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Notes from that section

0:00 – 2:49

Introduction

Introduction of the Minvra group and brief outline of reason for todays talk. To assist mortgage agents in generating clients that my need insurance which will then be referred to Minvra group.
Introduction Michelle experience with Twitter
She started in 2009 and within 4 months generated 1000 followers.
Most connections are from Calgary. Suggests not having to many international followers
She generated 9 potential clients within the first 4 months, 7 deals closed and attributed high conversion rate to it is the motivated customer calling you

she spends 15 minutes in the morning on twitter
see what conversations are going on, what conversations she can start, perhaps send off some interesting articles based on the conversation of the people that are following her
in four months and an average of 15 mins. has brought in 18000$

2:50 – 5:11

Overview of presentation

Introduction to acronyms, and how to get followers and some things to say

Tip:Put your name in the twitter handle.

During sign-up you will need to generate a twitter name, but avoid generic name like mortgagesYYC that could be confused with another twitter person. Attempt to create a unique name that you can use to personalize so that the Twitter network can begin to identify with you.

fill out the profile information on your twitter account. such as website, location and a brief intro/bio. This will be displayed on your twitter page when some one is viewing the page. Try to create interest and personal in the bio.

5:11 – 19:50

Overview of twitter screen

tweets are 140 characters and it can be challenging to come up with a coherent thought inside those 140 characters.

Tip:Get to the point but do not you will get better as you tweet

twitlonger is able to create longer tweets but also create links to longer messages

direct messages are private tweet to a follower and can only be seen by that user

@replies or @mentions are how conversations made over twitter, start with the @persons name then the message, the person will see that comment in there twtter feed.

in reply to, clicking this will show the tweet that that tweet was in reply to

#FF follow friday, with the @mention

hash tags (#) it is used to generate search queries. There is a has tag for calgary #YYC – put #YYC into search bar will bring all the tweets that have #YYC in them. There is a # for most things for example #YYCRE is for Calgary real estate, there a lot.

Favorites – allows you to separate out you favorite tweets for later use.

Retweets – RT is used to retweet someone elses tweet. One good tip is to copy and paste the tweet into your tweet and use the RT.This way your name is then added into the tweet.

Lists allow you to isolate concepts within your stream. For example Edmonton and Calgary lists will segregate people to their region. helps put tweets into context.

you can also lock down a list so none of your followers can see whats going in that list. Good for separating semi-private or private conversations within a group.
Lists help you identify quality connects

Trending – is high volume of tweets that have a hash tag occurring in period of time.

Question: does the search auto-complete hash tags searches
Answer: No,but a quick google search will show many types of hash tags available.

Tip: target hash tags that might be used for a target market: ie. older home owners and #grandkids.

19:51 – 20:52

Twitter and Marketing

Sniper approach in targeting twitter for clients

Minvra is targeting the mortgage agents for referrals, so a lot of tweets are used to info, connect mortgage agents with potential mortgage consumers.

who you search, who you follow. make sure it goes into you overall marketing plan

20:53 – 22:58

Followers and an interesting phenomena

attempt to create balance in your followers. A large imbalance one way or another creates a sense of distrust. either as an impersonal bot or a loser with no friends.

Michelle has found that a ratio of about 1.25 followers to 1 following makes for the best situation.

Tweet-ups and a connecting to your followers

third Thursdays or #TTYYC or #Socialmediabreakfastyyc is has tag that allows users to gather and connect with you twitter friends.

22:59 – 27:18

What to Tweet

dont talk about mundane personal task, such as going to the store. but also dont only talk about professional things. No one watches an all commercial channel

do talk in a ratio of semi-personal or non offensive personal tweets to business tweet of 50% to 50%. Ie. Ask for personal solutions provide professional solutions.

Michelle tweet: “you insurance needs change after a divorce, for single parents living benefits might be more important than life insurance, DM me snipped tweet that targets a market with a call to action. She will retweet periodically,

it generated a client that was going through a divorce.

It is okay to tweet the same thing periodically but avoid spamming
Michelle goes through examples of starting a conversation that is used to build a connection

27:19 – 32:32

Twitter platforms and online solutions

she uses these, but there are many

yfrog : posts pictures
search.twitter.com: searches on twitter
bit.ly: url shortener and customizer, it also has analytics
tinyurl: url shortener and customizer, it also has analytics
hootsuite: twitter extensions
tweetdeck:twitter extensions.
socialoomph:tweet scheduler
paper.li:online newsletter that is compiled automatically online from your followers tweets

32:32 – 37:00

Conclusion and bringing it all home

you need to be on twitter
twitter is like a marathon, half ass it might not be the best option and you might be better trying to generate connections offline.
like a marathon you need to have a plan and you have to train for. and dedicate a little time each day to twitter success.
important to build your followers
use management tools to be efficient and track your data
have your twitter handle on everything.