What Can HootSuite Do For You?

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HootSuite is a tool that you can use to manage your Tweeting habit, for free!  There are several functions you can do with this amazing tool.

  • You can manage all of your Twitter profiles in one place.
  • Track your Tweeting statistics
  • Multi-column layout with customizable tabs
  • Create customizable groups of friends, coworkers, celebrities
  • Embed a column on another site so you can see the Tweet stream of a specific topic on a blog or website
  • Feed your blog (I am currently using Twitterfeed..but will be updating to HootSuite soon)
  • Integrate your Ping.fm account so that you can update all of your Social Networks at once with a single Tweet
  • Schedule Tweets – This is my personal favorite!
  • View user information about other people without going to their profile

You can view demo videos here about how these features work.

For more social marketing tips check out my business site – http://www.SunriseVirtualServices.com

Twitter Tips I’ve Picked Up

I  have a few Twitter Tips up my sleeve and I’d like to share these with you.

Use a colorful background or wear a bright color in your profile photo.

This tip I picked up from Erin Blaskie. She explains that by having a bright profile image your Tweets will ‘pop’ out more within someone’s Tweet Stream, makes sense to me.  Check out her Twitter profile image when you follow her you will see how much her Tweets actually seem to jump out at you.

Join Twitter Directories

There are several Twitter directories you can join and once you do so people can find and follow you based upon common interests.  Some directories to join are:

  • We Follow – http://wefollow.com/ – This one is my favorite because it ranks people in differnt categories (they place themselves in the categories) but it is still fun to see who the top Celebrity Tweeters are or the top Social Media people are.
  • Twellow - http://www.twellow.com/ – Known as the Twitter Yellow Pages
  • Just Tweet It - http://justtweetit.com/ – Find other people who Tweet what you Tweet

Completely fill out your Bio, Upload a picture, Create a Background Image

People are more likely to follow you if you have a completed Bio. Also, be sure to use your real name in your profile so that if someone searches for you, they can find you!  Isn’t that the point of being on the Internet anyway so that people can find you?  Also, you can create your own background instead of the stock Twitter backgrounds.  There are a lot of web designers who will do this for you for a small fee.  My favorite designer is BKB Designs , her name is Katherine Boroksi and she Designed my company logo and she can whip up something for you in a flash.

Tweet  and Retweet

To stay relevant, you need to Tweet what you think!  You will find that you create the most converstation with people if you actually interact with them on Twitter and ReTweet their thoughts as well.  Don’t just ReTweet a celebrity Tweet, actually Tweet things that are of interest to you as that is how you will create a community of like minded followers.

You can also follow me on Twitter at – http://www.twitter.com/dawncullo

For more social marketing tips check out my business site – http://www.SunriseVirtualServices.com

Twitter Verified

verifiedHave you ever thought of following a celebrity on Twitter but just not sure if it is really them sending those Tweets?  Well, you are not the only one who has had that thought that cross through their mind.

The good folks over at at Twitter in San Francisco are working on saving us from fake celebrity accounts. The are currently in the process of verifying celebrity accounts to be sure that they are authentic.  They are creating a new Verified Account program in which they will do their homework and find an official person connected to the celebrity who can verify the account.  According to the Twitter Blog they are planning on rolling out the program this summer.

Until then, the best way to be sure you are following a 100% genuine grade A celebrity is to go to their website and see if they have a link to their Twitter account.  Even better some celebrities have publicized their Twitter ID’s on their talk shows or while doing interviews.

Oprah is one such celebrity who announced her Twitter ID on air.  She devoted an entire show to Twitter in April 2009.   She tweeted live for the first time on TV with Gayle King by her side and even had Evan Williams co-founders of Twitter on the show with her.  You can be sure that this Twitter account is the real Oprah http://twitter.com/oprah

These accounts have already been verified by the celebrity either through their website or themselves via their own talk show or while on another show.

Gail King – http://twitter.com/kinggayle
Jimmy Fallon – http://twitter.com/jimmyfallon
Ashton Kutcher – http://twitter.com/aplusk
Demi Moore – http://twitter.com/mrskutcher
Ellen Degenereshttp://twitter.com/TheEllenShow
Shaq – http://twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ
MC Hammer – http://twitter.com/MCHammer
Anderson Cooper – http://twitter.com/andersoncooper
Sean Diddy Combs – http://www.twitter.com/IamDiddy

Who are the celebrities that you follow?

