Posted by Ann Bernard

Lots of newly generated talk about twitter in the music side of the industry thanks to a blog post written by Ariel Hyatt (@CyberPR) & Laura Fitton (@Pistachio) called the Musicians Twitter Roadmap.

I’ve written a few post on twitter already on this blog which you can find under twitter in the category section of the sidebar.  But one of the blog posts I hadn’t gotten around to writing yet is the Dos and Donts of twittering…so here goes. (Some of it is a refresher from the other posts – hint, hint…that’s because they’re really important.)

DO

• Do thoroughly fill out your profile
• Do add a picture
• Do follow people back
• Do learn something about the people following you
• Do interact with people
• Do @people
• Do ask questions and for feedback
• Do provide feedback and answer questions
• Do be entertaining (but yourself)
• Do be informative
• Do be engaging
• Do tweet on a regular basis (preferably a few times a day when starting out)
• Do tweet 12-18 times before following anyone to include @people
• Do use DM for one on one interaction when sending out to everyone is inappropriate
• Do assist in promoting your followers – they’ll return the favor
• Do retweet tweets that are worthwhile
• Do promote you’re on twitter on your other social network(s) and blog(s)
• Do learn some of the twitter terminology – and IM terms to shorten your words
• Do try to maintain a resemblance to using proper English
• Do take your extended twitter conversations to IM, email or DM
• Do realize things can be taken out of context
• Do know you can actually say A LOT in 140 characters
• Do look into tweetups in your area to meet people in real life
• Do look for twitter applications that will make your life easier 
• Oh…and do prepare to be frustrated at times. Twitter isn’t perfect

DON’T

• Don’t be a self-promoting fool
• Don’t DM someone your website after they start following you
• Don’t make all of your tweets 5-7 words
• Don’t follow 2000 people in one shot
• Don’t publicly send personal information over twitter
• Don’t publicly put someone on the hook for something
• Don’t publicly embarrass, bad mouth, or criticize someone
• Don’t go nuts welcoming and thanking all your new followers
• Don’t go nuts retweeting tweets that aren’t worthwhile (informative, funny or relevant)

It’s a simple Do and Don’t list that if followed; you’ll find success on twitter.

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Posted by Ann Bernard

Friday night I went to see the Washington Capitals play at the Verizon Center.  They played against the New Jersey Devils and won 3-1. I tweeted while at the game…came home and started doing some homework on how well (but found how bad) the Washington Capitals leverage twitter. 

Don’t get me wrong, the Washington Capitals have a twitter account; they just aren’t doing anything useful with it. 

Twitter is a powerful communication, promotional and grassroot marketing platform for organizations, businesses and corporations…but it’s a KILLER communication, promotional and grassroot marketing platform for a team like the Washington Capitals.

Twitter is most powerful when used to do the three following things:

1. Delivers interesting and timely information/news
2. Connect a community of fans, loyal customers or people of similar interest together
3. Act in support other grassroot efforts – inner and outer connectivity
   

If I Were Tweeting for the Washington Capitals
The First Basic Steps

1. Tweet the Games.  There is no live tweeting happening from the @washcaps account.  I know…I mean come on!?!?  That’s a pretty basic way of delivering interesting and timely information/news. 
2. Follow Fans Back. This is seriously basic. Follows your fans back…get into the a conversation with them.  How do you suppose to turn your fans into bigger fans and supporters (hence promoters) if you’re not communicating with them. 

Here’s how I would do it – let the fans know that during each games (at home or away – watching on tv or at the game) that anyone who tweets @washcaps during at game will be followed back.  That way you find your active game twitterer.

 The Next Steps

1. Tweeting in-Between Games: Break the news (at least some) of what’s happening over twitter. Run facts about the players, information about practice and other happenings within the organization.
2. TwitPic: Send out some twitpics during the games and in-between the games.
3. Post Fan Blog Posts: Find who is writing up the games, NOT mainstream media wirte-ups…but your loyal fans who blog their heart outs about the Washington Capitals. Send traffic and fans their way. 
4. Engage with Fans: Send out questions, ask for feedback and communicate with the twitter followers.

Going the Distance 

1. Washington Capital Fan Tweetup:  Once the Washington Capital Fan start coming together over twitter…arrange a Washington Capital Fan Tweetup – be it before the game or going the real distance and brining them all together in one of the suits at a game.
2. Show the Live Tweeting on Screen: How cool and encouraging would it be to have some live streaming of people tweeting the game at some point on one of the screens?
3. Find Who is Tweeting Sponsorship:  During the games, prizes are given out that are sponsored by different companies…so run a contest where the answer is delivered over Twitter with a HashTag and make someone a winner that way.

The Benefits of Good Twitter Usage

Do I really need to spell this out? Really!?!?

