Stephanie Winans

Business & Marketing Strategy Consulting

brand

Getting Started on Twitter: A Cure for the Twitter Jitters

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Twitter looks fun, but you don’t understand exactly how it works?

Everyone feels that way when they first sign up. To cure those Twitter jitters, here’s what you need to know to get started:

How it Works

  • You have 140 characters for each tweet. You’ll want to craft your tweets efficiently to convey your message within the character limit, but using too many abbreviations may make the tweet difficult to understand. Keep it simple, and don’t try to say too much in one tweet.
  • Include shortened links. Long links take up precious real estate within that 140 character limit. If you use a third-party application like Hootsuite, TweetDeck or Sprout Social, the links will be automatically shortened for you. You can also use bit.ly or ow.ly to manually generate a short link from your original.
  • Although you have 140 characters, it’s smart to leave room for ‘RT @yourusername’ so that your tweet is re-tweet friendly. Calculate the number of characters it takes to RT you and subtract that from the 140 character limit to determine your ideal character count.

Getting Set Up

  • Choose a profile picture that represents your brand. If you’re a heavy metal rock star, a headshot in a suit and tie doesn’t suit you (no pun intended). Are you happy, brooding, serious or silly? Use your profile picture to convey your brand personality.
  • Craft your bio wisely. You have 160 characters to explain what you’re all about. Include  information about you and what you’ll tweet about. Try to make it interesting by showing some personality, too.
  • Determine what you’ll tweet about. People use Twitter for different things. Some tweet industry news or helpful blogs, some tweet snarky personal observations, some use Twitter for conversation. Define your content strategy and stick to it so your other users know what to expect when they follow you.
  • Create a Twitter background. If you use Photoshop or another graphic design program, you can create a custom background with dimensions of 2000×1200 pixels. If not, Twitter has some snazzy options to choose from in your profile settings, or you can hire me to create one for you (shameless self promotion!).

Understanding Twitter Lingo

  • What are all these number signs? They’re called hashtags, and are used in two ways:

First, a hashtag categorizes your tweet. For example, if I add ‘#SocialMedia’ to the end of my tweet, others searching for tweets on social media will find mine.

Hashtags are also used as a way to display attitude, feeling, thought, humor, or personality. For example, a (male, non-Mom, radio) friend sent me a funny tweet asking about a Mom’s night out with the hashtag ‘#AwkwardMomsSwayBackAndForth’. (By the way, my awkward dancing has nothing to do with being a Mom and everything to do with being a sweeeeet dancer.)

Hashtags aren’t case sensitive, and you can include one anywhere within your tweet. Just don’t include irrelevant categorizing hashtags, or you’ll be considered a spammer.

  • Aaahhhhh! What’s RT? MT? @? Twitter’s unique lingo may intimidate you at first, but it’s really quite simple once you get it. Here are some definitions that you’ll need right off:
  • RT: Retweet, RT followed by @username indicates that the user is sharing another person’s tweet with their followers; considered a compliment to receive a RT
  • @: Tags another user when followed by their Twitter user name; your tweet will appear in their Interactions or Mentions screen.
  • MT: Modified tweet, a RT that is modified for character count or relevance but still gives credit to the original user
  • #FF: Follow Friday, a recommendation to your followers to follow another user
  • DM: Direct Message, a private message on Twitter; these are rarely used due to the high amounts of spam and auto-DMs

For a complete and hilarious list of all abbreviations you may encounter, read this blog by @PookyH.

Best Practices

  • Give credit where it’s due. If you share a tweet or blog you saw from someone else’s tweet, credit them with a retweet or mention. Giving someone else credit doesn’t diminish your own credibility, it enhances it.
  • Check your @mentions often. Users love Twitter because it is very much a ‘real time’ platform. Don’t let days go by without responding.
  • Be authentic. Success on Twitter doesn’t come from copying the pros, it comes from being you. One of my favorite quotes is from Joss Whedon: “Always be yourself, unless you suck”.

Scheduling vs. Automating

There are many applications available that make it easier to schedule tweets in advance. Scheduling tweets ensures you’re reaching different people by tweeting at different times of the day, and makes it easier to share content without tweeting all at one time. Hootsuite and Buffer App both offer fabulous options for scheduling.

