Twitter Love Q & A with Slash Coleman

Q: What’s the difference between Facebook and Twitter?

A: Facebook is a public platform that pushes the personal toward business. Twitter is a public platform that pushes business toward personal. 

Q: What does that mean?

A: You can do business on Twitter 24-7 and no one will think any less of you. Do business on Facebook 24-7 and your account will get flagged and deleted.

Q: What does Twitter do?

A: Joining Twitter gives you the ability to scream on the internet. Once you choose to follow someone, you now get to eavesdrop on every scream they make. The more people you follow, the more screams you’ll hear. I’m following 1,335 people on Twitter. That’s a lot of noisy people!

Q: Doesn’t all the screaming hurt your ears?

A: Yes, that’s why you need to download Hootsuite.com. The free application gives you the ability to listen in on individual screams and target the screams you want to hear in two ways:

1) By a persons name (also called a Name tag)

2) By topics that interest you (also called a Hash Tag)

Q: What is a Name Tag?

A: When you sign up for Twitter you decide what your name will be. Each name tag in Twitter has the @ symbol in front of it. My name tag on Twitter is @slashcoleman. I have a friend Tiffany Ferreira. Her name tag is @iknowtiffany. My family runs a furniture biz called Tinkers. Our name tag is @thetinkergirl.

 Q: What is a Hashtag?

A: When Tweeters tweet about topics they put the “#” in front of their topic. Some recent Hashtags I’ve used are #storytelling #virginia, #va, #grief, #bereavement. At Hashtags.org, you can type in a Hashtag and you’ll find out who’s using it on Twitter and how popular the Hashtag is. Better yet, it even breaks usage up by date, hour and number of times it's been used with a really cool graph.

Q: How do I use Name Tags and Hashtags?

A: As I said before, name tags have a @ in front of them. Topics have a # symbol in front of them. For instance if I want to mention something going on in Richmond, VA when I tweet it, it’s better to type, “I love the #rva #snow and drinking warm coffee with my friend @valleyhaggard” rather than “I love that it’s snowing in Richmond and am drinking a cup of joe with Valley.”

One is a scream. The other is a part of a global conversation.

Some Sample Tweets I sent out for my PBS Tweet campaign:

a) Thank you @WGTEPublic #ohio for deciding to air @PBS special #neonman about #loss #grief #widow #hospice http://bit.ly/neonhelp

b) sure hope @RMPBS will air #neonman #NETA @PBS special about #grief #hospice #widow http://bit.ly/neonhelp . Thanks @UNCTV for airing it!

Q: Is it good to have a lot of followers?

A: Yes and no. It looks bad if you’re following 1,000 people and only 13 are following you back. If you’re using Twitter to develop relationships most of the people you follow will want to follow you back. The best advice I can give is to follow others that are aligned with your mission. Friendorfollow.com will allow you to type in your Twitter name and it will tell you which followers aren’t following you back. Is it important? Sometimes it is.

Q: What is #FF or #Follow Friday?

A: There’s a trend or a holiday on Twitter that happens every Friday called #followfriday or #ff. When you want to thank someone for helping you out or want all your peeps to follow one of your own followers, you can make a list like "@kindnessgirl, @davidbhutchens @la_poetessa #followfriday" and send it out into Tweetland. This results in friends of friends finding out who your friends are. They in turn sometimes follow your friends and you've just made the world a better place.

Q: What is a direct message?

A: After a day or two of following someone, send them a direct message that shows them you’ve been following them, visited their website or at least read their Twitter bio. When I found out that @GingerTice loved making artwork I wrote," I'm looking forward to checking out some of your artistically inspired tweets."

Q: What is a RT or a Retweet?

A: If developing a relationship with followers is important, then re-tweet some of their tweets, which means you copy and paste their message into your tweet bar and send it off into tweetland with a RT before it. If you have an upcoming event that you’d like help with in spreading the word, you can add PLZRT (please retweet) after your tweet and, with any luck others will heed your call.

Q: How can I talk to someone I don’t know?

