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My Top Tips for Managing Twitter Accounts

Twitter was born in March 2006 and launched to the world in July of that year. I've been a daily Tweeter since April 2007 - just after it's big launch at SXSW when it really started to capture the public's imagination.

Over that time I've built up a sizeable following and people often ask me how I manage to keep a track of my followers. Here are a few tips to help you manage your account.

Firstly, you need to really decide what you want out of Twitter. If you're an individual you may simply want to keep in touch with a circle of friends and acquaintences, occassionally adding a few more into your network. If you're a business or Tweeting on behalf of a brand, then creating a sizeable channel of potential and existing customers may be your objective instead. Either of these are perfectly valid reasons for having a Twitter account of course, but the way that you manage your account will probably be different in both these examples.

In my case I have my own personal account - @Rokkster, but my businesses also have their own accounts too (@RokkMedia, @RokkXpress, @RokkInternet). The waters are muddied slightly because although @Rokkster is my personal account I often touch on my work and so I have to be conscious that anything I say in that account is likely to reflect on my businesses. That's not an issue for me, but it may be for others. Just something to bear in mind.

Tip #1 - Don't be afraid to follow back.

Many people I know are cautious about following back too many people for fear of creating an unwieldy stream. This is a genuine concern. The most that can be followed realistically is about 150-200. So how do I manage 12,500 followers?

The answer is in LISTS. Twitter has provided the ability to create lists for a long time now and although most people don't use them it is probably the most powerful feature in Twitter (Google+ and Facebook provide similar features now too).

In my case for example, I have two key lists - one for people who have engaged with me at some point and one for people who I want to keep an eye on their tweets, but haven't engaged with me (not a crime and not to be expected for global brands, celebrities, or information 'tweet-casters' like news accounts). 

Other people create specialist lists such as people in their industry, tweeters in their local area, celebrities, political groups etc. There's no right or wrong here and you can literally create hundreds of lists if you wish.

My lists are private, i.e. the membership is not visible to the public. This is just a personal decision however and depending on what you create lists for - there's no reason normally to not make them public.

In this way I am able to monitor about 2-300 people on a daily basis in my 'engagement' list and only miss occasional tweets. Alternatively messages in my main stream change every second and even tweets from people who are of interest to me are gone before I have a chance to read them.

How you monitor these lists is easier or harder depending on what application you are using. Twitter's official website and mobile application, for example, require you to dig through your profile before you can view your lists. If you use these primarily therefore you are unlikely to keep a regular check on your lists.  

I use Hootsuite on my computer and Hootsuite or Tweetdeck's iPhone app for monitoring my lists (although now that Tweetdeck has been acquired by Twitter expect their mobile offerings to disappear over time). Both of these allow me to create columns and position them where I want - so my lists are usually placed ahead of everything else.

I also SWITCH OFF my main stream as the speed that tweets come and go renders this useless. 

Sadly, this does mean that I am undoubtedly missing out on some fantastic tweets, but that's unavoidable.

If you have anything over 500 followers and are avoiding following any more people for fear of drowning in tweets then this is the solution for you.

I recently attended an entrepreneur's conference in London where a well known brand owner gave a passionate keynote on using social media. Everything he said was great advice and he pleaded with the business people there to work on their social media accounts for the betterment of their businesses.

However, when I looked at his account I noticed that he had about 5400 followers but was only following back 350. That's less than 10%! To me as a potential follower that said that he was unlikely to ever engage with me - and to the 5050 followers he hadn't followed back that he probably didn't care about them much either. Now, I'm sure that wasn't the case and in fact he made a big point of saying that he always replied to tweets (although to date he hasn't replied to mine!) - but perception is everything and to his unfollowed followers that can't ring true.

The solution though is simple. Follow those who follow you (within reason - see next tip), and place those you want to follow on a regular basis in to lists. Job done. The ROI for his brand in doing this would be increased loyalty which undoubtedly will lead to direct business too.

