Twitter is a very powerful tool, if you have followers. The RIGHT followers.

Build your Twitter followers the RIGHT way for the most impact

You may remember from my December post, “Twitter ‘pimps’ are a waste of marketers’ time,” I strongly discourage services that promise to build your followers. You wind up following a bunch of spammers who don’t care about you or your tweets.

Instead, I believe in putting in the time and effort to build a targeted following that results in a mutually-beneficial relationship.

How?

Here are some strategies I use to build my clients’ followers:

Give your followers some love – Respond to your followers tweets, even if they aren’t directed toward you. If a blogger tweets his newest blog entry and you like it, retweet it and tell him you liked the post:

Great post – very insightful! RT @Follower  Check out my new blog post, “This is a great post” http://bloglink.com

Like the childhood song, follower love is something if you give it away, you end up having more. Mention @Follower once and he will notice you; mention @Follower multiple times and he will remember you. Mention @Follower enough times and he will go out of his way to help you.

Follow the cool kid’s followers -  In every industry, there is at least a handful of “gurus.” In copywriting, for example, Bob Bly, Steve Slaunwhite and Michael Stelzner are the first to come to mind. These may not be household names, but in copywriting land, they certainly are. Find these individuals in your industry and start following some of their followers. Since you tweet similar subject matter, they are likely to be interested.

Find people tweeting about you or your industry  – I like applications such as TweetDeck and Hootsuite (both free) because they allow you to keep columns with continuously-updated search results for keywords of interest. For example, I look at tweets that include “social media” and “copywriting.” Make sure to also follow hashtags (ex: #socialmedia) as these are tweets that the Twitter user WANTS to be seen by many.

Use directories  – Use directories such as Twellow and WeFollow. Firstly, list yourself in these directories so you can be found. Then, conduct searches to find your target followers.

For example, a university book store could search for Twitter users who mention their school’s name in their profile. It can be somewhat time-consuming, but each follower is much more valuable than just a number.

Numbers are important, but impact is more important. With a little bit of patience and determination, you will succeed. The key is to have goals, a strategy and a plan for your social media presence.

As a marketer, I probably pay more attention to the Super Bowl commercials than the game itself. (Although, I was pretty pumped that the Saints won!)

This year, what really struck me was how many commercials involved the Internet. We live in a media-rich society, and various media are now blended together to create better usability. TV and Internet are no longer distinctly separate entities, as Super Bowl XLIV commercials clearly showed.

By my count, seven dot com companies aired commercials this year, including CareerBuilder, GoDaddy, Google and others. In addition to these, several other commercials included a “go online” call to action, like the pantsless Dockers commercial that urged viewers to go to dockers.com/freepants to get… can you guess? Free pants.

Here is a list I compiled of Super Bowl 2010 commercials that focused on Internet content or were produced by dot com companies:

• CareerBuilder
• Cars.com
• E-Trade
• Focus On The Family (FocusOnTheFamily.com)
• GoDaddy
• Dockers (dockers.com/freepants)
• Google
• HomeAway
• Intel
• Monster
• FLO TV
• Vizio

Coolest new product: FLO TV. It offers instant access to TV shows and Web content on your big screen and portable device. (You can check it out at FLOTV.com.)

My favorite: Google’s commercial that told a love story through searches. I found it creative, engaging and just plain sweet. (Watch it below.)

If I missed any Web-related commercials, please comment and I’ll update the list!

To contact a individual people via Twitter, you have two choices:

• “Reply” to them by placing “@” in front of their Twitter name
  • Ex: “@cbreecopy has a great new blog post, check it out!”
  • All of your followers and cbreecopy’s followers can see the tweet
• Direct message or “DM” them (see Twitter’s explanation of direct messages)
  • Nobody else will see the message

Both options are great marketing opportunities. They are also, unfortunately, a great way for spammers to reach Twitter users.

When direct messaging, avoid these common mistakes:

• Copy and pasting the same mass message to followers. You aren’t fooling anyone — it’s obvious that it’s a mass message and your followers will feel unimportant (if they even read it at all).

