You’ve Got Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Now What?

Dear Mr. or Ms. Business-to-Business Company:

Congrats!  You’ve got your Twitter account, your LinkedIn profile and your Facebook company page up and running.

You are regularly blogging (right?) and sharing all that great original content via regular Tweets, posts and updates.  You’ve set up goals for your social media program (like increased web traffic or improved SEO results) and everything is humming along nicely.

 

For the sake of argument, we will assume the scenario described above.  We will also assume that you’ve set some specific goals you hope to achieve through active social media marketing.  Now it’s time to measure success!

To help get you started on the path of measuring for social media marketing success, offered here are three useful links for a “return on social” culled from all the resources available out there.

Insight from Forbes

This recent interview is a good place to start. This Forbes interview features authors of a new report on measuring social media. While the book and interview is targeted to nonprofits, this post shares useful insight for the business-to-business sector as well.  Definitely worth the read, the in-depth Q&A looks at the “secrets” to measuring a return on social media engagement.

“One Stop Shopping”

Check out this handy list of resources and blog posts from those smarty-pants at Social Media Examiner.  This information serves as “one stop shopping” for the latest in tools and techniques. You’ll see all the latest insights and background related to the importance of measuring a “return on social” from these trustworthy and knowledgeable folks

3 Can’t-Miss Tools

Now that you’ve done some background reading, your next step is to roll up your sleeves and get started.  This post from B2B Inbound Online (guest authored by yours truly) shares three basic tools for measuring social media success.

Is LinkedIn Worth It?

A colleague recently asked me "Is it worth it to get involved with LInkedIn?" and anyone who follows this blog or knows me would understand that it is quite dangerous to ask me my opinion. Especially about a business-to-business social media platform.

After a lengthy conversation and email, the question offered up a great opportunity to share some of the insights the B-to-B Blog has provided over the years about LinkedIn.

Here is an excerpt of the email response sent to that colleague just today. Hope this is useful to you, and happy Connecting!

• Getting Started:  This blog post shares some basic tips to get started on LinkedIn.
• What's All the Fuss About?  This post offers up some features of LinkedIn that are truly worth loving.
• A LinkedIn Reality Check:  The post suggest pointers folks can employ when assessing their use of LinkedIn.
• LinkedIn Labs: For those power LinkedIn users, this post offers a valuable insight into the cool world of LInkedIn Labs. 
• Keeping Pace with LinkedIn Features: Finally, the most recent post tries to make sense of new features the social media platform offers. 

Intrigued? Horrified?  Come visit me over at LinkedIn to see what all the fuss is about!

Have You Checked Your Social Network Profiles Lately? 7 Tips for Those Enhanced Profile Pages

In the last few months, three major social network platforms in the b-to-b space (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) have offered enhanced profile page options.

(When you work for a few b-to-b clients like I do, one can spend an awful lot of time thinking about this minutiae each week.)

By enhanced profile page options, think in these terms ... each one of the platforms offers more availability for business-to-business marketers to:

• upload images
• provide product details
• create company timelines
• link to blog posts
• link to videos
• link to webcasts, other multi-media
• provide product reviews, recommendations, endorsements
• more stuff I’ve probably missed

To be honest, these changes are a lot to keep up with, and there are certainly changes I’ve missed.  Some good background on the LinkedIn company pages can be found here. Profile tips and techniques to take advantage of the most recent Twitter changes can be found here.

7 BtoB Tips

With the expanded opportunities to post more content, graphics and multi-media, branding across all social media platforms, as well as a company’s website, becomes a key issue. 

It simply doesn’t pay to haphazardly update profile pages with a random assortment of content that doesn’t relate to other online marketing outlets.

