Should You be Using Twitter for Business?

It's a common question and one of the most hotly debated topics between marketers and business owners today. Should we be using Twitter? What's the concrete ROI of being on Twitter? Aren't all social networks just a giant waste of time?

This video, produced by Earnest Agency, highlights some of the reasons why social media involvement is so important for businesses. Although this video focuses on business to business (B2B) marketing, the message applies to both B2B and B2C industries.

It's understandable that many business owners and CEOs view Twitter primarily as a time-waster. After all, it IS time-consuming, and the results of being active on Twitter are difficult to measure. Worst of all, it's fun.

Many social media evangelists make it seem like being active on every social network the web has to offer is crucial to any business' success - regardless of the business' industry and target demographics. In my opinion, Twitter is NOT the right tool for every business, just as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace, Digg and Flickr don't fit the needs of every business' marketing goals. It's better to think of these as tools in a marketer's toolbox. Why would you pull out a chainsaw, hammer and nailgun when all you really need is a chisel?

Here comes the big HOWEVER. As countless businesses across B2B and B2C industries have demonstrated, Twitter can be more effective in a wider range of applications than many business owners realize. Dismissing social media involvement without researching how competitors and businesses in similar industries are using it could mean losing out on business and market share. Again, I'm not saying Twitter is the right tool for every business, I'm simply saying that it's an option worth exploring.

Let's explore how businesses in a range of B2B and B2C industries are currently leveraging Twitter - to some pretty phenomenal results.

Business to consumer (B2C) businesses using Twitter successfully:

@jetblue (aka Jet Blue Airlines)

Jet Blue Airlines has taken its industry's reputation for shoddy customer service as an opportunity to stand out above the crowd. @jetblue tweets real-time customer service updates and responses with a dedication that shames the rest of the airline industry. A glance at @jetblue's Twitter page, at any given time, will yield information about luggage checking, flight availability, destinations and even the availability of certain produce at given destinations. By leveraging Twiter this way, Jet Blue manages to provide high quality, real-time customer service, promote its services and boost its PR through ceiling in a single swipe.

@homedepot (AKA Home Depot Corporate)

Following a similar model to @jetblue's Twitter strategy, @homedepot's Twitter page is full of responses to customer questions, problems and even compliments. An entire team is dedicated to responding to customer inquiries sent to @homedepot, and from the looks of it, they're doing an excellent job. Home Depot has created a series of short, helpful DIY fix-it videos which it uses to populate its Twitterfeed when it's not responding to customer inquiries, a great applicaiton of "pull" marketing.

@gap (The Gap)

Sure, Gap uses its Twitterfeed to push new product and sale information to customers, but @gap also successfully leverages Twitter to engage in fashion and clothing communities. @gap keeps careful tabs on who is talking about Gap products where and talks right back, spreading the discussion further with frequent shoutouts to active Twitter-ers.

@fivesparrows (Five Sparrows Marketing)

While there's nothing particularly noteworthy about @fivesparrows' Twitter strategy (they essentially use it to share information), they mentioned an interesting case study when I heard them speak recently. One of their clients was a chain of gas stations, all located close to freeway entrances. Rather than funneling out specials on slurpies and hot dogs, they used their Twitterfeed to ping customers on changes in gas prices. Truckers traveling through were able to save hundreds of dollars each week by checking the company's Twitterfeed.

Business to business (B2B) companies successfully leveraging Twitter:

@steelcase (Steelcase)

This office furniture manufacturer averages 4-10 tweets per day without ever slipping into shout-about-our-products-with-a-megaphone mode. The majority of @steelcase's tweets are genuine conversation between customers, colleagues and design professionals, and a small percentage are @steelcase slyly plugging its products by sharing conversations other people are having about them. @steelcase slips in occasional customer service when necessary, as well.

There are plenty of individual B2B professionals who leverage their personal Twitter accounts to expand their network and create "buzz" around their own name, a form of personal branding. @b2btw and @mvolpe are both individual marketing professionals who have gained respect and notoriety in their respective B2B communities by sharing honest, interesting perspectives on industry issues. @b2btw's dry commentary on marketing fails and events serve to engage the B2B marketing community while re-affirming @b2btw's own expertise.

