Being an avid reader and writer myself I feel the contradiction that I still love reading good, old fashioned paperbacks but writing for sites online. Plus with a book inside me (as they say) just waiting to be written I, of course, am really interested in the way book publishing is going these days as I'm sure my first book will be an eBook. So I wanted to find out more about the background behind ePubdirect.com and the way it works plus learn more about Patrick Crowley himself.

Can you tell me simply what ePubDirect.com actually does?

In two words: Ebook distribution. ePubDirect is an award-winning eBook Distribution service providing global digital publishing solutions direct to publishers. Our powerful business intelligence tools and outstanding customer service deliver real results for our customers.

What was your background before joining ePubDirect.com?

Spent a year in an Irish IT firm after college and then did my year out travelling. Went to Korea, teaching English (of all the things to do) – which was a very strange experience. When I came back I spent 7 years in an Irish trade publishing company, working my way up to Sales & Marketing Manager. During that time I completed my Masters in Marketing, studying 2 years part time, and achieved significant growth in the areas of brand development, business development, strategic planning and online marketing.

Tell me what your average week involves as the Digital Content Marketing Manager?

I am responsible for managing the relationships between eBook retailers and ePubDirect’s client publishers. Spending most of my time on metadata, discoverability and inbound marketing, I collaborate with supply chain partners (mostly publishers and retailers) to maximise commercial opportunities. My focus is working with our client publishers to help them grow their sales and I spend most of my week dealing with people, which I enjoy.

We tend to have regular meetings every week and these are usually front loaded towards the start of the week, so everyone is clear on the immediate priorities. We are smallish team and it’s important everyone is aware of what other departments are working on.

Lately I have been spending a lot of time working with onboarding new sales channels like eChristian, Chegg, Valobox, EBSCO, Zola and eBrary. We have a vast distribution network of over 1,000 retailers and 25,000 libraries and we are constantly looking to expand this to help our publishers grow their sales.

However, we recognise that it’s not just about reach any more, and we understand that what has become crucial for publishers is maximising sales through each channel and providing visibility on eBook performance. This enables them to make business decisions around inventory, pricing, sales channels and ROI – delivering real return for the publisher. So, I spend a lot of time working with publishers on ‘eBook Insights’, our eBook analytics platform, which helps publishers increase their sales.

What do you think stands out about ePubDirect.com compared to any competitors?

Cheaper, Faster, Better. Leveraging the best technology will give publishers significant competitive advantage in the eBook market, which is why publishers choose ePubDirect. Our platform and suite of solutions was built from the ground up to maximise the online opportunities. This is exclusively what we do.

We love books, we are passionate about what we do and we listen closely to the needs of our customers. Unlike our competitors, we work in partnership with our customers, using our expertise and digital savvy to give our customers real return that will ultimately increase their bottom line. Our success is based on our customers’ success!

What is the export strategy for ePubDirect.com – presuming technology makes it simple to work worldwide?

ePubDirect was set up to connect publishers to a global community of readers, driven by our own passion for books and technology. A mission, we decided, that would depend on simplicity to succeed. Our culture is rooted in the belief that technology is an enabler, not an end in itself.

Our business is managing eBook distribution and sales, making it as easy for publishers as possible, enabling the pursuit of global opportunities that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. We were recently awarded a Supply Chain Excellence award for being best in class for business efficiency, customer service, environmental concern and innovation in supply chain management, but all publishers need to know about the sophistication of our systems is that they will take their titles to the world, simply, quickly and cost-effectively.

You’ve partnered with Random House – how did that come about and what does it mean for ePubDirect.com?

Well, the growing challenges around visibility in global digital asset distribution is pushing publishers of all sizes to seek out a partner to enable greater control in this capability and the Random House deal demonstrates the companies shared view of the importance of a fast and flexible digital supply chain, facilitating consistent and up-to-date information. We were absolutely delighted to be selected by The Random House Group for this partnership and it is a real endorsement of our service offering.

Do you still see a future for the good, old fashioned paperbacks?

Absolutely! eBooks are thought to be about 20-30% of the book market at the moment and some can see it climbing towards 50% in some cases, but I believe there will always be a place for the ‘good, old fashioned paperbacks’ as you call them. Some people still really love the look and feel of a book, the smell of it and the way it looks on a bookshelf, so I don’t see it disappearing, but eBooks will become an increasingly significant part of the publishing business as consumers attitudes and behaviours change.

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The start (and the bad stuff over and done with)

I was advised by my techie friend, Ali Clarke at Webmentor.ie to join Twitter for the limited company I was a partner with (which is unfortunately no more), and thought, what a really silly name but I’ll give it a go. So I signed up to Twitter and was completely daunted by what to do and what to say. Where did I start? I can’t remember what I said but I know I followed a whole load of people – I just dived in. I got a lot of follows back although with hind sight I wouldn’t recommend doing that – follow and connect with people relevant to your business, be selective and strategic if you are doing it for business.

Getting picked on: I’d only been using Twitter for a week and our company got a mention in the newspapers. I was immediately descended on by a few business men picking holes in what we were doing. It was quite scary and lasted a couple of weeks. I was ready to give up on Twitter at that point – I was getting picked on and getting upset by people I didn’t know – it was horrible. However, a few wonderful people contacted me to give me support and they are still friends to this day – even though they are in each corner of the globe. Charlie and his Angels – you know who you are.

This early experience gave me a good heads up about Twitter. It made me realise I needed to watch out for these type of people plus be there to support others who were picked on. It has also given me an inherent disgust with those that bully online – from those that are anonymous trolls to high profile business people it is very sad to see it happen. Consider if it was happening to your daughter/son, mother/father, husband/wife, best friend – would you like that? Would you have the balls to walk up to someone in the street and say these things to their face? Just stop and think…..and have some respect for others and for yourself too.

Twitter news and questions

I get very frustrated when I see or hear people saying that Twitter is a waste of time – “who wants to hear what you had for breakfast?” Only last week I saw a celebrity on TV slating it. Obviously they don’t use Twitter or they would realise the infinite potential that is here and here to stay.