In the spirit of best practices, please keep these 7 tips in mind when adding content, imagery and information to enhanced company profile pages:

1. Keep it Simple. While it's great to take advantage of the ability to post videos, timelines, webcasts, and add product descriptions, don't over-do it.  Online readers are an impatient lot, make it easy for them to browse your profile pages. 
2. Contact Info, People!  When updating social media profile pages, don’t forget the basics like company URL, email and phone number. Keep this info front and center! Yes, people still like to cut to the chase and call! PS, use the same phone number offered on the website contact us form. 
3. Spit & Polish. Get your graphic designer involved to optimize how graphics look, with consistent branding in terms of colors, fonts, look/feel.
4. Strategic Messages, People! Don’t waste words on cute phrases or ad copy – use keywords wherever possible when populating product pages and keep “Key messages” front and center. Use strategic hashtags in Twitter bios and profile descriptions.
5. Brand Consistency. Avoid the temptation to introduce new branding, new taglines or other new elements – instead, reinforce social media profile pages with the same, consistent branding on the company’s website.
6. Device, Browser Compatible? View a company’s Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn pages on various browsers or devices to make sure all looks well.
7. Return Often. Don’t set it and forget it, be sure to return to profile pages at least quarterly to take advantage of any recent enhancements.

5 Things to Love About LinkedIn

More than 160 million professionals can’t be wrong!

The globe's business professionals are joining LinkedIn at a rate of 2 members per second. Amazing when you figure that’s nearly 170,000 new LinkedIn members every 24 hours.

The BtoB Blog has looked at LinkedIn before, and our enthusiasm hasn’t waned a bit.

LinkedIn combines the best features of social media and business networking to develop personal and business connections with a range of colleagues.  It has also been amazing to see the new features regularly rolled out or accessed via LinkedIn Labs.  

From networking to job searching, from sharing best practices and thought leadership to keeping current with industry trends, there’s a lot to love with LinkedIn.  Here are five standouts:

1. Connect one on one. LinkedIn lets you virtually network with individuals related to your field.  Even when you’re not job-hunting, it pays to connect with a professional network. As an example, LinkedIn has let me maintain professional connections with folks I’ve met at marketing conferences a few years back.  As a solo practioner, I’ve also been able to share information and pose questions to individuals in my network – something of great value when you work on your own. This wouldn't have been possible pre-LinkedIn.
2. Connect with groups.  With  LinkedIn Groups you quickly discover the most popular discussions in your field.  LinkedIn Groups let you engage with influential people in your field. 
3. Connect with information. LinkedIn quickly delivers fast access to the latest articles in your field.  The introduction of LinkedIn Today a year or so back was by far one of the best features the service provides.   Have you noticed that every time you log in to LinkedIn, you see top articles shared by people in your network? You can see who shared the article and what they said about it. Your homepage is customized to your industry, network, and areas of interest. LinkedIn does the work for you, curating the most timely and informative articles your peers are reading.  Priceless!
4. Get email updates. Keep track of your group with cool weekly emails.  If you opt in, LinkedIn automatically sends out a summary of what your group is doing – new jobs, new titles, new posts etc. For those of us who live and die by the email inbox, this is a fast way to stay connected without even logging into LinkedIn.
5. See open jobs of interest.  This is a no brainer. LinkedIn job listings and the ability to save job searches or get job alerts (free!) are some of the more robust features of LinkedIn.  If you fully complete your profile, you will automatically see job listings that match your skill set.  Again, priceless!

While there is a lot to love with LinkedIn, this article does a good job of aggregating some annoying behaviors 

One of my pet peeve annoying behaviors:  WHEN LINKEDIN CONNECTIONS POST UPDATES USING ALL CAPS WHICH IS A LOT LIKE SCREAMING….

All in all, since I got so fed up with Facebook (read this insight here) and deactivated my account, LinkedIn is now the go-to social media community! 

LinkedIn Reality Check: 5 Questions to Ask about Your LinkedIn Presence

Recently I’ve been discussing with one of my clients, a professional service provider, the value of LinkedIn.  He knows that LinkedIn can have a tremendous impact on his business development efforts.

After all, 125 million business users are active on LinkedIn.  A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second.

Unlike other social marketing platforms this professional service provider might consider, it’s safe to say that the LinkedIn community is made up primarily of professionals, business-minded people, professional organizations and others interested in business-related networking.

He’s been up and running on LinkedIn for a few years, but it might be time for a LinkedIn Reality Check with 5 questions to ask about his LinkedIn presence.

1) What’s your goal?