1. Awesome crowd engagement
2. Bringing together of your fans/community
3. Engaging in communication with your fans/community
4. Discover your major influencers
5. Excellent and extremely inexpensive marketing
6. Bringing the hockey and Washington Capitals experience to a much wider audience which will generate greater ticket sale.

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Posted by Ann Bernard

Now that you know WHO you want to follow – here are the four ways to find your followers:

Actually, let me first clarify something, don’t take the whole follow and follower(s) too literally.  You’re not building your own cult on Twitter.  I spoke with Dan, one of the band members of Deleted Scenes last night, who just started his Twitter profile and Dan mentioned how the whole thing made him think of a cult.  The thought of “followers” crept him out a little.  He is of course getting over it. He’s planning on twittering like a pro without letting the fact that people are interested in what he’s doing and what he’s saying get to his head.

You are not the leader of the people who are following you on Twitter!!

Alright, back on track.  Four main ways to find your followers: 

1. Do a Biography Search:  Remember how I mentioned the importance of filling out your bio area with pertinent information about who you are and what you do?  This is why…because it a great way to find people.

On the top right corner navigation bar – click on: Find People
The next screen – click on: Search (last tab)

Although the search area is pre-populated with Name and Location.  You can do a search by typing, for example – a specific occupation.  Example: Musician, Comedian, Actor, or Plumber; in case you’re looking for Joe.

You can put in locations, names and other keywords.  This search will scan and give you results of people that have that or those keywords within their bio information.

2. Do a KeyWord Search:  If you go to: http://search.twitter.com this will allow you to do keyword(s) search through people’s tweets. 

You can search occupations from here as well…but this time, you’ll get results from people who mentioned that specific occupation within their tweets.  See image below for search results when I put in the work “Comedians”.

I like option # 1 and 2 the best for finding people because you can hone in on what you’re looking for.  Twitter Search is also good for a lot of other things that we’ll discuss later on. 

3.  Public Timeline: I have personally never used the public timeline to find anyone to follow.  It’s really a crap shoot.  But, you can also use other services that tie in to the public timeline to find people, like Twittervision.  It’s easy to get mesmerized by it and you could come across some cool people in various locations.

4.  Twellow:  Twellow is another application that uses the public timeline…plus, quite a few other sets of data available through the Twitter API.  Twellow is the yellow pages of Twitter.  You can look for people by categories and subcategories…example: Category Entertainment --- Subcategory Fashion

And their tagline also implies this is the place to connect with people who matter. (whatever that means).

On a separate note, at some point you’ll want to claim your profile on Twellow and add more information to it.

Don’t Go Following Everyone

Pace yourself and don’t go clicking follow, follow, follow, follow…etc.  Always do a mixture of tweeting, replying to tweets and adding followers.

Keep your numbers of followers and those of people you follow proportional.  Say you’re following 40 people – than between 28-33 people should be following you back.

Following 1,567 people in one shot is a BAD idea.  I don’t follow people who go nuts following others.  It means they don’t really care about building their “followingship.”

Next Twitter Blog Post will be on: The Dos and Don'ts of Twittering

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Posted by Ann Bernard

Quick reminder...before you go follow other people, ensure you fill out your profile and put some content within your tweet stream!

Alright, just like the title says: Now that you have content - it's time to find some followers.  Before I tell you HOW to find followers; we need to discuss WHO you want to follow (and in return follow you back). 

Let me make a quick distinction here - sometimes you will want to follow people who might never follow you back and that's because they have really good content and information to pass along.  These are people you will learn from and or be entertained by. 

If you're interested in setting your sights really high on twitter - aim to become one of those people.

Answering the Who

Most new comers to twitter are ecstatic to just have someone follow them - they don't much care about who it is.  However, since you're reading this blog...you're already smarter than the average bloke.  You want to start out strong since you have a purpose in mind.

Fans

Start out by looking for similar people that are or compare to your current fan base (this blog is for entertainers - I would obviously give someone in another industry, industry specific recommendations). 

Make a list of the known characteristics of your fans:

• How old are they?
• Are they males or females?
• What kind of jobs/profession?
• What other interests do you know they have?
• And so on...

This list will help you when you start doing searches.

Others in your Art - Your Network

You will definitely want to follow some other people who are in the same entertainment niche as you, as well as others in the entertainment industry.

Think of the various people you want to network with: producers, promoters, booking agents and so on.  You also want to check on others in your art...for networking and well, some not-so-obvious spying on what they're doing!!

Knowledge Sources

I already alluded to the knowledge sources you'll find on twitter.  I recommend following a few because it's a great way to learn new information, get your news, and be in the loop.

Your Other Interests

You'll quickly realize that when you follow much of the same type of people...your incoming tweet stream can get a little redundant with the same information and slightly boring. 

