozy's official launch on July 20, 2008. I consider these the essential building blocks of a good online marketing campaign.

1. Build the Site with Search Engines in Mind

In addition to following SEO (search engine optimization) best practices, one of the best ways to ensure a site is very search engine friendly is to create it using a blog platform, because search engines love blogs. My site was created using TypePad, which is my favourite professional blogging platform, however you could probably achieve similar results using WordPress. I also made sure that my site featured the most heavily searched keywords and key phrases that I was targeting. For instance, since Hollywoozy is about movie domain names, I made sure the phrase "domain names" was used extensively throughout the site on every single page.

2. Invite the Search Engines to Crawl the Website Prior to Launch

I wanted to give the search engines a head start on finding my site, so I added discrete links to my new site from some of the other heavily trafficked Websites that I own. This got my site indexed by Google a few days prior to its official launch, so that when people started to search for "Hollywoozy" in Google on the day of launch (which many did, according to my Web analytics reports), the site was already listed in Google's search results.

3. Use Tags to Define the Content of the Website

Prior to launch, I registered my site with Technorati (the leading blog directory and search engine), complete with a keyword-loaded description and lots of relevant tags. Technorati is frequently and deeply crawled by the search engine spiders, and within 24 hours Google had found Hollywoozy's listing on Technorati.

4. Generate Targeted Traffic via a Multiple Domain Name Strategy

I am proud of the unusual brand name I came up with for my site, however I am the first to admit that "Hollywoozy'" is not a descriptive name. That's why I also registered moviedomainnames.com and a few other descriptive, keyword-loaded domain names, which I pointed to my new site. The $28 (total) I spent registering the four domain names was the only cash outlay I made towards marketing the Website. That's peanuts to pay for the targeted type-in traffic my site will likely get from these domains over time.

5. Invite Some Enthusiasts to a Sneak Peek

In the week prior to launch, I used my Facebook status line (and Facebook's message service) to invite my friends and colleagues to let me know if they were interested in getting a "sneak preview" of my newest venture. The curious keeners who responded got early access to my site. Not only did they tell some of their friends and colleagues about the site (thank you, everyone!), but they were also a great source of feedback and ideas. Michel Neray, for instance, suggested I make a small but important tweak to how I displayed my domain name reviews, and I quickly took him up on the idea. All told, about 20 people in my personal network got an early peek at the site, and they helped to quickly spread the word post-launch.

In the next chapter of my Marketer's Diary, I will reveal the tactics I used to kick off the official launch of the site, as well as share some of the results to date. For a taste of how successful the launch was, try doing a Google search for "movie domain names" (which is the focus of my site) and see if you can spot Hollywoozy in the search results. ;+)

10 Facebook Tips for Professionals

It will come as no surprise to many of you reading this that I'm a huge fan of Facebook and have been since I signed on about two years ago. As I've watched this social network grow by leaps and bounds, I've seen more and more business professionals jump on the bandwagon and try to make a go of it, with decidedly mixed results. Truth be told, I've also made a few mistakes myself along the way.

In the spirit of sharing, I hereby present my list of 10 tips for business professionals who want to experience the many delights of Facebook without making a fool of themselves:

1. Use your real and full name in your profile - Don't sign on under some cute alias or nickname; nobody's going to be able to find you, and using a fictional name as your Facebook identity is just begging to get you kicked off since it's a borderline violation of the Terms of Service.
2. Make sure your profile includes a photo of you - If you don't include a photo of yourself in your profile, you might as well not bother being on Facebook. Very few people, even your friends, will want to add you as their Facebook friend without knowing who they are dealing with. Choose a recent colour or black and white headshot of yourself, and make sure the photo is tasteful.
3. Include detailed business information in your profile - Prospective Facebook business friends are going to be viewing your profile to evaluate whether or not they want to add you as a friend, so make sure you include the name of the company you work for, a link to your corporate Website, a link to your blog (if you have one), your email address and phone number.
4. Do not invite strangers to be your Facebook friends - This is a huge pet peeve of mine, as I generally will not add anyone as my Facebook friend that I haven't met in person. They're called Facebook "friends" for a reason. I also suggest you not let strangers add you as their Facebook friend until you have established a comfort level with them through other means.
5. Do not send messages to strangers - This is another pet peeve of mine! Unless you already know the person and are one of their Facebook friends, do not use Facebook to send them messages. If you really need to contact the person, use traditional email or the telephone; don't bug them on Facebook.
6. Do not add useless and/or annoying applications to your profile - Nothing will make you look more like an ass than if you start adding all sorts of time-wasting applications to your Facebook profile that automatically 'invite' all your friends to participate. Say no to zombies, vampires, hamsters, funwalls, super pokes, top friends, personality tests, and all the other crap.
7. Do not send bulk commercial messages to your friends - Hard to believe I would have to spell this one out, but Facebook is the last place you want to start spamming people. It's OK to send the occasional business related message to small groups of people at a time, but do this more than once a month and you're really asking for trouble. (You are free, of course, to create your own Facebook Group, which will allow you to send update messages to anyone who joins the group; nothing wrong with that.)
8. Think twice before writing on other people's Walls - Walls are not the place to have a private conversation because everyone (or at least all your friends) can see the conversation. If you want to have a 1:1 discussion with someone, send a message instead. And to avoid someone inadvertently posting something inappropriate on your Wall, you might want to consider disabling your Wall altogether.
9. Be judicious about what information you make available in your profile - Identity theft is a big problem, and so are stalkers. Don't every list your real birth date on Facebook (or anywhere else online) and be very selective about other personal information you share. The same holds true for photos; be very careful about the photos you upload. Do you really want your business associates to see that photo of you dancing on the bar at the local watering hole?
10. Use LinkedIn for pure business connections instead - Yeah, I know, it's kind of funny to call this a Facebook tip, but often times it's more appropriate to use LinkedIn to connect with someone since LinkedIn is "all business" whereas Facebook is much more casual. I recommend using both, with Facebook skewed more towards true friends and business "friends" and LinkedIn for more serious business connections (and nothing else).