As with any social media platform, this professional should consider his goals for establishing and maintaining a presence a LinkedIn.  Why bother setting a goal?  Because that way success of the program can be measured and optimized over time.

Typical goals a b-to-b company might establish for their LinkedIn program include:

• Generate leads
• Solicit interest in webinars or multi-media content
• Expand awareness from interested prospects
• Share product knowledge
• Engage customers, facilitate customer feedback
• Recruit talent
• Increase traffic to company web site

Once a goal is established, set up a metrics program to measure effectiveness over time.

2) Are you doing all you can?

This professional should take a hard look at his company page – does it serve as a “magnet” that attracts relevant LinkedIn visitors?  Or does he just have a personal page and not a company page?  If so, it’s time to get on board with a company page.

Company Overview Page   - Think of the company overview page as a “reception area”.  Is it welcoming?  Is the page complete with keyword-rich descriptions, including the URL to your company website? Is the content concise so the keywords appear high up on the profile?  Do you use photos to humanize the page?

Careers Page  – If a goal is to recruit talent, is the careers page current and reflecting the most recent job openings?

Products/Services - this is a great page to solicit engagement, and expand upon service offerings.  Is it complete with multi-media content, and other useful links back to the company website?  Are relevant web pages highlighted that showcases products/services?

Be sure to solicit recommendations from fellow professionals. When LinkedIn members visit a Products & Services Tab, they see how many and which of their professional connections recommend your products and services.

3) How active are you?

Does the professional regularly post “Status Updates” and keep his profile current?  Are new products reflected on the products/services page? 

Does he join groups and associations and stay active in the discussion forums?

Are status updates providing value in the form of relevant, business-related communications to your followers?

Status updates should offer valuable information, link back to the company website, blog or other relevant online content. RSS feeds are a good option to automate this process.

Consider asking interactive questions or polls, and sharing content related folks have created that is relevant to your core followers and business.

Remember, don’t over use the Status Update feature – a few posts per week is optimal.

Note:  an active LinkedIn program should take only 10 or so minutes a day.  This blog post from SocialMediaToday shows in detail how to manage multiple social media programs in only 20 minutes a day.

4) Do You Measure & Monitor?

LinkedIn offers a robust analytics tab that is accessible only to the page administrator.  Reports show how company pages perform, the number of visits over time, and demographics of visitors.  Review reports a few times a week to note trends.  

Take the time to create a Google Analytics “content segment” on your website to track the behavior of visitors who find your website via LinkedIn.  For instance, one of the LinkedIn programs I manage pulls high conversions from those who visit the site via LinkedIn. When in Google Analytics, simply view Traffic Sources > Referring Sites > LinkedIn.com to monitor their behavior. Of all web visitors, it is the ones who visit from LinkedIn that are more likely to provide their contact information in exchange for a white paper or other piece of marketing collateral.

5) Do You Attract New Followers?

In LinkedIn, the larger the reach, the higher the chance you will meet the goals you set for your program.  Be sure to cast your net wide among relevant followers, to maximize your chance for success on LinkedIn.

Remember to include your LinkedIn URL on outbound emails, your business cards, your website, and in other printed materials.  Ask to connect with associates, customers, partners and others after meeting them at conferences.

Consistency is Key

As I’ve said to my client, LinkedIn needs tending and consistent effort.

One will be successful in attracting new followers over time, and meeting LinkedIn goals.

Learn More

See “LinkedIn 101: 3 Tips to Get Started” as an additional resource.

The LinkedIn Resource Center offers tremendous resources, including this Company Page Guide (pdf).

LinkedIn 101: Three Tips to Get You Started

For such a Twitter fanatic, it’s interesting to consider that I’ve been active in LinkedIn longer than other social media platforms. 

But it has only been in the last few months that I’ve witnessed the awesome power one can garner from into this business-oriented social networking site.

LinkedIn Usage

A recent report by www.btobonline.com found that 93% of business-to-business marketers are engaged in social media marketing. Twenty-six percent of the survey’s respondents cited LinkedIn as their most important social channel  See research here.  