• Not offering any value to your follower. If a call to action in the direct message only benefits YOU and YOUR business, NOBODY ELSE CARES. Ex: “Check out our Web site: http://shameless-promo.com.”

• Too generic. So many direct messages are identical. “Thanks for following!” Or, “I look forward to sharing information with you” are both examples of generic and over-used direct messages. Be original.

Now that you have a sense of what NOT to do, here are some tips for good direct messages:

• Use their name. Like in e-mail marketing, people like seeing their name. When you use their name, you personalize the message and show that you didn’t merely copy and paste the same message to all of your followers.

• Give a compliment. Tailor the message to each individual recipient. Check out his or her Web site and give a compliment about a recent blog post or the site design.

• Include a call to action. You first gain their interest by using the above tactics, but make sure you benefit from the effort! Invite them to check out your blog or send them a link to a landing page you want them to see.

• Offer a special discount. Give them a special discount as a “thank you” for following. Include a coupon code and a link so they can put the discount to use right away!

• Encourage interaction. Let them know that you’re a reliable source; invite them to ask you any questions related to your industry.

If you don’t have time to devote to personalized direct messages, just don’t do it. Your mass messages are a wasted effort and can actually do more harm than good. Twitter, like any social media, require time to get results. It’s simply not enough to just have an account floating around on the Web. Set goals, make a plan, have a strategy and monitor the results.

Don’t have the time? Contact me or fill out my online quote form to receive a free quote for social media management services.

It’s official. Cara Breeden Copywriting is now on Facebook.
Become a fan!

If you have any questions or comments about social media, copywriting or anything Internet marketing, the Fan Page Wall is your perfect portal! Also, I will be periodically putting up polls and special FAN-ONLY discounts.

For example, in the month of February, Facebook Fans can get a custom Twitter background for only $49. A custom Twitter background gives you a professional appearance and promotes your brand identity.

Based on my Googling, it looks like the cheapest custom background costs $99. That makes this offer HUGE so make sure to take advantage of this limited-time opportunity.

Just become a fan, then post on the message board or send me a message to grab this offer while it lasts.

This commercial features the retired NBA All-Star Charles Barkley. Since his retirement in 2001, Barkley has made regular appearances on TNT, and has even announced his plan to run for governor of Alabama in the 2014 election.

Basketball player, studio analyst, politician… but is copywriting Barkley’s true calling?

Charles Barkley is struggling to write a “poem” during this commercial; a poem that happens to be about Taco Bell. He is writing words to sell… is it poetry? Maybe. Copy? Definitely.

Check it out:

I’m kind of a Twitteraholic (check me out @cbreecopy).

I aim to help my Twitter followers by tweeting useful information — good articles I find on the Web, lessons I have learned in business and in copywriting, etc. One of the things I do regularly is tweet simple copywriting tips that can be employed by copywriters, creatives and business professionals alike. One of these tips got passed along by seohosting.com’s Eric Brantner in his article, “33 Copywriting Tips Found On Twitter.”

This article is pretty cool, and not just because I’m in it. It’s cool because it’s meshing content from two social media — a blog and Twitter. It’s cool because it gives recognition to some good tweeters out there. Yes, Twitter has its fair share of annoying spammers. But, there are also some noteworthy Twitter users that can be great resources.

For example, I was recently having troubles with my Web site. A simple tweeted cry for help and two very helpful Web-savvy tweeters were there to help me. (A shout out to @varickdesign and @russelljamieson for great advice. These are two Web guys worth following.)

When you come across an annoying Twitter spammer, just block them and move on. Don’t let these Twitter abusers ruin Twitter for you. Brantner’s article, like the Shorty Awards, is a refreshing reminder that despite spammers promising to DOUBLE, TRIPLE or QUADRUPLE your profits, social media are still wonderful information-sharing resources.

Twitter continues to gain credibility and popularity. The second-annual Shorty Awards are proof of this fact.

They may have a cutesy name, but Shorty Awards are no small feat. As put by the New York Times, “Hollywood has the Oscars. Broadway has the Tonys. Now Twitter has the… Shorty Awards.”

