From the category archives:

Twitter

Tracking A Tweet

Why track your tweet you may ask? Well, for many reasons. Besides @replies to your tweet how do you know if your Twitter followers are finding your links and information of value? Social Media is about 2 way conversations, information sharing – it’s not about shouting into an empty room or standing on a soapbox – which is what you’re doing if people aren’t reading your tweets, clicking your links or finding the information you provide valuable – or at the very least mildly interesting. Also, it takes time to share that information – so if you’re sharing the wrong information or information that your followers don’t think is relevant it would most likely be a better use of your time to share different information or resources.

The most basic way to track your tweets is by doing a search for your tweet or subject on Google or Twitter Search.

Or – you could use a new tool that combines these two into a powerful search engine called Twoquick

A more focused twitter search/tracking method could be had by adding a meme or hashtag to a specific keyword. hashtags.org provides real-time tracking of Twitter hashtags. Opt-in by following @hashtagsto have your hashtags tracked.

Budurl offers a free service to shrink and track your shortened link. Budurl allows you to see referrers, click charts, and more. You can create multiple BudURLs that point to the same destination so you can tell which source generates the best ROI. This allows you to see which cities, states, and countries drive your traffic. Their basic service is free and their dashboard is pretty intuitive.

PeashootApp offers to shrink and track your shortened link but also allows you to set goals for your campaign. Like Budurl it allows tracking and a personalized dashboard. It’s good that it sets goals for measurement but the coolest option was just added. It now also lets you build an audience around a particular keyword or theme. In essence:

Peashoot’s Audience Builder automatically follows people on Twitter who are relevant to you or your company. Over a matter of days Peashoot can increase your total audience size giving you more people to connect with and help spread the word about you or your company.

Both Budurl and PeashootApp offer paid monthly plans and free trials.

Do you currently track your tweets and if so have you changed the nature of what you tweet based on the measurement stats you’ve received?

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Social Media Expert (Your Name Here)

The term “Social Media Expert” is bandied about so much these days you have to wonder what is a Social Media Expert – and what qualifies one to be labeled as such – and further if everyone is a Social Media Expert – maybe it’s a title that’s lost it’s meaning or value, since everyone can’t all be Social Media Experts can they?

The devaluation of this term has been discussed in other blogs, most notably on the article in Open Wire called “You’re NOT a Social Media Expert, you idiot” where the author Joel Mackey sets new definition criteria for determining what truly makes one a Social Media Expert.

Joel defines 5 categories of true Social Media Experts:

Authority Experts – Those who are able to transition their thought leadership from another arena to Social Media. His examples include : @joelcomm, @guykawasaki, @jimmyfallon, @aplusk
The Power User Expert – Someone whose gotten to the top of one social media platform and sets their sites on another. Usually are early adopters: @zaibatsu, @mrbabyman @LouieBaur @stejules
Content Creation Social Media Experts: Those who report on trends and current themes are are able to disseminate that information effectively across the internet and social media platforms. @murnahan, @mayhemstudios, @jessenewhart, @szetela, @fantomaster
Natural Social Media Experts: Social People who are great connectors online : @AlohaArleen, @BuzzEdition, @MariSmith
Social Media Salesmen: Internet Marketers putting out a one way content stream: (you can visit the original article for his examples)

Just like being canonized as a saint, elected class president, or named People Magazine’s sexiest man of the year – I don’t think Social Media Expert is actually a label one can apply to themselves. Rather it’s a label that’s applied given or more rightly earned by sharing your passion for social media, showing innovation and thought leadership. Being creative with your social media usage and in the most social sense – open and sharing with your information, insights and ultimately results.

Results not in the sense of pay-per-click marketing of click-through rates, impressions and user views. But rather, measured in the quality of the 2 way communication, comments, replies and overall engagement of both the expert and the audience.

It’s the user community that grows around these individuals – those of us who read their blogs, subscribe to the feeds, link to them and generally subscribe to their thought stream and appreciate their viewpoint.

In Sept 2008 (which feels like eons ago in internet time/space) ReadWriteWeb identified these 7 Social Media Consultants that Deliver Tangible Value – I think these serve as an excellent example of who some of the true experts or thought leaders are.

Chris Brogan
Jeremiah Owyang
Charlene Li
Dawn Foster
Dosh Dosh
Gary Vaynerchuck
Nancy White

I guess the next question is – what should we call them? Since we collectively are the ones who are responsible for the number of Twitter Followers, Technorati Authority and Google Page Rank – we should come up with a title to bestow upon these social media luminaries of the moment. If the title “Social Media Expert” has been worn out by the hordes of them suddenly around – do we come up with a new name, or put them in categories that define exactly what type of expert. So let’s hear it – what do you think true social media experts should be called?

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