#theICG and @theICG – if you don't know what these are, then read on.
Twitter is a bit of a mystery to many of us. We know roughly what it is, but when it comes to actually using it – well, therein lies the problem.
Linked in Business have produced a very good series of Twitter Basics for Businesses – what it is and how to use it for businesses. The series covers a basic introduction, creating a business profile, how to maximise the value of your followers, what to tweet, how to manage your business account and tracking results.
For me, the most useful bit was the 'intro to Twitter for Businesses' which assumes nothing and provides a good 'Twitter 101'. It uses a tweet and explains what the different components of a message are, and how they work. We have reproduced this here, using the ICG twitter account as the example.
- This is a Tweet – a short message posted on Twitter, and it can contain text, photos, links and videos
- Reply: click on this little icon to respond to a message/ Tweet from someone else. It shows you are listening and gives you the opportunity to comment and express your own views about a subject
- Retweet: This allows you to share a Tweet from someone else with your followers. So you find a really interesting threat/ discussion, and simply by 'retweeting' you can share it as it is, or quote the Tweet and add your own comment to it
- Like: A quick and easy way to acknowledge a Tweet and show the author you appreciate their comments, and is also useful to bookmark a Tweet so that you can find it again easily
- Hashtag: A hashtag is a word or phrase without spaces that begins with #. You can use hashtags to organise conversations and make it easier to group or search for content on a specific topic. Click on a hashtag to go directly to the search results for that term – and don’t forget to hashtag words or phrases in your own Tweets. For example, searching for #webinar or #Christmas will take you to all of the ICG's Tweets on those subjects. Don't forget to include hashtags in your own Tweets – these can link to your own Tweets or Tweets from other people
- Mention: You can bring a Tweet to someone else's attention by including their @username in the message. You can ask a question, thank them or just highlight the content. Include @TheICG means that we can get a conversation going about a particular topic
- Additional actions: If you hover here, you will be able to take additional actions. Perhaps the most useful is if you want to email the Tweet. By clicking on 'copy the link' you can paste it into your email and send just that Tweet to someone else