Articles Tagged with Social Media

Battle of the Birdies: HootSuite vs. Tweetbot

Published on July 24, 2012 by Steve

Once upon a time, I wouldn’t have let anyone say a bad word about HootSuite. As someone who needed to manage multiple Twitter accounts and didn’t want to keep signing in and out of Twitter.com, it was perfect. I’d tried TweetDeck but found that I preferred HootSuite (incidentally, it seems to be a bit of a Marmite thing: I know some people who are the opposite and who love TweetDeck and hate HootSuite – each to their own, I suppose)!

The best thing about HootSuite? It’s free! Sure, there’s a PRO version available, but the free version is plenty handy. I recommended it to quite a few people I know, who also seemed to find it very useful.

(I also adore HootSuite’s branding. I LOVE that owl, and the fact that they have so many different versions of it, which they even use for Twitter. In doing a bit of research for this article, I discovered that there are even Plush Owly’s, which are OMGsoawesome, but I digress…)

However, recently their iOS updates (for the iPhone and iPad) have had a few issues: updates intended to fix various bugs would themselves have a few bugs in them. I have also come across an error message (I think it’s called the “NSURE” error or something?) that won’t allow you to send a tweet. It used to give you the option to retry, which would allow you to at least copy and paste the content of the tweet to repost elsewhere, but recently it won’t even let you do that, meaning that you risk losing the tweet’s content altogether and have to retype it again elsewhere!

Frustrated, my buddy @Nonentity of yourleft.net recommended Tweetbot. Given my frugal ways, my immediate scepticism kicked it: it’s a paid app. When I hear that something’s paid (when it has free alternatives), I react pretty much the same way Napoleon does in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (watch from the 1:05 mark).

“PAY?!”

However, I decided to give it a try for the iPhone (£1.99 or $2.99 as I type this) and do you know what? Worth. Every. Penny.

Here are my favourite things about Tweetbot:

(Note: I imagine most people reading this might be HootSuite users who are considering Tweetbot, so I’ll assume that you know how HootSuite works and therefore mostly focus on Tweetbot’s features.)

Layout changes for other people’s tweets vs. your tweets

(Click to see a larger version)

As you can see from the screenshot, when viewing your main Home Feed, your tweets are presented differently, with your image on the right instead of the left. I thought this was a nice touch, making it easier to differentiate between people’s tweets, especially when you’re trying to catch up and you have been a bit busy with the tweets and/or @mentions yourself.

HootSuite users will know that HS does something similar, by changing the tweet background colours (yellow for your tweets; green for @mentions), but I personally feel that Tweetbot’s solution looks neater while still making it obvious to the user whose tweets are whose.

Thumbnail previews for pictures and videos

I also like the fact that pictures and videos show thumbnails alongside the tweets, so that you can glance at their content without having to see the tweets’ details. In HootSuite, one would have to click onto the tweet to see a preview and then the link again to see it fully, adding an additional click (or tap) for the user.

Note: So far I have noticed that HootSuite doesn’t necessarily preview pic.twitter.com images (Twitter.com’s uploaded images – probably a conspiracy)! However, unfortunately Tweetbot isn’t exactly perfect, as it doesn’t preview ow.ly images (HootSuite’s uploaded images – probably also a conspiracy)!

Receive notifications of new @mentions or DMs

Although HootSuite is meant to do this (showing a number corresponding to the number of unread tweets next to each row on the main Streams page), it never seems to work for me.

Tweetbot highlights the bottom buttons blue if there are new tweets, which also applies if you’ve received new @mentions and DMs. Very handy, particularly if you’ve disabled email notifications and do not receive any other type of alert or notification when someone tweets you directly.

Customise the bottom buttons

I also like the fact that some of the buttons at the bottom can be customised. The last 2 (out of 5) can be changed if tapped and held, and then another feature can be shown instead.

For example, instead of my profile…

…I could change it to my Favourites instead…

Admittedly, you can do this in HootSuite as well, but you either have to navigate back to the Streams page or flick left or right, which I find to be a bit more clunky, if that makes sense.

Downsides?

