Monthly Archives: January 2009

Twitter for Companies and Brand Monitoring

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Twitter gains in popularity constantly. The general service is that of following, being followed, shooting off public notes of 140 characters or less, as well as replies and direct messages. On top of that basic functionality many a tool has been built. Here is a long list of Twitter Tools.

The question is whether this is just a new type of chat tool to communicate with friends, a time killer, or something more. Everyone has their opinion which ranges from “you must tweet, and your company must tweet” to “complete waste of time and a huge interrupter which just lowers everyones overall daily efficiency”.

Here is my opinion, it is yet another channel of communications to manage and quite frankly whether I like the technology or not I approach it like anything else. If my customers and potential customers (and I use customers in a broad sense encompassing whatever your audience may be) are there then you should be there. If my customers (audience) were not there I would not be there.

These days there are many ways in which someone can use their time, however there is only so much time in a day. If Twitter is part of your audience’s time slice of each day then it may be worth your time.

That being said, where to start? Take a look at the Twitter Tools list I mention above, you will find that you can search past tweets for keywords and also monitor keywords in real time with Monitter and other tools. You can also use Twitter in a web browser or on a cell phone, or with one of many applications that sit on your desktop. This brings me to the latest tool I found to manage multiple accounts.

Twitter for Companies
splitweetlogo
This tool is name Splitweet. This is the first tool I have found to use and monitor multiple Twitter accounts, for example Twitter accounts for multiple companies or brands. Through this tool you will be able to tweet, reply and direct message through more than one account at a time without having to flip between browser windows or log in and log off. Take a look at their menu here:


splitdashboard


Your dashboard shows tweets of those you are following, the replies, direct messages and favorites are all provided in a tabbed format. Also provided are your brand monitors. More below. Here is the most impressive feature and a picture below to explain.


splitmultiple


The above shows two tweets that were on the dashboard (for privacy reasons I marked out certain aspects) and you will see a green square and a yellow square. When you use Splitweet you can log into multiple accounts. For this example I logged into two Twitter accounts. One account is represented by a yellow square and one by a green square. The tweet with both colored squares was made by an individual that was being followed by both accounts. You then have the option to reply or direct message in response to that tweet from either account.

All the tweets of those you are following are shown on the same screen and the color squares let you know which of your multiple accounts they are related to. The same method is used on the reply screen and direct message screen.

Brand Monitoring
Another feature for companies is the constant watch for terms you have asked it to follow. You enter a search term and if anyone anywhere tweets publicly with your search terms you will see them listed on the dashboard as well as the Brand mentions tab.

Conclusion
I am impressed by the feature set that Splitweet provdes for those that would like to monitor multiple accounts and their brands. A feature set needed for both small and large companies. While I would like to see it in an application and store information in an attached database, this application is a good start and worth a try, especially for free.

Give Splitweet a try.

Venture Capital End of 2008 by NVCA and Thomson

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I read an interesting report put out by the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters. The title is Venture Capital Fundraising Activity Falls in the Fourth Quarter of 2008.

Total Raised
They tracked forty-three venture funds and stated that they raised a total of $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 when the fourth quarter of 2007 was at $11.7 billion. In total, $28 billion was raised in 2008 which was down 21% since 2007. While this is “a” metric it is not “the” metric, meaning it can be used as an indicator but like any indicator it is probably best not to draw conclusions solely on one indicator (much like technical analysis when applied to stocks).

What Exactly Is This Statistic?
The total amount raised by venture funds is not the amount invested in startups but the amount venture funds have raised themselves. While a few venture funds are made up of money from the partners in the fund it is more often the case that the venture capital company has raised money themselves. Seems odd doesn’t it.

How Venture Capitalists Raise Money
In many cases a venture capital company may have more than one fund. For example, they may raise $100 million into their VC Fund I, they then turn around and find companies to invest in. In some cases they are restricted to only invest in certain industries or stages of companies. They may have agreed to this when their investors agreed to provide funds. They now invest those funds, work with the companies, hope to liquidate in some manner so they can provide returns to those that invested. Meanwhile they raise another fund VC Fund II.

How Venture Funds Work
Now, as an investor in a venture capital company you are actually an investor in one of their funds. Therefore an investor may be in VC Fund I and not VC Fund II. Let us say that VC Fund II has a portfolio company sell for 100 times initial investment, the investor is out of luck because even though they work with that venture capital company, they were not invested in VC Fund II. Interesting huh.

