HOW TO: Follow the 2010 World Cup on Twitter

If you have been wondering just how to stay updated on all thats happening at the 2010 South Africa World Cup, we have some advice for you.

1. Use Hash Tags: At the moment, #worldcup seems to be the largest tag by volume of tweets, but #wc2010 is also doing the rounds, as is #2010worldcup. Having said this, please take into account that the World Cup is a global event, so different languages also come into play.

2. Create Lists: The quickest and easiest way to get a month’s worth of World Cup info is to follow a ready-made list.

3. Search for World Cup News Sources on Twitter: Whether it’s the official FIFA feed, tabloid newspaper coverage, big broadcaster’s headlines or just the final scores, World Cup Sources on Twitter will give you what your looking for.



Source: Mashable

Get More Twitter Followers: Some Methods That Work

Your Twitter profile should be treated like any other website you own. Treat it no differently from your own blog or a free opt-in newsletter. To increase your Twitter subscriber base, you need to drive web traffic to your profile and the more targeted the traffic, the better. Less relevant details like Twitter usage times/frequency should not be your primary focus – how and when you tweet is not crucial.

One major key in increasing traffic to your twitter account is to keep sending people to your account. People do not know that you exist otherwise and people can only follow you if they know you exist. Some questions you could ask yourself could be: why would someone want to follow me? How will they benefit from following me? What should be their motive for following me?

Here are nine key recommendations for driving traffic:

1. Create a tool/application and promote your profile alongside it.
2. Buy a banner ad to target tech-savvy audiences, link it to your profile.
3. Use Twitter as a tool for tech/customer support.
4. Organize a contest through your Twitter profile
5. Include links to your profile in email/forum signatures.
6. Evangelize Twitter on your blog/other blogs and include a link to your profile.
7. Connect your blog and other social media profiles to your Twitter page.
8. Learn to pitch Twitter influencers with articles relevant to their interest
9. Explicitly ask another user to recommend your profile or exchange recommendations.

Source: DoshDosh.com

Connecting With Customers: Go Social

Social Media is a truely personalized platform that business can connect with their customers. Nearly everybody is using a social media platform in their daily lives, be it facebook, be it twitter. Since your customers are online, be present there, too, and see what happens. Read up on social media marketing on blogs, and keep an eye out for industry experts. Most of all, listen to what your customers are saying about you online to figure out how you can serve them better and increase your own revenues.


Source: http://mashable.com/2010/05/16/small-business-save-money/

Clay Shirky @ TED: How cellphones, Twitter, Facebook can make history

Social Sharing: Which Social Platforms Are Winning The Race?

Distribution of shared items
Facebook: 44%
Twitter: 29%
Yahoo:18%
MySpace:9%

Social traffic is becoming a massively powerful marketing tool for any business. Google for example is pushing its new product ‘Buzz’ as hard as it can because of their desire to generate more social traffic. Currently, Twitter, Myspace and Facebook are leading the rivalry and are even overtaking search traffic as the single biggest source of internet traffic.

A key realization is the extent to which such social sharing is tied to different identity and authentication platforms across the Web. Logging into a site using your Facebook or Twitter account is an easier way to broadcast links from that site to your friends. Below is a break down of which services on the Web currently drive the most sharing:

Share of Authentication By Platform:

News sites:
Facebook: 31%
Google: 30%
Yahoo: 25%
Twitter: 11%
AOL: 3%

Entertainment sites:
Facebook: 52%
Google: 17%
Yahoo: 12%
Twitter: 11%
MySpace: 7%
AOL: 1%

Live Event Chat:
Facebook: 56%
Twitter: 28%
Yahoo: 9%
MySpace: 7%

Top 10 Services, Overall

Facebook: 33%
Email: 13%
Print:9%
Twitter: 9%
Favorites: 8%
Google: 6%
MySpace: 6%
Digg: 3%
Live: 3%
Delicious: 3%

Source: Tech Crunch