Thursday, August 21, 2008

Twitter for Business

I just started using Twitter and have found it to be quite interesting. Thought I'd share this blogpost below about some great uses for Twitter.

Feel free to follow me @dphamilton to get the inside scoop on real estate in Greenville, South Carolina.

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

First Steps

  1. Build an account and immediate start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor’s names, words that relate to your space. (Listening always comes first.)
  2. Add a picture. ( Shel reminds us of this.) We want to see you.
  3. Talk to people about THEIR interests, too. I know this doesn’t sell more widgets, but it shows us you’re human.
  4. Point out interesting things in your space, not just about you.
  5. Share links to neat things in your community. ( @wholefoods does this well).
  6. Don’t get stuck in the apology loop. Be helpful instead. ( @jetblue gives travel tips.)
  7. Be wary of always pimping your stuff. Your fans will love it. Others will tune out.
  8. Promote your employees’ outside-of-work stories. ( @TheHomeDepot does it well.)
  9. Throw in a few humans, like RichardAtDELL, LionelAtDELL, etc.
  10. Talk about non-business, too, like @astrout and @jstorerj from Mzinga.

Ideas About WHAT to Tweet

  1. Instead of answering the question, “What are you doing?”, answer the question, “What has your attention?”
  2. Have more than one twitterer at the company. People can quit. People take vacations. It’s nice to have a variety.
  3. When promoting a blog post, ask a question or explain what’s coming next, instead of just dumping a link.
  4. Ask questions. Twitter is GREAT for getting opinions.
  5. Follow interesting people. If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
  6. Tweet about other people’s stuff. Again, doesn’t directly impact your business, but makes us feel like you’re not “that guy.”
  7. When you DO talk about your stuff, make it useful. Give advice, blog posts, pictures, etc.
  8. Share the human side of your company. If you’re bothering to tweet, it means you believe social media has value for human connections. Point us to pictures and other human things.
  9. Don’t toot your own horn too much. (Man, I can’t believe I’m saying this. I do it all the time. - Side note: I’ve gotta stop tooting my own horn).
  10. Or, if you do, try to balance it out by promoting the heck out of others, too.

Some Sanity For You

  1. You don’t have to read every tweet.
  2. You don’t have to reply to every @ tweet directed to you (try to reply to some, but don’t feel guilty).
  3. Use direct messages for 1-to-1 conversations if you feel there’s no value to Twitter at large to hear the conversation ( got this from @pistachio).
  4. Use services like Twitter Search to make sure you see if someone’s talking about you. Try to participate where it makes sense.
  5. 3rd party clients like Tweetdeck and Twhirl make it a lot easier to manage Twitter.
  6. If you tweet all day while your coworkers are busy, you’re going to hear about it.
  7. If you’re representing clients and billing hours, and tweeting all the time, you might hear about it.
  8. Learn quickly to use the URL shortening tools like TinyURL and all the variants. It helps tidy up your tweets.
  9. If someone says you’re using twitter wrong, forget it. It’s an opt out society. They can unfollow if they don’t like how you use it.
  10. Commenting on others’ tweets, and retweeting what others have posted is a great way to build community.

The Negatives People Will Throw At You

  1. Twitter takes up time.
  2. Twitter takes you away from other productive work.
  3. Without a strategy, it’s just typing.
  4. There are other ways to do this.
  5. As Frank hears often, Twitter doesn’t replace customer service (Frank is @comcastcares and is a superhero for what he’s started.)
  6. Twitter is buggy and not enterprise-ready.
  7. Twitter is just for technonerds.
  8. Twitter’s only a few million people. (only)
  9. Twitter doesn’t replace direct email marketing.
  10. Twitter opens the company up to more criticism and griping.

Some Positives to Throw Back

  1. Twitter helps one organize great, instant meetups (tweetups).
  2. Twitter works swell as an opinion poll.
  3. Twitter can help direct people’s attention to good things.
  4. Twitter at events helps people build an instant “backchannel.”
  5. Twitter breaks news faster than other sources, often (especially if the news impacts online denizens).
  6. Twitter gives businesses a glimpse at what status messaging can do for an organization. Remember presence in the 1990s?
  7. Twitter brings great minds together, and gives you daily opportunities to learn (if you look for it, and/or if you follow the right folks).
  8. Twitter gives your critics a forum, but that means you can study them.
  9. Twitter helps with business development, if your prospects are online (mine are).
  10. Twitter can augment customer service. (but see above)

What else would you add? How are you using Twitter for your business?

