In a blog post last week, Twitter announced that it is going to start refining the way advertisers reach their market by including filters to target by gender.

Advertisers who use Twitter’s Promoted Tweets service pay to have promotional tweets displayed in users’ feeds. The tweets are only displayed once and while users can delete individual promoted tweets from their feed by clicking a “Dismiss” link they can’t opt out of seeing them altogether.

Up till now Twitter has allowed advertisers to filter Twitter users by location and interest but they have now added a gender filter to the equation. The odd thing is, when you open a Twitter account you don’t have to specify a gender – and of course the thousands of businesses using the social media site don’t have genders either – so how does this new filter work?

According to Twitter’s blog the company will be studying users’ names to identify whether they are likely to be male or female. Some names are obviously one gender or another but others, such as Chris and Pat, could be used by both men and women, and business names are likely to have no identifiable gender.

However, Twitter will also be looking for other markers, such as the language that people use in their tweets or the accounts they follow, to further determine the gender of members. And if they aren’t confident about a user’s gender that user will be exempt from receiving gender-targeted ads altogether.

Twitter’s view is that being able to define users by gender as well as location and interest benefits both advertisers and users, as Promoted Tweets will only be seen by people likely to be interested in the content, which is ultimately in everyone’s favour.

What do you think? Have you spotted any Promoted Tweets and did you find them useful or annoying? And would you consider changing your user name or the language you use to try to avoid being targeted?

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In our last post we talked about some changes Twitter has made recently, including the additional of a header image on your profile page. While the majority of your followers, who keep up with you via your updates in their stream, will not see this image, it’s a nice thing to add to your page to increase the customisation.

Here’s a step by step guide to how to add a header image in Twitter.

1. Log into your account and click the cog-like icon in the top right hand corner. Go to Settings  and then Design.

2. The top section shows the default backgrounds you can choose. Scroll past this section. (Don’t forget you can add your own customised background if you want.)

3. The next section is labelled Header. Click Change Header and select the image you want to use. Remember that landscape format images will work better than portrait.

4. When you see your chosen image use the slider to zoom in so it displays how you want it.

5. Scroll down to the bottom and click Save – and that’s it!

You might want to check your new profile page to see how it looks – remember that horizontal images work best, and your bio text will be overlaid in white so you need the header image to be dark enough for the text to show up. Your profile image will also sit on the header image, so make sure it’s not too busy.

Have a look at our Twitter profile page to see how effectively you can use the new header image! And for help with all things social media, give us a call on 01793 608777.

Twitter can be a really useful source of information, news, entertainment and business leads and contacts. However, with over 345 million tweets sent every day, it can be difficult to make yourself heard – and easy to let it take over your life! Here are some quick Twitter tips to help you make the most of the fastest moving social media network.

1. Use a photo, not a logo
Twitter is about people engaging with people. Even if you use Twitter to promote your business, make sure you use a decent photo of you rather than your business logo, so other users know who they’re talking to.

2. Create a custom background
Twitter offers various background wallpapers but it’s actually quite easy to personalise your Twitter page and show your brand identity. Keep text and images to the top left of the page so they are not lost underneath the tweet stream. Make your wallpaper 1600x1200px to fill the screen, and make sure the file size is less than 800kb or it won’t be accepted.

3. Use your profile to its full extent
You get 160 characters for your bio so make sure you use as many of them as you can! Let people know who you are and what you do, and use relevant keywords so people can find you easily. Include a web link too.

4. Use #hashtags
Hashtags are really useful to attract relevant followers to your account. Include relevant hashtags such as #webdesign or #recruitment or #sales so people looking for those topics can find your tweets.

5. Search for relevant followers
Use the search feature to find people in your area. You can also search for keywords to find people in specific businesses, for example.

6. Tweet regularly
With so many tweets out there every day, posting an update once a week is never going to work. Post several times a day, and keep doing it every day. Use smartphone apps to tweet on the move, or schedule some tweets in advance …

7. Use scheduling with care
… but be careful to keep an eye on your profile if you do use scheduling. No point making it look as if you’re online if you don’t respond for days!

8. Sort people into lists
It’s easy to follow lots of people on Twitter. It’s not so easy to keep up with them all. Sort the people you follow into lists so you can see at a glance tweets from clients, friends or favourite people, for example.

9. Inform, educate and entertain
No one cares that you’ve just had a cup of tea – make sure everything you tweet is funny or informative or useful.

10. Engage, don’t ignore
If people respond to your tweets, or retweet your updates, thank them and get involved in the conversation. Think of Twitter as a form of online networking – you wouldn’t ignore someone who spoke to you at a networking event, so don’t ignore them on Twitter! Likewise, while promoting your business is fine, do it in moderation – don’t be all sales and nothing else.

