Home Office Warrior » Social Media

Twitter should be… Twitter is… Twitter isn’t for… The Rules and why you should ignore them

David Billings — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:37:45 +0000

One of the most interesting social aspects of any social media outlet is the progression from almost no users to a bazillion users. It goes something like this:

New social media outlet launches.
Users try to figure out what it is, they’re just messing about. Hey, fun.
Users bring their friends because they want to mess about with others, too.
Users start changing the original intent of the outlet, according to their needs and how they think.
If it’s truly useful or just plain awesome, new users arrive in droves and start asking what is this thing all about and how do you use it?
People start creating rules for how it’s “supposed to work.”
Everyone claims to know the answer when the reality is… there is no answer. Everybody is making it up as they go.

Back in December I wrote a post about Twitter Rules.

My view hasn’t changed (except that now I don’t do the auto-DM anymore by personal choice). It’s interesting that since then the amount of people who claim to know the correct, “approved” way of being active on Twitter have multiplied. Use Twitter for three days and you’re an expert. I love the internet.

If you’re new to Twitter, there are some great blogs that will hold your hand through the basics and give you suggestions about how to use it for various purposes. That’s awesome. People sharing their experience and tips is what good social media (and the internet) is perfect for.

Then there are the Rules. Try not to break them, or you will be cast into social media limbo forever without friends or clients.

“It’s not about the numbers.”

“It’s about the numbers.”

“You can’t possibly interact with 10,000 followers in a meaningful way.”

“I follow everyone who follows me.”

“I hate the auto DM.”

“Auto DMing won me three projects!”

Yowza. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? How can you follow twitter rules that change every other tweet? Who’s writing the rule book?

Guy Kawasaki says that it is about the numbers if you’re marketing. Seth Godin doesn’t use Twitter, at which some people gasp in awe and then start rethinking their entire existence (should I shave my head, too? Maybe that will bring me business. I just don’t know…. is it my sweater? My e-mail app?).

Seth Godin doesn’t watch television, either. Ready to throw out your set? Hmm, thought not.

What does it all mean? How can you keep track of all the changes in the unofficial Twitter rule book?

Duh, you can’t.

Before Twitter, before Facebook, before e-mail, before “authenticity” became a 2.0 buzz word, before telephones, the way to market your product or become part of a community was exactly the same as it is now.

Be true to yourself. Be yourself. Get to know people. Support them. Respond to them. Learn from them. Help them with your product or service if it’s relevant to them.

Rules are meant to be broken by those who understand where they came from. The people who desperately try to seek out and adhere to the latest rules will consistently be unfocused and reeling from all the contradictions.

Move on. Do your thing. Keep it goin’. Don’t sweat the rules so much, k?

David Billings is an illustrator, animator, and writer. He is the head dude, lead rule-breaker, and creative director of Sparky Firepants Images.

Sparky Firepants Images is focused on creating unique and wacky images that help kids have fun while they learn new stuff. A unique perspective on children’s publishing and the business of illustration can be found on his blog, Art is Work.

David lives with his wife and children on an alpaca farm near beautiful Mount Hood, Oregon.. No, they don’t really smell that bad. The alpacas, that is. The family typically smells very nice. They don’t own a television but embrace the internet via satellite.

WordPress SEO — Do I need it?

Grant Griffiths — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:36:45 +0000

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the hot button topics right now and there is a lot of discussion about it. For some, just the thought of worrying about SEO causes a sick feeling to overcome them. And it shouldn’t. Search engine optimization is not something you or I should be scared of. In fact, it is not impossible for us to do and because of that, we need to be looking at SEO every time we draft a blog post.

