TwitNine

“Have you seen the Old Spice videos on YouTube?”

I think everyone with a computer and an internet connection has seen the manly Old Spice guy strutting his stuff and posting hilarious video responses to people’s Twitter questions.

According to reports around the web, Old Spice experienced a 30% increase in revenue. They are largely thanking their online marketing campaign for this increase.

It started with ads at the Superbowl, and then the ads hit YouTube and suddenly became viral in the blogosphere and on Twitter. One of @OldSpice’s Twitter followers even asked him to propose to his girlfriend for him, and sure enough, a few hours later, a video appeared on Old Spice’s YouTube channel.

So what actually happened here between Old Spice, YouTube and Twitter? Well, firstly, putting these videos on YouTube was an excellent move. They could easily have put them onto an Old Spice site, but going with YouTube helped make the videos more viral, as a lot of people visit YouTube and watch videos on a daily basis.

And the Q & A between Mr. Old Spice and Twitter, Facebook and Reddit allowed members of the public to as questions, which if are deemed worthy by the folks over at Old Spice, will be answered in the form of a video response.

This campaign was a great way to bring together all of the different social networking sites. And the video responses were addressed to celebrities, other corporations as well as members of the public.

In terms of sales, I can’t imagine that it did anything other than boost the sales of Old Spice products.

From the graph above from TwitterCounter.com, I think it’s pretty easy to guess when the Old Spice videos went viral. It’s incredible to see how the numbers have grown in just a few weeks. This Old Spice campaign is a great example of how social media works, and the possibilities that are there for companies that have a unique idea. I hope the guy that came up with this campaign gets a huge bonus!

Old Spice even made a video response to @Twitter which you can watch: here

Let us know what you thought of Old Spice’s online marketing campaign!

Social media guru, Chris Brogan, created a really good list of 50 Twitter Power Tips. For those of you who prefer audio-visual media, as opposed to print, the list has since been turned into a video, which you can watch: here.

At Twitnine, we think that sometimes the best tips are the most obvious ones:

• A lot of @replies shows a lot of humanity/engagement. – In other words, give back to your followers. Don’t just plug your site or product. Make Twitter a two-way communication tool.
• Everyone does it their own way. You’re doing it wrong, too – to someone. – Tips and tricks can be useful and are a great way to help us learn. But it’s good practice to come up with your own ideas and methods. Do what works for you!
• A non-standard background and face avatar means we believe you may be human. – Never underestimate the power of a well filled-out bio and avatar!!!
• Spamming us repeatedly is okay. We just unfollow you. – Every tweet should offer something to your followers – whether you are expressing an opinion or asking a question. Make every tweet valuable!
• Start thinking in 120 characters (remember? save 20). Every bit of this advice is tweetable. – At first, it is difficult to limit yourself, but aim to deliver concise information to your followers. Remember: Quality over Quantity!

All of these tips are great. They are really useful tips for any new tweeters out there and also act as great reminders for the seasoned Twitter user.

I think it’s important to always remember that whether you’re using Twitter to try to sell a product or promote a website, Twitter is first and foremost a social media platform. You can plug your site or product to your heart’s content, but do not forget Twitter’s primary purpose – do not forget to network with your followers.

Twitter has fast become one of the most popular social networking platforms. But recently, some of it’s users have found themselves unemployed because of their tweets.

Probably one of the most controversial firings resulting from a tweet was that of CNN senior Middle East editor Octavia Nasr. In July 2010, Nasr tweeted, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Nohammed Hussein Fablallah.. One of Bezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.. #Lebanon”. Faballah was linked to bombings that killed Americans and her controversial tweet led to her being fired. Nasr later apologized, but tried to clarify her statement by saying that she had been referring to Fablallah’s attitude in regards to human rights.

Last year, Twitter user Conner Riley (aka @theconner) had an interview at Cisco Systems. She later tweeted, “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work”. A Twitter user from Cisco came across Riley’s Twitter account and replied “Who is the hiring manager? I’m sure they will love to know that you will hate the work. We here are Cisco are versed in the web.” Oops…

And then there was the California Pizza Kitchen employee who took to Twitter to express his opinion on their new staff uniforms: “@calpizzakitchen black button ups are the lamest **** ever”. The user thought that his identity was safe, but CPK tracked him down and he was fired.

But with that being said, how many of us have said things like that. All of us have made comments of this nature at one time or other.