Tweetbot’s downsides are few and far between. The only potential issue I’ve come across so far – which is probably a case of me being silly than anything wrong with the app – is that when I tried to upload an image, it didn’t then show the shortened URL for the image (like it does in HootSuite), so I was concerned that it might send the tweet without the image link. A bit confusing, but I’m sure it’s fine – I’ll have to give it a go sometimes and see what happens.

So I guess this post was more of a review of Tweetbot than a full-on comparison between the two, but as a long-time user and advocate HootSuite, I was pleasantly surprised with Tweetbot. So much so, that I recently purchased it for the iPad.

Now if you don’t mind, I have an iPad version of Tweetbot to play with…

[Image credits: HootSuite and Tweetbot logos courtesy of their respective Twitter profiles: @hootsuite and @tweetbot]

#SMsceptic: Companies, Stop Giving Away iPads!

Published on July 6, 2012July 6, 2012 by Steve

A month or so ago, I was at Hollywood Bowl in Cardiff Bay with the BNI Quinnell guys (back when I was still a member of the group) for a social event outside of our weekly morning meetings.

In addition to the screens above the lanes that were playing all sorts of music videos, there were a few screens with the occasional marketing message: food offers, game offers, etc. At one point, they flashed up information regarding their Facebook Page, with the following statement:

“Like us on Facebook and you could win an iPad!”

Ack! I remember moaning to one of the other BNI Quinnell guys – also a marketer – about how it’s always, always, always a bloody iPad! Poor guy just wanted to bowl but there I was, ranting away…!

My issue isn’t with the strategy being implemented, but with the prize being offered. It’s not because I have anything against Apple (hell, I own an iPad and I love it)! I just find it frustrating that so many companies lean on giving away an iPad because – in my opinion – it’s a completely wasted opportunity!

Why not give away something relevant to your business instead? Hollywood Bowl could’ve given away a custom bowling ball or custom team bowling shirts. In addition to being a bit more original than giving away a product that every other company is currently giving away, a relevant product would complement your own products/services. For example, if someone won a bowling ball or bowling shirts, they might decide to then use them at Hollywood Bowl, encouraging return visits and increasing custom. The winner(s) could even share the photos of them using the ball/shirts on HB’s Facebook Page.

Granted, it’s not easy with some industries. I can’t remember who it was now, but I remember a car insurer that was also giving away an iPad. Having worked at an insurance company, I know first-hand that it’s not easy giving away free insurance as a prize, due to the trickiness surrounding the pricing (after all, what if the person who wins is expensive to insure?) and it’s also probably against FSA guidelines anyway. But even so… what about a car? If that’s too expensive (although the PR involved could be worth it!), then what about something that could go towards car maintenance (e.g. a Halfords or Kwik-Fit voucher), or a personalised number plate, or even go kart racing vouchers?!

There’s so much opportunity! Be original. Be relevant. Be fun. And stop giving away bloody iPads…!

[Image credits – Facebook Meh button: Sam Michel; bowling balls: Markus Zavalla]

#SMsceptic: A Quick, Simple Guide to Twitter @Mentions

Published on June 13, 2012 by Steve

As a heavy Twitter user, I often come across people improperly using @mentions. If you’re a long-term reader, you might’ve seen me briefly cover this before (see 1-3 in the list).

Often, those guilty are brand new users. That’s ok. I made some horrendous mistakes when I first started using Twitter. I’m sure most of us did. Twitter takes some getting used to.

Sometimes, however, they are people who have “social media” in their job title. I’ve seen social media professionals – including a variety of consultants, trainers, executives and in-house staff – who can’t @mention properly. In my opinion, this is not cool. While it could be argued that someone doesn’t necessarily need to know how to use a platform inside-out to be able to consult strategy on it, a) it’s not exactly a hard concept to grasp properly, and b) they might be giving people incorrect advice, particularly if they’re a trainer.

Besides, if someone gave you all the details on how to build your house, but forgot to include any doors when they built their own, what would you think? It hardly inspires confidence.

Tempted to scream, tweet various swear words, or tweet something like “if I had a pound everytime someone did this…” each time I witness such errors, I thought instead that I’d vent my frustrations in a more practical and helpful way…

So here it is: a really quick and simple guide on how to use @mentions on Twitter.

@mentions at the start of a tweet:

@joebloggs has a new website. Check it out: [link]

The above is intended as an announcement. However, not all of your followers will see it.

An @mention at the start of a tweet will only be seen by you, the person you’re tweeting and anyone who follows both of you. The only other exception is if someone happens to check your profile manually, but in my experience, people may only do this when they first come across a profile (e.g. they’re wondering whether or not to follow you) or if they just want to check something (e.g. to look up your profile bio or URL).

So if you want to make an announcement, make sure the @mention isn’t at the start of the tweet! Either re-word it so that the @mention appears later on, or put a full-stop before the @ sign, e.g. “.@joebloggs has a…”

@mentions mid-tweet:

Hey @joebloggs, what’s your email address? Thanks!

An @mention mid-tweet will be seen by everyone in your timeline. This is fine as an announcement, but if it’s only intended as a brief, bland, personal message that really isn’t intended for anyone else, then you risk irritating your followers and clogging up their feed. Especially if you’re @mentioning a lot of people with the same message.

So if you’re posting a personal tweet, intended only for the individual, then be considerate to your followers: consider keeping the @mention at the start of the tweet.

How they should be:

Sticking with the above two examples, you should do something like this instead:

.@joebloggs has a new website. Check it out: [link] or
My good friend @joebloggs has a new website. Check it out: [link]

@joebloggs Hey, what’s your email address? Thanks!

That way, your intended announcement is actually an annoucement, and your personal tweet is more personal. Easy, no?

I also recommend Jessica Hische’s more amusing guide on how to use Twitter, which also covers @mentions (I swear I haven’t simply ripped it off!) as well as things like #hashtags and retweets.

It may seem like I’m making a big fuss, but if you’re a business that’s trying to make a big effort on Twitter, you don’t want your announcements to go unseen and/or risk bothering your followers with tweets that don’t concern them!

And… breathe.

[@ sign image credit: Steve Snodgrass]

SEOno News & GB Posts: Part 1

Published on May 8, 2012 by Steve

In a few previous posts, I’ve talked SEOno news as well as guest blog posts I’ve written for other sites. Rather than having them as random, standalone posts, like some of the previous few, I thought I’d start a series of them, as-and-when I have anything to share.

News

SEOno is in dire need of a proper custom design, but with my third and final instalment of my CAM Diploma course coming up over the next few months, it may be a couple of months off just yet. Besides, I prefer writing, so if I have to choose between the two, I’d much rather write a new post than go overboard with the blog’s design. Still, it’s something I have in mind (it’s just a matter of ‘when’)!

Guest Blog Posts

I’ve been quite busy the last few months, mainly writing stuff on behalf of Liberty Marketing:

I’ve had two posts published by the wonderful Ann Smarty (@seosmarty):

8 Ways to Get Links from Events and Conferences (Without Being a Sponsor or a Speaker) for Daily SEO Tip
5 Guest Blogging Considerations (Beyond Link Building) for MyBlogGuest

Local networking connection Rob Warlow (@bizloanservices) kindly posted Leveraging (Offline) Networking for SEO and Online Marketing on Small Business Success, his business advice website.

I published a guest blog post on social media, called Social Media’s Chicken & Egg: Should You Put Content or Followers First? for Opportunities Planet.

Last but not least, a recent post on behalf of both Liberty and Computer Recruiter is one I’m particularly proud of: How to Find Jobs Using Twitter Search for the GO Wales blog. This is a sort of follow-up to a similar post I wrote a while back for the Liberty blog on finding jobs using Google, however I think this one about Twitter Search is better explained and laid out. If anyone gives it a go then I’d love their feedback on it.

I have a few more exciting guest blog posts planned, which I’ll share in Part 2…

#SMsceptic: True Twitter Authority Is All About Follow Ratio

Published on April 17, 2012March 27, 2018 by Steve

Let’s begin with a (slightly rude/NSFW) quote:

“Having the most followers on Twitter is akin to having the most imaginary friends, the biggest Gamerscore, or the world’s longest e-penis. In other words, what does it mean in the real world? Precisely f*** all.”