@MIWomensForum is the Twitter arm of a website of the same name. Solely operated by publisher Joni Hubred-Golden, @MIWomensForum acts as a hub for all business-related women's issues in Michigan and has become a powerful authority on information, connections and events. The true bottom line, however, is that @MIWomensForum makes advertising space on www.michiganwomensforum.com far more valuable than it would be otherwise.

So how do you determine whether or not Twitter is the right marketing strategy for your business? It might help to consider the following:

- Is your customer base on Twitter? Do the research. Some businesses may find that not enough of their customers use Twitter to justify establishing a campaign. Others might find a thriving community of untapped potential customers.

- What kind of value would real-time updates provide to your customers? Be creative; research competitors and consult with your creative staff.

- What goals could Twitter enable you to accomplish? Brainstorm a list of your business' biggest obstacles, then explore ways Twitter could help address them.

There are plenty of resources available around the interweb to help you figure out the ins and outs of using Twitter for business. If you'd like help mapping out a successful strategy for your business, I'd be happy to sit down with you for a free consultation.

SEO 102: Longtail Keywords, Business Blogging Secret Weapons

I tend to talk about longtail keywords a lot, for three main reasons:

1) I've had steady success using them, particularly in the context of business blogging

2) Longtail keywords can make up 50-90% of any given site's organic search volume (not to mention traffic brought in from longtail keywords usually has a higher conversion rate)

3) Writing with longtail keywords is WAY more fun and sounds WAY more natural than trying to use a single term to reach an unnatural keyword density.

Still, when a client grows tired of my marketing lingo and asks me to explain what a longtail keyword is, I inevitably find myself saying, "um..."

In short, longtail keywords are long, complex or unusual search queries. Unlike regular keywords, longtail keywords usually have very low - if any - search volume, since these queries tend to be very unique. Longtail keyword search queries are highly sophisticated searches made by search engine users who know exactly what they're looking for and are trying to weed out generic search results.

For example, as a savvy searcher, I might use the longtail search query "aaa ford focus front end repair grand rapids" rather than simply typing in "auto repair" when searching for an auto repair shop. Using a very specific query like this makes it more likely that I'll find exactly the result I'm looking for. From a marketer's end, this means that users who find a website by using longtail keywords are more likely to convert into a sale or lead.

Although longtail keywords have very low search volume and are very often unique, when you count up all the longtail keywords bringing traffic to any given site, they often outnumber the amount of traffic brought in by regular keywords, such as "auto repair". Optimizing for longtail keywords takes some strong creative thinking skills, but if done well, it can dramatically increase quality traffic.

Rather than discussing longtail keywords abstractly, I'd like to show how I've used them effectively in the context of business blogging. This particular case study will show how blogging using longtail keywords helped boost qualified traffic - and likely gather a few inbound links - for a local auto repair shop.

First, take a look at a blog post I made on tire rotation:

I initially landed on the topic of tire rotation by doing keyword research on a number of repair services to see which ones were searched the most. I noticed that not only did "tire rotation" related keywords have a fairly high prominence, but it seemed that many people were searching this term in an attempt to find out more information on when, how and where to have their car's tires rotated.

From there, it was downhill. I did a few quick Google searches to see what information was already available on these topics, then I brainstormed a shortlist of phrases based loosely off my initial keyword search. This is where the creative part came in. Rather than picking short, obvious (and highly competitive) terms, I thought about all the various ways users might phrase questions about tire rotation. My shortlist included phrasings like:

when to have my car's tires rotated

front end tire rotation

all wheel tire rotation

routine tire rotation

how often should my tires be rotated

rotate tires every ___ miles

Keeping these phrases at the top of my mind, I continued to write an informative post about optimal tire rotation maintenance, peppering in other related terms, such as "maintenance", "car", "rear tires" and "misalignment".

Phrases which were most important received the most prominence by being placed in the blog post's title and bolded header.

Now, let's look at the results.

Here's the traffic this post pulled in since it was posted in October. As you can see, it's continued to bring in a steady amount of traffic long after its original post date. Additionally, the bounce rate for this page is well below site average.

Here's a quick look at the keywords which brought traffic in to this post. This is only a snapshot of the top 25 keywords. As you can see, "tire rotation" may be the most common, but the rest of the longtail keywords combined brought in more traffic than the main keyword, "tire rotation" did alone.