What is more interesting, is to remember that when you are being drilled by a potential venture capital investor in your company, that they have investors to answer too as well. I once gave a company update, presentation, not to the investors of the company I was with but to the investors in the venture capital company, large institutional investors, to update them. It was quite interesting to see the venture capital company deal with their investors, nice to see them humbling themselves, not something most VC’s do.

What Does this Lower Q4 2008 Raise Mean?
It is tough to say. If large funds were raised in 2007 they may have funds with uninvested capital and are not in fund raising mode right now as they are still investing. They may also have chosen to wait and raise funds when the overall economy is in better shape. Still it is interesting to watch, and I encourage you to visit National Venture Capital Association if you are interested in following the venture capital industry.

Mr. Tweet Helps You Find Those to Follow on Twitter and More

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It seems Twitter becomes more popular every day. There are plenty of tools, here is one that I found incredibly useful because it does the job that I was doing manually. Obviously that seems to be the case with anything you would find useful, if it fits a need you use it. So here is a free, easy, tool that takes just one step.

Once you have used Twitter for a while you start to spend time looking for an following those that would be of interest to you. This can be a very time intensive process. There are many tools to use and assist you, such as http://search.twitter.com to find those talking about topics you are interested in by using keywords. Many other tools are available to track those conversations, see a list of Twitter tools.

Mr. Tweet Tool
I ran across Mr. Tweet which suggests a list of influencers that you are not following based on their own algorithm. It also creates a list of followers that are following you but you are not following them. Both of these lists are useful and they create a web page with this information generated automatically. What an easy way for you to review these two lists. All you have to do to get started is follow @mrtweet. It can take a week or two but they will send you a direct message to your twitter account with a link to the reports. Here are two screenshots of what you will find (I covered the individuals information).

Influencers I am not following
Here is a screen shot of what they provide on each individual they suggest I take a look at. They auto generated a list of 200. If you compare the statistics on this individual at the top of the influencer list with the individual at the top of the follower list below you will see the influencer has over 20,000 followers. Obviously from that one example and the others in the list there is a distinct difference between their algorithm for creating the lists.

influencersinmynetwork

Those who Follow me that I am not Following
Take a look at this screen shot of the list of those that follow me but I am not following. Mr Tweet auto generated a list of 127 and ranked them. They ranked them in an order that they thought I would like to review them in, I am impressed by their algorithm as I find it incredibly useful. Statistics were provided on each one, a link to their site, their twitter page, followers, those they follow and more.

followersiamnotfollowing1

Usefulness of Mr. Tweet
I found this tool to be well worth the wait, and it was free. Definitely follow @mrtweet and here are the creators if you with to follow them as well: @mingyeow and @ambivalence.

New Launch of Fundraising site Raise for Future

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raise_for_future_logo
Last year I wrote about my boys, twins, participating in a fund raiser for their school. It was interesting to me to learn two things.

First, their elementary school was brand new and did not have a playground which I found odd.

Second, that they were raising funds for the school in many ways, such as a bingo night and selling catalog items before Christmas.

I took this opportunity to try and help both the school raise funds and my boys learn about online e-commerce, blogs, twitter, marketing and more. The company that was providing the catalog items had an online website, it was cumbersome at best, and the items were not the greatest.

Tracking the Fundraiser
We created a blog for the boys, a twitter account, and a unique landing page for those shopping online to use the boys identification codes when shopping so they would receive credit. The first article to kick it off is found here entitled “Teaching my Boys Blogging, eCommerce and Twitter. The final article was posted here entitled Teaching my Twins Online Commerce through Fundraising.

Fundraiser Experience
Long story short, the boys won a ride to a pizza lunch in a Hummer limousine, however the fundraising experience, items they sold and difficult online shopping experience led my business partner Chris and I to believe their had to be a better way.

Created Raise for Future
We decided to create a site that makes fund raising for organizations, such as schools, easy. Users, such as parents, can shop at any of the partner stores, and a percentage of the sale is provided to the organization. Partner stores in the directory are some of the top online merchants. Users shop at the same online stores they shop at today, pay the same prices every one else pays, and their organization receives a percentage of the final purchase from the merchant through Raise for Future. We consult and accelerate our own start-ups through Phase One Accelerators.

About Phase One Accelerators
Phase One Accelerators is an “accelerator” providing launch phase consulting and online marketing services, as well as incubating and accelerating new startups. Founders are serial entrepreneurs with extensive start-up, online marketing, and venture capital experience. Phase One Accelerators is based in Northern Virginia an Boise Idaho. Raise for Future is a wholly owned and operated by Phase One Accelerators.