• News: News breaks on Twitter now – you will see it there first. Personally I heard about the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, Michael Jackson’s death, the Syria uprising in 2011 and Whitney Houston’s death. I followed the London riots on Twitter plus a lot more, even good news too like the Princess of Cambridge being pregnant.
• Questions: Twitter is also ideal if you need help with something. I’ve often had a technical problem that I’ll tweet and get loads of replies to. I also like to help people if I see a question that I know the answer to. It doesn’t take a minute but if it helps people then that can’t be bad. Answering questions can make you the “go to” person for your niche, whatever that is. I have gained business from helping people with social media and accountancy questions via Twitter. Just add a column to your Tweetdeck/Hootsuite with the words related to your expertise and you’ll often be able to help people you aren’t even following or that follow you. It’s a great way to spread your networking, even just by joining in with chats about that subject.

Work via Twitter

Anita Campbell of SmallBizTrends, Bizsugar and Tweak Your Biz

I started writing blogs in 2009 and Twitter was the ideal platform to promote my writing. I began to receive recognition for what I was writing although blogs were all new to me at that time.

• Tweak Your Biz: Niall Devitt approached me to see if I would like to write for Bloggertone (now Tweak your Biz) which he was just setting up with Facundo Villaveiran and Fred Caballero. I was amazed and very honoured to be asked, I couldn’t believe I had even been noticed by these guys. So I was there at the start of Tweak Your Biz and now I’m the Managing Editor, and both achievements I’m very proud of to this day. I love working with the community here and lots has been happening as Niall Devitt mentioned recently - Tweak Your Biz: When An Irish Business Community Goes Global!  A huge thanks to Niall for recognising something I was good at and enjoyed and for continuing to have belief in me still......even if I don't always believe it myself
• BizSugar: Through being involved with Tweak Your Biz and my Social Media use I was then asked to be a moderator on Bizsugar.com by the amazing Anita Campbell who is also the CEO for TYB. My social network really started to grow then and led to me tweeting with lots of business people in other countries, especially America.
• Corpnet: Connecting up on Twitter via Bizsugar I then sent a DM to @Corpnetnellie asking if I could interview her and that interview led to me writing for Corpnet.com – all the way over in Los Angeles………from my house on a hill in Ireland. The internet and Social Media really have shrunk the world. I have interviewed many other business people from Ireland, America and the UK and even Jeff Bullas down under in Australia. All of these came from Twitter originally.
• The Ahain Group: Through Niall Devitt I was then invited to join The Ahain Group as an Associate. I basically look after most of the Social Media and content writing side…..plus the accounts now too. Watch this space as The Ahain Group is really going places.

Twitter platforms

• Tweetdeck vs Hootsuite: I prefer to use Tweedeck however I did recently dabble with Hootsuite but I missed some of the features so I headed back quite quickly. I need to have the columns these platforms offer to take care of the different accounts I look after. I also like the pop ups on Tweetdeck so it means I only need to look at Twitter if someone has spoken to me or one of the accounts I look after. I can then deal with anything promptly which I think really does help with Twitter. Sometimes if it takes ages for a reply then that person could have moved on to someone else for help or just find it a bit rude and that they’re being ignored.
• Socialoomph: I use Socialoomph to schedule business tweets because there is so much to get out there sometimes and it would be too time consuming. I find it really useful and there is a lot more to it which can make your social media life so much easier. But don’t’ just rely on auto tweets as Social Media is all about engaging with people – they can’t talk to a robot after all......well not yet anyway.

Lost & found pets

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love dogs and cats – especially my own pets. And if you follow me on Twitter I’m sure I annoy you with my auto retweets of @lostfoundpets. I would apologise for this but it is easy to filter out of your timeline if you don’t want to see them. Personally if there is anything I can do to reunite a lost pet with their owner then I will do it.

I lost a cat a few years ago and will never forget the devastation I felt. Not everyone is an animal person but for those that are I’m sure you’ll understand what I mean. I have been told that my Retweets helped reunite a dog lost in Tramore and hopefully there have been others too. Again it’s another aspect of Twitter to spread the word quickly and simply. Not just animals but also children or adults, wallets or laptops; it doesn’t take a minute to retweet something and you could help someone more than you know.

Again if you don’t like it then filter out – I have to filter out Football and Politics a lot of the time.

Fun stuff

Twitter can be good fun a lot of time. It’s great when watching something on TV and everyone can join in a conversation about it. Using hashtags you can connect with people you aren’t following – and not just with TV programmes but also conferences, particular subjects you’re interested in or weekly discussions like #kaizenbiz and #blogchatie. I recently

Wales win the Six Nations. Pic: telegraph.co.uk

got involved with #TNI on a Thursday night and it spread my network even further just chatting about holiday experiences. It's fun and easy to do plus you're networking at the same time......from your sofa.

I especially enjoy it during the Six Nations rugby tournament, and being Welsh I absolutely loved it recently when we beat England and won the Championship – the banter is always great fun.

Friends

And of course I’ve made loads of friends through Twitter – virtually and in real life.

• The #Twineups: In 2009 a few of us were drinking Pinotage and tweeting each other – what I like to think was the very first #Twineup as it was named at the time. This grew and eventually we met up in real life too. Miriam Ahern then suggested to me that we have a #Twineup for New Years Eve involving Bloggertone too - An Online Party New Years Eve.  We had no idea how big that was going to be. We had people from all over the World joining in including America, Asia and Australia, all celebrating New Years Eve at different times. It was brilliant and I’ve often done #Twineups since then but none as successful as that one.
• The Locals: I moved to Ireland 8 years ago only actually knowing one person. I then moved down to just outside Dungarvan nearly 5 years ago knowing no-one here. I wasn’t daunted by that at all as I’m happy in my own company plus I always seem to find friends. Although in those 5 years I have met a lot of friends in real life locally, as I’m not one to go out very much any more I found Twitter great to “meet” people online before actually meeting in person. I would say about 70% of my friends locally are ones I met via Twitter initially– all the Déise crowd are brilliant and there are always fun events going on which you hear about via Twitter. A big shout out to the Déise guys and gals.

The Interviews

The Cliff House Hotel, Ardmore, Ireland

I have done several interviews for Tweak Your Biz over the last few years and I have to say they are my favourite pieces to do. I have some favourites and have made some great friends through them.

