In a random email this morning, subject line "No question, just comment," Morgan writes:

Just wanted to write and say I think you guys are doing the whole "advertising on twitter" thing right. It's not about spam bots - it's about blogs and other sites paying tweeters and retweeters for doing what they're already doing. Hopefully we can see, through services like yours, a shift from the random spamming on twitter, and annoying banner ads, to really personalized advertising - personalized and personal, unlike Phorm's "personal" ads.

So... yeah. Didn't really have a question, but just kudos.

Well, Morgan, we thank you!

Labels: Affiliate, Monetize, Social Media, Socially Responsible, Spam, Twitter

So, I won't lie, I found this post through keyword searching on Twitter. On June 3rd, Elizabeth Arlaune (or @JoLoPe) posted a blog article about an informal survey conducted. Intrigued by the Tweet that she used to promote it (irony intended) I indeed clicked the link (a lesson to you betweeted advertisers). Although unscientific, her findings were nonetheless contrary to outspoken opinion and definitely worthy of discussion. You can find the entire blog entry here.

First, the responses to her questions led to some interesting conclusions. First, 90% of her respondents said it was OK to advertise/promote on Twitter. That sure doesn't sound like the tune we've heard louder and louder from social media purists over the past few months. Not only that, but 66% are actually guilty of promotion themselves. Now, this does beg the question, where did she find her sample population? I'm not sure. But, even if slightly skewed, I can't imagine a factor of correction that could negate these stats.

I would, however, have to disagree with one observation made. In considering the data, Elizabeth makes the statement, "EVERYTHING is about promotion." Wait. Stop. Hold the phone. Is that what this data means?

I disagree. I think that it is one thing to say that advertising on Twitter is permissible, even encouraged. However, it's an entirely different matter to say that Twitter is only about advertising. It should be no secret, I use Twitter for promotion. But, I also use it for customer service and response, building relationship with our users, collecting feedback, etc.

No matter how much advertising gets in the mix, Twitter will never be about anything other than relationships. The grievous error, then, is in thinking that relationships cannot exist in the midst of advertising.

Labels: Advertise, Blog, Social Media, Socially Responsible, Spam, Twitter

Now, I don't want to diminish this accolade, but I do tend to like shiny things. My friends can't take me fishing anymore because I get very distracted by the spinner baits. I have a new favorite app every week.

But, yesterday I was introduced to a new Twitter application called Twibes. It's a very simple concept based on aggregation. However, it builds a social network on top of a social network. I can no join a "twibe" for, let's say, marketing. There, if I post any tweets with the hashtag marketing to my ow Twitter stream, it will display in the Marketing twibe stream. There's no extra action taken.

It's more than that, though. No doubt, many people will jump right in beleiving the value is in the broadcast... it's not. This is the ability to search for people and build new relationships based on interest. If you're looking for a group of Twitterers to tweet with who are interested in Jack Russel Terriers, you can find them... you can follow them.

My current twibes are Marketing, Advertising, and of course, Hunting. What's your twibe?

Labels: Advertise, API, Social Media, Twitter

I started using Twitter as a theological blogger. Then, I thought it would be a good idea to bring my marketing business onto Twitter. Of course, that's a different persona altogether. Later, I launched AddressTwo, and a new Twitter username was born. And, of course, most of you know @betweeted_com, which happens to be my fourth Twitter identity.

All of this sounds great at the time, but in the end I'm left with a plethora of problems. I don't have time to be 4 people. I don't remember who I'm friends with under which accounts. Those who know me personally know all of my personalities and are confused by the four distinct Twitter accounts. The list goes on.

Now, of course there are several apps that help with multi account management, but they don't totally eliminate all the problems. So, what IS the best practice?

I've determined the best practice is practice itself. If I set out to be 4 people, understanding that I had 4 legitimately different audiences and messages, then I need to maintain my commitment to be social, engaging, and interesting to all 4 of those followings. I've set aside 1 hour each morning to blog and to tweet. Just one hour. We'll see how it goes.