Automation is a hot button, and is not to be confused with scheduling. Scheduling is crafting your tweet and setting it up to be sent at a later time. Automating refers to the use of apps that tweet for you automatically. For example, you could use automation to tweet a specific blog every time a new one is published, without you ever reading that blog.

Whether you decide to pursue either, remember that neither replace real-time interaction on Twitter. In other words, you can’t schedule and run. You’ll receive @mentions and RTs from your tweets in real time, and you should engage often.

Growing Your Audience

So how do you find people to follow? How do you get others to follow you back? Here are some tips that may help:

  • Tweet share-worthy content. The best way to grow your audience is to produce good content. Use hashtags to categorize your tweets so people who share your interests will see them.
  • Share the content of others. Seriously, sharing is caring. Build relationships with other people on Twitter by sharing their tweets, blogs, etc. If your content is strong and relevant to their followers, they’ll return the favor.
  • Use Twellow. It’s an online directory for Twitter. Sign up yourself, and choose categories that represent your brand and your tweets. Search those categories to follow people who share common interests.

Anything you learned the hard way when you first started on Twitter? Leave a comment and share your knowledge with newbies. It’s good karma.

You know what else is good karma? Following me on Twitter @StephanieWinans.

A 12 Month Resolution for 2012: Build Your Own Personality Brand

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If you were asked to define your personality brand in 3-4 words, could you do it?

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.”

The key word in this definition is distinct. Today everyone has an opportunity with social media to strengthen and distinguish their personality brand.

A brand is the personality behind the name. Defining your personality brand doesn’t end when your show is over. What you do online should reflect your on-air character and strengthen your brand by sending a consistent message to listeners.

Make your online presence a focus for 2012. It’s an important part of radio today, and could be considered a strength when your contract is up for renewal (or if you find yourself on the job hunt).

Here are social media tips to take you through all twelve months of 2012 (so no giving up on this resolution after January):

 

January:   Define your character in one phrase. (If you’re a Randy Lane Company client, you already have this down.) What adjectives describe you? Are you serious, comical, conservative, hip, edgy, fun? Use these to develop a “tone” for your brand voice. Listeners should get a sense of your personality by the way you write.

(While we’re on the subject, read Angela’s article on How to Write Funny if comical is in your character.)

 

February:   Set goals for yourself. Do you want to increase your number of Twitter followers, Facebook likes or YouTube subscribers? Are you interested in developing relationships with listeners or others in the radio industry? You can’t measure progress if you don’t know what your personal goals are.

 

March:   Choose a social app to help you easily manage various social networks. You’ll be able to manage your own accounts on different platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and manage the station accounts as well from one interface. You can also schedule some of your tweets and posts so your message reaches a larger percentage your audience. Here are a few of my favorite apps:

Many apps will even tell you when your audience is “listening”, which helps you understand the best times to post a status update or tweet.

 

April:   Develop a minimum frequency goal and stick to it (permanently). How often will you be tweeting or posting on Facebook? Regardless of your time constraints, setting a frequency goal will ensure your accounts stay active and don’t look stale.

 

May:   Share your opinion this month. What’s your take on the topic you’re posting about?  Provide the information along with your thoughts on it. Your opinions are part of what make your voice distinct.

 

June:   Create organic content by making a hot topic your own. For example, when Scarlett Johansson’s nude pics leaked, Nat from Breakfast with Nat & Drew, Virgin/Vancouver, took her own Johanssoning picture. Instead of her butt in the mirror, though, it was a donkey (still an ass!). This was a fantastic way to put a personal touch on a hot topic.

 

July:   Share what you’re passionate about this month. Love cooking? Make a video of yourself preparing your favorite recipe, and share it with listeners via your social networks and station website.

 

August:   Be self deprecating. Find a way this month to showcase your endearing flaws online the way you do on-air. If you’re known for having great hair, share a picture of the oh-so-rare bad hair day.

 

September:   Give listeners a peek into what you’re up to off the air. Use pictures and videos to show what’s going on behind the scenes.

 

October:   Network with others in the radio industry. LinkedIn and Twitter are great for finding people you would like to meet, or reaching out to someone for the first time. Building relationships within the industry is important because you never know when that person could be your next co-host, PD or GM.

 

November:   Use social media for show prep. Following shows you admire can be the catalyst for brainstorming on topics, features and contests. With Twitter, you can favorite tweets and look back at them when you have time.