See the press release here on the launch of Raise for Future.

How to be Included in Google News

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News
Google News is obviously a popular site, but how do you get your blog or news included in the search results? Here is how.

Use this Link to be Included
So, that being said you must apply and if you meet their criteria they will include you. Here is the link to apply for inclusion in Google News – click here. Best of luck and be sure to review their criteria.

How Are News Search Results Generated?
The results of Google News are not made up of all sites but only those they have decided to include. Therefore, just because you may have provided Google with your site map to be included in their general web search results, does not mean you will be included in their Google News results. Also, the results are based on their own algorithm. There are the top stories, which appear to always be relevant and recent news. Of course when someone searches the news results they provide the most relevant results. Just use the same techniques you would when writing any other article and make sure your titles, descriptions and all information is relevant to the story you are writing.

Do I Need a New Site or Hosting?
You do not need a new hosting provider or website. Your current site and news stories can appear in google news once you are accepted. It does not matter where you host your site, or what type of content management system you use. You do of course need a site map and rss feed, at least that will help tremendously when being indexed. When it comes to relevant and up to date news your site needs to be indexed often and well.

Learn AdWords | How to Target Keywords with AdWords

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AdWords is powerful and AdWords can be tricky. There are two main concepts to be sure you understand when you are advertising through AdWords. The two concepts that you need to fully understand are the where and how. Read on to learn AdWords.

Understanding the Where of AdWords

Quite simply, when I refer to Where I mean where are your ads actually being displayed. You can determine placement and sites, even pages on sites, however first understand the Search vs. Content placements. When choosing the type of network you have the option of the Search Network, Content Network or both.

Having your advertisement display on the Search Network means it will be shown on the Google.com site or a partner site. Therefore you can further specify only Google’s site or also Google’s search partners. To understand the difference, if you were to search on Google.com that is the standard search. An example of a search partner is the Google search results appearing on another website such as the search box on the front of Longest.com, if you search using that search box (as an example for affiliate marketing) you will see the Google results and advertisements displayed within the Longest.com site.






Content Network is altogether another animal. When you choose to display on the content network your advertisement is no longer appearing when someone searches on your keyword. Instead, your advertisement is displayed on a website page that Google considers most relevant to your advertisement. You can choose to have your advertisements only displayed on specific sites within the Google Network, which can be very powerful. Even more powerful, is the ability to target a portion of a site, for example you may target the finance portion of a site. However remember the person is not searching for your keywords but your ad is instead displayed based on the content which is on the page the visitor is viewing. I am not suggesting it is bad, just keep that in mind when targeting and evaluating success.

Understand the How of AdWords

The How is very important and often misunderstood. By How I am referring to the keyword matching that Google performs when you enter keywords in their Search network. When you enter a keyword, for example let’s use two words together new car. There are three matching types you can choose: Broad, Phrase, or Exact. Each type of match is very different.

“Exact” Match : is just as it sounds. Your advertisement will only appear when someone types in your keywords and only those words. Using the new car example your advertisement appears when someone types in new car but not buy a new car nor buy new car today or buy new blue car. To implement, if you type these directly into AdWords within the browser you would use the brackets – such as [new show], or in the AdWords Editor simply choose the drop down for Match Type as Exact.

“Broad” Match : is the default. There are many ways your keywords new car would invoke the display of your advertisement. With the default Broad match your advertisement could be shown when only the words car or new appear in any order and with any other words. Searches with other words, plurals, words in any order, and many combinations exist, as your advertisement would be shown with cars new engine broken or buy a car with a new alternative fuel, you get the idea. And also, know that other words can be replaced if they are similar such as new automobile as automobile is very similar to car. To implement you do not need to add any punctuation with your keywords as Broad match is the default.

“Phrase” Match : is a way to assure your keywords must be searched for together, but unlike exact match you can have words before and after. And also unlike Broad match you will not have words replaced with similar words. Therefore you would have buy a new car or buy a new car today but not buy a car with new engine invoking your advertisement. To implement you would add quotes before and after your words such as “new car”, or in the AdWords Editor choose the Match type of Phrase.

What Difference Does This Make?

Knowing the How and Why of AdWords will allow you to better target your advertisements, obtain the level of traffic you want, track performance better if you split the types of networks and types of keyword matching into different campaigns, and most importantly make sure you do not waste your money. We hope this has helped you learn the basics of AdWords.