Tip #2: That Said - Be Selective

Having urged you to follow back I would still urge you to be selective whith whom you follow. Twitter unfortunately is now groaning under the weight of spammers (and worse), and no matter whether you are exposed to those tweets or not, none of us want to encourage them. So here is the fltering process I go through before I follow anybody back:

1. Are they using a photo/image in their avatar - or is it the 'Twitter Egg'? I don't care particularly if it's a real photo, a logo, or anything else - but if it's an egg this is a pretty good indicator of a spam account (but not always). Chance of not being followed: 1/5

2. Is there a bio? If there is no bio or description of the Twitterer that can also be an indication of a spam account (these people create thousands of accounts, mostly using automated software, which are used to tweet spam messages).  Chance of not being followed: 1/5

3. Bio exists but it describes the objectives of a typical spammer. An example would be: 'I'm a stay-at-home mom making thousands a week'. That one would be quickly passed over. Chance of not being followed: 5/5

4. Check last few tweets (up to 10). I'm looking here for some level of engagement or personal insight. If I only see quotes (e.g. 'Be true to yourself and others will believe in your truth') - that's a very strong indicator that the account is an automated spam account looking to build a following before releasing it's spammy messages! If I only see other people's Tweets re-Tweeted, that isn't a definite no-no but if those RT's are spam-like messages then that is. If those RTs are pertinent to that account (for example the @RokkMedia account largely tweets mobile app related news), that may still be OK - if I'm interested in that information. In those cases I am more likely to add the account to one of my other lists. Chance of not being followed: 2/5

5. Abusive or obnoxious views. We all have off-days and when things wind us up Twitter can be a good place to let off steam - but if I am seeing constant expletives and venomous messages there is no way I'm going to follow. Chance of not being followed 4/5

This process is purely for those who have followed me first. If I engage with someone on Twitter or in 'real life' then of course none of this applies and I will simply follow and add to one of my lists.

The final point I want to make concerns when to unfollow. Personally, unless you start spamming me there are few occasions when I will unfollow beacuse of my filtered list system. I have previously written a post covering my reasons why which you can read here. 

Carmen - perfect performance in a perfect setting

Myself and my guests had such a wonderful time at Ugbrooke House last night watching Carmen performed by the New Devon Opera. As a sponsor, Rokk Media (who built and donated their website), were treated royally as VIP guests of chairwoman - Linda Hughes. Excellent hospitality aside (which was truly superb), the opera was breathtaking. If you've never experienced the power and passion of a live opera accompanied by a full orchestra you will have to travel a great distance indeed to see anything as good as this.

We saw Carmen performed in the gorgeous grounds of Ugbrooke House, home to Lord and Lady Clifton (whom we sat beside) - a perfect setting. In a massive 500 seater marquee, complete with chandeliers where we were fortunate to have front-row seats. Half way through the first half performance a part of the marquee was thrown open to allow the sun to stream in from across the rolling countryside. Minutes later a pony and trap trotted in through the side transporting a member of the cast. A lovely moment which drew lots of oohs from the crowd.

During the interval we sat outside watching the sun sun set behind the Devon trees with a delicious picnic provided by The Elizabethan restaurant of Newton Abbot.

After the finale we were invited back in to Ugbrooke House to meet the cast and crew who were really lovely and welcoming. Given they'd just spent the last two hours singing their hearts out we thought it was very gracious of them. A fitting end to a magical evening of profesional first class opera.

Carmen is performing tonight (23 July 2011) for one more time at Ugbrooke House but will be playing in a few days time at a venue in Dartmouth and then on to Budleigh Salterton for the end of it's six performances. 

If you have even the slightest interest in opera or classical music I urge you to book tickets as soon as possible to see Carmen. You really won't be disappointed and all proceeds go to supporting local art and Sense, a local charity for deaf/blind children.

Further details can be found at the website: http://www.newdevonopera.co.uk

More sunshine from my little girl

Charlotte's Song

My 7 year old loves to write and sing and she often spends hours typing her thoughts on our laptop. I thought this one was beautiful (bearing in mind she's only just learned to write with a pen!)

Charlotte's Song

Time travels  in the sky
but love will never die
Every day i wonder why
time seems to pass me by

Some times it makes my cry
but i will never know why

So here we are
and it will never change
just there will be future in waiting
ill be crying
while skating.

Charlotte Stone, 7.

Time travel conundrum

Watching Prof Brian Cox last night on the wonders of the universe I had a thought which you far more intellectual beings may help me out with.

During the programme Prof Cox suggested that at some point in a virtually impossible distant point in the future our universe will end and with it time itself.

