It’s good to have a healthy twitter feed and if you use some of the following tips you could have re-tweets galore too.

When composing your tweet always allow enough space for your name @ sign and RT. By leaving 20 characters available people can RT your post without spending time removing characters and shortening your post. If people just have to press the RT button it saves them time and you are more likely to get RT’d. Time spent by you making your tweets shorter is time well spent.

Be consistent with your tweets. Your followers will know what to expect from your content both in content and delivery. Provide content that provides value to a wide audience, questions, breakthroughs in your industry, general breaking news, compelling thoughts and quotes, humourous items and links to interesting content. Do not persistently ask for RTs and similarly choose your RT so it has value for your followers. RT in moderation not indiscriminately.

Check out the list of the most re-tweeted people on Twitter  What information are they supplying and how? Develop a strong brand and earn the RT by providing value to your followers. With lists in mind, get yourself listed. The list option in Twitter keeps people you want to hear from in the forefront and can increase your rates of RT. Lists can be as important in the RT as your number of followers. They are a good measure of the value of the content you will find.

Tweet grader pop in your Twitter name and check your ratings. It’s a handy way of checking that you have everything you need on your profile as it provides an instant grade and report. Just enter your twitter username (password not needed) How they grade your feed.
You can also check out the list of top users on twitter.

If you need more help with Twitter email us, or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

This week I found one of the benefits of using Twitter as a customer. I had recently decided to move my phone number to GiffGaff as it seemed like it would work better for me. For the last few years I have paid for two phones on T-Mobile on their 30 day rolling tariff. Initially it has worked very well. At the beginning of the year my old phone decided to be more trouble than it was worth and my OH bought me another phone, a very nice LG and bought it from T-Mobile. Now I suppose I should have realised that any phone bought from T-Mobile will be locked to the network, but silly me, I thought that as I had bought it off contract that wouldn’t be the case.

Anyway, thinking that GiffGaff’s offers will work better for us, I decided to finish the rolling contracts, keep the numbers and move to GiffGaff. The winner for them has to be that calls between GiffGaffers are free, together with the ‘no contract’, ‘change your mind each month if you want to’ deal.

Now I find myself in a complete tizz, my number has been ported out to my GiffGaff number and when the new Sim is put in the phone we have USIM locked. So backwards and forwards between various numbers, GiffGaffers being very helpful, T-Mobile saying £15 please and 28 days to release the phone. Arrrghh!!!

And so to Twitter, after getting the usual email automated responses from T-Mobile, saying we may take 7 days to answer your query, just shout ‘help’ on Twitter and we are off. It remains to be seen whether anything gets sorted but at least T-Mobile responded within minutes and not days.

You feel that someone is listening and not just fobbing you off, but that may come later. Wish me luck!

So what does that tell you about Social Media? That if it is going to work for your business, it’s good to talk and listen to your customers. Twitter is quick at getting results, no business wants it to be broadcast across the internet that people are unhappy with their service. Handled correctly, social media, can nip things in the bud and customers know they have your attention because you have answered them with something other than an automated response.

It would be nice if things didn’t always happen this way, but with plethora of technology, folk can’t be expected to understand how it all works and companies must handle that knowledge with care, likewise their customers.

For help with anything techy email us, twitter @tamarabaranova, or just plain pick up the phone and talk to Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

After many tries to provide a social network that in some ways equal Facebook, Google have now produced Google+, hopefully learning from their past mistakes (and those of Facebook too). How do you rate the new experience?

I personally think they have their work cut out to promote another social network when Facebook has become so well established. But as it seems to be directed at businesses it may provide a better experience for brands. Google’s significant difference being the sharing of groups, eg. colleagues and activities, rather than the entire Web. I’m not sure this is a plus for them with Facebook’s recent refinements in this area, where all parts of your information can be shared, (or not shared) with whatever part of Facebook you desire, from all of your friends down to a single individual.

Initially the project was open to only a select group, but has now been opened up to one and all. Available to one and all, you will be able to share and discuss photos,links,status,etc in the much the same way as on Facebook together with group text messaging and video chat.

With the production of Google+, they will benefit directly from Web search, with the information they can process. They still have some catching up to do but will be better placed. According to comscore, 180 million people visited Google sites,(which includes YouTube) with 157.2 million visiting Facebook. Their time spent on the sites, Facebook (103 billion pages) is 375 minutes for Facebook and Google (46.3 billion pages) an average of 231 minutes. A substantial difference, one which advertisers will pay close heed to, when choosing their platforms for advertising.Where do you primarily ask your questions? Twitter, Google or where?

Analysts are of the opinion that people will not duplicate their groups on both sites but will use them for different types of communication. Also that people who have seen Facebook as too public, too invasive and have been uncomfortable with the network will turn to Google+ as a more select offering.

How do you feel about Google+? Will it add anything to your social networking?

Do you need help with any of your social networks, email us or phone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

QRC – Quick Response Code is a type of barcode and was created by Toyota for the automotive industry in 1994. The idea was to be able to track vehicles through the various parts of the manufacturing process.

The most popular type of QRC are two-dimensional and allow the contents to be decoded fast. Their use is gradually being taken on board by major brands and allows companies to ‘sell’ to a mobile customer base with the ability to scan the codes from smart phones (with camera).

How could you use a QRC in your business?

If your product requires installation, a code on your packaging that plays a video of installation instructions. Overcomes the problem of the manual not being in the box and so much easier to see how it’s done than just reading how to install.

Business cards with the code can import all your contact information.

Roadside advertising contains a code to take you to further information about the advert, a trailer for a film, product information for car or cooker.

QRC on an appliance – when your machine goes wrong you have a code on it that leads to the manual on line. How easy is that when you have no idea where you put the manual and you bought it so long ago.

In store signs carrying codes that can be stored or sent to friends; to tweet, view a video about the product, share.

Apps – a code that takes you to the app download, so easy and fast, no need to spend time searching for the download.

Advertising – code that gives you the time, the date, the place. Where a product is produced, who by and when, so much more information than can be mentioned in a normal advert.

QRC can easily take your customers to a more comprehensive description of your products.

Can you think how you can use QRC in your business?

If you have an idea how you could use QRC, get in touch and we can help you put your ideas into reality. Email us, or speak to Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

It’s still a good idea to plan your strategy and decide which type of page best suits your needs. Facebook profile pages are intended for people, pages for businesses and groups for musicians primarily.

Top 7 apps for your Facebook business page

Poll This is the premier polling application on Facebook. Create polls for your pages and personal profile pages. Very simple and easy to use. Check it out!

Networked Blogs does what it says on the label. Promote your blog on Facebook, network with like-minded bloggers.

Twitter feed for pages simply supply your user name and password and your Twitter account links to your Facebook page.

Zoho online office store documents on line (Dropbox and Google Docs).

Facebook video supports higher quality video and audio than most video sharing sites.

RSS Graffiti centrally manage all RSS/Atom feeds from all your Facebook profiles and all your  pages.

My LinkedIn profile displays your LinkedIn profile or company profile on your  page.

Strategies to use when creating content

Constant interaction makes good communication. Keep the pages alive and up-to-date so that interaction is current and not dated. Tell people what you are doing, don’t sell to them but show how they can benefit from your product/service.

Top 3 tools to use to bring more traffic to your page

If you need help setting up your page, contact us either by email or telephone and speak to Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

Facebook are always making changes and just recently thay have introduced some more privacy buttons. Next week, Facebook changes and how to use them.