Now that I have your attention, listen up.

The cool folks at Telus hooked me up with a red panda critter (thanks a lot ).  I got him just before our big California road trip (which we’re currently on).  He was so excited to come on the trip that he created a Twitter account to share some the experience.

The only problem is that his name is pretty boring – Telus Red Panda.

What’s my name?

That’s when Telus stepped up and offered up a prize to help name him.  They’re giving a brand new HTC One phone ($650 value) to the person who comes up with the coolest name.

How to enter

Entering the contest is a simple 2-step process:

1. Follow @TelusRedPanda on Twitter.
2. Tweet your suggestion for his new name using the #RedPandaName hash tag.

I’ll then pick the coolest name and Telus will ship out the brand new HTC One to the winner – it’s that easy.

Contest Rules

• Contest closes 12 PM (MST) on April 18, 2013.
• Up to 5 name suggestions per Twitter account.
• Must be following @TelusRedPanda to win the prize.

Scott Stratten (a.k.a @UnMarketing), has said numerous times that replies on Twitter are so important.  In a recent interview by Andy Beal, Scott said that his reply rate is 78%.  That means that 78% of his tweets are replies.  That’s crazy! Or is it?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve challenged myself to talk more with people, not to people.
It takes more effort than hitting retweet or tweeting out a link you like, but it’s worth it.

There are two (probably more) tangible benefits from replying more on Twitter:

Relationships/Ideas

Over the past few weeks I’ve had some great conversations with people: @RobWHuges, @MariSmith, @InfiniteWicked, @TrevorBoller, @ryzshm and @dezguy to name a few.  Through these conversations I’ve been able to help people out, learn new ideas and truly get to know people.  It’s been awesome.

This should always be the motivation as opposed to something more on the surface like increasing likes or promoting your business.  These will come naturally.

Increased Followers

The mere fact that you are replying to people changes the light that people see you in.  They see you as someone who is less about pushing their own wares and more as someone they can learn from.  As the increase in followers begins, it begins to snowball (as shown below).

The chart above was created using TwitterCounter.com and shows the follower trends (dark line) with the tweet trends (light line).  As you can see, my follower count seem quite stagnant for the last 2 months or so.  It isn’t until my tweets increased (which by the way includes an increase in replies), that my follower count has begun to grow dramatically.

In addition to replying more to people, I also shared thoughts from a webinar on February 21 that Scott Stratten delivered.  Sharing thoughts of an event (virtual or in-person) using the event’s hash tag, also greatly increases your exposure and opportunity to connect with new and interesting people on Twitter.

Increasing your follower count should not be a goal. It is a positive by-product of being intrinsically good on Twitter and using it what it was meant for – connecting people.

When I first saw this, I had the idea of writing a post about the downfalls of social media automation and what not to do (don’t get me wrong, I think social media automation should be done in small amounts and to compliment the main focus of your social media activities – human interactions), but my focus changed based on Fast Company’s response.

In less than an hour, Fast Company apologized for the error. In many cases, that’s where they story ends, but not for Fast Company.

Not only did Fast Company own up to their mistake by sending a global tweet apologizing, but they sent personal replies (including to myself). They even sent a direct message to me to apologize again.

When companies make mistakes on social media, it should be realized those affected are individuals and where possible, should apologize accordingly. That being said, it’s unlikely that organizations that have huge fan bases (Fast Company has over 675K Twitter followers) will be able to make the personal apologies, that’s what makes what Fast Company did so amazing.

Remember, when you screw-up globally (which any screw-up on social media is), apologize personally. Your fans will notice and appreciate it.

Thanks Fast Company for owning up, apologizing personally and turning a negative experience into a positive one.

A call-to-action tells people what to do by inviting them to make a decision.  The invitation won’t always be responded to positively, but if you don’t ask, you’ll never get a yes.

I’m still surprised how many Google Ads or other lead generation tactics like email marketing direct people to the company’s homepage or a regular page within the site.  This is especially the case with higher education.  While more and more institutions are using Google Ads and other online marketing, they are missing an important factor – the call-to-action.

The fact that a visitor responded to an online marketing tactic immediately qualifies them to hear more and take action.  Why then would you waste the click by taking them to a page without any focus or even an invitation?

The elements of a great call-to-action

A call-to-action doesn’t always have involve completing an inquiry form (although that is the most standard type).  It could also be downloading a PDF whitepaper, making a phone call, registering for an event, etc.  The main thing is that the call-to-action is measurable.

Regardless of the end result, there are a number of elements that make a great call-to-action:

• Urgency: Imposing a deadline to act will motivate those who may be sitting on the fence to act quickly.  Why do think every infomercial says something like, “if you order in the next 30 minutes, we’ll throw in a second set for free?”
• Proximity:  The call-to-action needs to be near the top of the page and without too much clutter surrounding it. There needs to be enough white space in order for the call-to-action to be clearly identified.
• Wording: There are words that are more active and promote action than others. For example, instead of ‘Learn More’ use ‘Request Your Information Package.’  Some ideas for action words include buy, register, call, book, subscribe, etc.

The best call-to-action will include all these elements.  Ultimately, the only way you’ll know if your call-to-action is working is to measure and test it.  Google Analytics has great new feature called Content Experiments that allows to test the success rate of different pages.

If you are not implementing high quality call-to-actions in your online marketing mix, you are wasting your money.

Please share what factors have you’ve noticed affected the success of your call-to-actions?

Over the years I’ve  interacted with Kyle and others through Twitter and even wrote a a guest blog post at .eduGuru.

Recently, I’ve been asked if I wanted to contribute on a more regular basis, which I was thrilled to accept (although time has been an issue).

Now to the point of the post – my next opportunity!

Next month I have the privilege of participating in the 3rd annual .eduGuru Summit.  I’ll be sharing thoughts about establishing a social media program at your institution- which is more than just a content schedule.

I know from first-hand experience that the this is going to be a stellar event, and the best thing is you can access from anywhere.

I’m super excited to be a part of this event and huge thanks to Kyle for considering me and for the power of social media in strengthening professional relationships – despite the geographic distance!

Register now and Save!

If you want to go sign up now be sure to use the following code to get a 20% discount off any ticket: 20DOTEDUGURU