Publicize Your Twitter

It is important to add your Twitter URL (or ID) to your Facebook, your Website and your Blog.  This will help your current connections to find your Twitter URL (or ID) and start to follow you on Twitter.

By adding your Twitter URL to your Facebook, Website or Blog page people will then be able to quickly follow you on Twitter by clicking the link and going to your Twitter profile.   Your Twitter URL is http://www.twitter.com/username or ID  for instance mine is http://www.twitter.com/dawncullo

To Add The URL To Your Facebook

The link can be added to your Contact information under the Info Tab in the Websites section.

1. Click on the INFO tab in your Facebook Profile.

infotab

2. Scroll down to the Contact Information section

3. Hover your mouse over the Edit button / pencil area until it appears and then click EDIT.

contact

4. Scroll down to the WEBSITE section

5. Type in your Twitter URL (remember it is http://www.twitter.com/username)

fbcontactedit1

6. Click the blue SAVE CHANGES button.

7. View the link on your profile Home Page under the INFORMATION section.

fbcontact

To Add The URL To Your Website and Blog

Do a quick Google search for “Twitter Buttons” and you will come up with a laundry list of  designs. My favorite site is Twitter Buttons but there are a lot of new sites popping up all the time so check those out too for a design that fits into your Website or Blog theme.

1. Once you have found the design you like input your Twitter ID in the box at the top of the page and click “GO”

twitterbadge

2. The site will automatically generate an HTML code below the design.

3. Select copy code and then paste to it your Website or Blog.

4. You can also past the code in a notepad document and save it for use later.

5. This is an example of a design from  Twitter Buttons

Go ahead, click on the badge, see what happens.

I found this one on Twit Buttons

Twitter Button from twitbuttons.com

If you are unsure how to do then add this to your Website or Blog page this could be a great task to delegate to a Virtual Assistant or a Web Site Editor.

If you have a WordPress Blog site I can help you with this task.  I offer this as part of my Blog Update service.  Send me an email if you are interested in adding your Twitter ID to your blog.  My email is dawn@sunrisevirtualservices or you can Tweet me.

Twitter Button from twitbuttons.com

[tags] Twitter, Dawn Cullo, Sunrise Virutal Services [/tags]

Your On Twitter, Now What?

Congratulations, you made it on Twitter but now what?  The first thing to do is to find people to follow because if you are Tweeting and no one is listening to you then what is the point, right?

  • Click on the FIND PEOPLE link and type in a person’s name, a company name or Twitter ID.

You can also find people by using a keyword search.

  • Utilize the search box on your profile and enter keywords such as your target market or keywords associated with your business.
  • The search will reveal other people who have used that word in their Tweet or Bio.
  • Click on their profile to view their page
  • You can elect to follow them by clicking the FOLLOW button.

Here is a good plan of action for finding people to follow, this should keep you busy for a little while.

  1. Locate your friends and family
  2. Search for business associates
  3. Search for your “competition”
    Remember that following your competition is a good thing becuase you can keep an eye on what new products or servcies they may be featuring.
  4. Seek out companies
    Following local and national companies can be fun and beneficial to you because you can hear about company news instantly and even take advantage of coupons and discounts only offered to Twitter followers.  You can also send Direct Messages to these companies and get answers quickly from real people without waiting on hold!  Some of my favorite companies to follow are:
    @JetBlue
    @HomeDepot
    @WholeFoods
    @nordstrom
    @hotwire_deals
    @Overstock
    @OReturns (Overstock Returns)
    @rubbermaid
    @Sharpie
    @BestBuy
    There are a zillion more companies to follow just search for your favorite ones in the search box under the Find People link.
  5. Follow News Tweets
    No need to wait for the 5 o’clock news or look it up on the web.  Get news updates instantly by following local and national news stations as well as newspapers.  Also, try digging a little deeper to find your local news anchor’s Twitter Page
    @cnnbrk
    @andersoncooper
    @ricksanchezcnn
    @foxnews
    @LaTimes
    @NYTimes

What are some of your favorite people or companies to follow?

