hashtags Archives - Successful Blog

How to use hashtags without looking like a doofus

March 21, 2013 by Rosemary

To hashtag or not to hashtag, that is the question

It looks like a tic tac toe board, or the pound sign from a push-button telephone. The weird and wonderful hashtag is pretty much everywhere, from TV shows to the sides of buses. This post will get you up to speed with the latest hashtag etiquette, so you can take advantage of its power.

The origins of the hashtag go all the way back to IRC, which is a free real-time text chat tool that was popular before graphic interfaces (and video chat) took over. (Incidentally, there are still a lot of people using IRC.) The hashtag was used to pull together messages that all related to a certain subject. Later, Twitter denizens decided to adopt the same mechanism (legend attributes this to Chris Messina).

When you see a hyperlinked hashtag, it means you can click it to find content that relates to that subject, whether itÂs an event, show, Twitter chat, meme, or random topic. When you see a non-hyperlinked hashtag, it usually means that someone has inserted a hashtag in a platform where itÂs not recognized. ThatÂs usually seen as an annoyance by the citizens of that platform, so it might be best to avoid doing that.

Recent hashtag changes

Supposedly Facebook is going to announce that it will start recognizing hashtags soon. This is a major boon to marketers, who will now be able to extend the reach of a hashtag across two huge platforms at once (Twitter and Facebook). Flickr also just added hashtags to its iOS app. However, Pinterest’s latest update renders hashtags non-clickable.

Pro hashtag tips

If you’re using a new/unfamiliar hashtag, go to Twitter Advanced Search and check to see who else is already using it. You can also use an external site like hashtags.org.
Join some Twitter chats in your niche; it’s a great way to network. You can use a tool like Tweetchat to automatically add the hashtag to your Tweets and see the stream.
Don’t use more than one hashtag in a status update unless there’s a really compelling reason.
Remember you’re in public. Since hashtags are aggregated all over the place, remember that content you hashtag is accessible to the world.
If you’re using a hashtag for an event, be sure to publicize it in advance, and then display it at the event on screen, and on conference materials. The first two questions at every conference are what’s the WiFi password and what hashtag should we use?
If you want to see action around a specific hashtag from across the web, look at a site like Twubs.com, which pulls together content from a hashtag and allows you to screen content if youÂre streaming it live (to delete spam from the stream).

Are you using hashtags? Have any hashtag pet peeves you want to share with us?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for Social Strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Tailoring Twitter: Get Busy Folks to “Get” Twitter in 2 Minutes Flat!

April 18, 2011 by Liz

I’m Too Busy for Twitter

Last I worked the social media station for McGraw-Hill Education at the National Conference of Teachers of Mathematics, a gathering of about 9,000 attendees. As it happens this attendee group is math teachers, school superintendents, math tutors, and people who build products for, consult with, and sell products to the education industry. Every administrator, every teacher, every editor, designer, consultant, sales rep, and presenter I spoke with has a huge job — days filled with helping others gain expertise and find knowledge, breaks and evenings filled with planning how to do that more effectively.

Sounds a lot like every client, customer, web publisher, manager, and business person I know.

I bet you know a few people like that too.

And I bet you’ve heard these words more than once, “I’m too busy for another social network.”

Here’s how I was able to change that view for over 90% of the folks with whom I spoke in less than 2 Minutes Flat!

How to Get Busy Folks to “Get” Twitter in 2 Minutes Flat!

My purpose for being at the event was to show every version of busy people how Twitter can make their jobs easier, faster, and more meaningful. Naturally, I’d start by asking questions and listening. The conversation would go something like this.

“Are you on Twitter?”:

“No. I’m too busy. I don’t have a smartphone. I don’t need another social network.”

“Oh, don’t I get that. Time is so important to all of us. By the way, you do this on your computer, whenever you feel like it. There’s no obligation to show up. Will you give me two minutes to show you how I think Twitter will make your job easier?”

“Okay I’ll listen for two minutes.”

“Let’s start with your job. What is your role in the world of mathematics?”

Then I’d point to a Twitter screen loaded to a hashtag … in the is case it was #mathchat And say, “let me show you what’s happening here.”

