1. Twitter for Brands.
A basic guide to growing your brand on Twitter.
Ryan Spoon: ryanspoon.com
Polaris Venture Partners: polaris.vc
Dogpatch Labs: dogpatchlabs.com

2. About Us:
Sample Companies

3. “Twitter is not a technology. It’s a
conversation. And it’s happening
with or with you.”
Charlene Li.

4. Twitter is big.
… as if you needed convincing.
Today:
200m users
250m tweets/day
400m uniques/mo
http://9.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/1bntweets3.jpg

5. “The biggest mistake we see
companies make when they first hit
Twitter is to think about it as a
channel to push out information.”
Tim O’Reilly.

6. Avoid making that mistake with
these five guidelines:
1. Listen
2. Be authentic
3. Be compelling
4. Find the influencers
5. Extend off-Twitter, onsite

7. “Too many people fail to realize
that real communication goes in
both directions.”
Lee Lacocca.

8. Your customers are on Twitter.
…Whether or not you are.
They are talking about
you; good or bad.
Listen to what they are
saying.

9. Listening: Search
Twitter search is
enormously useful…
and under-utilized.
By query / phrase
By username
By location
By sentiment
Save your searches!

10. Example: Local Search
Search: People
looking for best
coffee in San
Francisco area.
Useful for: local
coffee shops,
bigger chains,
customer
support, etc

11. Example: Customer Sentiment

12. Listening: 3 rd Party Apps
The most powerful “listening platforms”
are from 3rd party tools.
Better way to create brand dashboard:
- set saved searches, profiles
- manage multiple accounts
- integrated analytics
- schedule tweets
- manage workflow with team

13. Listening: Data
Listen to the data….
figure out what’s working:
- Best time to tweet
- Most effective tweets
- Characteristics of most
retweeted, replied tweets
- Characterisitcs of highest
traffic drivers off-Twitter
http://hootsuite.com/about

14. Listening: Real-Time
Listen, and respond,
in real-time.
From @wholefoods: “the
online community doesn’t
recognize office hours – nor
should they. Waiting until
Monday is just not good
enough.”
Example: I tweeted bad
Southwest experience. They
responded < 4 minutes.

15. “The key to successful leadership
today is influence, not authority.”
Ken Blanchard.

16. Who are You Talking To?
Before engaging with users, you should
understand their:
1. influence
2. relevance
3. background
… THEN determine response, speed, etc.

17. How? Try Klout.
Use Klout to understand
individual user’s:
- influence and reach
- topics of expertise
- network & similar users
Hint: try Klout’s Chrome app and
see Klout scores on Twitter.com.

18. Use Influence To:
1. Customer Service: Manage &
prioritize CS workflows
2. Acquisition: Identify potential
customers & partners
3. Marketing: Run targeted
campaigns; grow your
following.

19. “Authenticity, honesty, and
personal voice underlie much of
what’s successful on the web.”
Rick Levine.

20. Be Relatable
People want to hear & interact with real voices.
The best brands on Twitter are personable & real.
Why so popular?
Non-corporate, unique, fun, relatable, responsive.

21. Create Conversation.
Twitter is not an advertisement.
It is a conversation.
People relate to conversation.
Not to advertising and broadcasts.
Broadcast (i.e. TV) Conversation

22. “I am all for conversation. But you
need to have a message.”
Renee Blodgett.

23. What IS Compelling?
Simple answer: Would you want to get
these updates via SMS?
- Unique content, spin
- Current / real-time focus
- Promotes more than themselves
- Exclusive access: photos, deals, insights
- Conversational: two-way platform
- Fun, smart and worth the read

24. Examples: Compelling Brands
(In my opinion)
Big brands
Personal brand
E-commerce
Emerging

25. Examples: Compelling Brands
(in Twitter’s opinion)
* Twitter Case Studies

26. What is NOT Compelling?
- Corporate-only voice
- Broadcast only
- High volume
- Stale content
- Ordinary content
- Mostly self-serving
- Self-infatuated

27. Example: NOT Compelling
80+ tweets in 24 hrs
Ordinary / useless content:
Untargeted content:

28. “Successful brands don’t stop
on Twitter.com – they build social
directly into their web and mobile
experiences.”
Me :)

29. Basic: Tweet Button

30. Better: Display of multi-user activity
with inline reply, retweet functions

31. Great: Fab’s “Feed” shows real-time
purchases and social activity

32. Social from the Ground Up: Flipboard
reimagines Twitter reading & publishing

33. Summary:
1. Create conversation, not ads
2. Your voice: be compelling
3. Their voice: who’s talking?
4. Apply this to your web, off-Twitter
5. Success requires dedication to it
(mentality, product, people, tools)

34. Lastly, Best Practices According to Twitter

35. More Reading
- Twitter Best Practices - Using Twitter effectively - Twitter for Publisher Networks
- Twitter for Business - Twitter Marketing Guide - Humanizing your Brand
- Twitter Case Studies - 7 Sneaky Ways to Use Twitter - My Response to Mark Cuban’s:
- Examples: Twitter Media to Spy on Your Competition Does ESPN.com Have a Twitter
- Twitter for Websites - 10 Twitter Tools Used by Problem?
- Resources for mobile Social Media Experts - 11 Ways to Usher NFL, NBA, MLB
developers - The Science of Social Timing into new Web
- Small Business One-Pager Part 1: Social Networks - Why Twitter Images Is Important
- Twitter Logos & Icons - 5 Tips To Make Your Startup’s (Screenshot)
- Twitter Developer Guidelines Twitter Account Stand Out - Twitter Promotes Mobile Apps &
- 10 Great Twitter Tools To SMS To Logged-Out Users. Smart.
Transform Your Tweeting - Twitter Promoted Tweets &
Experience Effective Real-Time, Event-Based
Advertising
- For Social Ads, Voice and
Relevance are more Important
than Just Reach.

36. Learn more.
Connect with us.
polaris.vc dogpatchlabs.com ryanspoon.com
@polarisvc @dogpatchlabs @ryanspoon
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