Erin Tillotson

5 Things To Do Before You Invite Your 1st Twitter Follower

February 16, 2012 By Erin Tillotson 5 Comments

Once you join Twitter you want to run out and connect with a ton of targeted people and get your message out there! I know, new networking and business growth opportunities are exciting. I’d like share 5 easy steps to do before you invite your 1st follower.

Let’s talk about how you can get your account ready for all those new followers,

Complete Bio: When people check out your Twitter profile one of the 1st things they will look at is your bio. You want to be memorable and unique. Always have your most relevant website link as the URL. Last but not least, be sure to add a professional picture of yourself as well, nothing is worse than seeing a new follower with the “egg!”
A few actions to avoid in your bio:
- Don’t stuff your bio exclusively with keywords. People cannot connect with just words. You want your personality to be present.
- Don’t use industry lingo. Use words and phrases that your target client or market uses.
Have at least 20 Tweets on your profile: With a full page of tweets people will know you are serious about twitter. They can get a feel for who you are, what you have to say and if you match what they are looking for. Offer some good content that will benefit your target market.
A Professional Background: This is a great way to increase brand awareness. Use your logo, tag line, photo and anything else that helps represent your business. Mari Smith is a great example of branding. She changes her background to support her current marketing plans.
A Giveaway or Link for New Followers: Here is an opportunity to further connect with your new connection. Offer a great resource to them.
This can come in a variety of forms – I use SocialOomph to set this up:
- Share a popular blog post. If one of your blog posts gained a high number of comments and social interactions it must have been extremely helpful to your audience. Share this with new connections!
- A free report. These are generally behind a lead generation form (opt-in form), where the visitor will enter their name and email address to receive your free gift.
- A Custom Welcome to Twitter Page: Setup a page on your website just for new followers. Have a nice introduction video with something they can walk away with, a tip or action step they can do right away.
Understand the basics of Twitter: When you know a bit about Twitter you can engage much more efficiently and save yourself a lot of time.

Filed Under: Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized Tagged With: business benefit of social media, Social Media, social networking, Twitter, twitter basics

7 Steps to a Captivating Social Network Profile

January 23, 2012 By Erin Tillotson 10 Comments

I’d like to introduce you to Mr. Blank. I know you’ve seen him on Facebook, Twitter and other social sites. He’s the one with no profile picture and no information. Here he is ->

When you see him do you accept the connection? I actually run the other way! When we are looking for valuable connections we check them out. Who are they? What do they do? Where can I learn more? So don’t be Mr. Blank! Here are 7 easy steps to creating the best social profile!

1 ) Add a professional photo – The first thing people look at is your picture. So have a picture that best represents you and your brand.

2 ) Define your specific skills, passions and expertise that set you apart from the rest. Showcase your expertise and unique brand in a memorable way. So anytime they are looking for someone with your expertise they think of you!

3 ) Provide your 30 second elevator speech (tailored to the specific social network). Here’s your chance, you can only be memorable once! Make the most of that short bio. Entice them to stay awhile.

4 ) Be interesting and memorable (share passions, interestes and unique traits or accomplishments). Clients and customers do business with people they like, business that “get” what they’re about! Share with your passions and share your case studies with your social networks. They want to hear this! This is what creates great connections and ongoing relationships.

5 ) Tag your profile with keywords relevant to your business. These are words your potential clients will understand and that use in their everyday word. Don’t use industry terminology that they won’t understand. Consider using words and phrases that are results oriented, what will get prospects excited?

6 ) Include key links to your blog, website and possibly other social networks. One of the most powerful aspects of social media is driving traffic. Be sure you include a link that is a great starting point for someone who just found you! Where should a new prospect start with your business?

7 ) Make sure your profile is readable and easy to follow. Don’t use images that are hard to understand or follow. Use a compelling image with great emotion. Chose your words carefully and strategically. The copy of your profile goes a LONG way. Use results and pain words. Paint a picture they want to live in!

Alrighty, there’s 7 easy steps to improving your social media profiles now. Make a few changes and see what benefits come to your profiles.

Did you use any of the steps for your business profiles? What helped you the most?

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Social Media, social media profile, social media profile optimization

HootSuite Apps, making social media even easier

November 26, 2011 By Erin Tillotson 2 Comments

Earlier this month HootSuite introduced their first round of apps. I’ve already installed mine! These are going to make social media even easier for all of busy entrepreneurs.

With this round they have introduced YouTube, flickr, tumblr, and Get Satisfaction. Now you can manage these social accounts from within HootSuite. Ahhh, I feel a bit of relief already. Now you can log into one place and check for updates and reply to your friends and audience.

Image by Hootsuite

So let’s check out YouTube. I recommend you add a tab inside Hootsuite specifically for YouTube I actually setup a tab for each different account for my clients. This makes managing the accounts much easier and the load time for your computer is faster as well. Once you’ve added the tab you’ll have to connect your YouTube account. You have 3 items you can connect, Your Videos, Search and Your Subscriptions. I have connected all 3. The Your Videos stream will allow you monitor comments on your videos and comment back right there. Your Subscriptions will allow you to see all new videos added from channels that you are subscribed to. Then Search of course lets you search YouTube right inside your HootSuite account. I think is really niffty. I can search and comments on videos right from my hub! OMGosh, I’ve already saved oodles of time!

Image by Hootsuite

The process is very similar for Flickr. Once you have connected your account you can add a Connections, Search and My Photos streams that work just like YouTube. Uploading has never been easier.

I’m excited to see SlideShare and Posterous apps, which are in the line up! Also coming soon are: