#1: Share valuable content in your own voice

Do your best to craft your content tweets, @replies and promotional tweets all with a seamless style that matches your personality and/or brand.

Ideally, you want people to read your tweets and feel naturally compelled to click on your links and retweet you.

You just want to add value and have no agenda or attachment to “making the sale,” yet you’re strategic and mindful about how you tweet. Then you’ll see a marked improvement in your retweet and click-through rates.

#2: Use keywords in your tweets

Keywords have been and continue to be a relevant and driving force for web content (whether we’re talking about a website, blog post, Facebook update or a tweet). Keywords are the backbone of content.

So I’d have to say hands-down, the best Twitter marketing tip for business is to make a list of keywords that best describe your business and industry. Use these words as you compose your 140-character posts.

Think quality over quantity. Make every character and tweet count!

#3: Use search features to discover what your clients want

Use the search feature in a Twitter tool like HootSuite to watch for conversations about a problem your business can solve. It will give you insight into what is on your prospects’ minds and provide an open door for you to help them.

Try providing a link to a great article or video that answers their question. This one action could lead to an ongoing dialogue that in turn may lead to a customer relationship later.

What is your favorite Twitter marketing tip?

#1: Share valuable content in your own voice

Do your best to craft your content tweets, @replies and promotional tweets all with a seamless style that matches your personality and/or brand.

Ideally, you want people to read your tweets and feel naturally compelled to click on your links and retweet you.

You just want to add value and have no agenda or attachment to “making the sale,” yet you’re strategic and mindful about how you tweet. Then you’ll see a marked improvement in your retweet and click-through rates.

#2: Use keywords in your tweets

Keywords have been and continue to be a relevant and driving force for web content (whether we’re talking about a website, blog post, Facebook update or a tweet). Keywords are the backbone of content.

So I’d have to say hands-down, the best Twitter marketing tip for business is to make a list of keywords that best describe your business and industry. Use these words as you compose your 140-character posts.

Think quality over quantity. Make every character and tweet count!

#3: Use search features to discover what your clients want

Use the search feature in a Twitter tool like HootSuite to watch for conversations about a problem your business can solve. It will give you insight into what is on your prospects’ minds and provide an open door for you to help them.

Try providing a link to a great article or video that answers their question. This one action could lead to an ongoing dialogue that in turn may lead to a customer relationship later.

What is your favorite Twitter tip?

1. My industry is not using social media

It doesn’t matter what industry you are in, your peers and competitors are using social media to their advantage.  Want to connect to others in your industry across the country or around the world to grow your business?  Striving to establish your name and enhance your reputation.  All of these and more are being leveraged daily by others in your field.

2. I don’t want to know what people ate for lunch

As with most new ideas, people did share what they were having for breakfast.  That was years ago.  Today, you will find late-breaking news, thought-provoking ideas and introductions to others that might provide help to you personally and/or professionally.

3. My job is secure, LinkedIn is just for the unemployed

It is a commonly accepted fact of social media that the time to build, to polish your social media presence is before you need a new job.  Those with strong presence and profiles are already in discussions with interested employers.

We offer a FREE Social Media TRACTION University webinar every other Tuesday at 2 pm CST.  Click here to sign up for our next class!

What’s keeping you from using social media?

Whatever the case, you have a few precious moments to spotlight your brand, your products and your services. How you choose to use that time can make the difference between an average day and an outstanding one.

When you place callers on hold, there’s no better time to mention that new product or that little-known value-added service you’ve always offered. And the sky’s the limit when it comes to advertising your latest special offers! You have their attention already. Using this time truly is the best way to ensure your return on investment.

Whether you need to increase your sales, retool your company’s image or simply to maintain happy customers, the professionals at Premier Companies can create HOLD PLUS campaigns that deliver results that are – in a word – undeniable.

1. Offer a peek behind the scenes. Offering a sneak preview of new products, services, or features online can help build demand and provide critical feedback to help smooth the launch. For instance, John Doyle, founder of chocolate company John and Kira’s in Philadelphia, posts photos of new products on Flickr and invites comments from customers.

2. Harness your expertise. Chances are your company’s white paper won’t go viral. But sharing knowledge you’ve gathered through your trade can go a long way toward boosting your brand. Ford Models, for instance, became a YouTube sensation through a series of videos that featured its models giving beauty and fashion tips.

3. Demonstrate what your company does. Because multimedia is so integral to social media, getting connected allows you to express your company’s value proposition beyond words. To show just how powerful his company’s blenders were, Blendtec’s head of marketing, George Wright, created a series of videos showing the appliances churning up such diverse items as a rotisserie chicken, a Rubik’s Cube, and an iPhone. The series’ 100 million combined views helped boost Blendtec’s sales by 700 percent.

4. Put your website’s content to work. Want to draw more traffic to your website? Help spread the word by encouraging visitors to share content they enjoy. GotCast, a website that connects television casting directors with aspiring actors, draws new visitors by posting audition videos on Digg and allowing others to share video links on the site. One way to promote the sharing of your site’s content is to install a widget, such as AddThis, that automates linking to popular sites.

5. Be candid. In unsure economic times, transparency goes a long way toward retaining and attracting customers. Giving readers the scoop on your company blog is an easy way to keep the lines of communication open. Giacomo Guilizzoni, the founder of San Francisco software company Balsamiq, even posts sales and profit figures to show that his company is on solid financial footing.

By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN

After learning how to market themselves through tweets and status updates, some small companies are taking the next step: selling directly to consumers via social-networking sites.

Merchants on Facebook and MySpace are adding e-commerce stores to their fan pages, hoping users will scan lists of for-sale items and services—such as floral bouquets, hand-crafted jewelry and spa treatments—and click a button to add them to online shopping carts. (MySpace is owned by News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.)

The e-commerce trend, also being adopted by large companies such as Hallmark Cards Inc. and Brooks Brothers Inc., so far appears limited to Facebook and MySpace, where applications for selling directly to consumers started cropping up in 2008. Other popular social-networking sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, don’t offer a direct-sale platform.

Early adopters say they’ve so far seen only modest results, and generally not until after they’ve established a loyal-fan following.

Scott Burnett last month added an e-commerce option to the Facebook page of Guitar Syndicate Inc., a retail business he co-owns in Kansas City, Mo. Items such as guitars, harmonicas and microphones are listed for sale via an application from CoreCommerce, an e-commerce company in Franklin, Tenn. Consumers who add items to a shopping cart are then taken to the company’s website to make a payment. “It’s another doorway to find our products,” he says.

Guitar Syndicate, which was founded last year, has seen its overall online sales grow by 17% since its Facebook store was added in mid-April, according to Mr. Burnett. But he says he isn’t clear how many sales can be attributed to buyers who started their transactions on Facebook.

Mr. Burnett further notes that Guitar Syndicate has invested $5,000 since January to grow its Facebook fan base by giving away that much worth of prizes though a contest it’s promoting on the site. The company now has about 4,400 Facebook fans.

For e-commerce via social media to work, “You’ve got to spend money on advertising to make people aware that [your fan page] exists,” says Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York.

Businesses without a significant number of Facebook or MySpace fans may have difficulty swaying buyers, he adds. A fan page that isn’t heavily trafficked could create the impression that it isn’t popular, he says. “And nobody likes to shop at places where no one else shops.”

Another potential downside is that disgruntled buyers could also quickly blast their dissatisfaction to their network of friends, adds Michael Trusov, an assistant marketing professor at Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. He says a buyer’s network is right at his fingertips when he feels most annoyed with his experience with a company.

Mr. Trusov says companies “would need to make sure the customer service level is much higher” than that on a website or in a physical store.