• Cliff House Hotel: When I interviewed Adriaan Bartells from the Cliff House Hotel we had no idea the interview was going to do so well on Twitter – last time we checked I think it had received over 300 retweets. I took a snapshot of 60 of those RT’s at one point and they totalled 288,000 followers. It has been my most read and shared post so far I believe.
• The Secret Garden: I also interviewed Brian Patterson at The Secret Garden about how great he is on Facebook and that got into the Bizsugar Top Ten too. Both Adriaan and Brian have become good friends and I recently saw them both talk at a Social Media event – I was very proud of them as I’ve watched them grow on Twitter and Facebook and do it so well.
• Lorna Sixsmith: And recently I interviewed the amazing Lorna Sixsmith who is, among lots of other things, a fellow writer on Tweak Your Biz. I am in awe of her energy and knowledge, her tenacity and multi-tasking skills. I still feel exhausted reading through her interview.

I met all three on Twitter originally and wouldn't have been in touch with them otherwise.  In fact I'd say the majority of my interviews have originated via contact on Twitter - another reason it has worked so well for me.

Twitter mates

And then there is everyone else I have met via Twitter, virtually and in real life. I’m not going to list everyone as it would be too long but you all know who you are. One person I will mention is Mel Schregardus – one of the original #Twineup ladies in 2009. Although we live 2 hours away from each other and only visit a few times a year we are in touch daily via DM’s or text and she has truly become someone I’d like to call my best friend. All because of Twitter.

I know I’ve just touched the surface of those 100,000 tweets but I could probably write a book of everything that has happened……hmmmmm, good idea maybe Anyhow until then if you are connected to me on Twitter then I hope you enjoy my tweets and I look forward to more connections in the future.

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What is your role in Sage?

I am the Commercial Product Manager for Sage One. I am responsible for the product roadmap and strategic direction of the Sage One product set in the Irish market which includes Sage One Accounts, Sage One Payroll and Sage One Accountant’s Edition

What experience did you bring to Sage when you joined in December 2011?

Prior to joining Sage I worked in the mobile software industry. Initially I worked as a Product & Account Manager for a Finnish mobile web services platform company that had operations with Meteor in Ireland, Orange in the UK and about 30 other mobile networks across Europe. I then worked as Product Manager with a small mobile marketing company based in Dublin managing a portfolio of mobile marketing products used for both internal and external purposes.

In terms of what I brought to Sage, the key experiences that I had were in the areas of web centric product delivery, the implementation of SaaS solutions and lots of experience with regards to subscription billing models in that most of these models had been pioneered in the mobile arena.

Also, having worked in small companies, an acute understanding of your customer needs is crucial as in the current climate to provide what the client needs means that you keep the lights on in the office! That proximity to the target customer (and sometimes empathy) with understanding what they really need, today and in the future, helps, in my belief, in defining really valuable products.

How does Sage One stand out above the rest of the online accountancy packages?

Let me start by saying that the software industry is definitely changing and accounting and payroll software is no different. In the past high barriers to entry existed in terms of cost, to actually get a product to market between creating hard copies of software, storing and shipping those out, having to have a sales presence of some description etc. In the online world much if not most of those elements are no longer relevant. Products can be created, delivered, marketed, sold and fulfilled online with extremely low costs.

What doesn’t change however, is the advantages of knowledge and experience in the area of the software development, the proximity to and understanding of the customer needs and the economies of scale that a larger, established software developer can deliver.

In developing Sage One, Sage brought a wealth of experience and in depth understanding and knowledge of accounts and payroll for small businesses from real world experience over the last 30 years. Further to this, we have also got the scale to be able to offer our customers the best in class in terms of looking after their data with 24/7 service monitoring, world recognised data centre partners, 128 bit data encryption and full data backup. This is the kind of infrastructure that is out of reach for most small businesses. We also provide full 24/7 product support, and really simple integration between not only Sage One Accounts and Sage One Payroll but also with Sage Pay and Google Drive.

Lastly we instill simplicity in everything we do to ensure that the product is really simple and intuitive for even the most novice of accounts or payroll software users.

Is Sage One designed more towards an accountant or an end user with no accountancy knowledge?

In creating Sage One we spoke to over 1000 small businesses and accountants in the UK and Ireland to try to get an understanding as to what their real needs are from a financial software solution. A distinct message came back from that research. The small business community is made up of people that fulfil every role in their businesses. Owners and managers are involved in every areas of their business including sales, marketing, product development, support, and administration. They need business solutions that make their life easier and that they can trust.

It was also extremely apparent that to a small business an accountant is a valued business partner and advisor and provides them with a level of comfort that there is a partner there to keep an eye on them to make sure that they are doing the right things with their business accounts and payroll.

Taking all of this into account we set off on a journey to create safe and simple online accounts and payroll, that made it really easy for the owner manager to run their own business accounts and payroll online. The simplicity is the key piece that we rigidly adhere to in the product, by making things straightforward and helping the customer along the way there is more chance that they will continue to use the product. Simplicity guides everything we do around the product from user experience design to the language used in the software.

We want novice users to be completely comfortable in using our accounts and payroll software and we definitely design to cater for them first and foremost. However, we also know that for most small businesses their accountant is a trusted advisor so we have also created Sage One Accountants Edition which we provide free to Accountants in practice. This product allows Accountants to connect to their clients using Sage One, and intervene and advise where required in the client’s accounts or payroll directly from their Accountant’s Edition

How do you see the “cloud” evolving for accountancy?

It’s a good question and one that I get asked all the time. Often times, potential Sage One customers are sceptical about the advantages of using cloud for their accounts software. To some extent there is a little bit of fear of the unknown as no one has really explained to them what the concept of cloud computing is all about and from uncertainty comes a little bit of fear around things such as data security and access. But I think the market is moving as people get more comfortable in their understanding of cloud and the advantages it brings.

For me there are a number of interesting avenues emerging. Firstly, it is the concept of collaboration and working online. For example, if I set up a business today and I need a website for my business, I am no longer restricted to the web designers that live in my immediate locality to service my website need. Any designer worldwide can create something for me and I can choose what works best for me.