A: Follow their conversations and then try to find a way to include yourself. When you ask them a question or include them in your own conversations include something from their bio or about them in the conversation. This is an example of something that doesn’t work. A performer was trying to get on the Ellen show and wrote, “Hey @theellenshow I know a great performer you should check out!”

Q: How do people have time to tweet all day long?

A: I’m not one of those Tweeters who has a fancy phone to send tweets out all day. Plus, it's not my style. Hoot Suite allows me to sit down in the morning and create all the tweets I want and schedule them to be sent throughout the day. When I was sending tweets out to every PBS station for my campaign, this application was the terrific!

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com

Twitter 103 with Slash Coleman

Q: How can I improve my chances of being seen on Twitter?

A: Like most on-line tools that are meant to build your professional community, you’ll need to participate in conversations on a regular basis. If it helps, think of Twitter as a virtual telephone.

Q: What do you mean “participate in conversations”?

A: Twitter is more than just a Billboard for advertising your latest projects. Sure, your next tweet has the potential to be seen by thousands, but if you only Tweet “Look at me! Look at me!” your followers will eventually look the other way. 

Q: What’s a good Twitter Strategy?

A: I recommend sending out 5 tweets per week minimum, divided up in the following ways:

• 1 Re-Tweet.
• 1 Follow Friday.
• 1 Random Thought.
• 1 Direct Message.
• 1 Conversation Starter.

Q:  What is a Re-tweet?

A:  I covered this in the previous article, but it bears repeating. When you copy and paste someone else’s message into your tweet bar and re-send it, you have re-tweeted their message.  

Q: What is Follow Friday?

A: It’s a Twitter holiday that happens every Friday and is also known as #followfriday or #ff. When you want all your followers to know about your favorite people, tweet “@kindramhall @storyLornaMac, @pdxstorytheater #ff.” This results in friends of friends finding out who they are and in turn who you are. 

Q: What is a Random Thought?

A: It’s a quote you like, it’s a reference to your current trip to Starbucks, or it’s a link to your recent blog entry. For example, “It’s always darkest when it’s really dark out,” or “The #traffic on I-95 is horrific!”

Q:  What the best way to use a Direct Message?

A:  A day or two after you start following someone send them a Direct Message that shows them you’ve visited their website or read their twitter bio. When I found out that @kindramhallhad also performed on the Exchange Place stage I wrote, “Hey Exchange Placer. Your blog is awesome.” An on-line twitter friendship soon blossomed.

Q:  What is a Conversation Starter?

A:  Find someone you’d like to start a conversation with, read their tweets for a week and once you’re familiar with them, find a way to include yourself in their conversations. This is a good example, “@thecheckoutgirl do you know about the @PBS program about 2 #VA boys? Since you write about #comedy I thought you'd like it too!” This is a bad example. A performer was trying to get on the Ellen show and wrote, “Hey @theellenshow I know a great performer you should check out!”

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com

Twitter 102 with Slash Coleman

(This post was originally published in Storytelling Magazine in 2011)
 

Q: Staring at a column of random thoughts (Tweets) is overwhelming, isn’t it?  

A: Yes, that’s why you need to download Hootsuite.com The free application gives you the ability to listen in on individual thoughts in two ways:

a) By a persons name (also called a Nametag)

b) By topics that interest you (also called a Hashtag)

Q: Is it true that having Twitter without Hootsuite is like having a car without keys?

A: Yes.

Q:  What is a Nametag?

A:  When you sign up for Twitter you’ll decide what your username will be. Each Nametag has the “@” symbol in front of it. My Nametag is @slashcoleman. I used my own name. Others use something clever like @getstoried.

Q:  What is a Hashtag?

A:  When Tweeters tweet about topics they put the “#” in front of their topic. Some recent Hashtags I’ve used are #storytelling and #NSN2010. At www.hashtags.org, you can type in a Hashtag and you’ll find out who’s using it and how popular it is.

Q:  What is the correct way to use Nametags and Hashtags in my tweets?

A:  Right: The #NSN2010 in #LA is awesome. I’m meeting great #storytellers.