Why do I Need to Worry About WordPress SEO

Search Engine Optimization, commonly called SEO means just what it says. We need to optimize not only our entire site for maximum search engine placement. We need to make sure we optimize each blog post too.
Not being found in a search conducted by one of our possible visitors is really the same as our blog not existing at all. In other words, we need to make sure we are being found in the search engines when someone is looking for topics we are writing about.
Keep in mind there is a direct correlation between the link structure of a blog, its content, and whether or not site pages will rank well in a search. What? Exactly, keep reading.
The questions we have and the answers we need about WordPress SEO are really not being answered by the generic SEO courses available right now. In fact, there is almost nothing out there that thoroughly addresses the needs of a person who is both new to SEO and who is using a WordPress self-hosted blog, until now.
A new study course to teach WordPress SEO is available. I was given an advance copy of the program and it was amazing. I have been blogging for 4 years and there was a ton of stuff on it I did not know. In fact, I have already started to do some of the suggestions on my own blog and my traffic has increased.
The study course is called, WordPress SEO Secrets: Search Optimization Magic for WordPress Blogs. This is one study course you don’t want to miss out on.

Get your own copy of this great WordPress SEO study course by going to this link:

WordPress SEO Secrets: Search Optimization Magic for WordPress Blogs

10 Must Have Twitter Tools for the Home Office Warrior

Grant Griffiths — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:40:00 +0000

As if you didn’t already know, I love twitter and what you can do with it. It has become more than just a conversation piece where you tell people “what you are doing.” If you use it right, it is really a very useful tool to use for networking and marketing. As I have said more than once, twitter is an interacting and learning tool you can use with those you connect with and who you follow. And you can follow me at @grantgriffiths.

To make your twitter experience all it can be and to use it for the great tool it is, I thought I would include 10 of the must have twitter tools you should be using.

twhirl has become my twitter client of choice. It is cross platform so you can use it on either a windoze box or on the Mac OS. It has some great features and I would encourage you to go to the link to see what all it can do.
twitterfeed is another one of those little extras you can use. I use twitterfeed to send my most recent blog post to my twitter account. By using twitterfeed, whenever I do a new post, it shows up in my twitter conversation and I don’t have to do anything. There are plugins you can use with Wordpress to accomplish this too.
twitpic lest you share photos on twitter. You can post pictures to twitpic from your phone and most of the twitter clients have built-in support for it too.
Tweet Scan gives you the ability to follow conversations that might mention keywords you want to watch. I use it to follow my own name and other keywords I want to keep track of. It is one of those tools that should be used by companies to follow what is being said on twitter about them.
tweetAhead can be used to set tweets to post in the future. You can use this if you are doing a special promotion of a new idea, product or just want to make your appearance.
My Tweeple can be used to make informed decisions when it comes to following people on twitter. You can use it to see who is following you and who you are following. And with a simple click, you can follow, unfollow, or block people all in one place.
Quotably is another way to follow the twitter conversations. What I do like about this service is that it puts the conversations in what appears to be threads. This is actually one feature I am hoping twhirl adopts soon.
tweetlater is one of those twitter tools that actually has a couple of great uses. What I use it for the most is to send a direct message to all my new followers. Whenever anyone follows me, it is set to send them a message welcoming them. You can also use it to send out tweets in the future too. But, the main thing I use it for is to send messages to followers.
twitthis is an easy way for you to send twitter messages about your blog post or Web site. You can also use it to post what you are reading to twitter and what you might be listening to or watching on the web. twitthis is a great way to give something back to twitter.
is.gd is a service that shortens URLS, which I actually like better than tinyURL. I use it with twitter when I just want to add a URL to my tweet. This is also built into twhirl, however I have found is.gd works better for me.

There are tons more twitter tools out there and I know I only scratched the surface. If you are using a twitter tool not on this list that you feel is a must have, leave a comment here so we can all share. Lets keep the conversation going.

Home Office Warrior Linkedin Group Will See Some New Features Soon

Grant Griffiths — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:32:08 +0000

I have been trying to figure out some ways for the members of the Home Office Warrior Linkedin Group to be able to interact together more. It looks like Linkedin was listening to my questions and this Friday, they are releasing some new stuff.

This was in an email I received this evening:

This Friday, we will be adding several much-requested features to your group:

Discussion forums: Simple discussion spaces for you and your members. (You can turn discussions off in your management control panel if you like.)

Enhanced roster: Searchable list of group members.

Digest emails: Daily or weekly digests of new discussion topics which your members may choose to receive. (We will be turning digests on for all current group members soon, and prompting them to set to their own preference.)

Group home page: A private space for your members on LinkedIn.