Likewise with accounting. As I’ve mentioned a few times an accountant is a core business partner for a lot of small businesses, if I can make it easier to work with my accountant by collaborating with them online I am saving both of our time in terms of transactional meetings, popping into the office to sign things etc. I can also work with them on an ongoing basis which gives the accountant a much better understanding of my business as an ongoing concern as opposed to when my final accounts need to be done!

The other key element for me is data. Accounting creates high volumes of data that gets logged in journals and accounts and is used to help in informing your decision making processes. Cloud helps in providing the infrastructure to be able better process this data to actually drive really strong data indicators and business intelligence. Personally, I think that the more data that is saved in the cloud, and better this can be processed. the more efficient businesses can become in making important decisions on their strategy based on hard data indicators.

How much accounting can be done via a mobile using Sage One?

The great thing about Sage One is that it is completely online and accessed via your web browser be that on your laptop, tablet or mobile. As a small business owner your mobile is probably one of the most important pieces of hardware that you will invest in. As mobile become the ubiquitous devices for accessing the internet it is great to be able to say that anything you can do today in Sage One from your laptop, can also be done from your tablet and from your mobile so long as you have a web browser

Would you say Sage One helps towards a paperless office?

Paperless office is something that most companies can aspire to, the key is in using systems that allow you to make this move. We are really conscious that Sage One is being used by all sorts of small businesses, for some of whom their “office” is their van, spare room, kitchen table etc so getting to a paperless office for these types of businesses is even more critical than for most! With this in mind we are constantly working on means to help businesses get to that paperless nirvana.

A recent great piece of functionality that we released for Sage One Accounts for example is our integration with Google’s Online storage service Google Drive. Sage One Accounts users that have a Google login can now automatically back up PDF copies of all the invoices they create in Sage One. In the spirit of simplicity it can be setup in 3 clicks and by leveraging the benefits of Google Drive you can assist your customers in their pursuit of the paperless office by sharing the directory with all the invoices created in Sage One in Google Drive with them electronically.

It’s a little piece of simple functionality that we are really proud of as it brings together really simple cloud services and gives an added benefit of the paperless office environment.

If you have any questions for Simon about Sage One please ask in the comments below.

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Since Twitter first started in July 2006 it has grown to 500+ million registered members and 140+ million active users worldwide sending out 340 million tweets a day (Twitter stats March 2012). Find out how to best use Twitter for business including getting set up, finding followers, tweeting, managing accounts and marketing. 

The business case for using Twitter

• 34% of marketers have generated leads using Twitter, and 20% have closed deals
• 77 of the world’s 100 largest companies maintain a corporate Twitter account. But media outlets are the most active users
• 2 out of 3 social media users believe Twitter influences purchases
• 50% of people follow brands on Twitter
• 75% of companies now use Twitter as a marketing channel
• 66% of questions asked on Twitter have some commercial intent

Setting up

Setting up an account is simple although there are a few other aspects to consider when creating a business account.

• Go to www.twitter.com and choose a username for your Twitter account.
• Ideally this will be the name of your company but bear in mind that a tweet is limited to 140 characters and as you will want Retweets (see later) the shorter your Twitter name the better.
• Make sure the name does match your business and makes sense though.

Profile

Ensure you fill out all the details in your Profile including a link to your website and bio. You only have a small space to fit your bio into so get as much useful information in there as you can – remember this is what will help persuade some tweeters to follow you.

Avatar

Depending on the size of your business you may decide to use your logo as the avatar (picture), or to be more personal you may use a picture of yourself.

• Use the “Settings tab” to choose a background and header picture for your account.
• Using Powerpoint or a similar programme you can be creative using your company logo, contact details, mission statement or just something abstract that people will remember you by.

Facebook

On your profile page you also have the option to connect your Twitter feed to your Facebook updates. If you are short for time and happy to have the same output on Facebook as Twitter then go ahead and do this. However there are a few important points to consider here:-

• A tweet is limited to 140 characters and a Facebook update isn’t so you could be putting a Facebook update to better use
• Twitter uses @ and # which wouldn’t work on Facebook and looks strange therefore
• Facebook works far better using pictures and a Twitter update won’t provide a picture
• People actually don’t like seeing cross-over updates because it can be seen as lazy

Finding people to follow and getting followers

It can be very daunting when you first start on Twitter but remember we have all been there at some point. Think of the network on Twitter like a spiders web growing outwards as you connect with more people, and the more you connect with the larger and quicker it will grow.

• However, always bear in mind it isn’t the number of followers that is important, it is the number of “relevant” followers. There is no point having 1,000 followers that aren’t interested in your business at all. Better to have just 100 that are.
• When you set up your account Twitter gives you an option to contact your email address book to invite them to follow you. Using this option would depend on your address book and your connections with them so it’s your choice.

Follow people you respect

Start by following people you respect in business and see what they are doing on Twitter. They could be a good example for you to learn from too. The web based Twitter will recommend people to follow based on your preferences and business.

Keyword search

Search for words that may be used in your business to see people who may be either in the same type of work or looking for a business like yours. Join in conversations that relate to what you do or have a knowledge of.

Local tweeters

If you want to focus on a specific geographic area then search for Tweeters local to that area – www.nearbytweets.com can be a useful tool for this.

Other social networks

If you are already on other Social networks like Facebook and Linkedin ask for some Twitter follows from people you are already connected with.

Show your username

Ensure you have your Twitter username on your contact pages. All your Social Media links should be on your website, email sign-offs and business cards too.

Twitter etiquette

There are no hard and fast rules on how to tweet however experience has taught us a few things along the way about what works and what doesn’t.

1. Be personable and approachable on Twitter. People are more likely to follow and engage with you if you chat back. This can lead to recommendations and hopefully generate sales in the long term.
2. Never do a hard sell online. Don’t just tweet about how fantastic your business or product is all the time. Be subtle. An odd sales tweet a couple of times a day is acceptable mixed in with useful and engaging tweets to attract conversation.
3. Avoid all capitals in tweets – it is the equivalent to shouting.
4. Never be rude to someone – it is not a good example for your business. Personal feuds that are aired online are best kept offline.