Labels: Social Media, Socially Responsible, Twitter

Twitter's search tools is becoming an increasingly popular means to follow trends--the topics and keywords that are talked about most on Twitter--or simply see what people are saying about a topic of interest to you. But, have you thought about this phenomenon in your Twitter advertising strategy?

With the understanding that Twitter's links are nofollow tagged, making Twitter not a leading SEO tool, many people disregard the importance of keywords in one's tweets. That's a fatal error. The fact is, with more and more people searching tweets instead of simply viewing the stream from their personal following, keywords are more important than ever.

Making sure to cater to keyword searchs on search.twitter.com will vastly increase the exposure that BeTweeted already offers. As our blogger video already demonstrates, a main value is the introduction of your tweet to other Twitter users that you may have never been able to reach before. But, if those tweets from BeTweeted also appear in the correct search streams, your exposure increases even more.

Consider, the next time you put together a BeTweeted ad, to place strategic keywords in the text of the tweet that you provide. Your exposure will grow even wider and your Twitter popularity will show it.

Labels: Advertise, Social Media, Twitter, Viral Marketing

So, how's this for irony.... New and radical communication medium is invented, called Twitter. Once popularity grows, Twitter then turns to 80-year-old medium of television to tell more people about Twitter. Huh?

So, according to The Hollywood Reporter, that's exactly what Twitter has decided to do. Working with Reveille and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, the new social media will be broadcast on the old push media in the form of a television series.

Author Amy Ephron has supposedly been busy creating the show's format, which, as near as I can tell is vague at best from all reports released thus far. The majority of the details leaked haven't pertained at all to the content of the show, but rather have emphasized the names of those involved. I'm not sure if this is an intentional misdirection, or just some really eager producers desperately wanting to see their names in a press release.

So, what do you think? Will people tune in to this show--at least for the first season--on the simple basis that it invovles Twitter? Can they survive without a substantial plot?

Labels: Social Media, Twitter

There's a distinct difference between search engine marketing and search engine optimization. What a lot of people what to know is, "will Twitter links boost my SEO?" That's a great question. Let's think about it.

First, for the novices reading, what we're talking about is what some people call "link juice." It's the value that Google places on your website for every time it finds another website linking to your own. In other words, when Google realizes there are lot of other sites out there that link to your site, it thinks there must be something good there and you move higher in search rankings. Now, this is an incredibly oversimplified illustration, but that's the gist of it.

So when you tweet a link in Twitter, that must have amazing impact, right? I mean, Twitter is the epitome of fresh content, dynamic, full of links, keyword rich... it's got the perfect mix for high Google authority. So, if they link to you, that must be the golden link, right? Wrong. See, Twitter actually tells Google via their back-end code NOT to follow any links in the tweet stream. In other words, its as if Google turns a blind eye to the links in the stream.

So, is there SEO value? It would seem that the answer is in fact no. But, while the link juice isn't there, I would suggest this is still a pretty powerful SEO tool. Why? Because of the shear number of visitors you get. Visitors equate to subscribers (provided you have RSS... a must for anyone whose serious about SEO). And, what you may NOT know is that Google not only loves to see that you offer RSS, but they really like it when your RSS gets read a lot. Didn't know they looked at that, did ya?

In short, no, you won't instantly jump to page one just by having links to your website in the tweet stream. Just like anything in life, it takes time for the benefits to come. But, if you use Twitter responsibly to build genuine traffic that subscribes to your content, you'll find that it's a pretty useful tool for upping your page rank.

Labels: SEO, Social Media, Twitter

Any time I hit a website that looks like crap on a stick AND it appears to be a bad idea, it's pretty easy for me to dismiss it as a bad idea. When I begin to second-guess myself is when I find a website that looks very professional and well-designed, and yet the concept strikes me as purely absurd. I wonder, is this the worst idea you've ever heard, or am I missing something?

Check out Tweet Traffic Ads. You pay $50. You get one tweet. Your audience is 25k followers who receive nothing in their stream but ads all day long.