TweetStats, it’s all about the numbers.

TweetStats, it’s all about the numbers.

I just started to use this Twitter Tool called TweetStats.

TweetStats will Graph your Twitter Stats including

  • Tweets per hour
  • Tweets per month
  • Tweet timeline
  • Reply statistics

Here is a view of my Tweet Cloud, the bigger the word the more I have Tweeted about it.

tweetstats

This is one of the many graphs that are available.  This one illustrates who I have sent an @reply to and how often.

tweetstats2

There are a ton of Twitter Tools out there these days, what are the ones you find most useful?

If you like this tip and want more like it then hop over to my virtual assisting site SunriseVirtual Services and sign up for my email list.

Using The Wii To Connect With My Family

wii-fitWe purchased a Wii a few months ago and did so because it was a more ‘kid friendly’ gaming platform than the PS3 (yes we have that too) but the controls on the Wii are easy for Lily to use and for my Mom to use, so that was a win-win in our book.  We have played the Wii Sports together and had a blast, the boxing will really make your shoulders hurt the next day. My mom will even jump in and play the hand bells when we play Wii Music.  I was in shock that she was ‘game’ to play Wii Music with us but she had a blast and we all laughed about it.

Next we decided to step up our gaming so to speak and purchase the Wii Fit and Wii Balance Board.  These two items are used to have oodles of fun on the Wii for the whole family.  It is not just the working out that is fun, but the actual doing something together.  Normally, I am on the computer, Louis is watching TV and Lily is coloring or playing with her My Little Ponies.  Now, we all come together and cheer for each other during the Wii Fit Activities, and we giggle a lot too.  This not only shows my daughter the importance of daily exercise but supporting other people and giving them positive feedback.  Lily loves to do the Penguin Slide (see video) and the Free Running on the Wii.  I like to do the Yoga and Strength exercises while my husband likes the Strength and Balance games.

There is a new product about to hit the shelves in a few weeks called the EA Sports Active which is a full workout experience that includes a virtual personal trainer.  Check out my previous blog post for information about that product.  I can’t wait to get my paws on that game.

As I have found out, I am not the only one using the Wii to bring my family together and get a good workout.  Check out this form called We Fit Familes.  It is great to go there and connect with other like-minded families and challenge each other on the Wii.  One of the sub forms I follow is called Game Your Way.

Speaking of We Fit Families, they are having a Mother’s Day Bash that you won’t want to miss.spiceshealth_topimageashx1

They will be giving away a grand prize sponsored by McCormick’s that includes:

  • A set of McCormick Super Spices
  • DietFoodsRX Book
  • Measuring Spoon Set
  • $200 Gift Certificate to your local grocery store!

How To Enter

Jump over to McCormick’s site and check out their Spices For Health section.  Then come pop back over to my Blog and leave a comment about which spice you want to try using in a new wayJust post your comment below in the comment box. Also you must be a Twitter user so leave your Twitter ID in your comment. You will be notified via Twitter if you have won the prize.  Twitter is fun, free and easy, click here to join Twitter.

Bonus Time (whoop whoop)

picbottlesThe grand prize is awesome but there is more loot you can get try to get your hands on.  I am so excited to be a part of this event and I am giving away a Piggy Paint $25.00 Gift Card.  Huh? What the heck is Piggy Paint?

Piggy Paint is nail polish that is Kid Friendly and Non-Toxic.


Why is Piggy Paint Nail Polish the safe nail polish choice for children?

  • Non-toxic
  • Odorless
  • Water-based formula
  • Hypoallergenic
  • Fun, vibrant colors
  • Dries to a hard, durable finish

I will be ordering some for Lily really soon, just can’t decide on which colors to pick.

How to Enter My Piggy Paint Giveaway

  1. Follow me on Twitter – http://www.twitter.com/dawncullo
  2. Tweet the following (just copy and paste this Tweet) – @dawncullo is giving away a Piggy Paint $25.00 Gift Card. http://tinyurl.com/cemf6o #fitfam blog bash twitter party 5/1

That’s It!

