A lot of the great functionality that Twitter offers is provided by 3rd party apps. But, Twitter itself offers some nifty features that are very easy to take advantage of. It already has a powerful search feature which I wrote about earlier. You can read that here.
Twitter also offers a customizable widget. You can insert the widget on a Facebook, myspace, HTML or blog page (like I’ve done in the left hand column.) It is completely customizable as to search terms, colors, scroll bars and size. It searches and displays results in real-time or rather Twitter time.
Display all of your most recent updates. Show real-time discussions for hashtags about conferences, locales, discussions or current trending search terms. Finally, use it to show all of your favorite tweets. But the real beauty of this widget is that it is amazingly easy to setup.
It was the launch of some of Volvo’s most important cars to date. 700 people back at the New Jersey Headquarters were holding their breath. If the launch bombed and sales didn’t make projections, many would be out of work. These images were going to be the very first shot. At the location pre-production meeting, the client reiterated the importance of the assignment. If anybody had any better ideas, please speak up. The creative director looked at him and said that he had just made a big mistake. With a mischievous smile the CD said “You shouldn’t have said that in front of them”. A chorus of voices immediately chimed in “We have some ideas.” One voice in the back said, “But, it might cost a wee bit more”. In the end, the only toy not played with was a helicopter. We tried really hard to make the case, but the client just wasn’t buying.
An airport was rented in the dessert outside Palm Springs. During the rain shot, water was pumped so fast that for a short period of time, parts of the city had difficulty flushing toilets. The client made a joke while looking at a Polaroid and asked “Can you flop the car”? Everyone’s stomach turned. Flop the car? Flop the car meant change all the lighting. He was kidding…this time. But the night before that’s exactly what we had done. With only 20 minutes left until sunset, the crew completely changed the angle, the camera position and all of the lighting. Accomplishing in 20 minutes, what had originally taken 6 hours to setup. Can you say meltdown? The precision driver of the red car going under the strobe bank thought he’d won the Lottery. It was 103 degrees outside and he’d be inside an air conditioned car. That’s when the product guy says this is a prototype vehicle and they didn’t have time to hook up the air conditioning. BTW, the photographer adds, the windows must be rolled up because of reflections. Two hours, fifty camera passes and a case of water later he got out of a car with an interior temperature of 128 degrees. But it was a dry heat.
No assistants, precision drivers or photographers were harmed during filming. It was a great shoot. The crew worked extremely hard, and had some fun. Each and every person stepped out of their comfort zone to do things that they’d never done before. Everybody pitched in, doing whatever was needed. In the end it was all worth it. The images told a great story about this new car. The collective back at the mother ship breathed a sigh of relief. The Creative Director was a hero with his Client. The Client was a hero with his bosses. In fact, they both even sent hand-written thank you notes.
There are lots of ways to ask for introductions on LinkedIn. I recently had 2 different “Introduction Experiences”.
Scenario #1
This person was part of a group that I belong to. They sent me a complimentary direct email regarding a post that I had written. The same email asked if we could link. I looked at the bio, saw they were in a related industry and accepted the offer. Within hours I received a follow-up email asking for an introduction to one of my contacts. Wait! Stop the presses! What’s going on here? Where was the “getting to know you phase”?
Scenario #2
This person was also a group member, writing an email response and asking to link. I responded the same way. Check bio and accept offer. Instead of immediately asking for an introduction I received a question about the post. 2 Weeks later we have exchanged the occasional email discussing industry topics of mutual interest.Now, if and when this person asks for an introduction, I won’t feel used and abused.
What is the proper method and waiting time to ask for an introduction? Is it two weeks or two days? I don’t know. Clearly though, there are a variety of “right and wrong” methods to the introduction process on LinkedIn. Some feel introductions must be done thru the “formal introductory” process. Personally, I don’t mind if a group member, whom I don’t know asks directly to connect. When they are half way around the world that might and probably is the only way to meet. I’m not nearly naïve enough to believe that they want to meet because of my keen thoughts, and strategic thinking.They want something. We all do. That’s why we belong to LinkedIn.
Neal Schaffer has additional ideas about asking for introductions. Read them here. Finally, when we’re networking on-line, we should remember to include the “coffee date” phase. Just like in the “real world”, getting to know each other is a crucial ingredient in the connection process.
Want more RT's? According to Dan Zarrella viral marketing scientist at Hubspot these 20 words will help. His research says that there is a science behind getting your tweets to go viral. He might be on to something because he has analyzed 5 million Tweets and roughly 40 million Retweets.
Here are Dan Zarella's Top 20 Most retweetable words and phrases:
you
twitter
retweet
please
post
blog
social
free
media
help
please retweet
great
social media
10
follow
how to
top
blog post
check out
new blog post
On the other side of the coin he says that there are 20 words and phrases that are most likely to not get your messages retweeted. They are:
game
going
haha
lol
but
watching
work
home
night
bed
well
sleep
gonna
hey
tomorrow
tired
some
back
bored
listening
Dan has 7 other scientifically proven ways to increase your retweets. Read the entire article on Dan Macsai'sFast Company blog.