My recommendation is to mix in some very random other people who have links to other interests you have unrelated to your art.  You never know what might happen.

Next post, I'll cover how to find the people you're looking for.  Be sure to know who you want to find.

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Posted by Ann Bernard

Now that you're willing to give twitter a go - lets talk about how to proceed.

First, you have to signup for and create an account.  Go to http://www.twitter.com/ and signup for an account.

Fill out Your Account Information

Once you have your account, click on Settings (upper right corner) which will take you to the Account tab.  This is where you want to fill out the information about yourself.  Everything you write on twitter is on a limited budget, so make sure you're brief but concise.  Be sure you include a link to a site - even if it's to your MySpace page.

Don't try to be smart in you biography section and write something that says absolutely nothing about who you are and what you do.  You'll have plenty of opportunities to show off you wittiness in your tweets.  Write a bio that describes you and what you do.  

A good bio and including your location will make searching for you and finding you easier.  

Don't tweet or send your first follower request without your profile first being filled out - this includes going to the Picture tab and uploading a picture.

People will come have a look at your profile in order to make the decision of whether or not they want to follow you - so make sure they don't waste their click when they come checkout what you're about.  

I don't follow people who have no profile information...particularly if they don't have any tweets yet.

Your First Tweets

Once you have your profile filled out (which again, is minimal for twitter) you want to populate your profile with a few tweets.  I personally don't recommend the...

• I'm new here...
• Trying this twitter thing...
• What's this twitter thing all about...

Act like you know why you're on twitter and that you're ready to join the community and be an active participant and great tweet provider.

This is where you can use 1-3 tweets to provide some additional and interesting things about yourself.  Something unique about where you live, what you do and who you are. NO PLUGGING your work or yourself.  NO LAME self promotion.

Then, you should start having a look around and reply to other people's tweet.  You reply by adding the @ sign in front of the person's twitter name.  Find some people who are saying things of interest and when you reply - be sure to be insightful and contributing to that other person's initial tweet.

There's no real science to this, but you should build up 10-12 replies, to about 3-4 more of your own tweets.

Next Twitter Post: Now That you Have Content - Find Followers

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Posted by Ann Bernard

Well that’s good you know your fans – it’s a shame they’re not on Twitter but the real question is this:

How many people on Twitter could be your future fans!?!?

Exactly, so now that I have your attention, lets talk a little about Twitter.  Twitter is a micro blogging platform which allows you to publish short messages of less than 140 characters through different mediums like IM, cellphones, smartphones and the web.

Your messages are broadcasted to a public timeline (if your profile is public) and to your followers – on the flip side, you receive the messages of the people you follow.  You can also reply to messages people have broadcasted or you can direct message a person you follow so it’s private between you and that person.

It’s pretty much like instant messaging with a lot of people at the same time.  Twitter is simple, easy and it’s free.

The basics behind Twitter is to talk about what you’re engaged in, thinking about, and wondering about (if you need feedback or have a question).

The 3 keys to being successful on Twitter are:

BE INTERESTING – ENGAGING and PART OF THE CONVERSATION

The Strength of Twitter for the Entertainment Industry

There are lots of usage for Twitter and it’s an awesome tool for many people and industries…but lets talk about how it’s relevant to you in the entertainment industry.

Promotion, Feedback and Community

Promotion: Your livelihood relies on your abilities or the abilities of the people you hire to promote you and your work.   Therefore, it’s not a hard puzzle to solve – any platform that can assist you promote yourself is worth taking a look at. 

The people on Twitter, for the most part, are not the same people you find on MySpace…and that’s good in many ways.  (Something we’ll talk about later)

Twitter will help you promote yourself because it’s a medium that doesn’t require a lot of effort to let people know more about what you’re doing, thinking and how damn interesting your are. 

Look – most people don’t have as interesting a life as people in the entertainment industry do…so having a look into what that life is like, could yield good returns to you.

Remember the first two key to success – BEING INTERESTING and ENGAGING

Feedback:  I’ll talk more about this, but one of the main reason social media is such a huge success is because it allows people, companies and industries to share and get feedback from their targeted audience(s). 

This too, is important to the entertainment industry.  It’s perhaps a great deal more personal to get feedback on a verse, song, photograph, painting, joke, video etc. but it’s also useful and precious to be able to poll people who have taking an interest in you and what you do.  This leads us to…

Community:  We participate in online activities to connect with like minded people and kindred spirit because being part of such communities let us know we’re not alone.  Sharing in other people’s news, struggles, victories and lives has a way of putting things in perspective.  Being part of a community, also allows for greater networking and sharing of resources.  It’s a fabulous way to get scoop, introductions and general feel of what’s going on.

Hightlights of Community: Scoop, Share Resources and Networking 

Next blog post, we’ll talk about how to get started on Twitter.  What to do and what NOT to do.

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