Growing your brand

If you are on Twitter for your business then ultimately you are there to grow your brand and get business. The most important element to your success on Twitter is “engagement”. Getting people engaged with you and your brand will lead to results but remember it’s a two way street – you have to engage back.

There are several ways to do this and here are just a few tips to get you going:-

Specialise

If your business is a specialist in its field then offer free tips or even run an advice clinic every week using a hashtag (see later) that people will follow to find out what it is all about. Become the “go to guy” (or girl) who will happily answer questions. This could grow and lead to business and recommendations.

Blogs

Blog posts are a great way to provide information about your business so make sure you share links to your blog posts or any other interesting content on your website.

Articles

If you come across interesting articles that relate to your niche or you just find interesting enough to share then tweet them, always including the Twitter name of the person or company who wrote the article. They may even reciprocate in the future.

Information

Use Twitter to share behind-the-scenes information, pictures of your office or workspace, etc. This will help you connect with real people while also establishing your brand.

Questions

Posing questions on Twitter is a great way to get people engaged. You’ll find people wanting to help and often they’ll share the question too. This is a good way to grow your network as you respond back and create discussions.

Follow back

If you have time then say hi to any new followers, especially if they are people who you want to make a good connection with. Also try to follow back Tweeters who follow you if they seem to have similar interests as you, or fit your customer demographic.

Lists and searches

You can create your own lists on Twitter to compartmentalise the Tweeters into separate groups and there is no limit to the number of lists you have. The same as the different column options on Tweetdeck and Hootsuite (see below).

• Lists make it easier to see Tweeters you are interested in. Remember these lists are public and can be searched for by other Tweeters. In this respect you can also use other people’s lists to find tweeters to follow in your line of work.
• The same as you create a list you can use a search term and save it to follow subjects you are interested in. This can be useful to watch for mentions of your brand that you may not normally see if they aren’t speaking directly to you.

Retweets

A “Retweet” is when a tweet is shared by other tweeters, e,g, you may see a tweet that you think is really interesting so you can hit your retweet button and share it with your followers. If people see that you are sharing their news they may well reciprocate in the future.

• It is really good to get your informative tweets retweeted, especially when they show you as an expert in your field or maybe something interesting about your business.
• You are reaching networks outside your own with Retweets. Again, think of the spider’s web growing outwards.

Number of characters

Because of the 140 character limit try to keep within 120 characters if you want to be retweeted easily – this allows for your Twitter name too – some say 100 characters is even better. If someone has to try and shorten your tweet to be able to retweet then it’s less likely to happen.

New retweet button

There is the “new retweet” button which isn’t affected by the number of characters in a tweet however in some circumstances the original tweeter cannot see these Retweets so these are less likely to be effective to grow your network.

URL shorteners

To make your Tweets shorter a simple tip is to shorten your URL. Most Twitter platforms can automatically shorten your URL but bitly.com and tinyurl.com are good services too.

Hashtags

You will often see hashtags (#) used in tweets which will group together those tweets for easy reference. These are really handy when people are attending a seminar or conference so the tweets can be followed simply.

• A hashtag ties in conversationstogether in one place.
• They can also be used if your tweet refers to a particular subject, e.g., search for #jobfairy on Twitter and you will see lists of jobs tweeted.
• Hashtags can be used for Twitter chats so people can join in the conversation whether being followed or not. This is another great way to grow your network.
• Don’t fill your tweet with hashtags though because it spoils readability and isn’t necessary because the words will show in searches anyhow.

@Replies and Mentions

A hashtag you will see weekly is #FollowFriday or #FF. This is when people recommend other Tweeters to follow. This can be done at any time of course but something which comes out of #FF which is important to remember is the best way to do this.

When you tweet someone you normally start it with their Twitter username, e.g.,

@AhainGroup are a great company to follow #FF

This is a reply and this tweet will only be seen by followers who follow you AND the Ahain Group. So if  a Tweeter is only following you and NOT the Ahain Group they won’t see this tweet – which defeats the object of the recommendation. Therefore bear in mind it could be a very small number of overlapping followers in common. (N.B. you will see all tweets if you look directly at an account though)

#FF @AhainGroup are a great company to follow

This tweet is a mention and will be seen by everyone that follows you so therefore it works well as a recommendation.

Of course this isn’t limited to #FF going first. Anything that goes before the @AhainGroup will work.

If you’re just having a conversation then putting the @ first is quite normal and this is what you will mostly see on Twitter.

Scheduling

Obviously you cannot be online 24/7. You may want to be targeting other time zones, be unable to get to Twitter for a few days, on holiday or just incredibly busy. You could have a tweet that you’d like to mention a few times so you can use scheduling to do this.

Most platforms have scheduling options built in but there are other apps which have some great tools too. You will have to pay for some of these to use all the services they offer. These are our favourites:-

• Bufferapp.com
• Socialoomph.com
• Postling.com
• SproutSocial.com

Twitter platforms

There are several platforms to use for Twitter other than the web based version. Some people feel limited using the web version, especially when your follower/followee count grows as you can miss out on tweets by other people.

Tweetdeck and Hootsuite are the two frontrunners for Twitter on your desktop as they compartmentalise the people and lists that you follow. You create columns for different sections that you wish to view; for example if your business is Web Design you could have a column for other Web Designer tweeters so you can see what they are up to and join in similar conversations.

If you are interested in News updates you can have a column for all the online newspapers and tweeters. Any type of subject you want to follow can become a column so you can easily see tweets on that topic.

You can also run multiple Twitter accounts using these different apps. You may just have a personal account and a business account or you could have more – these platforms make it much simpler to sort the different accounts and make your Twitter life much easier.

Social organisation tools

SocialBro is a very useful tool to manage the whole package on Twitter although you do have to pay for it. It helps to target the community you want to be involved with on Twitter and analyses your competitors tweets too. Amongst lots of other handy functions it will also tell you the best times to tweet when the majority of your followers are online.

Other good Twitter platforms are SocialFlow and Sprout Social.

Mobile apps

60% of Twitter users tweet from their Smartphone which is four times the amount from only two years ago so this figure is growing rapidly.

