Great Twitter tips

Twitter or not to Twitter... That is the question

For all of the people who want to jump into twitter or just want to get more from there Twittering. This list of 10 tips should get you well on your way. Thanks Steve for this post.

1. Shrink Your URLs
One of the most common uses of Twitter is sharing links. But you only have 140 characters to work with, so instead of sharing a long URL, use one of several URL-shortening services to shrink that link. Some of our favorites include tinyurl.com, is.gd, ow.ly, and bit.ly.

2. RT = Retweet
If you want to copy and paste someone else’s tweet, that’s totally accepted and appreciated, as long as you give the original tweeter credit for it. Just put “RT @name” in front of their tweet and post it yourself.

3. Direct Messaging
With Twitter’s direct-messaging (DM) function, you can send a private 140-character message to another user, kind of like abbreviated e-mail. However, you can only direct message Twitter users that are following you.

4. Use the @ Sign
To create a reply or to give someone props on Twitter, simply place an @ sign in front of their Twitter name. If it is a reply, the @ sign must be the first character of the tweet. To see replies to your own tweets, click on @Replies from your profile page.

5. Search For Your Friends
Search.twitter.com works well for finding your friends, celebrities, or organizations, or for searching for specific topics you’re interested in.

6. Categorize Your Tweets for Added Visibility
If you’re tweeting about a popular subject (Obama, Lost, etc) putting a # in front of the subject makes it easy for others to find your tweet, and perhaps they will want to follow you. For example, when the plane crashed into the Hudson River in January, #flight1549 became a popular tag and search term.

7. Share Pictures
People love sharing their photos with the world, and some even break news with them, like Janis Krums, who used TwitPic to post one of the first up-close photos of Flight 1549 on his Twitter feed. Services like TwitPic let users easily upload their photos and post them directly to Twitter.

8. Tweet from Your Phone
Twitter allows you to update your status and receive updates via text message. Under Settings, go to the Devices tab and enter your phone number to start sending and receiving mobile tweets. If your incoming tweets/texts are overwhelming you, disable this option by going back to the same panel and following the instructions.

9. Pick a Good Desktop Client
With desktop clients such as TweetDeck, Twhirl, and TwitterFox, you can receive tweets in a much more manageable fashion, especially if you follow a lot of people, respond often, and use direct messages a lot. TweetDeck, for example, allows you to create specific groups, if you want to split your feed into individual columns.

10. Download a Mobile Client
If you have a BlackBerry, an iPhone, or another smartphone with Wi-Fi or 3G access, a mobile client might be a better option than using text messages. Mobile Twitter clients worth checking out include Twitterific, TwitterBerry, PocketTweets, and Twidroid.

30 Brand questions

I have a few questions

1. We actively investigate what is important to our customers, using research, face to face interviews, questionnaires, suggestion boxes, etc.

2. We understand how our customers feel about our products and services.

3. We judge the effectiveness of our brand in terms of how it looks and feels to our customers – not how it seems to us.

4. We understand the attitudes of our customers and their changing views and needs.

5. We don’t have to discount prices in order to attract and keep our customers.

6. Our customers can state quite clearly and simply what is important about our brand to them, and why they think it is different.

7. Our communication plan includes all the various places and ways in which we interact with our customers.

8. We have aligned our organisational structure, operations and culture with our brand values.

9. Our induction programme includes education on our brand and the role it plays in enhancing our competitiveness.

10. We understand in our own minds what differentiates our brand from our competitors.

11. Everyone in our organisation knows what our brand stands for and can articulate that idea simply and clearly.

12. Everyone in our organisation knows what they have to do to deliver on our brand promise.

13. Included in our performance management systems is an assessment of the contribution each individual makes to growing and enhancing the brand.

14. Our communications, marketing, service delivery, finance and HR functions are all aligned with our brand objectives.

15. Branding is championed throughout our organisation, from the CEO down.

16. We receive regular internal communications detailing what our brand is about.

17. Strengthening and protecting the company’s brand is a fundamental driver behind our organisation’s long-term goals.

18. We have a brand management programme in place that is continually looking for new and more effective ways to protect and enhance our brand throughout the organisation.

19. Our branding strategies are proactively driven. They do not depend on what our competitors are up to.

20. Accounts quantifying the value of our brand to our business are included in our financial systems.

21. Details of our brand and the strategy that drives it are well documented and that information is available to those who need and desire it.

22. All key stakeholders are involved in our brand creation process.

23. Our company has systems in place for carefully monitoring the appropriateness, timeliness, integration and consistency of our branded communications.

24. We view brand as applying to far more than just our visual identity and our marketing communications.

25. Our brand includes not just our core organisation but also our partners and key third party suppliers.

26. We regard our brand agency(ies) as our strategic partner(s) and actively involve them in organisational and communications planning and review sessions.

27. Our marketing and communications team have an integrated understanding of our brand and are in constant communication over brand-related activities and issues.

28. The consistency of our brand is paramount. It reaches way beyond just tactical brand campaigns and it is deeper than even key personnel changes.

29. We review our brand and what it stands for with all our agencies at least once a year.

30. If our brand did not exist, the vast majority of our customers would notice our absence and really miss having us in their lives.