Transcript Farhad Manjoo, Slate - Amazon Web Services

TWITTER
BASICS
GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION
The agenda
What is Twitter?
Twitter and GateHouse strategy
Twitter vs. Facebook
Why tweet?
Basic Twitter terms
Basic Twitter tools
Twitter how to
Your Twitter persona
How to build a network
Reporting tools
Takeaways
What is Twitter?
Simple to use
140-character messages
Follow breaking news, competition
Promote your content and brand
Promote yourself as a brand
One or more Twitter accounts for your pub
Twitter and GateHouse strategy
Web Cube first: updates, galleries,
reader involvement, print promotion
Facebook: 2.8 percent of visits in past year
Twitter: 0.29 percent of visits in past year
Social media is growing
Twitter and GateHouse strategy
Create a Twitter section in Zope
Use free service such as twitterfeed.com to
connect your published content to Twitter
Choose content specific to social media (more to
come on content)
OR manually post based on your time, the topic
Twitter vs. Facebook
Twitter is more about sharing information;
Facebook is more about the conversation,
interaction.
Many news organizations use Twitter to cover
something live: big sports event, controversial
meeting, breaking news, etc.
Why Twitter?
75 percent of online news consumers in the United
States get news forwarded through e-mail and
posts on social sites.
52 percent share links to news stories via social
media.
Source: Edison Research & Arbitron
Why Twitter?
Google and Bing recently confirmed that referrals
from Facebook and Twitter help a website rank
higher in search results.
Facebook & Twitter now have “authority,” which is
important for page rank.
Why Twitter?
“Social networking links are becoming a bigger share of
every news site's traffic; as one of my Slate colleagues
pointed out, in the Twitter age, ‘optimizing for Google
results is a little like going out and buying the best VCR on
the market.’ ”
Farhad Manjoo, Slate
Feb. 8, 2011
Basic Twitter tips
Use your headshot or other distinct, square image
Make sure you have info and a URL in your profile
Try not to use all 140 characters
Basic Twitter terms
Tweet: Twitter post
Retweet: If you like what someone has tweeted,
you retweet (RT) and give credit.
@: This symbol precedes someone’s username @jeanhodges. This calls out to the person and links
to that person.
#: Hashtags are used to indicate searchable and
trending topics. You can create them for your town,
but first search to see if someone is already using
certain terms.
Check out Twitter’s glossary for more: http://support.twitter.com/entries/166337-the-twitter-glossary
Basic Twitter tools
HootSuite: Time tweets
- Sign up for free version
- Add Twitter and Facebook
- Post your Tweet
- Click calendar
- Choose date and time
- Select Twitter, Facebook or
both
- Click schedule
Basic Twitter tools
Short URL: bitly converts URL to short version
Basic Twitter tools
Zope: Tweet right from the CMS (begins today)
Twitter how to
Content
- Breaking news.
- Live coverage of big meetings, sports events,
election night.
- Quirky news: Anything that might be retweeted.
Twitter how to
Tone
- When appropriate have some personality.
- Make every character count.
- Use this opportunity to really sell your story.
Twitter how to
When to post based on retweets
Source: Kissmetrics, data by Dan Zarrella, social media researcher at HubSpot
Twitter how to
When to post based on click-throughs
Twitter how to
When to post
Twitter how to
How much to tweet: Less is more
Recommend 2-5 tweets per day
Twitter how to
Just about every post directs people to your
website.
Use short URL to maximize your ability to sell the
story.
Use a hashtag (#) or @ symbol. Set a goal of
using one or the other in half of your posts to get
used to using them.
Twitter how to
Create standard hashtags for anyone in your
newsroom to use. Brainstorm ideas. Make sure
everyone who tweets knows them (spreadsheet or
some way to track them). Search hashtags.org to
see if any already exist.
- Mayor’s name
- Town name
- School district
- Sports teams
- Local controversy
Your Twitter persona
Careful: This stuff is public
Basic journalism rules
apply
But it’s OK to let people
know some things about
you
Link to your work; link to
others’ work
How to build a network
Follow likely followers and the people they follow
Follow the people your followers follow
Retweet people and strive to be retweeted
How to build a network
Promote Twitter on your website
Promote Twitter in your newspaper
Add Twitter to email newsletters and your own
email correspondence
Most important
Tweet often or, really, why bother?
Enjoy it.
Multiple accounts
News, sports, politics, any niche you’re known
for in your market.
Reporters can have their own accounts, too.
People look for tweets that specifically address
their interests.
Reporting tool
Use search function to
find out what’s being
tweeted.
Use hashtags.org to
search
Ask followers
questions:
- Are you at the game?
- Are you following the
election?
- Anyone know about
this breaking news?
10 Takeaways
Get a Twitter account
Follow news organizations, industry experts
Follow everyone they follow
Use limited Twitter feed
Supplement with human posts: tweet & retweet
Try Zope’s new feature: Tweet from Zope
Don’t bombard followers with Tweets
Promote Twitter online, print
Use Twitter as a reporting tool
Check ghnewsroom.com for resources, links
Resources
Twitter for journalists
http://media.twitter.com/newsrooms
Twitter glossary
http://support.twitter.com/entries/166337-the-twitterglossary
SocialMedia411
http://www.socialmedia411.org/
Contact me: [email protected]
TWITTER
BASICS
GATEHOUSE NEWS & INTERACTIVE DIVISION