What am I missing here?

Or, is it the most genius idea you've ever heard of? After all, their value proposition is incredibly simple. The purchase process is incredibly simple. If they can get mentions in blog posts like this one enough to sell their service, I guess I can't argue with profit. What do you make of it?

Labels: Advertise, Social Media, Spam, Twitter

I've seen some pretty cool twitter apps in my day... and I've seen some really crummy ones. The API is getting better every day, and yet we're still seeing mainly low-effort stuff coming out. What if someone as innovative as Biz Stone decided to build on the already amazing platform an equally amazing app? It might look something like this:

1. A Twitter-Based Chat Room.
   This would be managed by a unique hashtag, most likely, and in order to join the chat you'd simply start hashtagging your tweets appropriately. However, with an app that reads these hashtags (and likely also generates them) the public convo can become a manageable beast.
   
2. A conversation tracker.
   I'm sick of having to visit my old tweets to figure out what in the world someone is replying to. If I could view ongoing conversations in unique windows, much like AIM, I would love it. I know, someone will say "why not just use AIM." Because, you dolt, I like using Twitter. This is where all my friends are at!
3. Tweet Deck Multi.
   This one's pretty simple, and I can't wait until it's out... I love tweetdeck, but I also have several Twitter accounts to manage. If they'd get on board with multi-account management, it would be the best app ever.
   

Labels: API, Social Media, Twitter

Okay all you public relations pro's and marketing mavens out there, are you offering "social media" services yet? Perhaps you're still waiting to see if it's just a fad. Maybe you're unsure how to deliver it as a service model, or maybe you view it as a competitor. Well, Phil Johnson, a blogger over at Advertising Age thinks you're missing the boat -- and I agree!

If you make your living charging any company, large or small, for your advice and/or services in the area of public relations, marketing, sales, or just plain business consulting, then your customers need to hear you say "Twitter." It's not about being trendy. It's about offering best-in-class service.

There are countless services that you could begin to introduce, or perhaps you're already offering and can enhance by using Twitter. Here are a few:

• Thought leadership. Gain a following to build the persona of your client as a thought-leader in any relevant industry topic.
• Lead generation. Yes, it can work. If your client has the right type of business, you can generate leads using Twitter. Good, solid, qualified leads.
• Customer service. Especially for software or computer-related services, Twitter is a great way to have instant dialogue with needy customers.
• Sales & Promotions. Offer a sale, a deal, or a discount using Twitter. This is obviously great because of the ability to track the results very clearly.
• SEO. Yep, it can work. If you can make sure your links are followable by bots, you cannot deny the obvious benefit of links from Twitter.

The list goes on. And, of course, if you're interested in using BeTweeted as part of your services to the client, check out our Affiliate Program to see how we can work together.

Labels: Affiliate, Social Media, Twitter

Advertising Age published an article over the weekend that offers just the sort of stats that an analytical type might need before jumping on this "trendy" new Twitter bandwagon: Twitter Proves Its Worth as a Killer App for Local Businesses. According to Jeff Leach, co-founder of Naked Pizza in New Orleans, they were able to affirmatively track 15% of their sales as directly resulting from a Twitter-exclusive promotion.

When small businesses pay thousands each year in directory advertising, email marketing, and direct mail -- Twitter's first appealing trait is it's low barrier of entry. It's free to join, and free to build a following. I will freely admit that advertising services like BeTweeted aren't required for success on Twitter, although they sure do help a lot!

The other low barrier of entry described in Advertising Age's article is the simplicity of Twitter. It's not nearly as overwhelming to get started as, say, designing a blog in Wordpress or creating a page on Facebook. With so much to distract and occupy a small business owner's time, Twitter's ease of use is very appealing.

So, if you've been looking for some proof in the pudding before you jump on the Twitter bandwagon, Advertising Age's article is worth the read.

