Last Saturday, like legions of other die-hard college football fans, I strapped on my oh-so-fashionable clear plastic rain pants and jacket, stuffed more plastic bags in my pockets, and headed through a downpour to my alma-mater’s football stadium. And while I and thousands of others sat there and watched the kickoff—little beads of water dripping from our hoods—I wondered what drives this kind of loyalty.

I’ve never played football. I don’t know any of the players on the team personally. But year after year, with a ticket in one hand and often a handwarmer in the other, I sit through blazing sun and biting cold and cheer on my beloved team to (hopefully most often) victory.

As the band played the ‘alma mater’ song and the rain clouds drifted along, I realized there are some lessons here that could be applied to business.

1). Loyalty matters. Whether you’re selling a product or service, nothing beats a loyal customer base. Fans of your products will not only return for more, they’ll likely spread the word to people they know especially through retweets and posts via social media. However, generating loyalty takes both work and time. Keep in touch with customers after they make a purchase. Send them a note, an e-mail, a special offer. Make your products and customer service unbeatable. Throw in free shipping if you can. Connect with consumers using social media sites and respond to questions. Address complaints and try to resolve them quickly. Make it impossible for your clients to switch teams and go somewhere else.

2). Be a cheerleader. Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn. If you do something positive, tell people about it. Get excited about your company and where it’s headed and let it show. Excitment is contagious. If you believe in what you’re doing and express this to others, in turn, they’ll get enthused about your company too. Sis boom bah!

3). Make your ‘fans’ feel that they’re part of something special. Everyone wants to feel that they’re part of a special experience. Whether I watch my team play in person or with a group of friends via t.v., I feel that by following them throughout the season, I’m being part of a unique experience that in some way, defines who I am. If I meet another Wildcat fan, I immediately have a connection and a sense of camaraderie. Make your customers feel that by using your products and services that they’re part of a club whose membership is something special, unique and cool.

4). Be consistent. When it comes to generating loyalty, people don’t like surprises. Return customers come back with certain expectations: good quality, good customer service, fast delivery and great prices. Don’t have good service one day and mediocre the next. Maintain brand consistency (imagine if for one game our beloved purple and black uniforms were replaced with orange and blue; or if Coca-Cola tasted differently from one bottle to the next). Be there for your clients and always be what they have come to expect.

5). Be a winner. It’s true what they say, at least when it comes to loyal fans: It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. Play fair. Demonstrate good sportsmanship. Have ethics, honesty and integrity. Admit to your mistakes and try to correct them if they happen. Show your customers that they should be on your team because you are worth it. Always strive to do your personal best and you will earn the respect of your fans. You will always be a winner because of how you play the game.

My team won this week. It was a fairly easy victory, but next week’s away game is expected to be more of  a challenge. Whether they win or lose, come the next home game you’ll find me in my usual seat in Section 125, wearing my team’s colors (albeit possibly covered in some sort of plastic-wrap, weather-permitting), surrounded by the same season ticket holders who’ve sat around me for the past 10+ years. The team has my loyalty; they’ve earned it.

We all know how it goes: computers freeze, internet connections get lost, Twitter ‘fail whales’ appear. It’s part of life for us techies, right? I’m all-too-used to backing up files on a zillion different devices just in case (one, in an extreme display of geekiness, I even wore around my neck on my way home from work-a flash drive on a rope). Of having backup battery packs positioned at every outlet to keep computers running, just in case the power goes out. Let’s just say that—like any good infielder—I have my bases covered.

As a Twitter party host, none of the party attendees can actually see me, which makes me feel sort of Wizard-of-Oz-ish. So let me give you a little behind-the-scenes peek into last night’s hosting gig. In summary: when the going got tough, I learned to keep going…and laugh.

You see, last night I was set to host the online launch of TweeParties, Inc. I won’t lie to you: I’m in Chicago, but I’m not doing this from the glamourous confines of say, the Sears (er, sorry, I mean Willis) Tower. While I do have an office space (basically an oversized, windowless closet a family member has generously donated to my cause), I was to host this party from home. My real boss (insert preschooler here) insisted upon it.

