Excite Conference Presentation – What's the point of Twitter?

What’s the point of Twitter?

Who’s on Twitter?

Who am I?

Social media

1996 2009

What’s Twitter?

1. The basics

2. Case studies

3. Twitter & events

Followed by Q&A

Twitter is …

Different things to different people

… Social text messaging

… social text messaging

… e-mail

… breaking news

… diary of events

#? #!

… a topical discussion

… reminder alerts

… celeb spotting

… customer service

… an oracle of collective wisdom

… 24/7 networking

Why Twitter for business?

• Will change the way people work across every department

Getting started

web

mobile

Applications - TweetDeck

Applications - Seesmic Desktop

CoTweet

Setting up an account

• First impressions are important

Corporate accounts

What are you doing now?

Set some goals

• To promote an event

• To connect with industry leaders

• To gather feedback on products

TwitterFeed.com

It will take time

It’s not about followers

Quality over quantity

Spot the expert

• 45,815 followers• “Marketing guru

turned social media expert”

• 4,075 followers• “CEO, Forrester

Research”

Who to follow?

• WeFollow.com

• Twellow.com

• Whoshouldifollow

• ExecTweets.com

• Business Week’s article on CEOs

Follow me, follow you

Twitequette

• Don’t auto-reply or auto-DM

• Listen & respond

• Learn the rules of engagement

Don’t do this

Case studies

Skittles

Skittles

SquareSpace

SquareSpace

100 foldgrowth

Absolut Kindness

• TV ad launch

• Twitter campaign on #kindness

• Word-of-mouth events in London

Absolut Kindness

Daily Mail

• Social media tail wags the mainstream dog

• Grassroots twitter campaigns can have real world outcomes

Daily Mail

Daily Mail

Motrin Moms

• Get social media wrong and repercussions are swift

Motrin Moms

VW Online campaign

• Innovative use of Twitter to personalise the campaign

#BlameDrewsCancer

• Twitter used to raise awareness

• Fundraising

• Innovative use of hashtags

Twitter Comedy Night

• Unique, virtual event

• Used hashtags for participation

• Acts also posted on YouTube

Twitter Comedy Night

Smack My Tweet Up

• 24 hour Valentine’s Day twitter event

• Send anonymous tweets

• 350+ Tweets sent

• 1500+ visitors

• 5800+ clicks

Smack My Tweet Up

BA Great Britons

• Challenge to promote the Olympic ideals

• Website built on social media sharing & voting

BA Great Britons

Twitter & Events

Types of events

• Regular Twitter meet-ups (tweet-ups)– 6-20 attendees, little planning

• NotAtSXSW– 70+ ppl, 4 days planning

• Twestival– 200 cities, 1 month planning, $250k raised

• 140conf– 300+ ppl, 2 years of ‘planning’

Tweet-ups

NotAtSXSW

Twestival

140conf

Events lifecycle on Twitter

Leading up

• Word-of-mouth– “are you going to this” (social proof)

• Buzz - Release tickets in batches• Reputation for hosting successful

events• Social event sites

– Facebook, Twtvite, Amiando, Eventbrite

Social proof

During

• Hashtags– Follow along with the activity – Tell their friends about the event– Find people at the event – Create a forum for ongoing discussion – Provide real-time feedback for the

organiser/panel/speaker

• Real-time Twitter streaming– Interactive participation

Real-time interaction

Following up

• Continue the discussion

• Network with attendees

• Keep the excitement going until the next event– Release pictures & videos over time

Continued discussion

Jeff Pulver on 140conf

Questions?