Labels: Advertise, Small Business, Social Media, Twitter

Many of you may have already seen that Brandswag, a social media marketing firm, came out today announcing an "official endorsement" of BeTweeted (see the article here). Once I get past the obvious pats on my own back, I step back and wonder: what's so marvelous about this?

Well, lest anyone should think I'm being ungrateful, I have to say upfront that it is indeed a very great thing, and I am very honored to see it. That said, to answer my own rhetorical question, what's so marvelous is that Colin and Kyle at Brandswag are not only thought-leaders in the social media realm, they're also very discerning people (which is a prerequisite for being established as a thought leader).

Here's what I mean by "discerning." I've followed these guys for some time now. They don't push crap. They're not apt to promoting get-rich-quick schemes. They don't jump on bandwagons just for a little chance at a jump in site traffic. So, all this amounts to one thing for BeTweeted: we must be on to something here. Socially responsible advertising on Twitter is here to stay.

If you visit the Indy Awesome Blog today to see this "endorsement" I keep gushing about (can you tell I'm excited) just do one more thing. Search the blog for mentions of any other Twitter ad network. Nada. We must be doing something right. Will you join us?

Labels: Advertise, Social Media, Spam, Twitter

Brian Morrissey wrote recently about Twitter, comparing in-stream ads to the sponsored links on Google. Morrissey's point, and a good one I believe, is that Google's success in selling their advertising was to create the illusion that the sponsored links were in fact content. This brings up a very fascinating semantic debate that I'd like to explore.

Are the sponsored ads on Google really "masquerading" as content? What is "content," then, if not a page with relevant info--product, commercial, or otherwise? Doesn't Google enforce a relevancy rule in their Adwords campaigns? The last time I created an Adwords campaign, I watched a little screen process for a few seconds before telling me that they were able to indeed confirm that my keyword selection, ad copy, and destination URL were all matching in relevant content. Hmmm. Content?

I just cannot wrap my head around the notion that ads are inherently not content. I know Google makes money when I click a sponsored ad. Half the time, when I type a search term, I'm looking to buy something. If the ad describes the product that I'm seeking, guess what, that's the content that I want to find.

So, how can we as advertisers deliver content on Twitter using BeTweeted? Simple. Author and distribute marketing messaging that's conversational... that's in fact social. For my favorite application of this, watch this video on how bloggers can increase traffic using Twitter.

Labels: Advertise, Blog, Social Media, Twitter

Being tweeted isn't all about spending ad budget with BeTweeted. As we clearly admit in our own FAQ, you can do it entirely on your own. We just like to speed up the process by introducing you around a bit. Nonetheless, we want to see our advertisers utilizing Twitter in the most effective way possible, so I thought I'd share some tips.

First off, let's make sure we all understand what we mean by "being tweeted." It's a relatively easy task to be followed by thousands of users. Just go on a follow frenzy. But, what will really get you the most website traffic from Twitter is being tweeted by others. Most commonly, this occurs through retweets, although any person in the twittosphere that's enamored with your product (and/or being paid through betweeted) could tweet about you. So, how do you bring this about:

1. Make 'em Laugh
   Be funny in your tweets. My easiest mode for accomplishing this is to make fun of some easy target. Right now, it's usually myself (yes, indeed) or some benign "cause" like the swine flu.
2. Make 'em Think
   I often talk about the term "compelling content." In general, it's something mentally engaging. The truth is, however, it also needs to be somewhat "edgy" to get people's attention. Just another article on how to survive an economic recession is becoming as common today as articles on using Twitter (irony intended). So, how is yours different?
3. Make 'em Believe
   If you haven't seen Dove's youtube phenomenon called "Real Beauty" it's a social media case study unto itself. What'd they do. They gave their audience something to believe in--namely that real beauty should not be cheapened by consumer products. What can you instill in your audience that they can believe in?

Those are just a few to get your started. I'm very curious to know what you have used successfully as a tactic for being tweeted.