I guess the point is that you’re free to say things like this “in private” – i.e. in person to another human being, but when you start tweeting them, and the wrong person sees your tweet, then there is an issue.

So, is this an infringement of privacy? Well, not exactly. I mean, it’s not as if you’re sitting in a coffee shop talking to your best friend.. You’re typing something which appears on the Internet and is visible to x-million people – all around the world.

So what is the lesson here? I guess the lesson is that you never know who is lurking behind the cyber-corners of the internet. Sadly, an innocent comment, joke or even your personal opinion can be turned into something much worse.

Tweet with caution – you don’t want to find yourself fired in 140 characters of less.

With today being the final day of the World Cup tournament, Twitter’s servers can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Over the past few weeks, Twitter has experienced more downtime than usual – due to record usage numbers because of the World Cup tournament in South Africa. In June 2010, Twitter experienced around 5 hours of downtime, compared with 50 minutes of downtime in February 2010 and only 22 minutes in November 2009.

And the reason behind all of this? Well, it’s largely down to an extremely high number of tweets any time a goal is scored. Twitter streams have suddenly been inundated with “GOAAAAALLLLL” or “GOOOAAAALLL #ESP”, etc.

Twitter’s head of communications, Sean Garret, did acknowledge that Twitter had anticipated issues because of the World Cup bring an increased number of users.

In a way, having higher usage levels than every before is a good problem to be having. And Twitter’s programmers can see this as an opportunity to make their platform stronger – to be able to cope with such concentrated levels of traffic. All in all, Twitter has served as a great way to bring the world together during this World Cup tournament.

And how can I forget the vuvuzela? Yes, there is a vuvuzela Twitter account which is dedicated to the highly annoying monotone instrument that is taking over the World Cup soccer stadiums in South Africa.

As of today, the vuvuzela has over 11,000 followers and it’s “BZZZZZZZZZZZZ” tweets have been retweeted all over the web. I think this account is a great example of how Twitter, and the internet as a whole, works.

The artist Prince said this week that the internet is dead. I think that this vuvuzela account proves him wrong. The fact that this Twitter account was able to generate over 11,000 followers in 3 weeks shows how viral Twitter actually is. It’s a phenominal way of bringing the world together, and I think it’s safe to say that Twitter is here to stay! (Hopefully, unlike the vuvuzela!)

It seems that “optimize” has become the new “it” word. Everything has to be optimized – our cars are fuel optimized, our business models are optimized, and now out Twitter bios have to be optimized.

Twitter is a great way to reach a worldwide audience. If your goal on Twitter is to promote yourself, your website, your business, your blog, etc., then Twitter optimization is a very good idea.

The first step is to fully fill out the bio section. The first thing that most people will look at on your profile is the bio section. From there, they will decide whether or not you are worthy of a green follow check-mark.

With that being said, if your bio is not filled out or partially filled and undescriptive, then you may be missing out on a lot of potential followers.

Twitter gives 160 characters for your bio – which is 20 characters more than the limit for tweets. Use every character wisely!

I think that the challenge comes in writing a good bio with a limited amount of characters – given that this sentence is already 144 characters.

The best thing to is is to focus on the keywords. Remember that you want your Twitter profile to be searchable. I guess a good way to think of it is in terms of SEO (search engine optimization) for Twitter. Imagine how you would optimize a website for search engines when and when you come to write your Twitter bio, think about what kind of followers you want to attract and what keywords you would use if you wanted to find your bio.

Be as real as possible. Some words to stay away from are “guru” and “expert”. It seems that every other person on Twitter is some kind of expert of guru of some kind.

Choose your keywords wisely and take your time. It’s important not to rush through this process. Tell your audience what you do, what you like, your hobbies. Make sure you describe yourself as best you can.

If you don’t have an optimized Twitter bio, now is a good time to create an effective one! Good luck!

The more users that Twitter has, the more effective it is as a social networking service. Twitter is becoming a customer service platform, job searching tool, and with the number of people signing up to Twitter increasing every day, it is becoming easier and easier to connect with people in your town.

Of course, finding Twitter users in your area can be a great way to network and get real-time information, like the weather, news, food, etc.

A good tool is Twitter Search. You can choose to search “Near this place”. For example by typing: “Near:Boston within:20mi” would bring you tweets originating from within 20 miles of Boston. This location search is based on the location field in people’s Twitter profiles.

Another great site is TwellowHood. It is a directory of Twitter users from the website Twellow, which is essentially the Yellow Pages of Twitter. This is a great site which is easy to use. You just click on the map, and zoom into your chosen area and from there you can browse through the list of local Twitter users. You can even see recent tweets from a specific area and follow new users straight from their Twellow listing page.

Alternatively, you can try NearbyTweets. This is a revamped version of Twitter’s own search feature. This site determines your location automatically, and then loads a list of the most recent tweets and Twitter users from within a specific radius. You can change the location, radius, and you can add keywords. The appeal of this site is that it looks great and is very easy to navigate – more so than Twitter’s own search feature.

There are several Twitter apps which include built in features for finding fellow tweeters in your area. Essentially, the functions are the same, they allow you to search for users near your exact location which is determined by the geo-location feature of your iPhone or iPod Touch. Four such apps are: Twinkle (free); Echofon (free), Tweetie ($2.99) and Twittelator Pro ($4.99). If you have others to suggest, please add them in the comments below.

Finally, if you want to take your social networking to the next level, you can attend a TweetUp. This is an offline meeting of people who organize their meet-up on Twitter. It’s a great way to get to know Twitter users in your area. Meetup is a great resource for finding or starting your own tweetup. Alternatively, you can Twitter search Tweetup.

All of these methods are great ways to meet people who are near you, but of course (and I don’t mean to sound like mom), as with any internet based endeavor, you do have to be careful with who you meet online.

Normally when we think of customer service, we think of being on hold for 30 minutes listening to awful music or impersonal emails. More often than not, the term “customer service” does not evoke pleasant feelings; people have come to be turned off by the term and subsequently, companies have started to use different words to describe their efforts (i.e. Help desk, helpline, after-sales care).

In recent years, with the huge growth in connectivity made possible by social media, both big and small companies have found a new way to interact with their customers, address their problems and build up their brands: Twitter.

Over the last few years, Twitter has come to be a great customer service platform. It offers:

• Quicker problem resolution. Instead of waiting in a call-line for 30 minutes, Twitter is a lightning fast platform which allows issues to be addressed very quickly. If it’s a small problem, one tweet may be enough. If the problem is more complex, the company may initiate a more in-depth conversation with the customer.
• Building a positive image. Good customer service will get talked and Tweeted about. Since Twitter is one of the most viral platforms, one happy customer has the ability to reach an international audience.
• Lower costs. We all know that time is money. Customer service via Twitter will often take less time and significantly less money than a call center. Twitter’s need for short and direct information means that problem solving time is reduced. Also, your staff will find Twitter more engaging than a phone and head-set!

In order for Twitter to be an effective tool for your company, there are a few steps that you will need to take.

1. Add a Twitter button to your website and add your Twitter information to your email signature. Your customers need to know where to find you, otherwise, customer service on Twitter won’t work!
2. Respond quickly! The key to good customer service is a quality and speedy response. Use @replies and always remember to keep a professional tone. If it is a sensitive problem, try using direct messaging or give them a fast way to contact you, such as a special email address or direct phone number. Let your customers know that you are there to help.
3. Take the time to chat with customers. Talking to your customers helps to build up your brand’s image. Supplementing your customer service with conversation is a great way to do this. During the Icelandic volcanic eruption, all major airlines used Twitter very effectively to pass information and updates onto their customers.
4. Be authentic! The last thing any company needs is for their customers to feel that they are not forthcoming with the information they are providing. Building a positive brand image will do wonders to your sales figures.

Many big companies have been very successful in building up a positive brand image on Twitter: Starbucks, Comcast, Southwest Airlines and KLM. Give the steps above a try and let Twitter help to redefine how customer service is done for your company.

Twitter has begun testing a feature that allows you to see who you and other Twitter users are following.

When you go to a certain person’s profile, you will see a strip of avatars above the grid showing who they follow. The headline above states “You both follow”:

A lot of people have commented on the similarity between this feature and Facebook’s “Mutual Friends” box. Yes, it is pretty much the same thing – and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.. Or is it?

In terms of bringing Twitter fully into the social networking world, implementing this new feature is a good move. It moves the focus more from the individual and how many followers and tweets they can churn out to the connections between people in the social media network.

Could it be better? Well, yes, it could be. They could try to include a feature that shows you how many people that you already follow is following a certain person. For example, if I’m on the profile of a web developer and it shows that 20 web developer gurus that I’m already following follow him/her, then I would be more inclined to follow that person.