Here's a similar example, based off a "failed thermostat" blog post.

Here's the original post, with targeted keyword phrases circled:

Now, take a look at this post's web stats and the keywords for which it was most frequently found:

I can understand why longtail keywords make many old school SEO gurus squeamish; they're amorphous, unpredictable, and using them requires a great deal of intuition. When combined with a well-optimized business blog, however, they can be an incredibly effective tool for getting more traffic and, if the business blog is well written, hopefully inbound links as well.

Why are longtail keywords most effective when paired with a business blog? If you'd like to know more about SEO for business blogs, head over to my website's business blogging resource section. Of course, if you're still confused, I'd love to answer your questions personally.

Next week we'll take a look at basic link building strategies.

SEO 101: Keyword Research

I thought I'd kick things off with a series on the basics of Search Engine Optimization. SEO is one of the most common - and complex - topics I find myself engaged in with clients, and it makes sense to start out with the "building blocks" of every successful web marketing strategy.

Even if you know nothing about search engine optimization, you've probably heard about how important keywords are. Keywords are absolutely foundational to search engine optimization, and for any successful web marketing campaign, for that matter. SEO experts discuss how and where to use them all the time, but what's seldom discussed is exactly what they are - and how to identify the right ones to use in your campaign.

Without thorough, accurate keyword research, even the best internet marketing campaign will at best be inefficient. At worst, it will hemorrhage time and money.

Let's take a look at the basic principles of keyword research, starting with a definition:

Keyword: a word or short phrase which captures the essence of the topic being discussed in a particular web page or campaign.

Now, this is where it gets tricky.

There's a huge difference between the keywords YOU think apply to your website and the keywords your potential customers are using in search engine queries. If you simply try to guess, you may be right sometimes, but it would be like playing darts in the dark. Plus, you will be guaranteed to be missing out on other major terms you wouldn't have thought of.

Example:

I was recently reviewing the website of an auto repair shop. The page title read:

"Community Car Repair".

Granted, the owner hadn't put

too much thought into the words, but he felt fairly confident he'd chosen a good phrase. I took 30 seconds to plug a few alternative phrases into Google's keyword tool, and this is what we found:

"Community Car Repair" ended up having the lowest search volume, and "Car Repair" has roughly 1/7th the search volume of "Auto Repair". (PS, for now we're only looking at Global Monthly Search Volume. Local Search Volume is usually unreliable, for a number of reasons we won't go into now).

Clearly, "Community Auto Repair" will bring this auto repair shop more traffic than "Community Car Repair".

But wait: there's more. It's not enough to find the one highest volume term for your industry then pepper your entire site with that single phrase. Focusing on a single phrase, or even two or three phrases, will not only make your site look spamalicious to your potential leads, customers and to Google, but it will cause you to miss out on a host of traffic brought in by longer, more diverse phrases.

Search queries composed of long, complex words and phrases are called "longtail keywords", and they're quickly becoming the Holy Grail of SEO. One of my favorite SEO bloggers, Tim Grice, pounds this point home when he emphasizes that 90% of his organic search traffic comes from longtail keywords, rather than short, 2-3 word keyword phrases.

For example, Tim routinely ranks between #1-#5 on page one of Google for the "shorttail" keyword:

seo consultant

Yet the majority of his traffic comes from longer, more complex search queries such as:

search engine marketing consultant in the UK

how to use link building to improve seo

anchor text best practices for on-page search engine optimisation

We'll tackle using longtail keywords in business blogs to boost search engine traffic in a later post, but it's important to understand the concept of them in order to do effective keyword research.

How do longtail keywords effect keyword research?

Being aware that long, complex phrases are just as crucial - if not more so - as regular high volume keywords causes us to be more alert when performing research. Rather than scanning Google's keyword tool for only the highest volume terms, we need to look for common words and phrases which appear across different queries.

When performing keyword research, I typically segregate keywords into a focus group and a content group. Into the focus group, I toss short, high volume keywords which I'll use to optimize the most crucial areas of a website. Into the content group, I'll toss keywords with lower volume which appear commonly across different phrases, including their most common combinations. When writing content, such as web page content or blog posts, I'll string words from the focus group with relevant phrases from the content group into as many different "longtail" keyword combinations as I can fit.

