Connie Bensen

Listening is an integral part of monitoring the conversations. As a community manager I’m not only actively listening but also noticing how other companies are listening & participating. It’s exciting to to see more corporations using Twitter! How do I know that they are? Well, upon mention of a product or company within minutes the brand or a representative is following me.

As a customer this means that I have direct contact with the company. It’s very powerful! And the personal touch means a lot to me.

Who are actively using Twitter?

• @MarketingProfs,@BulldogSolut (Bulldog marketing), @evernote
• people representing indeed.com, radian6 and many more!

The other part of this is monitoring what people are saying on Twitter about your brand. I use tweetscan.com in the same way that I have GoogleAlerts set up: a daily report on @cbenson, @cbensen, acdsee and ‘community manager’

@jowyang recently listed a number of helpful Twitter app’s.

And if you’re wondering what Twitter is – Lee LeFever of CommonCraft has a video on it:

If you’re not on Twitter yet, sign up & follow me @cbensen

Connect with me on Facebook (link under my photo on left – works for Twitter too!) & I’ll be glad to help you with Twitter.

*update* 2 more corporations found me today: @HRBlock & @carnivalcruises

And I shouldn’t have forgotten my friends at @batchblue & also @perkettpr

*update* here’s an excellent article on why Companies Should Use Twitter

Twitter is a bird of many colors. I’ve seen it used in many creative ways:

• Job vacancies are posted that I doubt ever hit traditional boards
• requests for sightseeing & restaurant recommendations
• tweet-ups (people meet at a certain place when attending an event)

Recently I had won an iPhone. AT&T doesn’t offer service in my area so I blogged about it & posted a link on Twitter. My readers came up with a number of ideas & offered empathy. It seems that the iTouch better suited my needs . I really didn’t want to test AT&T to see if they would notice an out of range account & disconnect me.

I called Apple & they were willing to return it, but the credit would go to the original purchaser which was the Wetpaint Wiki company. Then they would have had to order a new one & it just seemed like an unfair hassle for them. Apple had free shipping on Friday, so I posted my Twitter ad.

need an iPhone? at $299? I won one, I can’t get service & an iTouch is better – Apple has free shipping today… DM me if you’re interested

In 5 minutes I had 2 responses. In an hour the third one came in that actually purchased it. We used Paypal to transfer the funds. Ebay has taught me how easy Paypal is to use.

My iPhone has a home where it can be used for more than a paperweight! YAY! And my iTouch will be delivered by Friday. (I won’t be home so it’ll be a week before I can play with my new toy.). My sister-in-law is taking delivery.

What creative ways do you see Twitter being used?

The value of Twitter has been debated by many. Their opinion seems to reflect the amount of time they’ve used it. I wonder if people who are the most critical have fully experienced it & given it a chance?

I’ve been encouraging some to try it, but it’s difficult to explain. I’d like to share my perspective. When I first registered, I admit to not seeing the point. You need to become involved in the conversation to realize it’s worth.

Just reading there is going to be boring. People’s ‘tweet’s are going to seem disjointed. And if they’re twittering @others, and you can only see their side of the conversation it will be even more surreal.

For me: Twitter = Interaction

Morning news – people post links to the latest news – it’s great reading. Ann Handley of MarketingProfs is doing a great job of using Twitter to expand their blog’s reach. jowyang always has informative links.

Personally interacting with people – Twitter gives you personal insight into to other’s worlds. People express what & why they’re doing things. I enjoy chrisbrogan’s provoking questions. Sass is in social media rehab. Definitely worth a smile!

And as so many have said, it’s a water cooler to check in with friends. Because you get to know these people on a more personal level. It’s not invasive, because you check in when it’s convenient for you. People offer advice if you ask for it & are very generous. I’ve even seen impromptu job postings blip thru! Can you tell that I’m addicted?!

My rule is that if people follow me, I follow them. But if their stream is too noisy & doesn’t provide me with value, then I unfollow them. It’s interesting to note that people I’ve met on Twitter have extended to befriending on Facebook! I think that says a lot.

If’ you’d like to try it, create a Twitter account & choose a short username. Add the people above to get started (I provided links). Add me, cbensen, & I’ll be glad to help you.

Jeremiah Owyang outlines how to use it for your org. & Ann Handley provided 7 reasons why marketers should use it.

There are 3 main things to get started:

1. ‘tweets’ are limited to 140 characters, but you can tweet multiple ones to finish a thought. Posting your blog post is another way to express yourself too.

2. Use @UserName to direct it to someone specifically (but everyone sees it)

3. Direct message allows you to send a private message (but only if they’re following you).

Questions? Let me know & I’ll be glad to help. See you on Twitter!