Overall, I think it would make networking a bit easier, and it’s nice to see the online connections that are forged. Granted, it will make life a lot easier for stalker-types!

What do you think of this feature? If it is implemented, do you think you will find it useful? Let us know in the comments!

For some individuals, following 50 people on Twitter can be quite an ordeal. If those 50 people post 10 tweets per day, that’s 500 tweets to read! It makes you wonder how people who follow 100s, 1,000s and even 100,000s of other people sort through the mass of tweets that they must see every day.

Well, fortunately, there are quite a lot of applications that help us sort and filter tweets from those who we’re following.

1. Filttr: This is a web basted Twitter app that allows you to filter tweets based on keywords. It is a very versatile filter, which gives you the option to blacklist and whitelist key phrases. I found it a bit confusing, as it started blocking some of my contacts before I had even given it any keywords. I’m not sure why – maybe it just didn’t like them?!
2. Mixero: Mixero claims that it will reduce the noise. And it does a good job of delivering. It allows you to create and sort your contacts into groups – which might be quite time consuming if your contact list is big! You can create an active list of users who you find to be the most interesting so you can easily follow their tweets. You can create all kinds of different filtering systems for your contacts and tweets. The good thing is that it’s very easy to learn and simple to use.
3. MicroPlaza: This is a link sorting tool – it works on the premise that it will show you the most popular links being tweeted among your followers, as these are the people that you are interested in. Therefore the links that they are tweeting and re-tweeting will most likely be of interest to you.
4. TweetDeck: This allows you to put your friends into groups so that you can essentially slow down your Twitter stream. It makes it easier to follow tweets from family, friends, work, etc. There are quite a few other apps that have a similar function. Other apps you might want to try are SeesmicDesktop and PeopleBrowsr.
5. TwitIQ: This tool also lets you sort your contacts into groups. It also can track URL clicks. The fact that the interface looks like Twitter makes it easy to navigate around!

There are probably enough tweet-filtering tools out there to write 20 posts on, and this article barely scratched the surface of that list! Let us know if you have a favorite tweet sorting method, or if you have tried one of the tools listed above! Happy tweeting!

At the beginning of 2010, the registered number of users on Twitter had surpassed 75 million. With the ability to reach out to that many people, it is no wonder that businesses and individuals are using Twitter as a platform to build and promote their own brand.

Here are some great steps to help you reach this rapidly growing online audience.

1. Claim your name: Just like your website’s domain name, Twitter account names need to be secured! Exxon Mobil faced a lot of problems when an impostor started posting tweets using @ExxonMobilCorp, similarly, SitePoint, the web developer and publisher, was unable to secure @sitepoint and had to settle with @sitepointdotcom. There is even an aftermarket for Twitter handles at Tweexchange where names can be purchased and sold – just like domain names. Before you read any further, go and claim the Twitter handle for your name and for the names of any products or companies that you own or plan to create. In today’s Twitter day and age, a brand isn’t a real brand without an authentic Twitter handle!
2. The Branding Begins: Now that you have your Twitter name, the first thing to do is to fill out your profile – properly! People want to follow someone who has a legit looking page (i.e. one with all the info filled out). Fill out your bio with care – be sure to be honest! Don’t label yourself as an expert unless you really are one! Once this is done, you should spend some time on choosing your Twitter background. Some good sites are Twitpaper and Twitterbackgrounds. Try to create a background that has the same colors, format and even logo (on custom backgrounds) as your website.
3. Become Reputable: Twitter is essentially a shorter form of blogging. So, like a blog, tweet often about your expertise on a certain topic. Gradually, you will become known and people will be drawn to follow you. If you have a blog, Twitterfeed is a great tool which auto-updates your Twitter status whenever you create a new blog post. As well as pushing your own information, you can subscribe to Google.com/alerts and tweet the best content that you come across. A lot of experts will have Q&A sessions with their followers. This is a great opportunity to showcase your knowledge. Also, people may contact you if they need your expertise!

4. Marketing Your Twitter Brand: Include your Twitter handle on everything. Add it to your email signature, add a follow button on your website, plug your Twitter handle in your blog posts, leave links in any email newsletters or publications, you can even add it to your business card! You can add re-tweet buttons to your blog posts to make it easier for people to share your posts.

The most important thing to remember is to produce content and tweet often. New content is what keeps people from coming back! Happy tweeting!