LinkedIn usage facts of note: 

•                LinkedIn has more than 60 million members

•                A new member joins LinkedIn approximately every second

•                Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members

Given this growing enthusiasm,  how does one get started with LinkedIn? Here are three easy steps to begin, and make the most out of LinkedIn.

1) Build a Profile with Punch.   Join LinkedIn for free and start with your professional profile.  Be as complete as you can with professional history, education, a professional headshot and references. Remember, for those in the LinkedIn community, or even those who are not in LinkedIn and view your public profile, the profile page is the main content they will see. Make it count with relevant URLs, keywords, and by all means, keep it current over time.

2) Build Your Network of Connections.  Reach out to past colleagues, clients, industry associates by searching for them under “people” in the search box.  Chances are, they already use LinkedIn.  Ask to “connect” with them to build a relevant LinkedIn network. Ask those who truly know you, your company and its products or services, to write recommendations for you. These references, once you approved them, will appear in your profile.  As you attend conferences, remember to ask for LinkedIn connections to keep building your network.

3) Tread Carefully with Status Updates. Actively updating your LinkedIn status signals that you stay current and active in your field.  Yet beware! Status updates should offer relevant, professional content or link to industry-related content. LinkedIn isn’t a personal blogging platform.  It is a professional social network. Appropriate updates might include links to your professional blog, your website, industry events, articles by other thought leaders in your industry. Remember, don’t post too often.  In my mind, it’s a big no-no to post every Tweet as a LinkedIn update.  Don’t do it!  Multiple Tweets posted throughout the day look like spam on a LinkedIn page.   You will quickly lose you favor with your connections when you clog up their status update page.  (This is a rant, but hear me out: Tweets belong on Twitter.  Professional updates belong on LinkedIn.) 

Ramp Up Existing Activity

Have you been a member of LinkedIn for a few years now?  Why not try the following in 2012?

• Make time to join groups, follow companies of interest, post in discussion forums, and other activity.
• Keep track of third-party applications to help monitor activity, create content, engage with relevant connections, and build your network.  Box.net, Slideshare, and TripIt are only a few to consider.
• Monitor LinkedIn new features. As an example, LinkedIn Events now provides users with event recommendations of interest based on profile information such as location, industry, and those in a network.

Parting Thoughts

LinkedIn offers tremendous power to those in marketing, or any business. 

Ignore at your own peril!

Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Hashtags (but were afraid to ask)

You likely know about Twitter, the micro-blogging site where folks post updates and interesting content in 140 characters or less.

Many previous B-to-B Blog posts address Twitter’s use in business-to-business marketing communications. 

When executed strategically, Twitter makes a big impact for folks in a range of business-to-business sectors.

What is a Twitter Hashtag?

A hashtag is a word that includes placement of the “#” character in front the desired keyword.

In the Twitter Universe, inserting a Hashtag in a Tweet helps Twitter users “tag” updates with keywords. These keywords categorize a Tweet.  They are then useful for performing Twitter searches in order to find updates related to a particular topic.

For an example, here’s a Tweet about this very post, with strategically inserted hashtag that folks in the marketing world follow on Mondays. It also includes a hashtag of the word hashtag…how #zen, eh?

Ever wondered about #Twitter #hashtags?  Blog post answers all http://ow.ly/5IoUT #marketingmonday

How are Hashtags Created?

You, along with the Twitter community, create hashtags.

A hashtag is essentially user-defined, nobody owns them per se. Anyone can create and use their own hashtag in a post or comment. (remember #winning?) Other Tweeters are free to either use it or ignore it. Like many aspects of social media, it’s an entirely democratic process that polices itself.

How Can You Use Hashtags?

Folks Tweeting about marketing communications use hashtags often.  In other sectors, like corporate training or HR consulting, use of hashtags is growing.

How does one know what hashtags are out there?

An easy way to do this is to simply use Twitter Search and put the # symbol in front of a word.

The results show popularity of a hashtag. Other tools to monitor Hashtags include:

-       Twubs.com


-       hashtags.org


-       twemes.com


-       Tagalus


-       HashDictionary


-        What the Hashtag?!


-        What The Trend?

This screenshot shows a result from hashtags.org.

Why Hashtags?

Hashtags broaden the distribution of your Tweets.

