I presented this session at the Food Allergy Bloggers Conference in Denver, Colorado in November 2017. This includes an overview of Twitter for people new to the social media channel and transitions into more advanced topics for people who want to take their Twitter use to the next level.

1. WCG | Twist | Pure | Sentient | Marketeching
Food Allergy Blogger Conference
TWITTER FOR HEALTH
ADVOCATES
November 2017

2. Contents are proprietary and confidential
MISSY VORONYAK –
MARKETING MAMA
- Allergy mom
- Food allergy, Lifestyle, Home Decor
- Blogging for 10 years
- Social Media/Marketing
- 4 kids + 1 husband
- Minnesota
marketingmama.com
Twitter @missyvoronyak
IG @marketingmama

3. @missyvoronyak
MISSY VORONYAK
GROUP DIRECTOR - SOCIAL MEDIA & ENGAGEMENT
Missy Voronyak has 18 years of marketing and communications experience, including social media, branding,
digital, advertising, executive communications and more. Since joining WCG in 2013, Missy has worked with
medical device and pharmaceutical companies, as well as global consumer and technology brands. Her
previous 15 years of marketing experience were with Allina Health and Hazelden Foundation.
Missy is also a blogger (marketingmama.com) where she covers a variety of parenting and health topics in her
free time. Founded in 2007. She is also the founder of the MN Blogger Conference (est. 2010).
Missy has been recognized as a “Top Ten Titan in Social Media” in the Twin Cities and one of 11 “Top Tweeps
in the Twin Cities” by KARE11, MN Hospital Association Community Benefit awards, Telly Award finalist,
Healthcare advertising awards and more. Missy received her degree in public relations and mass
communications from Drake University.

4. 4
1. Twitter Basics
questions
more questions
2. Twitter Advanced
even more questions
… email me questions
AGENDA

5. @missyvoronyak
LET’S MAKE TWITTER YOUR BFF
Twitter Basics

6. @missyvoronyak
FAST-PACED COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE ATTENTION
ECONOMY
• Moves quickly, average shelf life of a
tweet is 2-4 minutes
• Favored by those who try to stay on top
of news and trends
• Popular among journalists, thought
leaders, health advocates, HCPs
• Great way to connect with others who
have similar interests – don’t need to
follow each other in order to engage
• Tweets appear in Google search results
in real time
Influencer Network Map on Twitter

7. @missyvoronyak
CONNECTING WITH MEDIA
Journalists frequently use Twitter
for story inspiration AND to source
interviews for stories.
You’ll miss these opportunities if
you aren’t following and engaging
with them.
Example: Here are two examples
of local journalists looking for
interview subjects and one who
found me on Twitter and sent me a
private message to interview.

8. @missyvoronyak
MAKING CAREER CONNECTIONS
You can connect with people you
would like to know for networking.
Example: Natalie Zheng reached out to me on
Twitter as a fellow Drake University alum. She
made a positive impression, stayed on my
radar screen and we eventually met at an
event where she introduced herself. I felt as
though we already knew each other.
A few years later, I recruited her for a position
and hired her to work with me.

9. @missyvoronyak
LISTENING FOR TRENDS
If you listen to conversations on Twitter, you’ll notice opinion
trends bubbling up by strong voices.
Example: In 2011, my employer was pitched to participate in a pink garbage
can program. They would place our cancer center logo on the cans and give us
a % of the $$$ as donations. My employer was excited about the awareness
and the $$$.
Yet, I had noticed people were beginning to talk about “pinkwashing” on Twitter
– rebelling against the consumerism of breast cancer awareness.
OCTOBER 17, 2011
My employer heeded my counsel and passed on the opportunity.
A few months later, an article bashing pinkwashing the pink garbage cans ran on
the front page of the Star Tribune.
Social listening using Twitter saved us from a PR nightmare.

10. @missyvoronyak
FRIENDSHIPS & ADVOCACY
You can build strong friendships, intervene & maybe
even dramatically impact someone’s life.
Example: Leslie and I met through Twitter via the #foodallergy hashtag.
She was recently diagnosed with food allergies to tree nuts, soy and
seeds.
One day I noticed Leslie was live-tweeting a food allergy reaction she
was having and I became concerned. I could tell her symptoms were
getting worse and it sounded very dangerous. I was worried and was
doing my best to convince her to get into a hospital ASAP.
We ended up trading phone numbers and then texted and talked until
she was seen by a doctor in the ER. Her allergist confirmed her
experience was anaphylaxis.
Leslie was grateful and flew to MN to visit us the next summer.