So….the night before the party, working hard at one a.m….Where’d the internet go? Um….hello? Anyone there? Nope. No one was. Just a browser with a “cannot connect” message staring me in the face. I panicked. But tomorrow’s the party!?! Where will I go? What will I do? After fretting until 2:30 a.m., my connection reappeared. A scheduled (albiet unannounced) outtage by my ISP. Phew. Onward and upward (I hoped)!

After three luxurious hours of sleep with fingers crossed, I’m off to my day job. I get a call from my hubby near the end of the afternoon:

“Um, hun? The backup UPS battery is dead.”

Today, of all days. No time to get a new one. Instead, ‘Hi ho! Hi ho! It’s plugged into a flimsy powerstrip we go!’ After brief analysis, I decide that now is the time to pray.

Then my backup internet connection (satellite) decided to, well…disappear too. My ISP asked if perhaps, I am too rural. “Um, I can see your store from my house.” Oh.

I could set up a time to bring in my laptop for a diagnostic. Tomorrow. Of course.

I decide it’s time for…what else? More prayer! But would God listen to the pleas of a Twitter party host praying for a sustained internet connection? I felt guilty for taking up His time. I prayed again, but this time for forgiveness.

Despite all of this, just minutes before the party, I’m at my desktop, all set to host. Both computers are up. The internet is working on each (one cable connection, one WiFi). I say another prayer (and another one, again to counter the first one).

Hopeful and eager, I log into Twitter. I suddenly find I have…no followers. And no one is following me. And Tweet Grid is bogged down by other parties. Two minutes to go. As Mary Poppins blares on the t.v. in the other room, I think, Poppins-esque: ‘Spit-spot! Spit-spot!’

So I get to work. I keep trying to tweet, but I’m met with errors. It’s showtime and I can’t get the show started. It’s like an actor’s worst nightmare: curtain goes up to a packed house, spotlight blinding and…he opens his mouth but nothing comes out. The patrons throw their tickets in the air and demand their money back.

But suddenly, after repeatedly hitting ‘send’ to no avail—my tweet makes it out into the Twittersphere. It’s just after 9:00 here in the Chicagoland wilderness. The aggregators pick up pace. Before long, follower counts are restored. My computers keep running; the internet stays connected; and all is well. From the small confines of my home office, the party soars! TweeParties is launched. The show does indeed go on.

So now I’ll schedule that diagnostic and uncross all of my fingers. At least until the next party.

Tags: humor, twitter party hosting

Years ago, as a customer service representative at a printing company, I greeted a customer who came in to pick up his order. He looked it over, signed for it, then told me how surprised he was that I treated him so well. I asked him what he meant.

“My order only cost $30, but you treated me like it was worth thousands.”

As someone who has spent time on all ends of the totem pole, I can tell you that often people treat the receptionist differently from the VP; they react to the guy in shipping differently than the CEO. But a key point to keep in mind is that you never know when someone might move up in rank, and when they do, they might remember those who treated them with respect and those who didn’t.

The same goes for social media. Many companies have set up pages on Twitter and Facebook, but often they don’t use them effectively. They might send one-way marketing messages to their fans, follow no one at all in return or reply to very few who contact them. They might only tweet occasionally or sporadically. Or they might not learn many aspects of how to use the platform, and thus do not  seize the full power or potential social media has to offer. They could have an ongoing conversation with their fans, but feel it might not be worth their time or trouble. They just don’t get it.

It pays to be nice to everyone, because for many companies, even the janitor sweeping the floor as you exit the elevator can be a prospective customer. Anyone who works anywhere has some level purchasing power because they are earning income. You can’t assume because someone does not have an office with a beautiful view and a gold nameplate on their door that they don’t have a say in what is purchased and what is not. They could be an influencer. You just never know.

Remember that book by Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten? It espoused lessons such as: “Share everything,” “Play fair,” “Say you’re sorry when you hurt someone.” It could be said that all you really need to know for business you learned in kindergarten. Being nice to people is a simple lesson, but one that sometimes gets overlooked when time is limited and the pressure to sell is high. Why bother taking the time to ask an assistant how his day was when you have a dozen more calls to make? Because if that person is willing to speak with you, it could be another door worth opening.