I will keep all of the members of the group informed on the ways we will use these new features.

Where to Connect with Grant - Home Office Warrior

Grant Griffiths — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:58:32 +0000

A while back I did a post on where all you can connect with me. Since so much talk is still taking place about social networking. And the very fact I found some huge benefits and results using social networking. I thought I would provide my “where to connect with Grant” again.

Social Networking

Facebook - A place I would like to use more.

Twitter - I am most active here as far as social networking.

Home Office Warrior Facebook Group - A group for people interested in working from a home office.

FriendFeed - Just starting to use this one too. Have just started to customized it.

FriendFeed Home Office Warrior Room - One more networking tool and information exchange for those working from home.

del.icio.us - See what I am bookmarking for later use and what I am reading.

Linkedin - Under used and most likely one of the best for business networking.

Linkedin Home Office Warrior Group - Home Office individuals or those interested in working from a home office. We already have 66 in the network. My main issue is to see what I can do so the network members get some benefit from belonging.

Blogs

Home Office Warrior - Yup, you are there. And if you want to subscribe to HOW by either RSS or Email, use these links — EMAIL Subscription, RSS Subscription

G2 Web Media - This is the main blog for our business.

Blog for Profit - Where I discuss all thing about using a blog to promote and market your business or professional service firm. If you want to subscribe to Blog for Profit by either RSS or Email, use these links — RSS Subscription and EMAIL Subscription.

Personal Contact Methods

If you want, you can send me an email at grant@g2webmedia.com or give me a call at 785.370.4338.

Come Join us in Home Office Warrior Room on FriendFeed

Grant Griffiths — Sat, 24 May 2008 20:50:31 +0000

As you all know, I am a big fan of “micro-blogging” and “social networking” with twitter. In fact you can follow me at my twitter home page. I have found twitter to be a very good tool for networking with fellow bloggers which have some of the same interest I do. I have even connected with new clients for G2 Web Media there too.

My twitter client of choice is twhirl. It also has a way to follow the conversations taking place on friendfeed. When I first started to follow the conversation on Friendfeed, I was overwhelmed as I was trying to follow way too many people. The other day, I narrowed it down and will be adding more as I go. Just yesterday, they added Rooms to friendfeed where you can create a group of like minded individuals where you can take the conversation one step further.

In my hope to do just that and to offer a place for home office warriors to gather and have conversations about matters dealing with working out of a home office or running a home based business, I started what I have called, Home Office Warrior Room. Please visit the link and join. And if you are not already on twitter and/or friendfeed, use the links I have provided and join, it is free. And if you want, and only if they also work from home, please invite other like minded individuals to join in on the conversation. You can also follow me on friendfeed at this LINK.

Lets get the conversations going and see where this leads us.

Home Office Warriors — Linkedin Group

Grant Griffiths — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:33:11 +0000

We started a new group over at Linkedin called Home office Warriors. If you are interested in joining, you can go to this LINK and sign up. I hope to see you all there soon.

Feel free to promote the group on your own blog in a post if you would like. Lets spread the word and get as many home office warriors in the network as we can. Linkedin is a great tool for networking. I have seen it used as a way to stay in contact, as well as a way to get answers to your questions.

I will soon be making a group on twitter too for Home Office Warriors. And if you want, you can follow me on twitter at @GrantGriffiths.

The twitter Tools of a Home Office Warrior

Grant Griffiths — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:16:43 +0000

I know some of you may think I am going crazy with all this twitter stuff. But, to be honest, twitter is an outstanding marketing tool if you use it right. In fact, our traffic has increased and I have come to actually know some interesting individuals from my twitter experience. And if there is one thing I have come to discover over the last couple of weeks from twittering is this. The conversations you have and the people you come to know can lead to interesting things. Just today, I was having a twitter conversation with Laura Spencer who has a great blog called Writing Thoughts.

Anyway, Laura was looking for tools to make her twitter experience better and I being the techie geek I am, gave her a link to twitthis, a great tool to send to your twitter what you are doing at that very moment. I use twitthis to send to twitter blog post I might be reading at the moment. It is like twitter on autopilot.