If you’d like to start using social media but don’t know where to start, have a look at our Social Media Services, including training and social media management. Give us a call on 01793 608777 for a chat – we’re always happy to help!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Twitter is a great marketing tool but people often get it wrong, either by broadcasting too much, being too pushy or ignoring their followers. The best way to treat Twitter is as if it’s a networking event. Anyone who networks regularly knows you don’t walk into the room and immediately force your business card onto everyone or tell them what you sell and ask for a cheque! Networking is about building relationships with people, offering support and advice and raising your profile – and from that, business normally follows. Twitter is exactly the same – it’s about connecting with people, not giving the hard sell. If you haven’t quite got your head around using Twitter for business, here are five quick tips to get you started.

1. Use your profile
When you open a Twitter account you’ll be able to create a profile, which includes a 160 character “bio” about you, a photo and a web link. This profile is often the first thing people see when they find you on Twitter, so make sure you fill it in.  If there’s nothing about you, or your photo is the standard Twitter “egg”, you’re less likely to get people following you. Upload a decent photo (preferably of you rather than your logo), add a few words that describe who you are and what you do and include a link to your website.

2. Be yourself
On Twitter, people will follow you and engage with you because they like you so be yourself. Yes, you’re on there to represent your business but if all you do is talk about work people are going to switch off. Get involved in conversations, mention blog posts and news stories that you found interesting, let people get to know the real you rather than some corporate image. The 80/20 rule is a good one to follow here – make sure 80% of your tweets are social and 20% are business-related.

3. Give away a little
A great way to demonstrate that (a) you’re a lovely person and (b) you know your stuff is to give away your knowledge. Look out for people asking for advice on your specialist subject, and don’t be afraid to help out. Keep an eye out for anything your followers can help with too by retweet ing other users’ requests for advice. It’s all about good karma here – help others and the help will come back your way when you need it!

4. Be polite
Don’t ignore your followers. If someone replies to you, or is kind enough to retweet one of your tweets, thank them for it. Twitter is all about communicating, but if it’s one way it’s not going to work. Join in the conversation – but never say anything you wouldn’t say face to face, because once it’s out there, there’s no taking it back!

5. Take part in Follow Friday
Follow Friday is a great way to thank your followers for sticking with you – and with any luck they’ll return the favour. Every Friday you can highlight your favourite followers by sending an @ message with their names and the tag #ff . Some people do themed Follow Friday tweets – the clients they’ve worked with this week, or their favourite bloggers and so on. Other people just tweet random lists of people they like. It’s entirely up to you – but it’s a very powerful way of highlighting your followers and getting some new followers in return.

If you’re not yet using Twitter for business then the team at HodgesNet can help! Have a look at our Social Media Services or give us a call on 01793 608777 to discuss how we can work together. 

Earlier this week we explored what social media is, and explained that it’s about a lot more than just Facebook! In this article we’re going to look at how businesses can use social media to encourage their customers to do the selling for them, by becoming advocates and spokespeople.

The way we do business has changed, and the way we behave as customers has also changed. Years ago when we needed a product or service we would pick up the Yellow Pages, find the right category, pick a business randomly and ring them – job done. Now, however, 93% of people prefer to search for services on the internet, using Google or other search engines, and it’s really important that you have a strong online presence otherwise you just won’t be found, it’s as simple as that.

However, to be truly successful nowadays you need to look further than just having a website. With this new way of doing business comes a new ethical outlook too – businesses today are expected to be transparent and honest. Engaging with customers via social media shows you are authentic and not just another faceless organisation. And when you open up the communication channels to your customers, not only do you begin to build relationships with them, but your customers can become spokespeople for your company. However, you want this to work in your favour, not against you.

In the old days, when someone had an especially good or bad experience with a company they might tell a few friends about it, but that would be it. The advent of social media puts the world at our fingertips so when someone wants to give feedback on a product or service they do it online – through the social networks or via a blog, tweet or video. Rather than that feedback reaching a handful of people it can now reach thousands – instantly. This could be disastrous – but you can have some control over the situation by becoming active in social media yourself, being aware of what your customers are saying about you, and ensuring that the communication goes both ways.

By engaging with your customers, either through blogging and replying to feedback or building relationships on networks like Twitter and Facebook, you can turn your customers and fans from a passive audience to passionate advocates for your business. Because you’ll be aware of what your customers think of you, you can deal with problems promptly. You can even turn negative feedback to your advantage by responding quickly, dealing with the issue and demon

BT is the perfect example of a company using social media to improve its customer communication. BT has a Twitter account, @btcare, and they scan Twitter for anyone mentioning BT and then contact them via Twitter to try to resolve the situation. In a world where corporations tend to be faceless entities, it’s a refreshing change to have a big business dealing with customers on such a personal level – and it has done wonders for improving BT’s image.

If you would like to find out more about how social media can help you connect with your customers, call the team at HodgesNet today on 08432 894 402 or fill in our contact form.