On its Web site, the Shorty Awards state its purpose:

“The Shorty Awards honor the best people and organizations on Twitter. These unique awards are for the Twitter community, by the Twitter community. Online voting is public and democratic, culminating in an awards ceremony that recognizes the winners in 27 official categories as well as those in brand new crowd-sourced ones.”

Votes are cast via Twitter, and must include the Twitterers name (@name), the award category (#category) and a reason.

Show your favorite Twitterers some love by nominating them for a Shorty Award. Even if they don’t win, you’re sure to give them a boost of confidence!

To cast your vote for this blog:

1. Go to http://shortyawards.com/
2. Enter cbreecopy in the first field and #blogger in the second
3. Type in a short reason why this blog deserves a Shorty Award

If you are an autoresponder copywriter, an internet marketer or even an office employee at a company or firm—we all struggle with the same issue—

getting people to open and read our e-mails.

I am not going to talk about spam or spam filters. I feel that is another subject all by itself.

So the following are 3 quick tips to get you rolling on getting those e-mails to your audience. I recently gave similar advice in a consult to a client of mine. I heard from her again recently. She had said that people at her office were now reading her e-mails and asking her questions related to the content therein. I hope you find the same success.

1. The subject line
2. Free tips/advice
3. Tell a story

The subject line is very important. This is the key point where the receiver of the e-mail will decide to open it or not. One tactic that is very useful is making the e-mail personal. If you know the person’s name then you can put that in the subject line. The person getting the e-mail will feel like it is specifically for them.

Example: Susan, a 15% discount just for you.
                                          or
                   Jim, a quick note before the meeting…

Picture the above subject lines without the name. Not nearly as enticing is it? The name makes it personal. Therefore, they are far more likely to open it.

Another thing to do is to give a command that is related to your e-mail. Let’s say you are sending a report in the e-mail. You can tell them not to delete the e-mail because there is a report inside. So the subject line could look like this:

Quick! Don’t delete… Free financial report inside this e-mail.

Sometimes you want to avoid the longer subject line. If you have the chance, you could split test it against this:

Open now. Free financial report inside.

My personal favorite is to ask a question. The last 2 question e-mails I tested came out with a 30-50% open and read rate. One that I am currently testing on a group right now is the following:

Did you miss this?

Final results are not in, but pre-results are showing action.

Tips and advice are other great tools. After the reader has opened the e-mail it is important to keep their interest. Giving a free tip at the end of the e-mail or some wonderful advice within the body of the e-mail is going to help keep the interest of the reader and get that content read. A tip at the beginning gives the reader little reason to continue reading, unless you can tie it in to the body and main theme of the message. The reason is they have already gotten the gift. However, if the solid advice is at the end they have to at least skim through the e-mail to get to the tip. If the content is great they might find something that snags their interest and gets them reading…then the tip.

Story telling is great. We all love stories. In selling, a story related to the product is going to get the reader’s attention and the story itself does the selling. Just tag on the pitch and call to action at the end. I have used this example in the past, but a story about your first time going ice-skating is going to be interesting. Imagine you are selling ice-skates. This point of interest is going to get the reader reading. What if you are not selling? Instead, you may need people to read the report you have in the attachment. Tell a story about your own reading of this report. Tell the reader about how you felt. What you learned. Any points that surprised you or the chapter you liked the best and why. Or even about the hot tea you sipped on as you read it. If you make your story of the reading captivating enough it will become a type of compelling review. It will get the person clicking on the attachment and reading that report themselves. Goal achieved.

Mac Bull is a contract copywriter and consultant based in Japan. His main niche is Business-to-Business/Marketing Communications. He also is available to write for entrepreneurs, small business owners and acupuncture. Learn more at http://macandcopy.wordpress.com or e-mail copybymac@copybymac.com.

The 2000s – a decade plagued by the recession, bird and swine flu, war and bad reality TV – is over. Rejoice.

It’s time for a fresh start. Learn from the past, but look forward. Move on.

Every business book I have ever read – in academia and in my career – discusses the importance of setting goals. It seems like a no-brainer, but it is imperative to take the time to set goals and objectives that will lead your business toward the right direction. Take ample time to set your goals, then work your ars off until you reach them. (But don’t forget to mix in some fun every now and then .)