Ok, that's feasible of course, but this point about time leaves me head scratching.

I thought that the general thinking was that all time is connected. I believe it was Stephen Hawking who developed the theory of time travel via wormholes for example - based on the connectivity of time.

Here's my problem, if the universe and time cease at some point in the future (when is irrelevant), surely if all time is connected all time would cease also. That includes this point in time. In fact the beginning of time would end and therefore time would never have existed!

I'm sure I've missed a huge point but I'd love to know where as otherwise this means the universe never ends or time travel is impossible and I quite fancied a bit of that one day :)

Why the face you see in the mirror may be irrelevant

Let me begin by saying I'm not in any way a psychologist (although I do have a fairly meaningless diploma in 'success' coaching which covers some of the basics of NLP etc.,) but this is something I've been considering for some time and thought I'd note it down in blog form.

Most of us hate seeing photos of ourselves, and video can be even worse. The main reason for this is that the main source for our self perception is our reflection. This is flawed on two counts. First of course, it's a reflection - in other words a 'flipped' image, and secondly no matter what we try we only ever see one view of our face because the moment we begin to look away we lose the vision.

We've learned to live with that face - for good or for bad. It's been familiar to us since we were small children and it's even shaped how we react to others based on how we feel about that image.

Seeing ourselves in photos or video can either strengthen our self-esteem, or shatter it depending on how it conforms with our self-view. Unfortunately however seeing ourselves in photos and to a certain extent video is still only a flat 2D representation of what the rest of the world sees.

Surprisingly though, what others see almost certainly goes beyond visual, and I believe reveals some interesting additional senses at play that can have an impact on our success in all areas of our lives. 

Everybody who has ever met you has created a highly complex 3D impression of what you look like. On a subconscious level their eyes have mapped your physical shape and the nuances of your face. This 'data' is then stored for future recognition along with 'notes' on any specific features that may be used to instantly recognise us from others with similar facial patterns. These 'notes' can even help us to recognise someone years after we last saw them. How many times have you comes across an old school friend who you haven't seen for, say twenty years, and yet despite the ravages of time, gravity and KFC abuse their salient features are still there and within moments we realise who it is. At this point as well our stored data is updated so that the next time we see them the recognition is instantaneous.

This alone is an amazing feat and a primary ability that has no doubt been with us since the dawn of our ancestors, but I believe there is a further trick that our brains pull off - and one that has far reaching implications.

I believe therefore that those that like us, or even love us, go through a mental process of suppressing the facets of our physical look that may otherwise be unattractive and accentuate the facets that are. Even when they look at a 2D photo of us their brain slots that image into the 3D representation and ignores anything in that photo that may be unattractive. That's why we can see it as someone else - as we have no 3D representation to replace it, and can't understand why our family and friends still see it as us. It's impossible for them to see a 2D image as their stored data is three dimensional.

Some of us are born with looks that are instantly appealing to a large proportion of our peers. Most of us are born with looks that will be instantly appealing to some. Some of us are born with looks that are not instantly appealing to most - yet, despite that seem to be able to achieve attraction. It's also fair to say that attraction can be affected by culture. For example in some third world cultures obesity can be seen as desirable because the chances are that that individual either has plenty of food reserves, and it's dependents and descendants will want for little, or in times of little they could live longer than most on their fat reserves, and therefore care for their family. So, as the old adage goes, beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. Beauty, is a mental construct and as Derren Brown and those familiar with the practice of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) know, the brain can be programmed.

This ability to override visual senses or cultural beliefs can be starkly seen when other factors come in to play. Factors that harken back to the basest instincts of survival. 

We have all seen people who we believe to be largely unattractive with imcomparably attractive partners. Out of hand we scratch our heads as to what that individual 'sees in him or her'. But what we are doing is judging with our visual sense alone and what we are unaware of are factors at play that have enabled their partner to re-programme their definition of attraction. One crude example is wealth. In a world where wealth can guarantee a successful life for offspring, re-programming our perception of attraction could be a small price to pay. Less crude examples may be areas that hold particular strengths for the partner such as kindness, intellect, humour, or even resemblance to an individual that was important in the partners past - such as a parent.