11. @missyvoronyak
THE KEYS TO TWITTER SUCCESS
READ
• Stay on top of your industry
news and conversations
• Use Twitter feed as a news
source by following leaders &
news sites
• Mobile apps make this easy
CONNECT
• Bring your real-life network to
life online
• Connect with influencers,
peers and friends
• Build & deepen relationships
through regular comms
SHARE
• Add value for your network by
sharing interesting & relevant
content
• Share influencer content
strategically – not only news
about your company

12. @missyvoronyak
TOOLS: TWITTER.COM & APP

13. @missyvoronyak
You only need to spend
3-5 minutes a day on
Twitter to be successful!

14. @missyvoronyak
• Use your real name
• Choose a “handle”
that incorporates your
real name
• Use a relevant or
professional
photograph of
yourself (no logos!)
• Write a clear, simple bio
that includes personality
• Can include magic
words: “opinions my own”
YOUR PROFILE

15. @missyvoronyak
EXAMPLE PROFILES
Group
Exercise

16. @missyvoronyak
WHO TO FOLLOW?
FRIENDS &
OTHER
BLOGGERS
COLLEAGUESMEDIA INTEREST AREAS
Group
Exercise

17. @missyvoronyak
THE FIVE BASIC FUNCTIONS OF TWITTER
Tweet
Retweet
Reply
Like
Direct Message

18. 18
ANATOMY OF A TWEET
Hashtag
Tagging handles
makes them
clickable and the
person knows
you mentioned
them
Full name
& handle
# of people
who retweeted
# of people
who liked it

19. 19
HASHTAGS ARE SEARCH AIDS
• Hashtags are used to start a new
conversation or join one already taking
place
• Always search hashtags before using to
make sure it’s relevant
• Limit hashtags to 2 per post
• Don’t begin a tweet with a hashtag, it’s
jarring
• Try to use the hashtag in the sentence,
not always at the end
#
good
bad

20. @missyvoronyak
3 IN 30 CHALLENGE
3 Minutes 3 Actions:
tweet, reply, share
30 Days

21. @missyvoronyak
TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Advanced Twitter

22. @missyvoronyak
WHAT SHOULD YOU TWEET ABOUT?
• Links to your latest blog post
• Live-tweet an event or meeting
using designated hashtag
• Your hobbies/interests
• Links to news articles with an
opinion up front
• Interesting moments or photos
from your day
Group
Exercise

23. 23
KEY INGREDIENTS OF A SOCIAL MEDIA POST
• Interesting topic audience cares about
• Simple, engaging language
• Compelling visual
• Call to action
• Link to info
• Watch a video
• Sign up for a webinar

24. 24
Share a variety of content at events
EVENT SCAVENGER HUNT
Visit the exhibit and share a
selfie from the photo booth.
1
2
On Instagram? Take a photo
and use the event hashtag.
3 Take a photo of a speaker
and quote them on social, tag
the speaker & use the hashtag.
4
Is there a debate or hot topic
at the event? Post it to your
network and ask people to weigh in.
5
6
7
8
Take a selfie with one of the
speakers and share something
nice about their presentation.
Share a photo of something interesting
happening (demo, music).
Watch for compelling content from
people using the hashtag; reply and
share.
Is there a blog post that ties nicely
with a presentation? Share a link to
it with the hashtag.

25. @missyvoronyak
5 COMMON MISTAKES
1. Auto direct messages (DMs)
2. Beginning a tweet with a handle
3. Only tweeting links to your website
or talking only about yourself
4. Sporadic tweeting
5. Complaining frequently

26. @missyvoronyak
• Only talk about yourself 1/3 of the time
• Check notifications every day and respond to questions, comments and
general mentions that you’ve been tagged in
• If appropriate, and not spammy, tag people in your tweets or image to make
sure they see it
• Follow-back users who look real
• Thank/engage with users who reply or retweet you
• Look for good tweets to RT
WRITING AND ENGAGING WITH OTHERS

27. @missyvoronyak
• Follow people who are relevant to your topic
area
• Live tweet at conferences
• When you follow someone send a tweet and say
hello and/or reply to recent tweet
• Search on topic & answer question/respond
• Using relevant hashtags
• Engaging with others, RT & saying thank you
• Include your handle in email signatures,
LinkedIn, name badges at conferences
HOW TO GET MORE FOLLOWERS
Don’t buy
followers!