Our conversation also got me to thinking, why not do a post about the tools I have discovered which make my twitter experience that much better. And quite frankly that much more productive. If there is one complaint I am getting from those who I got involved with twitter over the last few days it is that they are overwhelmed with the amount of incoming tweets. And they ask, how do you tweet all you do and find the time to do anything else. I use tools. Tools available to everyone.

Here is a list:

As mentioned above, twitthis is one I would not be without. Works great.

The next one I would not want to be without is twitterfeed. This handy little tool allows you to feed your blog post to twitter. I am only feeding one of my blogs to twitter and that is this one. I don’t want to be accused of spamming twitter with my blog post. But, this tool gives you a great way to put your blog out there to even more possible readers who just might become regular.

tweetpeek is another one I am currently just starting to look at . However, this one allows you to create a group of twitter feeds for your company, your industry, or you community. This might be the answer for those who want to better organize the tweets which come in.

One that just might come in handy is TwitPic. TwitPic allows you to share your photos on twitter. You can also use this one with your cell phone.

FriendFeed is another one of those tools which will help you organize all of the twitters you are following and getting in. I just wish there was an easy way to import all of the twitters I am following into friendfeed. If anyone knows how, drop a comment to this post.

TweetAhead gives you a way to schedule when your twits might be posted. This one has some bugs on when it actually does the tweet so I am not sure if this one will be a viable tool. Time will tell.

Another one I have been playing around with is TweetScan. TweetScan is a real-time search engine for twitter posts. TweetScan can also do your searches automatically and email them to you if you like.

twitter clients

TwitterFox is a Firefox add-on that basically allows much quicker posting and responding.

twhirl is one that I have used and it is a good one. In fact, if it wasn’t for the fact I am already using the next one, I would use twhirl as my only twitter client.

The twitter client I am using is twitterrific. It is Mac only and it does cost. Only $14.95, but it cost. Twitterrific sits on your desktop like twhirl, but it takes up a very small footprint. It lets you both read and publish posts to twitter.

Well thats it. Those are the ones I am using or trying. I know there are others out there, but I only have so much time in the day. If you know of others I have not listed, please leave a comment to this post so we all can check them out.

Re-Tweeted - Top Post Titles

Grant Griffiths — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:18:21 +0000

ProBlogger did it again. Darren asked his followers on twitter to submit their best post title from the last month on their blogs. On the next page are 116 submissions he received. I have already received traffic from Darren’s great idea and post.

So here are the 116 submissions (where people submitted more than one I’ve only included the first) that I received from my Twitter followers. Surf them - link up to those you connect with and if you’re on Twitter follow as many of this great bunch of bloggers as you can!

Source for Post ProBlogger Blog Tips.

Using the Power of Twitter — The Problogger Way

Grant Griffiths — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:07:53 +0000

Recently, Problogger “asked his followers on twitter to nominate their best post from the past week with a URL and title.” And Darren stopped the influx of post at 73 Top Posts from the Last Week.

It was another great idea from Problogger that I know increased his traffic. As I saw a huge increase in my own traffic here on Home Office Warrior. Darren’s request on twitter for our best post and his use of the results is just one more example of the power of twitter. And it just shows the results of what happens when you get a link to your blog placed in a top rated blog. By participating on twitter and responded to Darren’s request, I was able to take advantage of the networking power of twitter. And quite frankly, it took no more effort than pasting a URL and a quick typing of the title of the post to get a link on Darren’s blog.

If used as more than a way to tell your friends you are going out to dinner, twitter is a great networking, marketing tool you can use for your home based business. I started using twitter a little less than a month ago and I have already witnessed firsthand its incredible power. You owe it to yourself to check it out if you are not twittering. And if you have an account and are not using it, use it.

To see the entire list of 73, go HERE. And be watching soon for a similar request from the Home Office Warrior. If you are not on twitter, than you will miss out. And if you are not following me @grantgriffiths, you will also miss out.

Where to Connect with Grant - Home Office Warrior

Grant Griffiths — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:00:00 +0000

I have been wanting to get this post up for some time and thanks to Problogger, I decided today was the day. These are all of the methods you can use to connect with me or follow me. I also know that each of you, the readers of Home Office Warrior have your preferred method of connecting. If I have not listed it here, drop me an EMAIL or comment to this post and I will check into it.