A friend of mine wrote that on his Facebook profile a while back. He was annoyed because a friend of his was paying a lot of money to see a social media professional for social media training. This professional’s big, bold unique selling point was that he had a lot of followers, the most in his chosen field and area of expertise, apparently. So he must know what he’s talking about and be good at what he does if he’s that popular, right? And fair enough, he did have a lot of followers. I saw his profile and he had about 100,000 followers on Twitter. Nice!

The only problem? He was also following about 100,000 in return. His Follow Ratio was pretty much 1:1.

Why do I have a problem with this? A few reasons:

Quantity can be gamed: Auto-follow tools such as TweetAdder make it easy for someone to obtain a large number of followers. Set it to automatically follow people based on various criteria (e.g. their location, keywords in their profile’s Bio, etc.). Eventually, as you’ve gone to the effort of following these people, some will follow you back – and you can even automatically unfollow those who do not reciprocate after a certain amount of time. Rinse, repeat, and after a while, voilà: you’re “popular” (read: you look more popular).

Why do I say “look more popular” when they could be genuine followers? Well…

You could be preaching to following the choir: What if the 100k that you’re following – to get 100k people to follow you back – are doing exactly what you’re doing? Then it’s purely a numbers game – you’re not reading their tweets, they’re not reading yours.

…And why do I say that? Well…

It’s impersonal: I think it’s pretty safe to say that if someone is following 100k people, they’re not actually reading the tweets in their Twitter feed. I follow 200+ people I genuinely care about as I type this, and I struggle to keep up! In fact, at an event I went to a while ago, one of the speakers – who gave a talk on Twitter – said that you should just follow lots of people from your business profile, and use a separate/personal profile or a Twitter List to follow the people you actually want to keep up-to-date with. Umm… no thanks, that’s not for me.

Quantity isn’t everything: Social media isn’t necessarily about having lots of (or the most) followers. As I’ve said before (point #12), I’d much rather have 10 followers who care about what I have to say than have 10,000 followers who don’t and who only follow me so that I follow them back and beef up their stats. As always, quality trumps quantity.

And at the end of the day…

It’s snake oil – it’s tricking potential customers/clients: I know all this, and I’m assuming most other online marketing professionals reading this know all this, but does your average Joe Bloggs – who wants to learn how to use Twitter for business use – know to watch out for it? Probably not. My friend’s friend didn’t.

So why is Follow Ratio (FR) important? Well compare the above gent’s ratio of 1:1 (followed by 100k, following 100k) to someone who truly is an authority. If someone is followed by 100,000 people but is only following 100 in return – their FR being 1:1,000 – then it seems a lot more legitimate that this individual is genuinely being followed because people care about them. The person doesn’t have to follow people back and they will still follow him/her.

Fortunately, contrary to what I’ve said above, I think people are gradually getting wise to this. SEO has had a similar problem: it seems logical to think that the people ranking at the top of Google for a keyword like “SEO agency” are the best at what they do, but what if they’ve gotten via dodgy/spammy means, or it’s a keyword that looks good but doesn’t even get much search volume? Meanwhile, Twitter does have Klout as a metric, but then it isn’t exactly accurate (and I believe Klout doesn’t currently take followers into account)…

To me, what’s important are things like reviews, testimonials and word-of-mouth. Fair enough if this social media trainer with a 1:1 FR is actually really good at giving social media training, but in my opinion, they shouldn’t use “I have lots of followers” as a USP when such a thing can be easily manipulated (and – judging by his profile – probably has).

Funnily enough, as I was going to publish this post, someone on my Twitter feed complained about how people he knows are falling for follower numbers. Using ~~Storify~~ Wakelet, I’ve included the tweets and @mentions between me and two others: @NeilCocker and @tombeardshaw. (More people and tweets were involved in the discussion, but as some of the tweets went a bit off-topic and became quite negative – pin-pointing a particular individual guilty of the practice – I’ve only included a few of them.)

[Image credits: 100,000 cupcakes by Adam Tinworth (because everyone loves cupcakes!); “Scrambled” by Nick Humphries]