Labels: Social Media, Twitter, Viral Marketing

I had a great conversation today with a very "social media" savvy would-be advertiser on BeTweeted. The major concern, both from this person and in the minds of many people looking to leverage the power of Twitter for their businesses, is the potential back-lash of being "discovered" as a Twitter advertiser. Could the mere fact that your company advertisers on Twitter actually reflect negatively on your brand? We surely think not, but let's explore the ins-and-outs.

With such a rage building in the community of social media users over the influx of spam, it's reasonable to fear that as an advertiser on Twitter your company's name may be some how, rightly or wrongly, lumped in with this category. Like having your name in the rolodex of Heidi Fleiss when it all goes public. What stigma would you have to bear if the world found out you were among the list of those who paid to leverage Twitter for business gain?

Herein is where the concern becomes paranoia. The fact is, such a great majority of Twitter users are indeed using it for business gain, it can hardly be said that this is a shunned use... even to the most die-hard of social media purists. So, what is it that does bear a stigma? What is the "shunned" use. It's important to understand what is really mean by the term spam. Spam is the abuse of Twitter. It's intrusive commercial messaging with no value to the social cloud that is the twittosphere. Most often, it's done obnoxiously and shamelessly.

But, what if you were "advertising" content on Twitter that was creative, interesting, compelling, or just plain helpful. What if you, as a company, really felt that (as you indeed should) your product was of benefit to those who found out about it. Then, you asked some high-powered Twitter users to look at it first, see if they agreed, and if they indeed did, introduce you to a few of their friends. Does the mere fact that these Twitterers can earn affiliate revenue for such an introduction make you a spammer? We certainly don't think so.

I get a referral fee whenever I send my Realtor new business. I get a store credit for bringing friends to my favorite coffee shop. I get cold cash when people buy a book from Amazon that I recommended in my blog. For that reason, do you not want to meet my realtor? Do you think the coffee shop really isn't my favorite one and that I'm lying just to get some free joe? Do you honestly believe that the book must truly suck and that I'm only hocking it for the measly 73 cents I might make. C'mon! Seriously!

My friend, that is NOT spam. It's a little refreshing, kinda, isn't it? Welcome to what we love to call "socially responsible" advertising on Twitter!

Labels: Advertise, Social Media, Socially Responsible, Spam, Twitter

My wife takes the Indianapolis Star for one reason and one reason only: the ads. Particularly on Sunday, it's like Christmas morning when she gets to eat her cereal and thumb through the large chunk of sales, coupons, and other advertisements inserted into the paper. It's a Sunday tradition.

I ask myself this morning, what if she was a Twitterer and the newspaper distributed that advertising in a whole new medium. I can already tell you that one of the first topics of conversation she has with friends at church later in the morning is over the sales they all plan to attend that afternoon. Now, unless I'm mistaken that makes this material great fodder for a social media marketing plan.

Imagine, each advertiser recieves as part of their media buy that week a simple 140-character tweet including a link to download the content that would have otherwise been distributed in print. Not only would followers consider retweeting just as surely as they call their friends to plan out their shopping, but the URL destination itself could even include the typical "addthis" script plugin to facilitate more viral marketing.

Would advertisers pay extra for this service? Assuming the Indianapolis Star has a significant following on Twitter, of course! And, by the way, they do. @IndyStar has 3888 followers. This is just one more way that Twitter advertising could be applied in a socially responsible manner and truly benefit those who receive it.

Labels: Advertise, Social Media, Twitter

When I was in high school, there was a kid who would do anything for money--or attention, really, but the dares usually began with some promise of money. He once licked a public toilet seat for $20. Yeah! Now, after you've finished losing your lunch, I really do intend to relate this little allegory to marketing principals and how ads are treated on Twitter.

You see, Andy (that was his name) could have probably made a decent living the rest of his life by making an imbecile of himself for cash. At just three random dares a day, $20 each, he's pulling home $1,800 a month as a 12-year old. In fact, for all I know, that's just what he did. But, I bet he would have gotten more sophisticated. Contracts may be tighter today, and instead of licking toilet seats for the on-lookers' entertainment value, he may have sold his friends' email addresses to the top bidder and, yes, his Twitter followers, too.