[click to enlarge image.]

I’d go on …

“All day long people who care about math post resources, questions, answers, ideas, insights, best practices and they tag them with this hashtag #mathchat so that other math folks can see them.”

I’d fire off a few examples and point to some in the stream, such as

The teacher who asked “Is anyone at a school that’s giving students iPads, I’m wondering how that works.”
Here’s two activities for the classroom.
Here’s an article on how a teacher made Calculus the most popular class in the school.
Look at that! There’s an event for middle school teachers in your state next month.
Yesterday I saw a tweet from a teacher who was looking for a video on nanotechnology for his students.
And did you see the Tweet right there, where @mheducation is offering their Math Apps for free during this conference? .

When I asked the question on #mathchat, why might a math person want to use Twitter, they said

So you don’t feel alone.
To get ideas.
To ask questions and get answers.
To get insights and best practices.
To connect with math people all over the world.

“And don’t worry about time. You don’t HAVE TO be there. Twitter is like this conference exhibit, the resources are available when you need them. They don’t come bother you. You go visit them when you can.”

The other things that’s really cool is that every week for one hour math people from all over the world meet at the same time under this #mathchat hashtag to talk math in real time — it’s like a mini math conference every week online — you can just listen in or talk and make friends who do what you do.

That’s when I handed them a sheet with the information from these two blog posts.

Tailoring Twitter: Does Your Twitter Profile Attract the Right People?

and

Tailoring Twitter: Building a Powerful Network that Fits You Perfectly

and some information on how to find a list of the most popular hashtags in their industry.

Now you see how a single hashtag can get right to the deep value of Twitter for almost anyone one.

How can you use this to tailor Twitter — to make it faster, easier and more meaning — for the folks you know?

Be Irresistible!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Tailoring Twitter: Building a Powerful Network that Fits You Perfectly

April 12, 2011 by Liz

Finding People to Spread the News

Every minute we spend on our business is one that helps it grow … or not.
The idea is to connect to all of the people who help us thrive — colleagues, customers, vendors, partners, family, friends — people who want to see our business growing faster, more easily, and with more meaning.

Those people who already know us and love what we’re going are the network, the beating heart, that holds us up and spreads our message to the right people in the very best way. Having a powerful network of fans means our message is seen, heard, understood and spread with the speed and reach of the Internet.

How do you get a network like that?

I often call Twitter the world’s largest networking room, but that doesn’t do it justice. Networking rooms are physical and geographically limited. They can’t expand and contract in size. The people who visit the room are limited by those who can physically get to the location where the meeting and the room exists in space and time. And not every networking event collects the people who are interested in what we do.

Unlike that networking room, Twitter let us decide who is at our “networking event.”
How do we find that first group of friends that we invite to our Twitter networking event?

Building a Powerful Twitter Network that Works for You

Before you build a network, think about the people you want to attract. Who are the people who support what you’re doing and naturally pass it on? Those are the folks you want to attract. Be irresistible for them. Think too about the people who would rather not participate in your success, the people who see you as what you’re not, look things over to see that you’re not attracting them.

When we focus on serving the people who trust our abilities and love what we do, they tell their friends about it. If we work to convert people who don’t trust our abilities and value our service, they look for reasons that we’re not doing what they think we should do.

Concentrate on reaching that first group with the best you can offer.

Know What You Offer

Know and share who you are. Have one clear business message. Define yourself clearly as a business person. Use a photo. Write a professional bio. Name the metropolitan area you’re in. Link to a business site that tells more about you. Some folks link to a special page on their blog set up just for Twitter visitors. Add a unique background to further define yourself.
Research the ways you might connect. Check out how @DellOutlet , @ComcastCares , @TwelpForce , @AlyssaMilano , @WholeFoods , @SharnQuickBooks and others use Twitter to connect. You may not be as big as they are, but you can learn from their approach.
Know and share why you’re there. Manage expectations. Let people know from the beginning the way you intend to serve their needs. If you want Twitter to be your relationship command center, you’ll set it up differently than if you want it to be your idea lab, your outlet store, or your customer service base. Decide before you start.