 

December:   Focus on your listeners. Talk with them, not at them. Developing meaningful relationships with listeners can convert them into brand ambassadors, and give you a sense of what listeners like and don’t like about your show.

 

Just a reminder: All content should support the brand essence of your show and station, as well. If you’re posting on the station or show accounts, what you say represents more than just your personality brand. Keep this in mind if you want to keep your job!

Have other tips to share for 2012? Leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

 

– written for The Randy Lane Company

 

Your Brand Has A Voice

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It’s easy for radio talent to engage listeners with social media. Your DJs interact with listeners the way they would with a friend or acquaintance, because their brand is their personality.

But what about your station accounts? How should brands interact with people on a social media platform? Like a person. Humanizing your station’s Facebook and Twitter accounts is easier than you think. After all, you know a thing or two about being human, don’t you?

To give your social media efforts a personal touch, you just need to develop your brand voice and say the right things.

Developing A Brand Voice For The Web

  • Know your audience. Create your “brand voice” with both your demo and format in mind.
  • What adjectives describe your station– serious, comical, conservative, hip, edgy, fun? Use adjectives that describe your brand to develop a “tone” for your brand voice.
  • Use your station’s imaging to help you brainstorm about how your station should sound online.

What Is Your Brand Voice Saying?

Your radio station is a brand. Your brand has a voice. But is your brand voice saying the right things online? Think of your brand as a person. Would you be friends with someone who talks about himself constantly, doesn’t engage in conversation, or ignores you? No, and neither would your listeners. Here are a few tips to keep your brand voice from sounding like a braggart or a bore:

  • Make it about your audience and not about you. What do your listeners want or expect from your social media accounts? Updates on local concerts, music news, promotions and giveaways, pictures and videos of station events, sneak peeks into what happens behind the scenes? If you aren’t sure, ask them. Use Facebook questions or a Twitter hashtag to start the conversation.
  • Don’t brag. Self-promoting is accepted only when it serves a purpose for the listener. When in doubt, ask yourself the question “What’s in it for them?” before posting. Are you offering content relevant to your demo? Are you giving them more of the personalities they love to hear on-air? Are you giving them a chance to win something they want?
  • Don’t mistake your Facebook and Twitter accounts for a press-release dumping ground. Many brands make this mistake, and radio is no exception to this rule.
  • Make sure your content is relevant. Remember you’re talking to your listeners, so talk about topics your demo is likely to care about.
  • If you wouldn’t say it on-air, don’t say it online. Your web presence should be a natural extension of your on-air brand.
  • Join conversations that are relevant to your brand. Respond to comments on Facebook, and join conversations on Twitter using @replies to create a conversation between your station brand and the listener.
  • Answer their concerns. Be customer service minded, and don’t let listener questions go unanswered. Whether it’s the name of a particular song, the date you’re giving away certain concert tickets, or a gripe about an on-air talent or promotion, let them know their voice is heard.
  • Don’t sound desperate. Studies show that calls to action (asking for likes and comments) produce results, but don’t get carried away.
  • Stick to the strategy. There’s nothing worse than a brand that abandons their social media accounts. If you can’t keep up with them, delete them.

-written for Radio Ink

 

Do You Know Who Is Watching?

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No one was more irritated than me when our flight was delayed on a recent trip… when traveling with a toddler, every few hours matter in your anti-meltdown playbook.

But what are you going to do?  Pitch a fit in public?  That’s what this guy did, all why wearing a radio station fleece, and right before saying his name aloud over the phone several times.  Little did he know that the woman sitting behind him works in radio, too, and was about to strike up a conversation to pass the time…

He sat down and slammed his bag on the floor.  (My daughter says “Uh-oh”.) He slams his computer closed. (My daughter says “Uh-oh”.) His says several extreme expletives (My daughter says “Uh-oh”.)

He spoke loudly enough for me to hear without eavesdropping as he made several phone calls. After venting on each call about how angry he was over the flight delay, he was very rude and snappy as he demanded to speak with someone other than a secretary.

I wasn’t the only one listening in horror.  Several other people heard him say his name, and saw the call letters on that fleece.  That he doesn’t even work at that station doesn’t matter.  That he could be perfectly nice and just having a bad day doesn’t matter, either. With his bad behavior, he tainted two entities- both that radio station and the brand that is himself.