Twitter 2 - Old City Web Services

The What, Why, and How of Twitter for your Business

November 5, 2014 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Using Twitter is necessary for having a well-rounded social media strategy for marketing your business. There are so many new tips and tricks for making Twitter easy to use and effective when it comes to getting your brand out there to the public. Whether you are new to Twitter or if you just want to see new results with your current Twitter account, here is help.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a way of communicating with your followers in posts (tweets) that are 140 characters or less. Twitter is a great way to quickly and efficiently share information about your business. Tweets can include photos, videos, links (to your website or blog post).

Why Use Twitter?

People follow your Twitter account, and you follow other people. This allows you to read, reply to and easily share their tweets with your followers (this is called retweeting) which helps you build an audience and relationships with not only your customers but also other businesses like you. It's best to not only use Twitter to promote yourself but to also promote others. This will spread your brand awareness and help you get the message out about what your business offers.

How Do I Use Twitter?

Be consistent with your brand

It is important that your Twitter presence have the same look and feel as other aspects of your marketing tools. People will be able to identify you and will trust you. Choose an account name and images consistent with your other online presences and your brand.Your Twitter profile header is similar to the Facebook cover photo, your header photo appears at the top of your profile page. Use the same photo so you are consistent across social media platforms.

Follow and Find Followers

In general, start following these people:

Your customers

Your business partners, suppliers, contractors and vendors

Your competitors or peers

Businesses in your neighborhood

Businesses run by people you know

Get Tweeting!

There are a few different ways you can communicate on Twitter: Tweet (post your own message), Retweet (post a message from someone else using the retweet button), Direct Message (send a private message to another user), Mention (use someone's twitter name in your own tweet), and Reply (respond to another tweet which then goes to the person you are replying to and your followers

Use Hashtags

A hashtag is a word with # before it and is a way to search and follow topics on Twitter. With the OldCity twitter account, using and following #StAugustine helps us follow and be followed by those interested in talking about happenings around town.

Hopefully this helps and is a good introduction for how to get started with Twitter or how to improve your current Twitter experience. Happy Tweeting!

Build and Develop a Social Media Presence for Your Business

October 9, 2014 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Build - Once you choose the social media platform(s) you want to utilize to increase online awareness of your brand, set up your profile(s) including a short, compelling bio to attract people letting them know who you are and what you do. Having a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Places, and YouTube in addition to your website can push your business up in rankings on browser searches. Include links to your website so that people can learn more about you and your small business.

Connect - To connect with your community and your existing and potential clients, you need to keep up with your page. Ask your friends, current clients, and other small businesses in your area to like and share your pages. Like and share their pages as well. Add a link to your email signature to your website, too. Establishing a presence on a social media platform requires active, consistent participation.

Engage - Social media is not meant to be one-way communication. You may use it to spread your message, share your business, and broaden awareness about who you are and what you do, but you must do this both by sharing and also participating in two-way communication. Listen to your customers and create community with other businesses and clients. Make your social media page not all about you. The 80/20 rule is a good one to follow: 80% of your activity is being friendly through retweets and comments. The other 20% is your chance to contribute your own content. Be an active participant and engage your audience with relevant content instead of just promoting yourself. Ask your audience to participate in the conversation, share photos of them using your product or enjoying your services.

Influence - Your ability to influence depends on your credibility and your reach. A strong, professional and engaging social media presence adds to your credibility. Your reach can expand beyond the number of fans and followers you have as your customers share your content, products and services within their circles.

Holiday Marketing Tip Challenge

November 20, 2013 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

FACT: St. Augustine attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each holiday season.

Whether a visitor stays for one night or all month, it is widely known that during the holidays, tourism in the nation's oldest city is thriving. If you own a B&B, restaurant or tour company, you're probably busy answering the phone and responding to email inquires this time of year.

Even though you're busy, don't forget to engage your customers with holiday marketing initiatives! This season, Old City Web Services challenges you to try at least one of these three marketing tips. Test it out and then shoot us an email or give us a call to let us know if it was a success!

1. Dress-up your Facebook page

As you dress your turkey for Thanksgiving, why not dress-up your Facebook and Twitter pages while you're at it! Create a holiday-themed cover photo that includes one incentive to customers--a promotion, discount or giveaway. What better way to engage customers while getting into the holiday spirit at the same time.

Not sure what a Facebook cover photo is? Old City Web Services specializes not only in custom design, but in Social Media too! Contact Us for more info.

2. Invite your website to the party!

Is your website holiday-ready? Make sure your site is updated with holiday flare, such as photos from Nights of Lights, a video featuring how to make a delicious holiday treat or a new Christmas package/special. Add a minimum of one piece of holiday flare to your website that will let customers know you're the go-to business to visit during their stay in St. Augustine.

Do you have the flare, but not the web expertise? Contact Us for a quote on giving your site that extra holiday glitz you need!

3. Give thanks to your customers

This is the perfect time of year to give thanks to those who love and support, not only you, but your business too! Send out an email to your past and present customers, letting them know you appreciate their brand loyalty. It's almost guaranteed this will bring back at least one new sale or prospect. After all, what harm can it do? If anything, you will put smiles on your customers faces...what more could you ask for?

No way of getting the message out? Old City Web Services can design an e-mail template using your photos, logo and colors & text, upload your contact list(s) and send out a mass e-mail blast to all your customers for you! Contact Us for more info.

Hashtags for #Smallbiz

October 30, 2013 by anoadmin Leave a Comment

Hashtags are something you definitely should be using when formulating tweets, assuming you already have a Twitter account dedicated to your small business that is. A hashtag is designated with a number sign (#) paired with a word or phrase (without any spaces or other characters) to perform a variety of functions. In the Twitter world, users attach hashtags to tweets as a search mechanism that categorizes keywords and phrases. For example, two hashtags commonly used by small businesses are #smallbiz or #smb. Attaching one of these to a tweet will help categorize your business, allowes users to find you. Want to begin using Hashtags on your #smallbiz Twitter account? Here are three tips to get you started:

1.) Keep it simple

When crafting hashtags, a good rule of thumb is to keep them simple and consistent. Long, complex tags are neither search-friendly nor commonly used. For example, if you want to tweet about a new app you recently launched, instead of tagging #Smallbusinessappsandtools, you're better off breaking it up and using two shorter tags, such as #smallbiz and #apps. This also increases the readability of your message. Lastly, don't be afraid to use abbreviations for words--there's a character limit for a reason!
2.) Be creative

Twitter allows users to create their own hashtags so don't be discouraged or think that just because you're a small business, your new tag won't be discovered. Both large and small brands create hashtags to generate buzz around a marketing campaign or to entice customers. For example, if you're having a contest for free concert tickets, you may want to create a hashtag that incorporates you and the band name (i.e. #StyxOldCity ). Your tweet could be something like: RT to win FREE TIX to the Styx Concert this WKND #StyxOldCity. Maybe provide a link to for people to get more information or purchase tickets online.

3.) Organization

Stay on top of trending and relevant hashtags by organizing your columns on your social dashboard. You can customize these columns by either your social networks, popular search terms or by specific hashtags. Not sure what a social dashboard is? Check out Hootsuite and TweetDeck--two social media dashboards that allow you to schedule, manage and analyze multiple networks in one centralized location.

Want to learn more about how to implement hashtags into your social media strategy? Contact us today by emailing us: letusmarketyou@oldcity.com or by giving us a call: 904.829.2772.