When a Tweet does not contain a hashtag related to the topic, your followers are likley the only people reading it, and that’s if you catch them with Tweets in their message feeds.

By adding a hashtag to your tweet, more people read it who are interested in that topic. You have a better chance of engaging with relevant followers, which after all, is the point of the thing.

For instance, if you Tweet about manufacturing, add the hashtag #manufacturing to each tweet. This categorizes the tweet for those who search for that topic on Twitter. 

If you’re a corporate trainer specializing in leadership developing, Tweet relevant content or blog posts and use the hash tag #leadership – this way a lot more people will find it. Why?  Those folks are looking for related content by using the hashtag. You will engage with related and like-minded folks this way. 

Hashtags are useful at live events. You can see all about that on a previous post.

Using the hashtag designated for an event, it’s easy to follow the proceedings on Twitter. Tweet about the proceedings or any conversations during the event. The key is to create and publicize the hashtag before the event starts.

Hashtags help with "virtual events" such as the 

#pr20chat for a weekly discussion focusing on public relations trends and management.  

WARNING WARNING:  Only use hashtags if it adds value to the topic.  Don’t stick a non-related popular hashtag in a Tweet just for more exposure.  That strategy can backfire big time.

 B-to-B Hashtag Directory

Here are a few popular hashtags related to business-to-business marketing communications.

Please suggest other hashtags in the comments to keep this fresh.

General Industry Hashtags include:

#communications

#pr

#marketing

#marketingmonday – a good day to Tweet about marketing!

Virtual Discussion Hashtags include:



#pr20chat

#imcchat- chat about integrated marketing communications


#journchat- chat with journalists, bloggers and PR pros 
#socialmedia

Additional Sources to Review:

35 Big Hashtags for PR Pros 


Hashtags for Journalists 


40 Twitter Hashtags for Writers 


Addicted to Metrics: The First Step is Admitting There’s a Problem

The first step in any well-respected recovery program is admitting there’s a problem. 

When it comes to business-to-business marketing and monitoring social media metrics, this serves as public admittance of a potential problem.

The smarty-pants at Hootsuite, the social media management application, now offer robust reporting metrics showcasing the return on investment and value of social media marketing for Twitter.  (They offer this reporting for Facebook as well, but I’m not actively managing client social media on that platform, thus don’t run FB reports.)

In the case of Twitter, real-time reports show relevance of Twitter followers, usefulness of Tweets, and number of followers who click through any links embedded into a Tweet, along with other addictive analytics.

HootSuite Social Analytics from HootSuite on Vimeo.

Most Popular Links

Over the last few months, one report has become extremely addictive. 


The “most popular links” summary shows the number of click throughs followers take for anytime a link is embedded in a tweet.

As more clients request social media management of b-to-b Tweet streams, the more this addiction will get out of control.

Got Relevance?
In my mind, no matter the client, the report serves as a key way to measure relevance on Twitter.  

Another way of looking at the report is that it demonstrates that the higher the click through (Ie higher the number of people who click on the link), the more the content resonated with followers.  

As long as a Twitter program stays on topic; is consistent in frequency of Tweets; includes key words and hash tags related to the topic, and as long as the account has built a following of relevant followers, the “most popular links” report should be a joy to read.

There are so many important reasons to be thoughtful and strategic in social media management.  In business-to-business social media programs, the focus is on connecting and relating to like-minded folks, thought leaders, potential prospects, etc. in a professional way.  (Of course, I’m making the assumption that this is the overall goal…many folks have gotten into big trouble when using Twitter for other more sensational reasons, like celebrities and certain members of the US Congress) 

Simply put, tweets and comments must stay on topic to attract relevant followers. 

These same concepts are covered in a previous post about using Twitter as a branding tool.

In Search of Value

Think of it this way:  if you signed up for a conference or webinar about the latest industry trends in physical therapy, why on earth would a presenter stand up and devote a presentation to thoughts about movies, what they ate for dinner, or what funny thing their kid did yesterday? Why would the attendees find this content of value? And what motivation would participants have to connect, engage, or pass along this kind of irrelevant information?

There are other social media outlets for that kind of sharing other than a business-to-business Tweet account.