Twitter mobile apps include:-

• Echofon
• Tweetbot
• Twicca
• Official Twitter for iPhone
• Tweetcaster
• UberSocial for Blackberry

What else can you use twitter for?

Twitter isn’t just about your business promotion and chatting. There are lots of handy tasks you can use it for.

Customer Service

A lot of businesses use Twitter for customer service very successfully, especially the big brands. Queries can be dealt with quickly and companies are also seen to be helpful in this way. A lot of diplomacy may be needed and often it is just the initial contact and then the discussion can be taken offline.

Expert answers

Twitter can be really useful for getting questions answered by experts – you may even be that expert which is great for getting recognition and recommendations.

Crowdsourcing

Another form of questions on Twitter are crowdsourcing where you can use the results as a basis for a post you are writing, maybe a survey or even just to get ideas on a new product you are considering.

Recommendations

Recommending products and businesses is often prevalent on Twitter and can be a way of growing awareness of your brand quickly. Beware that the opposite doesn’t happen and negativity about your business is spread as unfortunately bad news travels faster.

Promoted accounts and promoted tweets

The Promoted Account is featured in search results and within the “Who To Follow” section. Promoted Tweets can be targeted to search results or to user timelines. Twitter’s geographic targeting increases the relevance of your message based on location. You set the budget that you want to spend and it’s similar to a CPC however it’s a Cost-per-Engagement basis.

Twitter ROI

• Sales: Hubspot using Twitter to generate leads for marketing software company and created 150% increase in sales.
• Referrals: Monthly blog referrals from Twitter increased by 259% for cloud telephony company RingCentral.
• Growth: Namecheap – a domain name registrar in LA saw a 20% increase in business using Twitter.
• Customers: Mark W Schaefer of BusinessesGrow.com explains that Twitter saved his business. He changed from networking meetings to Twitter where he got his three largest customers.
• Promotions: For Naked Pizza in New Orleans the ROI from Twitter has been an amazing 68.6% of sales during just one promotion.

We hope that this information will help with your business and it’s use of Twitter. Most importantly to grow your brand on Twitter be yourself, share and engage.

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Recently Lorna made the decision to close her Garrendenny Lane business even though it is a profitable business - not something you see these days. I've known Lorna through Tweak Your Biz for a few years and always enjoy reading her posts but I didn't know much else so of course I had to ask. In this interview Lorna explains why she is closing down one business and what else is going on, plus how she juggles it all so well.

You write very successful blogs and magazine articles – how did you get into writing?

I studied English and History at college and was an English secondary school teacher for a few years so I guess I’ve always had an interest in reading and writing. I’ve had an idea for a novel in my head for a few years too but it is constantly on the ‘long finger’ – it’s a new years resolution to get it written this year - It may never be published but I do want to write it!

How did Write on Track with Marie Ennis O’Connor come about?

Blogging has always been my favourite part of my Garrendenny Lane business. I think that even if it hadn’t been bringing in business, I would still have blogged for the fun of it. I had been mulling over starting a social media / ghost blogging business and when the Garrendenny Lane blog was in the finals of the Blog Awards and Social Media awards in 2011, I thought to myself that maybe there was a message there. However, I just couldn’t see how I could get it off the ground on my own (in terms of time).

Marie had become a firm friend and as she had similar interests, we decided to set it up together. I hadn’t realised my reputation for blogging and once we announced the new business, I had clients and training opportunities straightaway. Marie and I complement each other nicely – she specialises in health / coaching / virtual book tours and I focus on business / retail blogging and social media training. I’ve also been training in collaboration with some of the Enterprise boards.

It must have been a big decision to give up the successful Garrendenny Lane Interiors?

It was a huge decision, it had been at the back of my mind for some time and once the blog awards was over and I had some ‘space’ and time to make the decision, it seemed the right thing to do. Running two businesses with a family had become a challenge and I felt that both were suffering with my divided loyalties. Social media is my favourite part of Garrendenny Lane and I can work on social media all day with Write on Track. I like nothing better than discussing social media strategies with clients in a mentoring session.

Would you consider selling it as a going concern?

Yes, I had initially thought I might keep it on with non-stock items such as wallpaper but I realised even that is eating into too much time. There is a stock clearance sale in operation at the moment and I’d imagine that will end in another 4 weeks. The website and business are for sale.

And now you have another new venture with Amanda Webb – what can you tell me about that?

Yes, Write on Track and Spiderworking are coming together in one joint venture to create We Teach Social offering online training courses in various social media. The courses will range from 4-8 weeks and cover topics such as ‘How to run a Facebook competition’, Improving your Business Blog’, ‘Introduction to blogging’, ‘How to use Pinterest for your business’ and more. They will be targeted short courses that people can do from the comfort and convenience of their own office or home and we hope that the short and focused nature of the courses will prove popular.

It is hoped that this will launch at the beginning of April this year. People can now sign up on the home page and they will receive notifications of upcoming courses.

Are you on board for Blog Awards 2013 after the huge success of last year?

Yes, very much so. We’ve been working on the plans for the last month and the website will soon be updated with all the details for the 2013 Blog Awards which will happen on 12th October in the Osprey in Naas. Many of the 2012 sponsors are sponsoring again this year, being very happy with the publicity received and there are more sponsorship opportunities available.

We are adding another category this year, partly due to requests for it last year and partly because of The Gathering – it is the ‘Best Diaspora blog’ and will be open to all bloggers living abroad that have some connection to Ireland. They don’t have to be Irish-born, just some Irish ancestory. The category is open to all subject areas so it will be an interesting one.

Finally, Lorna, how on earth do you juggle all that you do as well as a family life and farm?

With difficulty sometimes yet it all seems to work somehow! My office hours are school hours 9-3:30 and then depending on homework / kids activities / calf feeding at this time of the year, I will resume work in the evenings. I’m a night owl so I’m happy enough working late into the evening. Most training sessions are for half days (as a full day can often be too long, particularly when people are beginners) so it works well with the children being in school.

Being married to a dairy farmer means that my husband can be around to meet them from school if necessary. I like variety (though I felt two businesses and the blog awards stretched me last year) and I love the mix of ghost blogging / working from home / training.