Setting your 2010 goals and objectives

First, think big-picture concepts for your broad goals. This could be as simple as: “Increase profit by 10%.” Clearly, there is a lot more specific action involved with getting to that goal, but it’s a starting point.
Then, start to narrow into objectives. Here’s the key every studious business student learns: objectives are SMART -

• Specific – you should have a clear focus on what you are doing
• Measurable – you have to be able to monitor your success
• Attainable – don’t sell yourself short but touch base with reality
• Relevant – make sure your objectives match your goals, mission, vision, etc.
• Timebound – make deadlines for yourself to keep you on-track

Now, take some time to toil and write out some ideas. I’m not talking five minutes and a couple of sticky notes. This is serious. This is your business.

Grab several sheets of paper and a pen, review your business’ mission, your past performance, the good, the bad, the ugly, and start jotting down anything and everything that comes to mind for your future.

Then, organize it.

Have one primary, all-encompassing goal (I suggest a dollar amount.)

Have several objectives to get you to that goal (make sure they are SMART!)

Live by it.

If you make your goals and objectives concrete by writing them down and tacking dates on them, you will be much more likely to accomplish them. Relying on abstract ideas floating around in your brain will not give you the direction you need to succeed; it’s like trying to grab the wind.

I encourage you to put time and effort into your goal-setting for 2010. It’s a new year and a new decade. Let’s make it a good one.

Have new 2010 copywriting projects? Contact me or fill out my online quote form to get the ball rolling.

A blog (short for Weblog) is an extremely valuable asset to your business. Blogs are regularly updated Web sites with user-generated content such as commentary, how-tos or virtually anything the blogger chooses.

As an existing business, the purpose of your blog is not to directly gain income. However, you should use your blog to provide value to your clients and prospects. As you become more valuable to these groups, the value is reciprocated and translates into sales – money in your pocket.

Some other key benefits of blogging for your business include:

• Blogs provide fresh content to your site
• Blogs improve your search engine optimization (SEO), driving more traffic to your site
• Visitors can be interactive on your blogs by posting comments
• You can easily share information such as new product launches, company events, etc.

As you can see, there is a lot to gain with a blog. The key is to make your blog relevant and useful to the reader.

DON’T give into the temptation to use your blog as a self-indulgent plug filled with advertisements. DO sneak in little tidbits promoting your business when they are relevant.

For example, a lawn care service – we’ll call it Happy Lawns – might blog about the best time to fertilize your yard. The blog’s focus is on fertilizing, not on the services the business provides.

However, the blogger can sprinkle in promotions such as “For the best results, call Happy Lawn’s professionals for a free quote” or “For more information about Happy Lawn’s fertilization services, go to our services page.” The blog is providing useful content to readers looking to fertilize their yard, and if a reader decides to hire a professional, he or she will be compelled to choose Happy Yards.

Setting up a blog is very simple, especially with free platforms such as WordPress. Wordpress even has a simple process to integrate its application right into your existing domain (ex: http://www.yourdomain.com/blog).

There is no reason to be intimidated by the technology, so if you’re using that as an excuse – stop dragging your feet! There is much to gain and little to lose with blogging.

Another reason business decision-makers don’t set up blogs is because they are not confident with their writing skills. However, the bigwig decision-makers really shouldn’t be blogging, anyway.

Consumers are turned off by arrogance, and even if you have the best intentions, your fancy title may exude arrogance.

Another major downfall to writing your own blog is that you know way too much. You know everything about your company and talk the jargon that does not resonate with your target audience. Outsourcing your blog is low-cost, and a good blogger will work with little guidance. After all, you have other things to spend your valuable time on. (Click here to get a free quote for your blog from Cara Breeden Copywriting.)

Any excuse you conjure up that’s preventing you from starting a blog is just that – an excuse. Internet users expect an interactive platform where they can read your expert knowledge and advice, and also respond and discuss the information.

In order to stay on top of your industry and keep up with technology, your business needs its own expert blog.