So you have signed up for a twitter profile for your business. What next I hear you ask? Follow these 5 steps and you will have a profile that looks great, encourages people to follow you and a place where you can engage with customers and potential customers alike. If you are happy with your brand page you and would like to find out how I used twitter to gain more followers you can read that article here -  http://socialjamm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/how-to-gain-more-relevant-followers-on.html

Twitter name:

You should pick a twitter name that represents your brand, ideally this should be your company however this isn’t always possible as there are so many users on twitter. For a more detailed overview of picking the perfect name for your brand profile visit a previous blog I have posted. - http://socialjamm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/6-things-to-consider-when-choosing-and.html

Bio:

Your Bio should be optimised for search and give users of twitter a good indicator of what your business is about, after all this will be one of the first things a user will see on your profile and in search results. You can find a more detailed over view here -  http://socialjamm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/how-to-optimise-your-twitter-bio-to.html

Profile Photo:

Your profile photo should be something that is instantly recognisable to your brand, a company logo is your best bet, If you don’t have one of these then you could also use a photograph of the head of your company. This will give your profile a personal touch, although it may seem tempting to upload an animated icon to stand out from other users, this shouldn’t be done as it tends to annoy twitter users. You can find the results of my research into this subject here http://socialjamm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/does-having-animated-twitter-icon.html

Background:

Your background should be designed to be synonymous with your brand, you should look at it as your shop window, a space where you can advertise your website, special offers and products / services. For a more detailed overview of this topic you can visit one of my other blog posts here. http://socialjamm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/6-reasons-that-custom-twitter.html

Tip* Do not set up an automatic message to anybody that follows you. It has become apparent through research and conversations that people find this to be a real turn off. 

You can find results of a discussion about this topic here - http://socialjamm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/sending-automatic-direct-message-on.html

We hope you find this information useful. You can gain a free socialjamm.com profile for your business by visiting socialjamm.com – It will help you gain followers, appear higher in searches and ultimately improve your online web presence.

The socialjamm Team

www.socialjamm.com
www.twitter.com/socialjamm

It's a free service where you can create a profile to promote you or your business through social networking.

It lets you:

• Connect all of your social networks and share status updates
• Tell the world what you do through your online profile
• Get free promotion through our online directory

Why sign up?

You can:

• list all of your social network profiles in one easy-to-find place
• improve your searchability - Automatic listing on our online directory means your business is easy to search for.
• Improve your Search engine rankings – A page on our directory will help you climb google by pooling all of your social network activity into one place
• manage your links with ease – We have designed socialjamm with you in mind, making it as easy as possible for you to change and share your social network information

The Olympic Torch will be passing through my small City of Chester today, with thousands of spectators set to flock to see it, it got me wondering how many people will be taking photos and uploading them to social networking sites.

There is no doubt about it the Olympics is a huge event, and it’s the first time that anybody from almost anywhere in the world can see what its like to experience the passing of the torch from a spectators viewpoint, thanks to the people who are utilising social networks to share their experience.

This you would think would be a very exciting time to see the Olympics stars from the Olympic stadium in London, from the viewpoint of a fan, however this will not be the case, as fans and volunteers will not be allowed to tweet, post videos to YouTube or use any other form of social networking to share their experience at the games. The Olympic committee issued this statement “Visitors to London 2012 will be forbidden from posting photos and videos on social media networks.” – So much for calling it the ‘twitter games’,

The rules for volunteers are as follows:

Not to disclose their location :

So using sites like 4square will be out of the question.

Not to get involved in detailed discussion about the Games Online

Basically the 70,000 volunteers are unable to voice their own opinion of the games on social networks

The only way they can share Olympic information is by re-tweeting or passing on official London 2012 postings.

Personally I think this is a great shame, as the Olympics in my mind is about unifying everybody giving people a chance to support their countries with friendly sporting rivalry.

However with all of this being said, I still think that this will be the first time where we see the whole world turned in to their TV’s AND their social media devices sharing their opinions and and voicing their support.

 I will also make a prediction that twitter interaction will peak when Usain Bolt runs the 100meter sprint.

What are your feelings about the Olympics and Social media, and do you have any of your own predictions? I’d love to know so please post in the comment box below!

The socialjamm team.

www.socialjamm.com

www.twitter.com/socialjamm

To follow my debate about ‘having an animated icon on twitter’ and whether it benefits you, I decided to ask people on twitter about their feeling on recieveing an automated direct message once you follow someone.

Personally I don’t like them, I don’t think they fit in with twitter and the people that use them, this is because I find them to be robotic, short sales pitch with generally no real value.

When I follow somebody on twitter it’s because I find their tweets interesting, I want to contribute to a conversation or they are person behind them has similar interests to myself, I don’t follow them in hope of them forcing sales pitches down my throat from the get go, I want engagement and to speak to a human. The following reasons are why I believe they shouldn’t be used:

• They are impersonal and intrusive, I see them as being quite similar to receiving junk mail once you sign up to something you are generally interested about.
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• It cheapens your brand. People are increasingly becoming savvier, and find it quite insulting to receive a direct sales pitch so soon after interacting with somebody.
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• They don’t have the desired impact for a marketer. If people are interested in you and what they have to offer they will research you further themselves, they don’t need to be spoon fed information.
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Here are some of the tweets I recieved in response to the posed question:

@AirConTechLtd wrote - '@tim_eem It's a little arrogant really that they have to little time to care about their followers!!'

@pinkspiderweb wrote - '@tim_eem #debate No. I don't like automatic DMs, they're too impersonal '

@nimuesnestgifts Wrote – ‘@tim_eem annoys me so I usually unfollow immediately! May as well be a bot if using auto DMs as far as I'm concerned’

It’s not really come to any surprise but using automated Direct Messages are not popular, my advice would be to switch them off and communicate to your new followers personally, as this will get you a higher response rate and adds a personal touch which twitter users crave. If you don’t have time to do this then don’t do it, no Direct message is better than having one which irritates people

How do you feel about them? Have you had any success in using them? Comments are appreciated!

The socialjamm team.
www.socialjamm.com
www.twitter.com/socialjamm