By the way, Jeremiah Owyang has a great post on this, too.

The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.

Get the entire series by subscribing to this blog, and subscribe to my free newsletter here.

Monday, August 18, 2008

In the Spirit of the Olympics

For all those who tried and didn't quite make it to the Olympics.



H/T Michael Hyatt

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

First Time Buyer Tax Credit

As part of the (900 page) Economic Stimulus Bill President Bush signed last week, First Time Homebuyers and Homebuyers who have not owned a home in the last three years will be able to deduct $7,500 from their income for that tax year. This tax credit is more technically a loan that has to be paid back over the next fifteen years after the tax credit year. Here’s how it will work:

First year: Income = $50,000. Reported income = $42,500.

Year 2-16: Income = $50,000. Reported income = $50,500

All home buyers taking advantage of this credit should use an experienced and knowledgeable tax preparer when filing their taxes to ensure that it is calculated and reported properly. I would be happy to provide a referral to any of our clients looking for a professional to provide them with more detailed help with this tax credit. Feel free to email or call me at the office (864-527-7685).

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Happy Tax Freedom Day

Congratulations...you can now work to provide for your food, clothing, housing, transportation and everything else you might need...the government has theirs now.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

10 Year Return on Investment

Here are a few things you could have bought for $100,000 in 1998 and what they would be worth today.

FYI--A typical $100,000 home in Greenville, South Carolina bought in 1998 would be worth about $162,847 today. Not bad...

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Great Deal on the Terrace at RiverPlace

The Hamilton & Co. Team of Keller Williams Realty has just reduced the price on this premium penthouse unit at the esclusive Terrace at RiverPlace. It is now listed for $599,900, which makes is the best deal on the market right now. I'm quite sure it won't last long at this price, so if you are interested in getting into a luxury downtown Greenville, SC condo, this is your golden opportunity.
For more details and pictures of this property, go to www.terraceatriverplace807.com.
For more details about the RiverPlace development and downtown Greenville, go to www.riverplacesc.com.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Have you thought about this?

From Seth Godin's blog:

So, there's plenty of bad economic news floating around. From the price of
oil to Wall Street to bailouts to the death of traditional advertising.

Which is great news for anyone hoping to grow or to make an
impact.

Change (and the fortunes that go with it) is almost always made
during the down part of the cycle. It might not be fun, but it's exciting.
(Where do you think Google came from?)

The opportunity is to find substantial opportunities (in any field) that
deliver real value and have a future. Those jobs/investments/companies/ideas are
undervalued right now, but not for long.


Are you looking for opportunities or complaining about the circumstances?

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

How to Get Out Of Debt

I saw tonight on CNBC that the average credit card debt for the American family is $9,200. The average family would benefit by watching this short video. Taking this advice also could have helped avoid the current "credit crunch."

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

USA Today Profiles Greenville, SC Real Estate Market

This article on USA Today online profiles the current Greenville real estate market which stands in stark contrast to the rest of the state and nation.



When you look at the numbers, we have a lot to be thankful for here in Greenville. Home sales and prices were up 1% in Greenville, while statewide sales are down 9% and prices remained flat. The article states there is a seven month supply of homes on the market compared to an eleven month supply nationwide.


Depending on your situation, it really is a great time to buy or sell right now in our market. If you need to sell and are willing to price your home correctly and stage it properly, there are plenty of buyers out there. If you are in the market to purchase a home now, the interest rates are still quite attractive and there is plenty of inventory to choose from.

Don't let the national media-driven gloom and doom reporting distort what is actually going on in our local market. We are very fortunate.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

More Residential Housing Announced for The Point in Greenville, SC

The Greenville News reported this morning that Georgia-based development company Flournoy Development co. plans to build nearly 700 apartment units at The Point in midtown Greenville. They plan to start building 348 units in phase one as soon as the city issues permits. The second phase would include another 348 apartments, but will not begin before the summer of 2010.

This announcement is in addition to the already announce McChesney Development Co. plans to develop 1,225 condos and 1,125 apartments at The Point.

With large employers such as GE, The South Financial Group, Hubbell Lighting, and ICAR nearby, this "midtown" part of Greenville, including the Verdae development will soon be the place to live in Greenville.
 
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