A Better Way

These useful reports show the value in staying strategic when B-to-B Tweeting. 

Attract a relevant community. Stay on topic to those who found you.  Cultivate a relevant following via consistent management; share information of relevance that offers context; reach out and connect to other relevant folks; and measure the effectiveness of such an engagement.

Now I’ve got to close this post up  – it’s been a day since I ran that Hootsuite “most popular links” analysis and I’ve got an itchy Twitter finger! 

Twitter as a Brand Expression: 5 Tips for Effective Branding Using Twitter

This is a topic I’ve been mulling over for some time, but how to begin? 

The most useful place to start is to talk about the term “brand” so let’s begin with that.

What is a brand? 

A generally accepted definition of the term “brand” is “the emotional relationship a product, company, organization or even person has with their customers, audiences, consumers, community.” 

This is a definition modified from several sources including Marketingspot.

B-to-B Branding

In terms of business-to-business marketing, a brand elicits thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and responses from business customers. 

Responses are based on many key elements such as the product/service itself, the company reputation, the company history, the logo, the website, product packaging, the company employees, news articles, etc. 

(Quick side note – remember that logos are not the same as brands.  In fact they are design representations of a brand.  In a way, they serve as a brand “symbol” when they are created effectively.)

Twitter as a Branding Tool

So how can business-to-business marketers use Twitter as a branding tool?

A previous blog post about the basics of Twitter etiquette made the case that “a brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of your prospect. A Tweet stream contributes to that perception.  It’s wise to operate within the constructs of common courtesy to lock in positive branding. Your Tweets are a reflection of your brand!

5 Tips for Effective Branding

To explore this concept more thoroughly, here are 5 Tips for Effective Branding via Twitter.

1)    Do the hard work first.  A Twitter or social media program can only reinforce your brand if you’ve taken the time to develop one in the first place.  Is your organization striving for a “thought leadership” brand?  If that makes sense for you, then Tweets can reflect cutting edge information, leading industry trends, and other materials supporting that brand image.  But you can’t be effective until you have a sense of the brand.   Are you hoping to brand the company as a leading edge innovator?  Then Tweets should reinforce that brand image by directing followers to innovation success stories, accolades and awards for innovation, breaking news of other innovators in the marketplace, etc. Again, this only makes sense if that branding work was done beforehand.

2)    Be Consistent.  Branding must be consistent across all media and programs.  As an example, a financial consultant might use print and online ads and its website to portray a conservative and trustworthy brand. Thus it wouldn’t make sense for the financial advisor to Tweet goofy jokes or off color comments, personal observations about the weather, Charlie Sheen or unrelated topics.  Be human, yes, but don’t go off-brand. The advisor’s tweet stream should reinforce a consistent brand image that relates to other programs.

3)    Use common sense. Courtesy goes a long way.  This was covered in another post, but it is worth repeating.  Mind your manners!   Don’t be reckless, use profanity, or insult.  That makes a terrible brand impression! Don’t Tweet or post when angry. Refrain from being intoxicated when Tweeting, as many organizations have learned.

4)     Be timely.  This is a pet peeve. What does it say about a business consultant’s “brand” when the Twitter feed hasn’t been updated in over 12 months?  It doesn’t say anything good that is for sure.   If you start a social media marketing program, by all means maintain it in a timely fashion.  It is a detriment to the brand if a blog, Twitter account, or Facebook goes through a ‘set it and forget it” process, and the last post was over a year ago.

5)    Be thoughtful.  It is a mystery to me why so many business to business companies don’t take time to draft an effective Twitter biography profile.  Many also neglect to include their website’s URL. Other relevant followers search Twitter bios using keywords when looking for folks to follow.  If a corporate trainer, for instance, leaves the bio blank, or doesn’t use keywords in the bio like “training’ “corporate training” “learning workshops”, they are missing out on a great branding opportunity.

 Parting Thoughts

A brand is the foundation of all marketing activities. 

It takes thought and effort, but social media marketing can effectively reinforce your brand, and deliver a favorable perception in the mind of your prospect.

What’s Your Retweet Rank?