It is simply good PR for company reps to be nice to everyone because anyone can be a prospective customer. If you already practice this philosophy, make sure your employees do too. Make sure they understand how they are supposed to interact with people from all backgrounds and in all positions. Everyone who works for a company represents that company. If someone has a bad experience with one employee, it will reflect poorly on the entire organization. Don’t ignore e-mails. Try to reply to more tweets or Facebook posts (some companies now have a dedicated social media customer service representative). You might not be able to respond each time someone contacts your company, but if you try to respond to many, it will reflect positively on you.

As for my satisfied customer? He never placed an order for much more than the first one, but he did recommend us to friend who did. People talk in person and via social media. Many like to share their positive experiences with friends and family with the hope that they’ll patronize the same company and come away with the same good experience. Then that friend becomes a hero. This is why it is important to be nice to people—all people—and send a message that your company is friendly and helpful to everyone. Not only is it good business sense, it’s the right thing to do. But you probably already knew that. You learned it in kindergarten.

Tags: business etiquette, customer service, lessons, marketing

My grandparents used to say, “Nothing in life is free.”

If you were raised to believe in this notion, then you might cast a skeptical eye on any offer that stands before you with a $0 on the price tag.

But in business, offering something to your clients or prospects for free can work toward your advantage by better promoting your products and services and possibly gaining a new or repeat customer in the long run.

We’re used to seeing freebies: food samples at grocery stores, product samples or special coupons mixed in with the Sunday paper, a buy one get one free entree at a restaurant. But many businesses often are hesitant to give away anything for free for fear of lessening the perceived value of their products and services.

However, in the increasingly-competitive clamor for people’s attention online, it might be worth it to offer something to your clients or prospects for free, especially if the cost to you is minimal. Here are some ideas on how offering a freebie can be worthwhile for your business:

Product Samples If your product really is worth its salt, giving out free samples not only gives people a taste of what you have to offer, but also demonstrates the confidence you have in your products—your belief that if someone tries them, they’re bound to make a follow-up purchase. People often buy into that confidence: they want to buy something others think is good and of a high value.

Free Trials Often people shy away from trials when they’re asked to give out a credit card number to activate it. Within the past year, I was offered free trials (no credit card required!) for Website Magazine, Social Oomph and Mail Chimp. I had nothing to lose, so I went for it. As it turns out, I am now a HUGE fan of all three: I subscribed to the professional level of Website Mag, the professional level of Social Oomph, and will soon upgrade to a paying service for Mail Chimp. After trying all three, I now feel that I can’t live without any them. I’m hooked! Three examples of three companies that believe in their products so much so that they’re willing to give people like me a little ‘taste’ for nothing in return. Very little risk, very big payoff.

Information If you cannot offer a free trial or a product sample, at the very least give visitors to your site something useful to come away with. If someone gleans useful information from your site, they might bookmark it and return to it to learn more at a later date, or even (hopefully) come back to make a purchase. You will be seen as an expert if a visitor can come to your site and learn something that they can implement immediately. Offer visitors tips, information relating to your products or services, or expert advice—free of charge, of course. You can offer this information in the form of a downloadable ‘white paper,’ guide or manual, or by simply displaying the information on your web site. At TweeParties, we offer visitors a peek at our Twitter Party Calendar that lists all parties we can find on Twitter. We also offer tips and guides on how to attend parties, as well as this blog for tips on Twitter, social media and marketing. We even offer visitors an incentive to sign up for our weekly newsletter, offering them the freshest party information available and special offers.

As long as the cost to you is minimal, a free offer can be a great way to entice people to take notice of your company, and hopefully, make a connection with your products and services—one that they will come to find that they cannot live without.

R8GT7X74NX3S

Tags: advice, business, free trials, freebie, marketing strategy, special offers, tips

Twitter parties are all about the #hashtag. If you’re new to Twitter and not familiar with the term, you soon will be. It’s a vital component of the social networking site.

A hashtag is a keyword with the pound (“#”) sign in front of it. In a tweet you might see something like this: Party Tonight! Check it out at TweeParties.com! #tweeparties Notice the bold portion: #tweeparties. This is a hashtag in action. In Twitter, if you see a hashtag and click on it, you’ll see a list of all tweets recently posted using that hashtag. It makes searching for specific topics easier by uniting similar tweets with a specific keyword. Without hashtags—one specific keyword picked out just of the party and used by all attendees’ tweet—we wouldn’t have Twitter parties.