If you have any questions for Lorna I'm sure she'd be happy to answer them below - she will fit the time in somehow. :)

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The post Garrendenny Lane Closing: What Lorna Did Next appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

With the world growing smaller by the day because of new technology it means we can deal with other countries as though they were just down the road. Therefore Tweak Your Biz believes it is very important to understand the different cultures and needs of our global readership. We would also welcome new contributors from Asia-Pacific so please do get in touch.

The following collection of posts have been written by our contributors with the Far East in mind however we would like to know what business topics matter more to you in the Far East; perhaps what challenges that are faced that Europeans may take for granted over here.

Doing Business In Singapore A recently new contributor to Tweak Your Biz, Aidan Healy is originally from Ireland but now living in Singapore. A chartered accountant he now focusses on setting up businesses abroad, especially in Singapore and Asia, and he highlights the advantages in forming a company in the thriving Singapore. From company formation to location, visas to business cultures, Aidan explains everything you need to know.

What The Year Of The Snake Could Predict: 8 Best Practice Tips For Business  One of our regular contributors is Elish Bul-Godley who describes herself as "A 3rd Generation descendant of the Irish Diaspora born in Singapore, now in Dublin. Someone who has negotiated the Cultural changes when migrating from Singapore to Ireland, with a strong sense of her Far Eastern origins and Irish Roots."  Elish recently wrote about the Year of the Snake and the comparisons that can be made with business, providing some great “snake smarts” that even I, being petrified of snakes, can acknowledge are very clever.

6 Ways To Handle Opaque And Fast Changing Sales Environments In Asia Sylvain Lejeune lives in Singapore and wrote this great piece for Tweak Your Biz about ways to be successful in selling within Asia and understanding the different cultures – the pros and cons to look out for. The different culture can be a barrier to business and Sylvian points these barriers out and how to get over them to create a successful business relationship.

What You Need To Know About Chinese Markets: Insight From CBi China Bridge Another post from Elish highlights how Western businesses need to understand Chinese customers and companies in order to develop business between East and West. Elish uses insights from Cathy Huang of CBi China Bridge from a talk that she gave in Dublin last year.

Can You Close Your B2B Sales Engagements On Relationships Alone In Asia?  And finally another insightful post from Sylvain explaining the best ways to deal with businesses in Asia and how strong relationships are key to succeeding. As with all business a good working relationship is important but Sylvain explains how it is even more vital in Asia and how to achieve this successfully. Ensuring you have a strong business case and quick payback time are the most valuable factors according to Sylvain.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the above posts and we’d like to wish you prosperity, longevity and good luck. May you be happy and prosperous, "Gong xi Fa Chai".

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Images:  ”Snake Calligraphy, Chinese New Year 2013 Translation: 2013 / Shutterstock.com“

The post Wishing You All A Happy Chinese Lunar New Year appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

I interviewed Tirrell Payton to find out how they came up with this idea, what it involves and what advice he would give to other inventors.....and to his younger self.

When did you first get the idea for Kaliki and how did that come about?

Kaliki started as a product called BlogRadio and was positioned as a product to turn any blog into a podcast. The idea was, “I like to read all these blogs, but I don't have time...” This was interesting, and even got some press, but the team sat back and thought, “We can do better. Text to speech is interesting from a technology perspective, but its not engaging”.

Then we had an epiphany... one of the most engaging ways for humans to share information, stories, myths, history, and legends is by talking. Before writing, before reading, before the invention of libraries and great scholars, there were stories. There was audio.

So we started down the path of creating a complete system of transforming text content into audio content using real live professional narrators. We used our technology background to create a robust platform to bring this vision to life. We looked at the problem of why audio wasn’t more widely available, and reimagined a solution to this issue basing the platform on technology.

Audio is the most natural way for humans to share information with each other. Even before a baby is born, it is tuned to the sound of its mother’s voice. This philosophy carried forward to how Kaliki came to be. Every day, millions of people in the US wake up, step over their newspapers, hop into their car, and turn on the radio to get information. Today with Kaliki, they can hop in their car, and turn on the radio to hear the newspaper, weather, local up to the minute traffic, sports, and their favorite magazines.

How long does it take to create an app like this - from idea to first download?

I can't speak for everyone, but in our case, about 3 years. When we started, we didn't have any idea about connected vehicles, and we actually didn't know how far we would be able to take this, but momentum builds upon itself, and 3 years later here we are. Often times when a person starts a project, they think "Hey in 3 months things will be great". It's not true. It takes time to explore a high quality idea. An idea is not a product. A product is not a business. To go from idea to product to business takes years typically.

You’ve recently collaborated with Ford – did you plan to partner with a car manufacturer from the start?

It was not a part of the original plan, but it was an opportunity that came about, and as we became aware of what the auto manufacturers were doing, it made perfect sense, as an audio product, to partner with them.

What is on the agenda for Kaliki next?

More content, more partnerships, more customer delight!

What advice would you give to anyone with an innovative idea for an app?

Give your ideas time to incubate. Be flexible in your approach, and critical of any holes in your idea. Build something as quickly as possible so you can have a vehicle to have others help you explore your ideas. Pay attention to the environment, there may be an opportunity that helps you see your idea differently. Most of all, have fun and work on things that interest you.

When and where do you brainstorm your ideas?

I usually have my best ideas when I'm away from work, away from the computer.. such as when I am going for a run.

If yourself now could give advice to yourself when you were starting out in business what would you tell your younger self to do differently?

DONT DO IT!!!! Just kidding. Advice I would give to my former self would be, "Be patient, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Success is predicated on stamina".

I hope you've enjoyed this interview and if you have any questions for Tirrell about Kaliki or their business I'm sure he'll be happy to answer below.

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The post Kaliki: The Audio Newsstand. An Interview With Tirrell Payton appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

On signing the sponsorship deal, our CEO, Anita Campbell said "Sage is a great company and their commitment to small enterprises is evident in the Sage One product designed from the ground up with small businesses and start-ups in mind. It's a delight to welcome them."