Wrong: I’m meeting lots of great storytellers at the National Storytelling Conference in California.

The first one is a part of a global conversation that others can search, find and read. Anyone who follows the topics #storyteller, #LA or #NSN2010 will immediately see my message in their Tweetdeck column. The other is a random thought that is un-searchable and lost. (When I set Tweetdeck up, I was surprised to find mentions of me dating back a year. Some resulted in bookings).

Q:  How do people have time to tweet all day?

A:  Most don’t, that’s why they download HootSuite (free at Hootsuite.com). It allows you to create all your tweets in the morning and schedule them to be sent throughout the day.

Q: What now?

A: Click your name in the right corner. When the menu pulls down, click “Who to follow.” Click “Find Friends” Type slashcoleman in the search bar. Click the green“+” sign. You are now following me. Tweet a message to me: “@slashcoleman I love your #Twitter article in #storytelling mag.” I will tweet back to you recommendations on how to use Twitter to boost your storytelling connections.

Q:  What is a direct message?

A:  A 140 character private message that only the person you’ve sent the message to can see.

Q:  What is a Retweet?

A:  When you copy and paste someone else’s message into your tweet bar and re-send it, you have retweeted their message.  Retweeting is a nice thing to do, like holding the door open for someone else.

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com

Twitter 101 with Slash Coleman

Re-posted from my original article in Storytelling Magazine 2011.

Q:  What is Twitter?

A: Twitter is a room on the internet that is open 24 hours a day where you can speak and listen to conversations happening around the world. 

Q: Isn’t that what e-mail or a phone call is for?

A: Have you ever spent all day trying to get a Verizon representative on the phone or waited weeks for an answer to an important e-mail? Twitter conversations can happen instantaneously.

Q: Yeah, but I’m already overwhelmed with online stuff why should I worry about another one?

A: Twitter gives you the most bang for your buck, period! 

Q: What does that mean?

A: Whether you choose to speak, eavesdrop on global conversations, or contact others directly, you are limited to 140 characters. That’s roughly 18 words. It’s quick, to the point and for those who tend to ramble, it keeps things tightly focused. 

Q: Facebook consumes gobs of my time, won’t Twitter?

A: Nope. You don’t have to worry about photo albums, answering messages from old boyfriends, or losing hours of your life playing Mob Wars or Farmville. On Twitter you simply speak or listen.

Q: Isn’t Twitter just a stripped down version of Facebook?

A: No. Facebook is used to make personal connections. Twitter is used to make business connections. One is like a living room while the other is like an office space. Facebook will punish you if you use it strictly for business, Twitter won’t. 

Q: How do I sign up?

A: Go to www.twitter.com. Choose a user name and password. My user name is slashcoleman. I used my own name. Others use something clever like storyconnect. (Hint: Use your first and last name, no capital letters or spaces)

Q: Any advice for creating my bio?

A: Reveal your most unique aspects. Avoid dry and factual and lean toward unique and truthful. Rather than write, “Award winning storyteller from Lexington, VA,” write “Storyteller and bicycling enthusiast who loves fishing.”   

Q: What am I seeing on my screen now that I signed up?  

A:  A few self explanatory links at the top, space to write your tweets, followers, following and listed.

Q: What is it called when you speak on Twitter?

A: Tweeting. You simply write something in the empty space labeled, “What’s Happening?” and push the Tweet button.

Q: I signed up, what do I do now?

A: Click the Find People link. Type in someone’s name. If they come up, follow them. Now, when they send out a tweet, you’ll see it.

Q: What does “following” mean?  

A: It means you are following this persons tweets. 

Q: What does “followers” mean?  

A: These are people who are listing to your tweets.

Slash Coleman is a professional storyteller best known for his award-winning PBS special "The Neon Man and Me." His twitter campaign helped him win over PBS stations nationwide and land a two year distribution deal with NETA His recent column in Storytelling Magazine concentrates on social media and marketing strategies for artists and he was most recently featured on the NPR series "How Artists Make Money." For more information about Slash Coleman - please visit www.slashcoleman.com