You can follow a party in Twitter alone. Just search the right sidebar for the hashtag. However, in order to view the most recent posts, you would have to keep hitting your “refresh” button. So rather than tiring out your mouse, try a Twitter aggregator program. An aggregator program is free software, either available through your web browser or for download. Programs such as Tweet Chat, Tweet Grid, Tweet Deck and Hootsuite make it easier to keep up with a party by automatically refreshing your timeline. First off, to do any of this, you’ll need a free Twitter account. Pick a user name that sums you up and get tweeting!

The first party I ever attended, I attended on Twitter, so don’t feel badly if you give it a go that way! Depending on the maneuverability of your fingers, you might do just fine. Or the “refreshing” might drive you a little crazy (as it did me).

The next time, I tried Tweet Chat. This is a great one for beginners attending their first party. Visit Tweet Chat’s homepage and you’ll get a quick 3-Step guide to using the program. It’s free and all you need is a web browser to use it. You’ll sign in using your Twitter account. Then, enter the party’s unique hashtag in the box at the top (following the “#” sign) and hit “Go!” A one-column list will appear showing all of the tweets using that hashtag in reverse-chronological order (most recent first). Two benefits: 1) the timeline will automatically refresh itself (no manual refreshing!); 2) Each time you tweet, the hashtag will be added to your tweets for you (you don’t have to type the tweet each time! So you don’t have to worry about making a typo and having a tweet miss being seen during the party! The single-column format provides less confusion to a party newbie. But watchout! When that list refreshes, it might list a ton of tweets at once. If you want to make sure you don’t miss one sent specifically to you, have two windows open: one for Tweet Chat and the other for your Twitter account. Then occasionally refresh your “@” button to see if anyone has responded to one of your tweets.

You could also use Tweet Deck or Hootsuite. Both of these are different from Tweet Chat in that you can have more than one column. So you can set up one column to follow the hashtag, another to follow the party host, and another to follow your own account (which helps to see when people are replying to your tweets). Both are free. The only difference is that Tweet Deck is a program you download and install on your computer and Hootsuite is something you can use via your browser alone. I’ve tried both. Both have real benefits in day-to-day tweeting. However, when I’ve used them during parties, I felt they didn’t automatically refresh often enough.

What seems to be the most popular party aggregator is Tweet Grid. It is not without occasional problems, but in contacting the programmer, the problems lie with Twitter, and hopefully someday will be resolved. Tweet Grid makes it easy to follow parties (in fact, many party hosts create custom links to the grid—all you need to do is click on the link, enter your Twitter ID, and bingo! You’re in). On the welcome screen, just enter the hashtag, the Twitter ID’s of the party hosts, and your ID. A new screen will open up revealing the three columns, and you’re in! When you tweet, you don’t need to include the hashtag—it will include it for you. Also, you can upload photos via Tweet Grid and send DM’s much like being in your own Twitter account. You also could create more columns to follow another hashtag, if needed.

Sometimes when using Tweet Grid the center column freezes up—the party host column. One way to get the column moving again is to try removing the “from:” that’s before the Twitter ID in that column. You will now see all tweets mentioning that ID, including those from other users, but at least you won’t miss anything from that ID and the column will start refreshing again.

The bottom line: use whatever method is most comfortable for you. And have patience. New technology doesn’t always work brilliantly 100% of the time (insert a Twitter ‘fail whale’ here!) But with a little know-how and some practice, you’ll be able to find your own path to Twitter party enjoyment! (Any questions/comments, please leave them here!) Happy Tweeting!

Tags: hootsuite, social media marketing, tweet chat, tweet deck, tweet grid, twitter aggregators, twitter party tips

I love Twitter parties. I guess there would be no point in starting a company specializing in planning them if I didn’t. However, if you rewind to the first one that I ever attended, my launch onto the Twitter social scene was far from favorable.

My first party reminded me of my eighth grade graduation dance. Back then, after I had put on my lacey peach dress, sprayed my 80’s bangs, and applied my pink eyeshadow, I proceeded to be held up by a wall for two hours while I observed a herd of awkward preteens attempt to break dance. I was a wallflower back then, and years later, to my surprise, I was a wallflower at a Twitter party. It doesn’t get much geekier than that, now does it?

If a transcript were available, it would probably look something like this:

@erin Hi, I’m Erin! Happy to be here!

Refresh screen. No replies.