Regular blog readers know I am in Twitter learning mode – enjoying the power of blogging and Social Media.

There are many marketing folks who are experts in this arena.  Hubspot and eConsultancy, in particular, offer fabulous Twitter expertise.

Here’s a particularly informative blog from awhile back about measuring the ROI of a B-to-B in terms of Retweet Rank

  

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am relatively new to this area.  Much learning has been done over the last 6 months or so in support of Markit Strategies and PR client Plex Systems.

RT Rank: What’s the Deal?

A previous blog post showcased five top tools to measure success on Twitter, and since that time, it’s been amazing to see the relevance of measuring engagement via Retweet Rank.

It turns out that one of the B-to-B programs managed by Markit Strategies and PR has a retweet rank in the 97th percentile.  The percentile reflects the percentage of tweets that have been been retweeted.

Why is RT Ranking Important?

Why is Retweet Ranking a good metric to measure quality of engagement?

1. It means your followers are reading tweets, directly or indirectly.
2. It means that your Twitter handle "@Name" is spreading to relevant Twitter users in the keywords related to the product or service.  More people will follow.
3. Tweets are interesting enough for both followers and non-followers to take an action and pass along to their followers.
4. It means you are building relationships and trust with relevant followers.

Note that most business to business Twitter users do not realize the importance of "RT". It is a more meaningful metric than number of followers - a way to measure engagement with a relevant community (which by the way you can also measure in terms of followers on TwitterSheep. 

The goal is to build a strong, engaged experience on Twitter with a lot of retweeting by relevant followers.

Do you Tweet? If so, check out your RT Rank!  

Measure Twice, Tweet Once: Measuring for Social Media Success

There’s so much to consider when using Social Media in the business-to-business marketing world.  

This post puts the spotlight on Twitter metrics of success. Facebook and LinkedIn are entirely different animals when one considers measuring success.

Previous blog postings have addressed Twitter Etiquette, and late last year I even took a look at what the 1970-s art house band Talking Heads would have said about Twitter.

This time, though, it’s inspiring to consider the following:  How do you know if a Twitter program is effective?

Wise marketing folks are often posting about this subject, such as this terrific post from those smarty pants at eConsultancy.

Quality vs. Quantity

It’s tempting to measure success by the number of Twitter followers an account has acquired, but that isn’t a complete view of success.

Yet it is fun to watch followers grow (heck, I even wrote a limerick when one of the Twitter programs I managed crossed 500 followers!).

If social media marketing is about engaging and connecting, then it follows that the best strategy is ongoing measurement of  "relevant engagement" on Twitter.

How to Assess Relevent Engagement? 

How can one measure  social media engagement?

One handy approach is to monitor the amount of Tweets that get Retweeted by others, especially followers related to a particular topic.  It is easy to track mentions and direct messages over a 30 day period to establish a benchmark - then monitor growth over time.

The Twitter List

Twitter Lists are critical to monitor. 

How many folks include your Twitter handle in a list?  How many relevant lists follow you?  

Being included in a relevant list by another Twitter account is a great measure of engagement and connection.  For instance, if you manage a Twitter account for a personal trainer, there are many Twitter lists out there that single out those in the personal training arena. Being include in a Twitter list is a great indication of engagement.

5 Tools for Measurement

1. If you manage your Twitter account using TweetDeck or HootSuite, it is easy to set up the interface to quickly track mentions, retweets and direct mentions if folks use the @sign and your full Twitter handle.
2. Search:  A simple Twitter Search monitors those tweeting about a company especially if others don't use @ sign (that's usually what happens) 
3.  Retweet Rank – as the name states, this easy tool monitors Retweets 
4.  Tweet Cloud:  Analyzes the content of a month's worth of tweets (or any timeframe) to analyze whether your tweets are 'on topic" - a really great tool for monitoring content over time.  
5. TwitterSheep offers a clear indication of engagement, depicting visually how relevant the bios of your followers are.  Take just a second to analyze the bios of your followers, when searching under relevant terms (like exercise, personal health, etc....when using the personal trainer example from above)  

Remember the old saying:  you are what you measure! There are likely other great tools that measure social media engagement.  Please share them here!