Allow 4-6 weeks for mailing. We reserve the right to remove any entry from these giveaways. All rules for giveaways must be followed or will be deleted. All participants in the giveaways must be 18 years of age or older. Open to US Residents only. This giveaway will close on Thursday, April 30, 2009, at 11:59 pm EST; show up on 5/1/09 to the Mother’s Day Mega Bash (hashtag #fitfam on Twitter) to see if you win! The winners will be announced at the party!

Double Bonus

2in_product
The Piggy Paint folks have given me a secret coupon code that you can use to get 20% off all items and free shipping over $25.00.

The coupon code is THANKYOU20L

So you can pop over there, check out there product and give it them a try.


Triple Bonus

There are over 25 other Bloggers that are participating in this Blog Bash.  Each Blogger is also hosting a giveaway.

Here is the list of all the other blogs participating in this Mother’s Day Blog Bash and running their own giveaways, check them out for not only their contest but for some great information:



To Twitt or not to Twitt

Yes, you should use Twitter for your business and for fun.

I think that Twitter is the coolest customer service tool since the phone! Where else can a company get instant, and I mean INSTANT feedback about their product? You don’t have to find the company’s phone number or wait on hold until you can talk to a customer service person. I personally have communicated with DirecTV about how happy I am with the free Nascar HotPass this season, and yes he responded right away! I also have been known to communicate with the local news guy about a few things too. It is like direct access to these companies and we should all be taking advantage of this great technology.
Here is how to get started:

  1. Sign Up. Go to http://www.twitter.com/ and sign up for a free account under you name or your company name.
  2. Create a short but sweet bio and upload a pretty picture of YOU, not your dog or your pet parrakeet, just you or your company logo.
    You can create a custom background and upload it or choose one of the nifty ones provided by Twitter. I created one in photoshop and saved it as .jpg. Just remember to keep it simple.
  3. Get a Twitter Desktop Management tool. Go to http://www.tweetdeck.com/ and download an awesome desktop management tool to manage all the awesome Tweeting you will be doing and receiving because Twitter is like a dorito chip, once you start with one, you can’t stop. There are some other great tools to use as well such as http://www.tweetlater.com/ where you can schedule automatic Tweets to go out on specific days at specific times and it helps manage other Twitter goodies such as keyword searches and sending out automatic direct messages.
  4. Start Tweeting! You have 140 characters to work with , so keep it short. OK, so now what do you Tweet about? You can Tweet about anything you want, what you are doing, what you are going to do, comment about a show you are watching, something or someone you want to promote. During Nascar races I follow a handful of people and we all comment about the race, it is great fun. We also use hash-tag the # sign after each Tweet so we can keep track of the conversation. Not sure what a hash-tag is? Check out this YouTube video by @MariSmith – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAHitI26MmE
  5. Start following people. Here are some people that I recommend following right away you will get some great content from them @MariSmith @JoeComm and me too @DawnCullo.The easy way to add people to your Tweet Stream is to follow a few people and then look at who they are following. You can also do a search for people or companies on Twitter. Some companies to follow are @DirecTV, @CNN , @Zappos to name a few. You search here http://twitter.com/invitations for people or companies. I even follow my local news stations and local traffic alerts on Twitter. I actually found out the my husbands company was going to lay off workers before he called to tell me, I heard it on Twitter!
  6. Interact with people and learn the lingo.RT = ReTweet
    If you see a Tweet go by and you think it is cool you can Re-Tweet it. Just use the letters RT before the Tweet.

    @ = Responses
    If you want to respond to someone use the symbol @TheirName such as @DawnCullo before your comment. The replies will be placed in the Tweet Stream for everyone to see.

    DM = Direct Message
    You can send a private message by using letters DM before your content and it will be sent to the person in private.

    To make it easier on your self down load TweetDeck and it will automatically put all the corect letters before your special Tweets based upon the action you select when you hover your mouse over their tweet.

    This is a screen shot of TweetDeck. I have it set up in 5 columns. All Friends Tweets, Replies, Direct Message, Favorites (people’s tweets you don’t want miss) and TwitScoop, which shows the trending topics based upon the popularity of words in various Tweets.


There is so much more I could say about Twitter, I could go on for days. So check out my main resource on all things Twitter http://www.marismith.com/blog/ for some great info.
See you in the Tweet Stream.

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