There must be something wrong with my browser. Or Twitter. Or my ISP.

Refresh again. Still no replies.

@erin Um okay, I guess I arrived fashionably late to this Twitter party. And I wouldn’t call reindeer pajama pants fashionable. LOL!

Crickets.

All right, so there weren’t crickets, because as we all know, Twitter doesn’t yet have sound, but it felt like they were there, chirping while I tweeted. In reality, everyone was chattering with everyone else—at what seemed like a very rapid pace, I might add—and having a great time. And I was, well—watching my tweets languish, unread, unnoticed, unloved—while the rest of the party rocked on like a finger-flying guitar solo.

But the topic that night interested me: wine. I learned a few things about different favorites among users. Despite not partaking in a two-way conversation and instead watching other people’s tweets fly across my monitor like 90 mph fastballs, found it interesting enough to attend another one. And fortunately, after reading some tips online about how to improve my experience, I did.

Because at the next party, I had responses from those who had most likely seen my tweets during the first event, but didn’t get the chance to reply. Now they recognized my ID and avatar, and replied to me. Through the use of a new Twitter aggregator program (I now used Tweet Grid or Tweet Deck) I could better see tweets from the party hosts and follow along better. It took another party to really get the hang of it, but once I did, I found them to be a fun and rewarding experience (literally, when I snagged a prize!). For me, Twitter parties weren’t love at first site (er, I mean sight), but with a little experience and advice, I was on my way to the dance floor!

To recap, some advice for Twitter party newbies:

• Give it more than one chance. If at first your tweets don’t succeed, try, try again. Don’t let lack of replies on your first party to discourage you. Keep going, and chances are you’ll make some very good like-minded friends.
• Just relax. Twitter parties can be fast-paced. Select a tweet you find of interest to reply to and start a conversation with just one or two other users. Just like any real party you attend, you can’t be part of every conversation in every corner of the room all at once.
• Be yourself. Don’t feel you have to try to entertain people, crack jokes, be witty, or ask phenomenal questions to stand out. Just be who you are naturally. Like they say, “If you tweet it, the replies will come.” Give it time and have fun!
• Get educated. Visit our “Etiquette and Tips” page on TweeParties. There we have other helpful hints, including recommended software to help make following parties easier. We will continue to update our Tips page, as well as this blog, to give you more information and pointers, as well as software updates to make your party experience even better!

If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment here or contact us at [email protected]. We’re here to help! That’s the thing about the Twitter community: for the most part we’re a caring, helpful bunch. And at TweeParties, that spirit of community carries over to our services. Just don’t ask us how to moonwalk.

Tags: aggregators, tips, TweeParties services, tweets, Twitter parties

Earlier this week, the British woman billed as “the world’s oldest Twitter user”—Ivy Bean—died. She was 104.

Ms. Bean had been active on Twitter (with 53,000+ followers) and Facebook, often posting entries about her daily life and sometimes video. I’m not sure if she did all of this herself, or had help, but the fact that she wanted to become involved on both Twitter and Facebook really says something.

It’s a simple lesson—and an old one at that—but when it comes to technology, perhaps a new one:

You’re never too old to learn something new.

Social media is proving that it is, in fact, for everyone—not just for tech-savvy youth. It connects entire families and has gained popularity as a way for Grandma to see that picture of Junior that was taken five seconds ago at the park. One could easily argue that social media has made people feel more connected; geographically distant or even extended families and friends have a greater presence in each other’s lives if they can keep up with them in real or nearly real-time.

Ms. Bean was not raised on computers, video games, or cell phones. In fact, when she was born—in 1905—people weren’t even using telephones. But she was drawn to social media and by measuring the size of her following, people were drawn to her.

Research has shown that the demographics of social media users might be older than some first thought:  18-34 year olds comprise the largest group of U.S. users on Twitter and the 50+ demographic has nearly the same number of Twitter users as the 13-17 year old demographic (via Quantcast).

Whether they grew up with technology or not, people are using social media and becoming less intimidated by the technology. Once registered, people might find the learning curve to be lower than expected and they get hooked. Besides, who wants to miss an upload of Junior’s first solo attempt at the monkey bars? Not @Grandma.

Erin Boudreau

Tags: age, demographics, Facebook, Ivy Bean, Quantcast, social media, technology, Twitter, users