Beatrice Whelan, the Social Media and Content Specialist of Sage Ireland said "I'm delighted that we were able to start 2013 with content sponsorship on TweakYourBiz.com. It is a great way to allow our content to work harder for us and attract new readers to the Sage blog. I believe that content sponsorship will be a big trend in 2013 and on certain sites it will start to supersede traditional display advertising. It also allows us to give value to the readers of Tweak Your Biz and show our support for both Tweak Your Biz and the wider small business community. It is a credit to Tweak Your Biz that they were able to offer us this innovative way of gaining visibility on their website."

We look forward to a continued successful relationship between Tweak Your Biz and Sage Ireland.

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The post Sage Ireland - New Sponsors Of Tweak Your Biz appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

Rebrand

2012 has been an eventful year for Tweak Your Biz. With Anita Campbell joining us as CEO at the end of 2011 and then the rebrand from Bloggertone to Tweak Your Biz in March 2012.

Wedding bells

Our very own Niall Devitt took the plunge finally and got married in July to the lovely Marie Therese so his bachelor days are well and truly over now.

New Managing Editor

Whilst Niall went off on a honeymoon I stepped in tentatively to cover for him and then at the end of September I was appointed the new Managing Editor – something I’m incredibly proud to do.

International site

Traffic is now hitting record levels and we are growing on an International scale around the world. Long may this continue.

Community

Of course Tweak Your Biz wouldn’t be what we are today without the community of brilliant writers who I can regularly rely on for great posts. Not only that but they share, comment and vote on others articles too. I know that collaborations have grown from this community and it’s lovely to see. A lot of friendships have been made too. Thank you so much for your support folks.

So I’m really looking forward to 2013 and taking Tweak Your Biz to new heights, with the support of the community behind me as ever.

A Merry Christmas to everyone and may 2013 be a Successful and Happy New Year for all, from the team at Tweak Your Biz.

Sian

Images:  "Blackboard, Merry Christmas/ Shutterstock.com“

The post Merry Christmas From Tweak Your Biz appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.

I think it was after a few months of  "chatting" that Cendrine told me that English wasn't her first language and that she often had to stop and think about how to write it in English.  I was shocked as throughout all our online chats and reading her posts I noticed they are word perfect....in English. This, of course, made me fascinated in how she wrote in, what is to her, a foreign language. After all, many of us struggle to write in our native language, never mind a foreign one. Cendrine explains this to me plus who her social media idols are and lots more, including some brilliant tips for blogging.

You are French born but now reside in Canada – how did that come about and when did you move?

At the beginning of 2003, after almost six years of university, I needed a change of scenery. I wanted to travel and experience new cultures.

My best friend, who is Canadian, was a few months away from leaving France, where she had spent an entire year. She mentioned that Canada would be a good start for me and offered to accommodate me if need be.

I was only supposed to stay there for a few months. However, within a few days of my landing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, I knew I had found a new home. I have never looked back since then.

What is your background relating to Journalism and writing?

I am a former English major and hold a bachelor’s degree in English to French translation. My favourite subjects were linguistics and phonetics.

I had no real background in journalism when I started in 2010. But, it worked out well because I have an inquisitive mind and love doing research. Plus, I enjoy unbiased reporting.

How did you get into the Social Media scene?

I have had several incarnations in my career. One of them is as an independent artist. I was a poet for a few years, and after releasing my first three collections, I realized that the path to good exposure was paved with challenges.

At the time (2006), I had no one to help me. First, I joined Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and spent some time observing how successful people leveraged the sites. This led me into reading a lot of articles on social media and “meeting” professionals involved in the field.

When I had acquired sufficient knowledge, I began sharing through discussions with people. They advised me to start blogging, which I did. And that’s how I got into the social media scene. I have been involved in it full time for four years now.

As French is your first language how do you adapt to writing in English?

In my mid-teens, when I developed a passion for the English language, I decided to train my brain to switch between tongues whenever I needed it. The challenge quickly turned into a game, which allowed me to learn quickly and effectively.

When I write in English, I think in English. Of course, a French word may pop up in my mind occasionally, but that’s about it.

Do you use any special translation tools to make it easier?

I only use a bilingual dictionary or do some research on the Internet. I also know I can count on a couple of friends who have a very good knowledge of grammar to help me if I really need it.

Who are your Social Media idols and why?

I have quite a few favourites, but the two on top of my list are Seth Godin and Chris Brogan.

When it comes to marketing, Seth is the best. He says it like it is and the tips he shares on his blog work for every industry.

The same goes for Chris, who coined the phrase “human business”. With him, it’s all about using social media to communicate and build relationships with audiences. It is something on which I strongly focus in my work as well.

For anyone getting into blogging and Social Media what would be your top 5 tips?

• Start by asking yourself the right questions. For example: “What do I want to achieve?”, “Who is my audience?”, “What are my audience’s needs?”, “What are my strengths and weaknesses?”, “Where do I see myself in five years?”… Your answers will allow you to create a strategy.
• The next step is to establish your expertise. Provide content that is useful to your audience – and in your own voice. Build a community of advocates.
• Do not post everything you write on social media sites. Instead, share teasers and invite people to read the rest on your blog. That’s always where traffic should end up.
• Don’t forget to treat others the way you would like to be treated. Be approachable and human, and most importantly, practice gratitude as often as you can. Acknowledging the little things others do for you will always go a very long way.
• Finally, be consistent AND patient. Things do not happen overnight – not even in six months. There is a lot of competition out there!

What is next on the agenda for Cendrine?

I have been working on an eBook on social media strategies, which I hope to release in 2013. Earlier this year, I asked readers of Creative Ramblings, to share their best tips for a successful social media strategy. The responses were so overwhelming that I decided to include my favourites in the book. There will be one quote (with full attribution) at the end of each chapter.  For those interested in following my progress, you can check out Creative Ramblings.

I also have a ton of social media workshops lined up for 2013. And if time permits, I would like to organize a few webinars in both English and French for my audience.

I hope you enjoyed this interview and for me it just goes to show if you work hard you can be successful and in any language that you choose. I'm sure Cendrine would be happy to answer any questions you wish to ask below.

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The post Not Lost In Translation: Cendrine Marrouat appeared first on Tweak Your Biz.