Using this strategy, I not only capture a more diverse pool of keywords in organic searches, but I help the content sound more natural by using more diverse phrases.

Take the above results from Google's keyword tool, for example. If I were optimizing a set of pages for "high heel shoes", I'd want to take into consideration all the color and style qualifiers which are used in the lower-volume search strings. By combining common descriptive qualifiers with my root keyword, "high heel shoes", and peppering my longtail phrases throughout content and titles, I could triple my search traffic.

Confused yet? Shoot me a question!

Next week we'll take a more in-depth look at how to get the most out of Google's keyword tool.

Why I Don't Want to be an Internet Marketing Expert

The term "expert" has been getting banged up lately, particularly in regards to social media marketing. Social media legend Peter Shankman recently presented a blog post listing 25 traits to be wary of in a social media "expert". The list includes points such as:

- They call themselves an evangelist, guru or expert, and no one else does.

and

- They use "expert" or "evangelist" or "guru" or our personal favorite, "influencer" as any of their usernames.

Social media marketing is a new field - new enough for it to seem ridiculous that anyone could call themselves a social media expert. It simply hasn't been around long enough for anyone (aside from Mark Zuckerberg) to claim expertise. But what about self-proclaimed expertise in more established fields such as SEO or PPC advertising?

The truth is that these fields are constantly evolving. Thanks to the unethical practices of many SEO "experts", search engines are constantly changing their ranking methods to avoid spam. Ironically, this in turn causes SEO best practices to change monthly, or even weekly. Likewise, Google is routinely altering its AdWords advertising program to keep up with the ever changing online environment.

Being an expert in internet marketing requires not only experience, but a dedication to continual learning. Considering how quickly the rules change in SEO and social media, it's a wonder anyone calls him or herself an expert. It would be like Lewis and Clark claiming to have discovered every plant species in North America.

To be fair, it's true that there are some talented - even expert - internet marketing professionals in the industry. But they tread very cautiously around terms like "expert" and "guru", and they don't often mistake a lengthy career history for applicable skill. Dave Snyder, a respected SEO analyst, entrepreneur and co-founder of SearchEngineJournal.com, makes the following comment:

“When I talk to SEOs now who throw around how long they have been in the business I happily tell them I have only been professionally doing this for a portion of their lengthy career, because in the end talent and drive are what this game is all about, not the number of years someone has been mediocre.”

As I kick off my own entrepreurship in internet marketing, Dave's words are both comforting and inspiring. Sure, most other internet marketing professionals have much larger portfolios and a thick number of years in the industry under their belts, but that's all the more reason for me to work extra hard at staying on top of best social media practices and changes in Google’s algorithms. In an industry which increasingly rewards relevancy and freshness of content, surely being “new” has its perks.

Take my husband's success in freshwater fishing, for example.

I grew up very close to a private lake here in Michigan owned by my family. My grandfather was an avid fisherman, and I started tagging along when I was two years old. By the time I was ten, I had the whole process down, from catching bait to frying fillets. I consider myself a pan fishing expert.

My husband, on the other hand, is a native Filipino and had never fished in a freshwater lake until we were married. When I introduced him to my family's lake, he was enamored with my grandfather's fishing legacy and dove into the sport headfirst. While I lingered on the dock casually threading worms onto my hook, he was mining the bait and tackle shop for information on which lures worked best, when, where and how to use them. Before I'd caught enough bluegill to fill a frying pan, he'd pulled sixty inches of pike and bass out of the lake.

It may be a silly analogy, but I think it's a great example of how being an "expert" can end up limiting what you're able to accomplish. In this case, I was the "expert" in the field of fishing, but my novice husband was the one who landed the big catch. He researched and gathered effective “tools” while I used the same thing that had always worked for me - worms. I complacently went for small fry while he jumped in with high expectations - and fulfilled them.

Rather than attempting to become another internet marketing expert in a sea of self-proclaimed gurus, I aim to be a perpetual student. I look forward to sharing what I learn about web marketing here on my blog, and I hope those of you reading will share your own insights as well.

If you've gotten all the way to this paragraph, my heartfelt thanks for reading through my first blog post! I've set a goal to make a post each week, so stay tuned, and thanks again!

First Post Coming Soon!

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