Once one accepts that the perception of attraction can be adjusted and re-programmed, we can begin to consider how that can be applied in our everyday lives. For example, if contemporary culture favours a particular style of clothing, dressing of hair, make-up, beard growth, or even stance - then emulating this instantly gives us a tick in the box. And of course, that's exactly why the fashion and cosmetics industry thrives.

As building strong relationships in business is universally accepted as vital, being attractive to our clients (either visually or through one of the other factors mentioned above) is worth giving serious consideration. As in any social situation (which a business meeting is), conformity will work over non-conformity almost every time. We all like to think there's something of the rebel in us, but if we're trying to win business, it's probably best to leave it to the weekends. Of course there are situations where stepping outside the box so to speak wins business, but before taking that risk make sure it's seriously calculated!

So, dress to impress and smile to beguile. Think happy thoughts as positivity is hugely attractive and take every opportunity to leave a lasting impression. If you can leave the client with a 3D representation embelished with at least one other noteworthy attraction the chance of that relationship extending beyond the initial meeting are substantially increased. 

A Heroes Christmas

You may know that Rokk Media proudly supports injured Royal Marine personnel via The C Group by donating our time and services for free. I came across the following from a friend and thought it would be good to share it here:

This poem was written by a soldier stationed overseas. The following is his request. I think it is reasonable

PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favour of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to all of the service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.  Please, do your small part to plant this small seed.

2 Things That Would Make Twitter Better

1. Links in Twitter 

Lets face it Twitter has grown way beyond it's original premise - a way to communicate to a small group of contacts without sending mass text messages. In the beginning the developers didn't even have a way to reference individuals (@ was invented by the community), so it's no surprise that they hadn't thought that there may be issues sending a contact a link without blowing the 140 characters. Once again the community came to the rescue with short URLS such as bit.ly and even Twitter has got in the act recently with the introduction of t.co (we've even set up our own up - rokk.co !).

It seems to me though that the obvious trick was missed here. In HTML (the mark-up code used to create web pages) we can assign a link to a word or group of words - like this: possibly the best web development agency in the world or this ! - simple huh? So why not introduce the same device for Twitter?

Well, my first thought is how - as without a doubt it would add a level of complexity beyond cut and paste. But as many third party Twitter tools like HootSuite now allow you to paste a long URL and have it shortened 'on the fly' surely it wouldn't take too much additional work to choose a word to assign the link to?

If this were implemented links could even be assigned to one character - maybe L for link, which does not stand on it's own for anything in everyday English, and so could become an obvious symbol for a link within Twitter without overly compromising on the 140 limit. Alternatively the entire post itself could be made a link without the need for additional characters (adding the ubiquitous 'click here' at the front of the post). Seems a winner to me!

2. Multiple DMs

While we're on the subject of Twitter, doesn't it bug you that you can only send one private message (DM - Direct Message) to one person at a time? Well it does me. As Twitter was developed as a community tool why limit this functionality to individuals? There are plenty of instances where I may want to take a topic offline to more than one person and to do this now requires multiple conversations which is simply a pain. 

The way I would suggest this could be implemented would be to use the + symbol in front of multiple names. For example D Friend +Friend +Friend +Friend.

As far as I know this syntax is not used in any other circumstances and just works.

What do you think? Have you got any other ideas for Twitter improvements? Comment and let me know...

Treat clients like children

I was driving along earlier and my little girl (7) asked a simple enough question: "What does uncle Phil do?". Now, uncle Phil is a stock-broker. A hard enough concept to explain if you know what it is - but to a little girl who has no concept of finance, or much of an understanding of what money is come to that - how do you tackle that one? Truth is a lot of parents wouldn't bother but I am a big believer in answering every question my children pose and in fact it's a fantastic skill to get under your belt for business too.

This is particularly true in the industry that I work within - new media (web development, web marketing, iphone apps, software development etc.) - notorious for it's fair share of jargon and geeky terms! I have lost count of the clients who have come to Rokk Media with a clear phobia of anything tech, and usually exacerbated by experiences with earlier agencies who have never learned the art of talking in terms the rest of us understand.

Like my little girl's question, there are very few meetings where a technical term or concept isn't met with a glazed look and it's that moment I relish - breaking it down in to chunks of information that the client can grasp. That's the secret - finding common ground that both parties can relate to.

