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Entries in Twitter (17)

Thursday

Aug122010

Willing to pay a Freemium?

Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 1:38PM

Like a lot of businesses, we use Hootsuite to manage several Twitter accounts.

It has a lot of advantages over the Twitter web interface including the ability to pipe RSS feeds to your Twitter stream and allow multiple team members to collaborate in managing the accounts.

However, Hootsuite is now "going Freemium". Basic accounts will still be free, but the enterprise features such as multiple RSS feeds and team members will command a price.

The damage ranges from $4.99 per month for a package which allows multiple RSS feeds up to a truly eye-watering $1,499 per month for the enterprise package which allows you to have more than eight team members and various other goodies.

This has been on the cards for a while (after all Hootsuite were always going to need some kind of revenue stream) and the "Freemium" model is hardly revolutionary any more. Indeed, it seems likely to make increasing inroads into the legal market (see for example the recent Law Society Gazette article on whether the Freemium model could work in legal services).

However, I wonder how small businesses who use Twitter will react? Ning came in for a lot of flack from users when it decided to start charging earlier in the year and a couple of groups of which I am a member decided to relocate as a result. Will the same thing happen with Hootsuite..? after all it is a lot easier to move Twitter clients than to migrate a Ning group.

I have a gut feeling that 'Freemium' seems more attractive when you sign up for it at the start... and less so when it suddenly means paying for something which you have got used to using for free.

On the other hand, Hootsuite have to make money and you could argue that $50 per month is nothing compared to the benefits your business reaps from having access to an enterprise-grade tool to manage your Twitter presence.

What do you think? Are you going to move to a paid Hootsuite account or do you think this will lead to a mass exodus of business users?

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Wednesday

Jun092010

Don't forget to WAIT

Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 8:28PM

Why Am I Talking?..

"WAIT"

You might have come across this acronym at a coaching or training session. It is basically a reminder that we don't always talk because we have something which needs saying. Instead it may be to fill a silence, to seek attention or for any number of other reasons.

WAIT is also a prompt to stop talking sometimes and actually listen to what others are saying.

It is a good concept for the spoken word, but it should also apply to social media with one small alteration:

"why am I typing?"

We have all seen that tweet or blog comment which makes our blood boil and seems to demand a reaction. For me it tends to be poorly informed lawyers writing about social media.

The gut feeling can be right as Jason Fried and David Hansson point out in their excellent book Rework - sometimes "picking a fight" is a good approach (at least online):-

"being the anti-______ is a great way to differentiate yourself and attract followers."

Often though, the best it will achieve is a flame war which drives up your blood pressure and alienates your followers. At worst, you may find an ill considered comment comes back to haunt you with professional consequences, a defamation claim or even criminal proceedings (as covered here by Jack of Kent).

Listening is also just as relevant to social media. I don't know if there is an ideal ratio, but it is difficult to over-listen. It isn't much fun following someone who just broadcasts their own opinions and doesn't listen to or engage with others.

So in social media (just like in real life) it can pay to think WAIT...

The network is more powerful than the node

Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 9:38PM

I first saw this quote on one of the excellent blog "business cards" on Streetcards.com.

I don't know where it came from, but it sums up something I have realised about Twitter over the last couple of years.

When it comes to Twitter followers, I have always thought that it isn't about the numbers. I still do - if we are talking about gaining 1000's of random followers using some automated utility.

However, when it comes to using Twitter for business development it is all about the network.

Anyone can get a Twitter account and search for tweets about something relevant to their business - and then respond to these tweets.

In the legal context you might search for tweets including the phrase "moving house". When you pick up a relevant tweet you simply reply with something like:

"See you are moving house - have you checked out our great conveyancing service? DM me for a quote"

Bish, bash, bosh… (sorry, getting a little Jamie Oliver there) another piece of work rolls in through the door.

Or does it?

What you are really doing here is spamming someone who has probably never heard of you… trying to sell them your services.

You may get the odd person who bites, but mostly you will annoy people (I have been on the receiving end of this kind of tweet from all manner of SEO and web hosting salesmen and it is annoying).

I actually buy a lot of goods and services through Twitter (the architect who is designing our extension and the hosting for this blog both came through Twitter recommendations). I just don't buy from people I have never tweeted with before who message me out of the blue.

I will use Twitter to ask my followers about blogging platforms, architects, bikes or whatever... and usually I will get a response from someone I know and trust. It is these responses which make me think about looking into something in more detail.

I have been on the receiving end of the same process too. Most of the business enquiries I receive through Twitter come as a result of a recommendation from one of my followers... and if I see someone else tweeting about something I know about then I will always try and help out.

So, whilst the number of your followers doesn't matter as such, you do need a reasonable network of active followers who you engage with regularly (not just by trying to sell to them) who you are happy to help out when they need something, and vice versa.

There isn't any magic number... if you had 20 great followers and they each had 20 great followers themselves then that would give you access to a huge network. However, it takes time and commitment to build this up and there are no shortcuts. (I don't mean to make it sound like hard work by the way - I enjoy tweeting with everyone I follow... and to be honest if you saw it as a chore you probably wouldn't bother).

A lot of businesses who are starting out on Twitter don't get this. It seems like the easiest thing in the world to set up some relevant searches and start selling, but Twitter really doesn't work like this.

They need to realise that the network is more powerful than the node, but you can't buy the network or gatecrash it... only earn it.