28. @missyvoronyak
CREATING TWITTER LISTS
Group
Exercise
• Twitter Lists allow users to
see tweets only from select
users
• Collect lists of reporters,
influencers, detractors, etc.
for ongoing monitoring
• Private Lists
• Your lists do not need to be
displayed publically
• Create private lists for
collections of user handles
only you can see

29. @missyvoronyak
TWITTER CHATS
Do you participate in Twitter chats?
Which ones? What motivates you to do so?
Develop strategy
and theme
Identify partners and
key participants
Promote Chat
Host Chat Track engagement
Want to start a
Twitter chat?

30. • CREATE – Contribute to a monthly editorial calendar by sharing relevant information
that ladders up to the content pillars determined applicable to your blog
• REVIEW – Never publish without reviewing. Double check your links, your tweet
content and your tags
• PUBLISH – Schedule tweets within Twitter or within a social media management tool
on a bi-weekly or monthly cadence with correct formatting. Stay familiar with current
channel best practices
• MONITOR – Review relevant mentions of associated topic conversations. Respond
to relevant conversation and questions using your personal experiences and
knowledge, link to relevant blog posts to answer questions
• REPORT– Don’t just “think” you’re doing well, keep track of it with a monthly report
that let’s you know what is working and what isn’t. Alter your tweets to reflect what
your audience responds to
GETTING FORMAL WITH COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

31. @missyvoronyak
TWITTER PRO TIPS
• Disclosure = list where you work or if a
business is a client in your bio or the
tweet
• Use casual and conversational language
instead of formal
• Posting a hashtag after a link can
increase click through rates
• Don’t begin a tweet with a hashtag
• Use photos when you can
• Only start a tweet with a @username if
you are responding to someone, because
it will only be visible to them

32. @missyvoronyak
CURATE & SEND NEWS TO YOURSELF

33. @missyvoronyak
TOOLS: TWEETDECK AND HOOTSUITE
• TweetDeck is a software program to
download and update – developed by
Twitter
• Hootsuite is a web-based program
• Both allow for real-time Twitter feeds
from handles you follow or lists you’ve
created
• Advanced features allow for columns by
users, keywords and hashtags
• Both allow scheduling tweets
• Tweetdeck allows you to manage only
Twitter accounts (no limit)
• Hootsuite limits number of Twitter
accounts, but also allows for Facebook,
LinkedIn, Google+
Targeted
Lists
TweetDeck
Hootsuite

34. @missyvoronyak
MEASURING PERFORMANCE
You can log on to analytics.twitter.com to measure your content performance.
What You Can Measure Why You Would Measure It What it Looks Like
Engagement
You can measure top tweets and top mentions of your posts by other users by month
which will help you understand how your tweets are measuring each month. If you see
an above average number of Retweets, replies and/or favorites on your tweet – note
that! You will know that this type of content does well amongst your followers and you
can use this as insight for future content development.
Followers
You can measure anything from Top Followers, to New Followers to who exactly is
following you! This means you can hone in on who exactly is following you (based on
interests, demographic, lifestyle, etc.) to see how you can tailor your content in the
future and will help shape your content.
If you are getting an above average number of followers on a particular day, this is
largely in part to your most recent post. If you tweeted something different on this day,
or something relevant to the community, note that for future content use as something
that resonates well with your follower base. Also, if you retweeted or engaged with a
post from a verified page and are gaining followers from that engagement, than you
are doing it right!
Page Visits &
Impressions
Page visits are measured by the number of people who have viewed your Twitter
handle. Additionally, you can measure impressions, which are the number of people
who have seen your content. This also means that if someone shares your content
(Retweets) with their Twitter community, they may not have visited your Page directly,
but they are seeing what you have to say. These can be measured monthly or you can
choose a customized date range to see how the content you are sharing is measuring
against each other, month after month.

35. @missyvoronyak
3 IN 30 CHALLENGE
3 Minutes 3 Actions:
tweet, reply, share
30 Days

36. @missyvoronyak
@missyvoronyak
mvoronyak@w2ogroup.com
linkedin.com/in/missyvoronyak
LET’S STAY IN TOUCH
marketingmama.com

37. THANK YOU