Find the People Who’ll Value that

Start small with friends and their friends. Start by following the friends you already have. Look for people in your industry by using the Who to Follow option at right in the black bar at the top of your Twitter.com page.
[click to enlarge]

which will take you here. [click to enlarge]

I’m going to a conference for the National Council of Teachers of Math (NCTM). When I started following folks who know the conference, I met a man who works for CLIME –The CLIME guy – CLIME is the math/tech affiliate of NCTM since 1988 http://clime.org After visiting his page to read his tweets, I knew I wanted to follow him.

Then I took a look at the people @ClimeGuy follows and I found @samjshah. [click to enlarge]

So I checked his profiles, read his tweets, and listed Sam in my list of STEM educators (Science Technology Engineering and Math Teachers) so that I could keep up with what Sam is talking about.

Check the curated lists and the hashtags to find who and what your heroes find relevant. Choose to follow a limited number a day.

Tweeps make lists to follow whole conversations by a group of people that the value around a common thread. For example I have a list of Twitter people who commented on blog in 2005. I use it to check in on what my more experienced friends are talking about. You can check my lists from my profile page.

You can check everyone’s curated lists by exploring sites like Listorious.com which collect the Twitter lists. [click to enlarge]

and Sulia (once called tlists to more channels of of Twitter people who share your interests.

and Use the search function at hashtags.org to find and follow tweets that people mark with a hashtag such as #edchat. Or use Search.Twitter.com to go quickly to a hashtag you might already know.#nctm (the name of a conference) or #mathchat (the name of topic of interest.) See who’s sharing insights and information that you find relevant and follow them.

Listen before you join in. Get to know how they talk and what they talk about.

Following both ways allows you to have private conversations. When quality people follow you back, use that as opportunity to say hello to them in a unique and personal way. When new folks follow you first. check their profile and follow them back if you want to start a relationship. You have to be following both ways to share a private conversation via direct message. Direct message is how Twitter people share information they don’t want to share publicly.

Add value to the conversation. Be helpful, not hypeful, just as you might be in person. Use the @ sign (@lizstrauss) to make sure your comment about a person or to a person gets to the person you’re mentioning.

Some things you might Tweet about and how to Tweet them.

Tweet to share an insight or something you’ve observed.
The more I leave room for my soul to breathe, everyone around me gets nicer.
Tweet to respond to what someone said.
@lizstrauss having margin in life is a good thing huh and not living right up the edge of the paper as someone once told me
Tweet to start a conversation by saying hello and asking a question..
Good morning, Twitterville. How will you make someone’s life better today?
Tweet to share information or content using hashtags – especially when you can promote your friends.
The free Entrepreneur Expo starts tomorrow, featuring our very own @starbucker http://bit.ly/em06Gp #sobcon
Retweet to pass on content by J_Bender using the RT button
J_Bednar Jason Bednar [RT] by kjpmeyer
“All the biggest miracles take place in classrooms. Nothing happens without teachers.” S. Frears quoted by Charlotte Danielson. #NAESP11
The above Retweet would look like this if she had typed it — and we can edit / add to it!.
I agree 100% RT @J_Bednar: “All the biggest miracles take place in classrooms. Nothing happens without teachers.” S. Frears

Start your Twitter list. This is my SOBCon list — people who attend our yearly business event – SOBCon.

Lists draw attention to and from people. Each list can focus on one group of people. Check the lists that other folks make, see what their lists say about them. Have a core list strategy. Lists might include a handful of advisors, thought leaders in your industry, partners and vendors, key customers and clients, people in your home location.

Decide early who you will follow – who you want at your networking event. Some folks follow only a few people and keep their followers limited to people in their business. Other folks look for input from a wider group.

If you’re looking for clients, don’t just talk to the people who do what you do. It’s fun and safe to talk business with our peers, but the folks who hire us are the folks who don’t know how to do what we do.

Like any networking event, Twitter is filled with opportunities to meet people who want to participate, engage, and be a part of what we’re doing. The difference is that some networking rooms are filled with people who have no business in common with us. On Twitter, we can reach out to folks who are interested in being at the same networking event as us.

Have you figured out other other ways to tailor the Twitter experience to fit your best reason for being there?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!