In the case of my little girl uncle Phil looks after other people's money - a bit like a bank (yes I know that's wholly inaccurate and stock-brokers the world over are up in arms, but it was all she needed). With clients it may be the fundamentals of a content management system, what happens to email when the send button is pressed, what is this cloud thing, or even - what's the internet then?

In all these examples there are simple, everyday concepts that are universally understood and can step in to substitute for the techie stuff. It's great to see a client's face light up when they are given an every day example to grasp on to.

Of course this is nothing new - it's what teachers (good ones) do every day of the week but it's an essential skill to master in business, particularly if you work in an industry that is cloaked in jargon such as mine, engineering, medicine etc.

So next time a young person (or client) asks you a challenging question - don't shrug them off with a flippant comment, give it some thought and work hard to come up with an answer that turns the light bulb on. You will get as much out of it as they do - and will be developing a skill that your customers and clients will thank you for as well.

Why phone manufacturers can't catch Apple

In a world where enticing users to switch their phone relies on rolling out ever more must-have features, Apple has thrown in a hand-grenade that has literally exploded the market and left other phone makers scratching their heads and playing catch up.

The reason is simple. Apple don't do features and don't care who knows it - period. In fact Apple's mobile devices have lacked features that other phones have had for years and yet this hasn't mattered one jot to their awe inspiring market penetration.

How so?

Simple marketing psychology. Apple have spent years creating a contemporary aspirational lifestyle brand, given it an equally aspirational premium price tag, and shaped their products to have must have 'sex appeal' by rock-star product designers that make the rest of us drool and quiver with desire.

By bringing the same approach to mobile technology they have all but eliminated the competition simply because the telecoms players have no experience in playing that game. While the likes of Nokia, HTC, Sony etc have worked hard to squeeze ever more features and functionality into their essentially identical phones - which has of course been the same approach for technology manufacturers since technology as a product began, Apple have swept away all competition simply by majoring on desire (ironically the name of a Google Android handset - more later). This can be seen every time Apple launches a new product with would-be owners camping out for hours, sometimes days, to be among the first to own the new item. Bragging rights to one side owning an Apple device makes a statement to the world which is simply too compelling for them to ignore.

So what hope the rest? All is definitely not lost. Possibly because of their new found power, or possibly because they are under far more scrutiny, Apple have over the last year or so begun to arguably tarnish their previously untouchable uber-brand by enforcing cynical ring-fencing ploys on their customer base. Customers have discovered that it's Apple's way or no way at all. This has also been very evident amongst the developer community who have had to jump through hoops to get their applications published on the 'i' range (although this has relaxed slightly of late). The aggregate of this is an ever so slightly bitter taste and a groundswell of dissenting voices which Apple would do well to listen to.

But what's this? Is this a white steed galloping towards us over the horizon in the shape of Google - or more of the same in a different guise? Interestingly Google, never an outfit known for aspirational marketing has been soaking up market share with it's Android mobile operating system by playing Glee to Apple's High School Musical. By appealing to the geekorati who want no part of Apple's anti-feature walled garden they are gradually knocking on Apple's dominance, offering an all you can eat without confines approach. The truth of course is that Google's seemingly Robin Hood saves the day model masks it's true desire (oops, there's that phone again) which is to create the widest advertising platform the world has ever seen. However, as Mcdonald's and those cute little cleaner fish that hang around with sharks all know - if you give something away for free with few conditions, your customer base don't mind you taking a little back for yourself in return. 

Apple have a war chest the size of Bill Gate's bedroom safe now though so it's a sure fire bet they won't relinquish their strangle hold that easily. That said, Google's Italian lined leather wallet is fairly sizeable also - so a royale with cheese size battle is definitely in the offing between the two 21st century techno-empires.

Whatever the future holds for Apple, few can fail to be impressed by how cleverly they have played their game, literally developing micro-markets where before there were none. Whether this dominance will persist in a post-Steve Jobs world, or whether Google manages to reach global domination sweeping away all other comers remains to be seen, but one thing remains true for now, we love our iPhones and iPads and look forward to the next Jobs keynote with dribbly relish!  

If you are contemplating iPhone, iPad, Android, or Microsoft Phone development, please get in touch.