Entrepreneurs looking to tap into the trend should also expect to pay a fee for applications that provide shopping carts. For instance, the CoreCommerce application that Mr. Burnett uses charges a fee starting at $24.99 a month, based on the number of products a company wants to list for sale. About 1,150 businesses, mostly small enterprises, are using it, says Matt DeLong, chief executive officer.

Other applications allow multiple social-media users to chip in and collectively buy items, and some let shoppers make payments to merchants without leaving the social-media sites. Many are compatible with both Facebook and MySpace. Neither site charges merchants fees for hosting the stores or a commission on sales, however Facebook recently announced it will take a 30% cut of sales of credits for certain virtual goods.

Whether consumers will embrace shopping on social-media sites remains to be seen. Facebook, approaching 500 million users, recently came under fire over its privacy policies. Some shoppers may feel uncomfortable entering their credit-card information on the site, while others may be wary of making a purchase that could be broadcast on users’ news feeds or profiles.

Houston retailer Sun & Ski Sports added an e-commerce store to its Facebook fan page in 2008 using an application from Volusion Inc., a Simi Valley, Calif., software provider. But Sun & Ski has so far only sold 50 products this way, accounting for barely 1% of the company’s overall online sales, says Scott Blair, director of e-commerce. “It’s not a major source of revenue,” he says. “It’s part of our overall strategy with social media.”

Peddling certain products or services on a social-media platform may be challenging for businesses, says Yogesh V. Joshi, an assistant professor of marketing at Robert H. Smith School of Business. “You might not want to buy toothpaste on Facebook, but you might want to buy a Coach bag,” he says.

Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com

According to Seth Godin, Linchpins are those indispensable geniuses who stand out from the crowd by taking on the essential jobs that would otherwise languish in a pit of neglect under the limpid banner of “but that’s not my job.” In his latest book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, Mr. Godin informs us that just showing up is no longer enough. We must be remarkable in order to succeed.

We don’t have to have some cosmic endowment, extreme talent, or off-the-charts intelligence to be Linchpins. The formula is straightforward. It can be applied by all. In order to be a Linchpin, make the choice to:

• Be remarkable and generous
• Create art
• Make Judgment calls
• Connect people and ideas

Just saying this to people is a lot like holding a plant by its stem dangling the roots in midair and yelling “Grow!” Fertile soil, plenty of water and some sunshine would certainly increase the plant’s odds of complying with the command. In addition to the courage and desire to make good things happen, Godin tells us that Linchpins need a fertile environment fortified with freedom, responsibility and respect.

If these elements are not indigenous to your current work ecosystem, then to be a Linchpin you will need to influence the power structure to grant you these ingredients and trust you to flourish in the environment in which you have been unleashed.

Enter the Liars

Wedged between Purple Cow and Linchpin, Mr. Godin wrote a book entitled All Marketers Are Liars. The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World. In this tome, he states, “I believe marketing is the most powerful force available to people who want to make change.” Linchpins want to affect change so they must therefore learn to be good marketers. And if all marketers are liars, then all Linchpins should be liars too.

Actually, what Mr. Godin teaches us is that it’s not really the marketers who are liars. It is the consumers. Good marketers tell stories that resonate with a particular group’s worldview. This group of buyers then tell themselves a lie—that they NEED the product or service. The story the marketers tell becomes the lie upon which the buyer happily bases his purchase.

Linchpins must tell a compelling story that makes their buyers want to believe they NEED the Linchpin. Here are a few pearls of wisdom from the mind of Godin about how to craft the story of indispensability:

World Views and Local Lingo

Every person perceives a situation through the filter of their world view. This world view cannot be changed. Instead, a strong marketer frames their story to fit the world view of a particular audience. A Linchpin needs to use this advice to set herself up to be heard. Instead of wasting energy trying to change the worldviews of the powers that be in your organization, frame your story within the context of already held values and beliefs. Get the attention of the people who matter by acknowledging their biases and telling your tale in their lingo.

