Presentation Tip #140: Make it Tweet-Worthy

I was listening to Mack Collier (@MackCollier on Twitter) presenting to a social media group in Birmingham on the subject of How to Handle Negative Comments (follow the link to the slideshare presentation). I was following the hashtag (#alsocme) on twitter (using the HootSuite client) and I thought of an important tip when giving a presentation to media savvy audiences. I noticed that when someone in the audience would turn a good phrase into a tweet, that message would get retweeted by many in the room. Those not so eloquent did not get many retweets.

As a presenter you want to get tweeted and re-tweeted. The best way to facilitate that is to spoon feed the audience with a Tweet-worthy message. Something akin to the 10 second sound bites that politicians use to drive home their point.  So, for each presentation select about three key points you want to get across and craft them in Tweet-friendly style and length (about 120 characters to allow for the tweeter’s username).  One popular example from today’s presentation was:

RT @griner: When companies respond to negative comments, 33% of customers follow up w/ positive review. -@MackCollier #ALSocMe

In this instance, an interesting factoid caught the attention of the audience, but it doesn’t have to be fact-based. Opinions and quotes can be Tweet-worthy as well.  Next time you’re viewing a presentation’s hashtag search results conduct some research of your own and then see what you can add to your next presentation. I’ll retweet if for you!

7 Types of Social Data That Help You Understand Consumers

I attended the 2nd of an 11-part webinar series today (Eleven Social Media Tips for 2011) sponsored by NetBase. I don’t attend that many webinars any more unless I can be assured it will be intermediate to advanced information.  I thought that was the case for today’s session headed by strategist/analyst/insightful professional Jeremiah Owyang.  I really liked the fact that he polled the audience with specific questions to gauge  the overall level of social media use so he could tailor the presentation.

He discussed the 7 distinct types of social data available and how they can be used to better understand your customers. The first tier held the most familiar and prevalently used data types: Demographic and Product; then Psychographic, Behavioral and Referrals; ending with Location and Intention data. A quick poll of the audience showed that in terms of what marketers are currently using, his order was correct.

While I’m tempted to walk you through each of the 7 types, I’ll resist and suggest that you instead watch the presentation (check back if archive link is not posted yet). There’s no point in me rehashing Jeremiah’s good points. I will say that there are some practical examples/case study overviews that help bring clarity to the concepts.

What’s the takeaway? You NEED to be familiar with each of these data types, what they measure or show you, and how you can use them to improve your results. It’s a great way to get a leg up on your competition and to help your organization or client understand the value your analysis brings to the table.

What I got out of it was a better way to categorize the data types that I already deal with. That will help me to draw better insights and to better explain my thoughts to others.

Next week I may write my own commentary on each of (or some of) the 7 types to provide a bit more advanced thinking on the subject.

Meanwhile, please take a second to leave a comment here or tell me which of the data types you work with and how you use the information.

Will Twitter’s New Official Analytics Product Be A Game Changer?

When Twitter speaks the social web listens. Especially when they speak of sharing their most precious data with it’s users.  Mashable is reporting that Twitter has invited a select group of users to begin testing an official Twitter analytics product. According to the Mashable article:

With Twitter Analytics, users will be able to see a plethora of data about their account; for example, information about which tweets are most successful, which tweets caused people to unfollow, and who the most influential users are that reply and retweet their messages.

The following screen shots show the details:

The new Twitter Analytics Product is sure to be a hit with marketers and the price is right: FREE! What do you think? Will you use the product? Will the new product harm third party vendors out there who provide similar information but charge for the service? Leave a comment. I’d like to hear what you think.

Chris Brogan Never Did Give Nothing To The Tinman

Likening Chris Brogan to the Wizard of Oz may or may not be a good analogy but it worked well for me as I thought about Chris’ impending visit to Birmingham. For those of you too young to know, the headline comes from the song “Tin Man” by the band America and the actual words are, “But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man That he didn’t, didn’t already have.”  The line obviously references the revelation in the movie, The Wizard of Oz, that the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and the Lion already possess what they seek, they just need to seek within to find it.  So now you’re thinking, I get that part, what the heck does that have to do with Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan on Twitter)?

Well, as I mentioned, Chris is coming to Birmingham Wednesday, August 25 as part of the Green Building Focus Conference & Expo (Tickets still available. See more on Chris in the sidebar at the bottom). He’ll be leading workshops, a presentation, book signing and reception. I’m excited to see Chris because as long as I’ve ‘known’ him, we’ve never met in person. I met him on Twitter and we’ve been conversing on and off ever since.  Chris is one of the top thought leaders in the technology and social media space and I can say without a doubt that he is one of the most thoughtful and helpful people on the Web.

Chris is also one of the most prolific content creators I have ever seen. But sheer volume is not what’s most impressive, its the way that Chris is able to take a complex issue or a complicated theory and simplify the concept for everyone to understand. Chris makes learning and participating in social media approachable to everyone. In my social media consulting I often find that people are uncomfortable and sometimes fearful of getting started in social media. The high profile social media gaffes they see in the news have left them gun shy and full of self-doubt about this new sensation.  Chris Brogan has provided so much useful content-from how-to, to why not–and in the process has taught each of us that we’re all human and social and that we have what it takes to be successful in social media inside each of us. We just need to pull the curtain back on the mystery and move on to mastery.

Welcome to Birmingham, Chris!

Chris Brogan is an eleven year veteran of using social media and both web and mobile technologies to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at [chrisbrogan.com], a blog in the top 5 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. He is co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Trust Agents, and the recently released Social Media 101.

You’re Not Getting Older, You’re Getting Better (Networked)

If you don’t recognized the headline of this post then you’re likely not among those in the latest survey of Boomers about social networking (The slogan is from a 1970s ad for Loving Care hair color).  AARP just released the results of its national telephone survey: Social Media and Technology Use Among Adults 50+.  Among the results of adults age 50 and over 2/5 of them consider themselves extremely or very comfortable using the Internet. That number of comfortable Internet users rises to almost half if you look at adults ages 50 to 64.

The most popular networking site among the  over-50 crowd is Facebook followed by MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Kevin Donnellan, the chief communications officer at AARP says the latest data tells us that social networking is becoming a part of everyday life for Americans 50 plus, and boomers in particular.

In terms of news preferences:

• Most adults 50+ prefer to get their news from print newspapers and magazines  (40%) or through a combination of print and online news sources (26%)
• Among adults 50+ who use social media websites, three-quarters (73%) are connected to relatives other than children and grandchildren, three-fifths are connected to their children (62%), and one-third (36%) are connected to grandchildren.
• Among those introduced by a family member, three-fifths (63%) said it was their child.

See the survey: http://www.AARP.org/socialmediasurvey