iMarkcomm's Weblog

Changing your Twitter Account Name

Dec 1st, 2011 by JoanneD

Twitter. Image Source: Google Images.

When you need to rename your Twitter account for whatever reason, it can be done without losing your loyal followers.

You may need to make the switch due to a business name change, rebranding, merger, or for personal reasons, and in the past, the fact that was nearly impossible to change any social media username. Twitter has made it easy to make a username change.

This way, you do not need to create a new Twitter account. Instead, you can access your Account tab on your Twitter and from there, you can change your email address, security features as well as your username (provided it has not been already taken by someone else).

The Profile tab allows for pictures and bio updates and in this section, you should probably announce that you’ve changed your account usernames and that you will be still receiving replies and messages at the new username. Others who have changed their usernames typically don’t experience a loss of followers after the change, but it does take around a month for everyone to recognize the new person on their stream since the new username will show up instead. If the new name is a drastic change from the old username, perhaps it would be useful to make a few carefully staggered twitter comments throughout the first month acknowledging the change and how this will benefit the user.

After the initial confusion, the new username could help to build brand awareness for your business from name recognition. If it is an appropriate new username, it could even help to attract new followers who might not have noticed the business previously and this helps to build sales.

While any upheaval caused by a rebranding or renaming of a business or campaign takes a lot of effort and will still cause confusion, the end result should be worth it. After all, the username should be reflective and represent the business.

Tags: rebranding, social media, twitter

Posted in Social Media | Comments Off

Happy Black Friday!

Nov 25th, 2011 by JoanneD

Customers are increasing going online to find the best deals. According to the National Retail Federation, last year a total of $45 billion dollars were spent on the United State’s biggest shopping day of the year.

Social media is not playing a bigger role that ever before with the marketing of this year’s Black Friday, which takes place on November 25, 2011. “Black Friday” is a highly used search term advertising sales from yesterday night to Cyber Monday.

The popular socialmedia site Mashable has been keeping track of 270,000 tweets between September 26, 2011 to November 17, 2011 to find out where shoppers will be spending their hard earned money, what they will be purchasing and the general buzz surrounding the event. There is even an “official” site dedicated the bargains and promotions offered on the day.

In a recent study by Hall & Partners Group, a brand and communications research company, 69% of shoppers stated that they trust the Internet for information of products and services and 55% of shoppers state that they are less impulsive shoppers because of the internet since they invest the time price shop.

While the study showed that people are buying for themselves rather than for others on Black Friday, there are indications that shoppers will buy gifts for others in anticipation of the holiday season during Black Friday than during the holiday sales season.

Social media can help to understand how shoppers will react to promotions in advance of the actual sale so that retailers can adjust their strategies to create a shopping experience. In fact many shoppers will be shopping Black Friday online to avoid the long line ups and crowds and the study has confirmed that 69% of shoppers trust the internet for information and reviews of products and services.

Tags: Black Friday, Hall & Partners Group, Mashable, social media

Posted in Around the Web, Social Media, Social Media News | Comments Off

Is your business password-protected?

Nov 21st, 2011 by Arvin

Some people, even businesses, just can’t learn their lesson when it comes to password protection. For one, you can’t choose “password” as your password—you’re basically setting your business up for disaster by doing so! And don’t think you’re being clever by using “trustno1″, because that’s just as disastrous.

SplashData provides an annual list of the worst internet passwords, compiled by how common they area from a list of millions of hacked and stolen passwords online. The list doesn’t change much from year to year, but strangely enough, businesses and people don’t do anything to change them.

Here’s the list of the most common passwords you should avoid using:

1. password
2. 123456
3.12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football

Logically enough, in order for your accounts not to get hacked, you should veer away from these commonly hacked passwords, along with any variation of such. There are a few ways to secure your password:

1. Use unique generated passwords, not a centralized password for all your accounts.

2. Use password management tools that aren’t online. You can use a password-protected account or a safely guarded notebook.

3. Use multiple characters with a combination of letters and numbers.

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Social Media Optimization and Engagement for Businesses 101

Nov 13th, 2011 by Arvin

With most businesses having realized the value of being present online, they’re now asking how to make the most out of their web presence. Social media optimization (SMO) and engagement are two key factors that play a huge role in the social media game–two fields that are entirely different from each other, yet hugely complementary.

Knowing the SMO metrics

Social media optimization is more scientific and involves an in-depth understanding of identifying your audience and knowing how to interacting with them. The demographics of each social network is important in knowing where to create your account. If your business deals with professionals, there might not be a point in creating a Tumblr account where most users are young and inclined to music or fashion.

Another key factor in successful SMO is the timing, and knowing when and where to post the most controversial topics. If you post at a time when most of your audience are doing something else, then your post will most likely be buried underneath all the other posts of your audience’s social network.

Engaging your network

SMO is about luring people into your account and posts, but engagement is about building a loyal enough audience who will interact and spark interest among the users.

The first step to engagement is watching your content. It must be consistent to the brand, as if your audience is talking directly to the product or service. The tone also comes into play as you make sure that you are loyal to the company’s voice. Interest in your audience is also important. Genuinely getting to know your audience can take a while but by asking them questions and interacting with them are concrete steps by which such can be done.

There’s really no one way of engaging your audience. The ultimate goal, though, is to make sure that you create an organization of passionate and dedicated friends who are willing to further the vision and mission of the company.

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