Follow-up or spam?

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 7:10PM

I am a member of a great networking group on the Wirral called Juice Networking. From tomorrow I will be presenting a five minute slot every fortnight covering social media, real world networking (and anything else which springs to mind).

This is an indefinite gig - or until they get sick of the sound of my voice - and I am posting a few of these "slices of knowledge" (as they are known) on this blog as I go along.

Tomorrow's slot is about something which is much too common: "follow-up" spam.

I have read and listened to a lot of "wisdom" about networking. One of the key points generally an exhortation to "always follow-up". That is, the initial meeting should be just the start of a relationship - not an end of itself.

I totally agree with this, but it so often goes wrong in the execution.

Does this sound familiar? An email lands in your inbox from someone you spent a couple of minutes chatting to at a networking event. It is a standard marketing pitch with your name added in at the top - probably sent to everyone on the list of delegates.

I get this all the time and to me it isn't follow-up... it's just more spam to clog up my inbox. It may not be advertising dodgy pharmaceutical products, but it is unsolicited mail sent indiscriminately and which I haven't asked for or subscribed to (which pretty much fits the definition of spam).

There may not be anything illegal or "wrong" about this approach, but it is likely to do two things. Firstly, the emails go straight in the trash... and secondly it kills off any relationship before it begins. Spam my inbox after our first meeting and you are going to have to work pretty hard to regain my trust or attention in the future.

To me, effective follow-up looks more like this:-

personal... it's from someone I remember meeting and it references what we spoke about
relevant... it is sent because there is a reason for us to meet again, talk further or keep in touch. You can't follow-up with everyone and you don't need to - if you don't think you can do anything for them then, really, what is the point?
constructive... as well as just a "nice to meet you" it has some more information or a link I asked for and suggests the next step in building the relationship
reliable... if you said at the meeting you were going to do something (pass on an introduction, send a leaflet or whatever) then please, please do it. Nothing is more likely to kill your chance of building a business relationship than failing to deliver right at the beginning

I have seen some great examples of how to follow-up on an initial meeting and most of them covered these four points. These are the emails (or calls or letters) which catch my attention and don't go in the trash. If you are trying to sell me something then this is probably the way to start going about it.

Social media can also be a great way of following up contacts. Twitter in particular allows you to become someone's follower where a follow-up email might be intrusive or "spammy". There is no compulsion for them to follow back so you are not taking up their time or attention in the same way as with an email.

If their tweets make it obvious that it is worth taking things further, then reply to them with an @message. Provided you are genuinely interested in joining the conversation (and not just broadcasting sales messages) then they will probably be happy to engage with you... build the relationship from there.

If you have any tips for giving good follow-up then please share them in the comments!

It ain't all good...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 8:28PM

I have been thinking lately about how lawyers might use social media to deal with less positive publicity and comments.

The background to this is that one of our local firms of solicitors recently launched a new website as part of a rebranding exercise. They announced it with a bit of a fanfare and also plugged it on their new Twitter account asking what people thought.

Like most tweets about local lawyers, this found its way to me via the Twitter searches I have set up using RSS so I decided to take a look. I don't really have an unhealthy obsession with law firm websites, but I like to keep on top of new ones which are launched locally to see if they have come with anything exciting.

In this case, the answer was basically no, but I noticed that the "contact us" box didn't seem quite right in Safari... text was superimposed over a picture in a way which made the whole thing illegible and the elements of the form seemed to be in the wrong places.

A quick look on Firefox showed what it should actually have looked like... definitely a problem with how the site rendered in Safari (and mobile Safari too... I checked!).

I tweeted back to point out that there seemed to be a problem with how the site rendered in Safari and that they might want to check this out.

The response... absolutely nothing. Not a "thanks for the heads-up" or even a "get stuffed!" and a week later the site still doesn't work properly in Safari.

I can't understand the thought process behind this. Are they ignoring me because I work for a competitor? Are they not interested in Safari users? Do they think I am trying to wind them up?

If it was my site I would want it fixed and I would be happy that someone pointed it out (whoever they were).

This isn't even a case of negative publicity or unpleasant comments (I was genuinely trying to be helpful rather than snarky... which is why I haven't named them in this post), but is a blank silence the best response?

In this situation there is nothing to be lost by a polite response (by DM if you are worried about losing face)... followed by a prompt call to your web designer!

I don't think that it is ever appropriate for law firms to deal with serious negative publicity (complaints by clients etc.) via Twitter... but if you are serious about social media you can't only engage with those who are saying what you want to hear.

One quick example:- the recent story about Coca Cola supposedly encouraging workers to call in sick in their adverts for Glaceau Mineral Water.

I actually follow @glaceaunwest (the local account for Glaceau Mineral Water) on Twitter and on the day the story broke I tweeted:

I doubt this had Coca Cola nervously checking their stock price (and it probably wasn't all that funny either), but a little while later a response popped up from @glaceaunw:

Made me chuckle... and also showed that they are not just on Twitter to send out Tweets plugging mineral water, but are actually serious about engaging with people who have something to say about their business.

Law firms who are venturing onto Twitter would do well to bear this in mind. It isn't a broadcast medium (at least not if you want to see any benefit).

If you aren't prepared to deal with the tricky Tweets as well as the flattering ones then maybe you should think twice before putting yourself out there?

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