Tag Archives: twitter

You Cannot Be Serious! 48 Hour Service Level Agreement on Tweet Approval

Content & Social, Marketing, , , , , ,

Do you think a company with a 48 hour turn around on Tweet Approval really “gets” social.

Social media is spontaneous. It’s one of the reasons for the name “social”.

48 Hour Service Level Agreement on Tweet Approval

I’ve described Twitter as chatting in a gigantic and crowded virtual pub. In a social setting you have spontaneous conversations in real-time.

Imagine for a moment you were in a real pub enjoying a pint. Someone approaches you and asks you a factual question about your product or your company. Would you reply straight away assuming you knew the answer?

Or would you say you’ll get back to them in 48 hours once the marketing, compliance and legal teams approve your answer.

Most would reply straight away. Why should social media be any different?

Chatting to a colleague from another financial services provider recently we got talking about marketing and social media. He told me his company operated a 48 hour Service Level Agreement on tweet approval.

I had to ask him to repeat himself.

Again he said his company operated a 48 hour Service Level Agreement on Tweet approval.

First the marketing team would check out the language making sure it was “on brand”. Then someone from legal gives it the once over. Finally compliance ensures adherence to the FCA rules and signed off  the Tweet along with documentation.

Processes like this exist for marketing literature with good reason. But for a Tweet? Couldn’t they have at least introduced a fast track lane?

The SLA means they can plan Tweets for a specific time, say for a product launch. But the process cripples spontaneity.

Is this risk aversion or good business sense? I would argue they should replace the Marketing and Legal checks for good old-fashioned common sense. Then simply be aware of the implications of the FCA rules to make sure you don’t promote a product or give advice.

Tweeting the benefits of a specific product without being able to consider the downside or include risk warnings is against the rules. So don’t tweet these with less regard for compliance issues than you would with your website.

This doesn’t stop you from commenting on issues. Warning about deadlines. Or suggesting that it’s wise to insure your sources of income as part of financial planning.

Let’s not use “regulation” as an excuse not to engage in social media. Don’t use it as a cover for not being on social media. Use the FCA compliance guidelines as far as possible and then use your intuition and common sense.

Now it’s your turn:

You can find more information about Compliance and Twitter in my Twitter Guide for Financial Services Professionals. For a copy just use the subscription form above. Do you agree with my views on this subject? Please leave a comment or a link to your own article.

 

Find Related Hashtags Instantly Without Having to Experiment

Content & Social, , , , ,

Do you use hashtags in your social media posts?

Hashtags let you tag your posts with keywords, making them easier for social networks to organize and other users to search.

For example: #Marketing #Business #BusinessStrategy

So when you add a hashtag to a post or tweet, the social media immediately indexes the keyword so it’s searchable by other users. If someone clicks on that hashtag, they’ll find a page that lists all the posts with the same hashtagged keyword. If a keyword becomes popular it’s known as “trending.”

Including hashtags in your social media means more people can see your content and might follow or interact with you.

If you use one or two related hashtags you might find your “reach” extends even further. But it’s time-consuming searching and experimenting with related hashtags. Which is why I was delighted to find this invaluable resource.

http://hashtagify.me finds related hashtag keywords without having to experiment.

All you do enter in a keyword and the site will tell you the top ten related keywords. Then you can include the most related in your posts or tweets.

hashtags data by hashtagify.me

So now you can find related hashtags instantly. Give it a try. Add in a few related keywords (though don’t over do it and become a hashtag spammer) and see your social media interactions increase.

Now it’s your turn:

If you liked this Social Media Friday tip please share it. If you have any other ideas or tips please leave a comment or share a link to your own content.

12 Twitter Search Tips to build your business

Content & Social, , , , ,

You can build your followers and find ideas for your business website content using Twitter search.

This week you can download my free Twitter Search Tips crib sheet.

Twitter search is a powerful tool which you can customise to shine a spotlight on potential customers in your area. Or you can use it to find out what people are saying about certain topics. Or what questions they are asking about companies and products. Most of us just enter single words into search – when in fact it’s easy to be more specific and targeted.

In the Twitter Search Tips crib sheet below I’ve set out the most powerful search methods you can use. Please feel free to RIGHT CLICK on the image to download it to use later.

Twitter Search Tips

My two favourites are as follows:

Firstly, location specific searches. Say you are an adviser in Manchester and you want to find out who is talking about ISAs. Simply type in:

ISAs near:Manchester

In the list of results you will obviously find competitors and providers, but you’ll also find potential clients to follow. If they follow you back then you could engage them and potentially turn them into clients.

And secondly, questions. Find out what questions people are asking about companies and their products. Type in:

“life insurance” ?

You’ll find a whole list of questions which you could use to create articles or blogs for your website – each answer is one article.

Here’s a tongue in cheek question I particularly liked using this search.

Now it’s Your Turn: If you like my Twitter Search Tips crib sheet, please share this post by clicking the buttons below. I’d love to hear your own ideas, tips and hacks. Please leave a comment below or share a link to your own material.