A Twitterer DM'ed me today and asked what prevents our users from tweeting the same advertiser's link more than once to increase their clicks. "A few people do just that," I told him, "but the reason most don't is the same reason most wouldn't walk the streets with a sandwich board on: DIGNITY." (yes, I know, that's more than 140 characters... I edited here for grammar).

The point is this, as sure as social media marketing is here to stay, so are the spammers--the one's without dignity or social responsibility--who will indeed abuse their rights until some measures are taken to block them. I, for one, am in fact excited that at least on Twitter, blocking such advertisers is easier than with other media like email, snail mail, or even Facebook. Unfollow!

Labels: Advertise, Social Media, Socially Responsible, Spam, Twitter

Oprah said the word and Twitter became an overnight sensation. Ok, sure, it was pretty darn popular even without that, but her endorsement was certainly a landmark in Twitter's growth. So, now you're wondering if you can use Twitter to build your blog traffic, website traffic, or just plain advertise your company. Is it worth it? Is Twitter just a fad, or will it really benefit my brand?

There are few qualifiers that I must give before announcing my resounding, "Yes!" First, Twitter advertising is not going to perform the same way traditional banner advertising performs--at least, not for long. This is social media advertising, not a "push media." So, your budget and goals should take into consideration the fact that, if you pay to advertise on Twitter, you're paying to increase your social footprint.

I can't deny that applying traditional CPM advertising principals to Twitter could have positive impact on your branding efforts, but I want to suggest that there's a better way to think of it. Successful marketing strategies that include Twitter revolve around the concept of building a following, becoming social, and engaging your target audience. That's what BeTweeted is designed to help you do.

So, if you're not yet ready to embrace this new paradigm in online marketing, then I would actually be inclined to join the rest of the purists and say: keep your spam off twitter, please. But, if you get social media marketing and you're ready to use Twitter advertising as a socially responsible medium in your overall marketing mix, then you get my resounding, "Yes!" Advertise on Twitter with BeTweeted.

Labels: Advertise, Social Media, Socially Responsible, Spam, Twitter

It seems that since the dawn of communication, every new media is eventually leveraged for personal gain--what many call advertising or marketing. With print came print ads and brochures. With phones came telemarketing. With email came spam. With social media... well, more spam. Is the presence of an advertisement inherently evil? Is it the practice of using a phone for sales that is wrong, or the abuse of it? Likewise, is a promotional link in the twitter stream wrong, or is it the abuse that's wrong?

There are a great many purists out there that believe social media venues like Twitter and Facebook should remain unadulterated by advertising, sponsored links, and the like. Just read the heated comment stream that ensued when Kyle Lacy blogged about BeTweeted's service to advertise on Twitter. But the extreme view, that inserting promotional links on Twitter should be altogether banned, is simply not a plausible outcome in the reality that we live in.

The question then becomes, how can it be done responsibly? I have come to the sad realization that the abusers are going to abuse. They're the same types of people that were the first to invent automatic dialers in the 70's and the first to purchase email list in the 90's. But what about the companies looking to advertise in a responsible way? Those who advocated no call lists and can-spam acts--the companies I call "socially responsible" yet still realize that they need to leverage every media to market their businesses--how can they use Twitter to advertise?

BeTweeted is billed as "socially responsible" advertising on Twitter. Here's what we mean by that:

• No links are ever auto-tweeted into the stream.
  
• Every Twitterer should preview the content before recommending it to their followers.
• Advertisers should be incentivized to deliver valuable content, not spam, by realizing that Twitterers have the option to say "no" to their links.
• Advertisers should be require to be active on Twitter, including their own username in the tweet, so they can engage their audience as social media enables, not merely push messaging as antiquated marketing principals advocated.

This is my heart for marketing in a social media age. There are those that oppose me. There always will be. However, I will resolve to not forget the practices which I oppose and to not build a technology that enables them.

Labels: Advertise, Social Media, Socially Responsible, Twitter