Don't let any of this frighten you off Facebook as it is a remarkable personal and business tool. But do tread lightly when you first sign on and spend some time to get to know how it works and what is acceptable behaviour (for business professionals) and what is not.

The Serious Business of Funny Email

It's no secret that using humour is a powerful marketing strategy that marketers can use to attract and acquire new customers. Every day we're likely to see a whole raft of 'funny' ads, the collective effort of creative teams who have worked very hard to come up with them.

I'm sure that you have, at least once in your life, been attracted to the products or services of a company because their marketing material made you laugh. (The same can be said of marketing material that is intended to make you cry, but that's another blog post...)

But what about using humour to retain customers? Which companies are making their current customers laugh for all the right reasons?

A little company called CD Baby is.

Until a few weeks ago I had never even heard of CD Baby. I stumbled across them while trying to find out where to purchase the debut CD from a Canadian band I admire, Delhi 2 Dublin. It turned out that their CD was available at CD Baby, an online music retailer that calls itself "the little store with the best new independent music."

"Cool," I thought to myself. I quickly found and ordered the CD on CD Baby's Website, and then promptly moved on to the next item on my to do list.

The next day, I got an email from CD Baby confirming that my CD had been shipped. This was no ordinary email, however. While most e-tailers send confirmation emails to customers once a product has been shipped - which is a best practice - this was the funniest and most memorable order confirmation email I have ever received.

Here's an excerpt:

"Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow...

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved "Bon Voyage!" to your package..."

So as not to spoil the surprise should you ever become a customer of CD Baby and receive one of these emails, I have left out some of the email's content.

Not only did I laugh out loud when I read this email, but I immediately showed it to my wife (who was sitting near me at the time). "Wow. That makes me want to buy from them," she said. I couldn't agree more.

Thanks to the clever use of humour in their order confirmation email, CD Baby not only forged a tighter bond with me as one of their current customers, but they also motivated me to share my positive experience with prospective customers - first my wife, and now you.

And that's nothing to laugh at.

Why I'm Promoting the Social Media Telesummit

As you may have noticed, for the last few weeks I've been actively promoting my friend Leesa Barnes' upcoming Social Media Telesummit, which takes place February 20-29, 2008.

I've also been totally upfront about the fact that I'm one of Leesa's affiliate partners, which means I will receive a portion of the registration fees from referrals I send her way. (For the record, I plan to donate a portion of my cut to charity.)

A number of people have asked me why I am helping spread the word about the Social Media Telesummit, so I figured I'd answer that question on my blog.

First of all, I have tremendous admiration for Leesa Barnes. She's smart, funny, and totally committed to educating and inspiring people to use and benefit from the new media. She's taught me a lot over the last few years, and I've tried to return the favour as often as I can. That's why I signed on.

Second, I'm blown away by the depth and breadth of the speakers Leesa has lined up for the event. Paul Colligan, Sherman Hu, Kate Trgovac, Darren Barefoot, Julie Szabo, Jason Van Orden, Andy Wibbels ... and so many others as well. I'm sorry, but I don't know too many other events that offer a truly international roster of social media and Internet marketing experts like this one.

Third, I love the fact that this is a virtual event that anyone from anywhere can participate in. (Well, if they register for it, that is!) For me, personally, this makes the Social Media Telesummit very convenient as I can learn on my own time, at my own pace, and from the location of my choosing.

Finally, I got the chance to experiment with using social media to promote the event, most notably Facebook. If ever an event called for such an approach, it was this one. That, for me, has been the most rewarding part of this experience to date.

I do hope you register for, and participate in, the Social Media Telesummit. Even if you don't, at least now you know why I've been encouraging you to do so.