Facts Fail

The facts will fail you. Feelings will help your story fly. All decisions are made by people and people make decisions based on emotion. Tell the story of how your indispensability makes their world that much more secure or the organization that much more successful. Once people have decided to adopt and retell your story, reward them with the facts. Charts, graphs, and statistics are the gift of evidence your supporters will need to confirm they’ve made a wise choice to back you.

Intent is Obvious

Be authentic. Although marketers are liars, they are not really liars. The story marketers tell must still be authentic. A Linchpin is indispensable because she does what she says she’s going to do. There is no way to mask your true intent. Taking on an extra assignment to impress your boss and then turning your back on the responsibility when you think no one is looking is not art it’s selfish opportunism. Tell a story that earns you the right to step up and stand out because taking the risk is the right thing to do for the organization. If your reward lies so far around the bend that you can’t see it from the starting line, then chances are you’re running the race for all the right reasons.

The Truth

Seth Godin points out that in today’s world of abundance, we need little but want much. That’s why the marketer and consumer are co-conspirators in the lie. The story reverses reality so that we believe what we want is actually something we really need. For the truly remarkable Linchpin, the story isn’t a lie. The organization in which they work really does need their passion, genius, art, and ideas. Companies thrive when groups of Linchpins are free to reach their full potential.

Link to original post.

By Seth Godin

In the developing world, there’s often a sharp dividing line between the elites and everyone else. The elites have money and/or an advanced education. It’s not unusual to go to the poorest places on earth and find a small cadre of people who aren’t poor at all. Sometimes, this is an unearned position, one that’s inherited or acquired in ways that take advantage of others. Regardless, you can’t just announce you’re an elite and become one.

In more and more societies, though (including my country and probably yours [and I'm including virtually the entire planet here, except perhaps North Korea] ), I’d argue that there’s a different dividing line. This is the line between people who are actively engaged in new ideas, actively seeking out change, actively engaging–and people who accept what’s given and slog along. It starts in school, of course, and then the difference accelerates as we get older. Some people make the effort to encounter new challenges or to grapple with things they disagree with. They seek out new people and new opportunities and relish the discomfort that comes from being challenged to grow (and challenging others to do the same).

Perhaps I’m flattering myself (and you) but I think almost everyone who reads blogs like this one is part of the elites. It’s not because of birth or financial standing, it’s because of a choice, the decision to be aware and engaged, to challenge a status quo of your choice.

The number of self-selected elites is skyrocketing. Part of this is a function of our ability to make a living without working 14 hours a day in a sweatshop, but part of it is the ease with which it’s possible to find and connect with other elites.

The challenge of our time may be to build organizations and platforms that  engage and coordinate the elites, wherever they are. After all, this is where change and productivity come from.

Once you identify this as your mission, you save a lot of time and frustration in your outreach. If someone doesn’t choose to be part of the elites, it’s unclear to me that you can persuade them to change their mind. On the other hand, the cycle of discovery and engagement and shipping the elites have started is going to accelerate over time, and you have all the tools necessary to be part of it–to lead it, in fact.

One thing we know for sure is that The GHBP won’t spend money on, nor find value in a blog. This is a term that’s one step ahead of his vocabulary. Another thing we know is that the static web site is a thing of the past.

Enter the ‘Library’.

A “Social Media Traction Library” is a combination of a blog and a static web site along with social networking friendly elements. It melts together, the best of all worlds. The static pages provide the essential information, the blog pages enable conversation, and the social sharing is there too.  If the GHBP can understand the format of content that his community is attracted to, he’ll survive. New Media strategy encourages you to launch Free Valuable Information into your library… listen, learn, and launch and repeat.

The GHBP recalls when growing up, that the library is where he found knowledge. And as a successful business person… he’s already learned that knowledge is power.

Key Quote: Networking is always important when its real…always a useless distraction when its fake.

Follow this link to get Social Media Traction.