So, here’s where I am at when it comes to my blogs and social networking tools. I have even listed an email link and my phone number. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with me so we can stay connected. You will also notice a Home Office Warrior Facebook Group.

Social Networking

Facebook - A place I would like to use more.

Twitter - I am most active here as far as social networking.

Home Office Warrior Facebook Group - A group for people interested in working from a home office.

Pownce - A new one for me. Don’t have a lot of friends on this one. However, it does appear to be a good one.

FriendFeed - Just starting to use this one too. Have not even customized it yet.

del.icio.us - See what I am bookmarking for later use and what I am reading.

Linkedin - Under used and most likely one of the best for business networking.

Blogs

Home Office Warrior - Yup, you are there. And if you want to subscribe to HOW by either RSS or Email, use these links — EMAIL Subscription, RSS Subscription

G2 Web Media - This is the main blog for our business.

Personal Contact Methods

If you want, you can EMAIL me or give me a call at 785.370.4338.

Twitter in Plain English

Grant Griffiths — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 17:51:45 +0000

We have been talking a little about twitter lately. This great video from the great people at Common Craft is the best explanation I have seen. Take a look.

Linkedin Mobile Beta

Grant Griffiths — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:05:41 +0000

Since I seem to be on a mini theme today. I thought I would just mentioned that Linkedin has gone mobile. I just bookmarked it on my iPhone and placed it on my home page. It seems the user interface is what I expected with the Linkedin staff.

I will post more as I use this over the next few weeks. Let us know at Home Office Warrior if you are trying Linkedin Mobile or not.

Social Networking and the Home Office Warrior

Grant Griffiths — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:54:40 +0000

Like many, I am on Facebook. And even have a group for Home Office Warrior. I am on twitter and have it setup so that when I post a new post on HOW, it is sent to twitter.

I even have a Linkedin account. And like many of you, I have been trying to figure out just how I can use all this social networking to help my home office business.

Recently on Biz Tips Blog, Denise Wakeman had a guest blogging, Mari Smith provide 10 Reasons to Use Facebook for Business. While the list is geared towards Facebook, there is no reason it does not apply to all of the social networking tools out there today.

Here are ten reasons to be active on Facebook:

1. Meet your peers. Facebook is not just for college kids anymore. Members are typically older and more mature than on other sites, and there are more white collar users.

2. Find business contacts. With more than 65 million active users, and predicted to be 200 million by the end of 2008, not only are your friends on Facebook, so are your prospects, your customers, your JV partners… and, of course, your competitors. You need to be on too.

3. Instant gate opener. Facebook members are open to connecting. You can easily begin a dialog with highly successful-even famous-people who were previously otherwise unreachable.

4. Build relationships. By engaging in conversations with your prospects and customers, you can better adapt your marketing and business services to meet their needs.

5. Raise visibility. By consistently showing up, posting relevant information, and being a thought leader, you can increase visibility and credibility as an expert in your area.

6. Develop your personal brand. The lines between business and personal have become blurred. You can reveal as much or as little about yourself as you wish, allowing you to personalize your brand.

7. Target your niche. Users volunteer vast amounts of information about themselves that you can readily access. These kinds of demographics, psychographics, and technographics would previously have cost fortunes to access. Author, John Battelle, calls Facebook a “database of intentions.”

8. Get rapid top Google placement. Create a Page for your business and ”push” information to your “fans.” Pages (for business) and Profiles (for personal) are indexed for optimal search engine positioning. Facebook has a page rank of #7 according to Alexa.

9. Place targeted ads. With Facebook Social Ads, you can test out extremely targeted advertising for minimal cost.

10. No cost marketing. Aside from paid ads, Facebook is totally free to use and with regular activity you’ll end up with more traffic, more subscribers, and more paying clients.

I know I plan to explore more reasons and ways to use social networking in my home based business. If there is anyone who would like to guest post about this, please drop me an email at grantgriffiths@mac.com or a comment here. Lets keep the conversation going.