Jeff Swanson » twitter

How local stores can benefit from Twitter

Jeff Swanson — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:23:18 +0000

One way for local companies to benefit from social media is by using Twitter. Let’s take an example from a local company here in the Windy City – Birchwood Kitchen.

Birchwood Kitchen is a gourmet sandwich shop located in Wicker Park. They use their Twitter page to communicate lunch specials and upcoming events . Fans can follow Birchwood Kitchen on Twitter to get these updates and not worry about calling or stopping by to stay in the loop.

Social media is especially powerful if your store is a local favorite. The more attached locals are with your brand, the more likely they are to follow you on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook, for example.

Homer’s is a local music store in Nebraska that might benefit from such a strategy. They have a Facebook group page, but not a Twitter page that I’m aware of. At the time of this post, they have over 700 fans on Facebook, which represents a strong local following. By communicating with locals through these social platforms, they strengthen their brand by making their friends and fans feel like part of a community. Not to mention they are able to communicate what’s happening with their store, including special deals and promotions over the holiday season. A great way to prompt an already targeted market.

Social shopping with ShopTogether

Jeff Swanson — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:24:56 +0000

In a previous post, I mentioned that one of the advantages of shopping offline is the social environment it creates. Social shopping is evolving online, however, with technolgy like ShopTogether from DecisionStep.

ShopTogether allows users to share their online shopping experience with others. You can view products at the same time and have a live chat in the meantime. ShopTogether also has capabilities with Sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter that lets you share product links for friends to join in.

Some Sites already using ShopTogether include Charlotte Russe, Rugsale.com and NetShops. Visit one of these domains and try it our for yourself.

Fix duplicate content from session ID’s with canonical URL tag

Jeff Swanson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:51:21 +0000

A few weeks back, I received a Tweet from Matt Cutts that referenced a presentation on duplicate content (see slide show below). The slide show was presented by Greg Grothaus at SES San Jose.

What I found valuable was the content on slide 13, which touched on the use of the canonical URL tag to combat duplicate content issues that are associated with session id’s. Now, this is hardly news for those who follow SEO trends. However, up to this point, I have been somewhat skeptical of this new method and how effective it might be.

This presentation gives me confidence that this method is worthy of use and one that I should employ it when working with clients that have similar problems. Any thoughts?

12 pages to follow on Twitter for Omahans

Jeff Swanson — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:46:50 +0000

I currently reside in Chicago, but I still like to stay in touch with what is happening in my hometown, Omaha, NE. Below, I’ve listed 12 pages you should definitely follow on Twitter if you want to stay privy to the Omaha scene.

theslowdown
Twitter bio: rock club. bar. omaha. good times.

filmstreams
Twitter bio: omaha’s nonprofit cinema

omahacoupons
Twitter bio: Promoting local Omaha businesses. News, Events, Promotions, & More! Click, Print, $AVE! It just makes CENT$!

slamomaha
Twitter bio: keeping everyone updated on the Omaha area’s great Music scene

thereaderomaha
Twitter bio: Omaha’s alternative newsweekly

bigomaha
Twitter bio: May 13th – 15th 2010…Mark it down and get ready!

wildjays
Twitter bio: Creighton Basketball Fan

huskerheadlines
Twitter bio: Huskers Illustrated is the authority on Nebraska Cornhusker news and Husker football recruiting. Follow the Huskers on our website, magazine & radio show.

coach_sadler
Nebraska men’s head basketball coach

If you have one you’d like add, feel free mention it in the comments.

Twitter hashtags explained

Jeff Swanson — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:30:31 +0000

During the Q&A portion of a webinar that I listened to today, one of the participants asked what the hash symbol (#) meant in regards to Tweets. I thought I would take some time today to briefly explain why hashtags are used on Twitter and when they might be appropriate.

Placing a hashtag in front of a term in a Tweet is a way of tagging that term, similar to how you might tag a blog post. Once the hashtag is in place, it becomes easier for others to follow this conversation as they search for Tweets that contain that hashtag.

Let’s look at an example. The webinar I referred to earlier was using this hashtag: #prwebinar. If someone was using Twitter and wanted to follow the flow of conversations about this webinar, they could search for this hashtag and find a stream of all Tweets that refer to it.

For a full list of Twitter hashtags, visit this Twitter hashtag directory.

Marketing your company on Twitter

Jeff Swanson — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:40:44 +0000

Twitter, the increasingly popular micro-blogging platform, has exploded into one of the most popular social networking sites. With over 1 million users, it’s become an ideal platform for marketers to try to promote their brand.

So, how should online marketers use Twitter to communicate their brand – if at all? It’s a compelling question that I think needs discussed. Personally, I find it annoying when a company uses their Twitter page to simply display feeds from their blog. If you’re going to be part of a community, you need to take time to understand what that community is about.

There’s nothing wrong with linking to your blog, but taking time to use the site as it was intended is the only way to gather followers and to earn any respect from the rest of the community. Unfortunately, I’ve seen some of my favorite sites, such as Wired and Omaha World Herald, follow in these footsteps. Maybe not everyone agrees with this. What do you think? Do you follow any Twitter pages that only show blog feeds?