When I started using Twitter back in 2009, there were many strategies to manage the size of your account.

Some teaches you to not follow your followers. It seems that having many followers while following as little people as possible reflects authority.

“Twitter Gurus” were even preaching that we should follow as many people as possible and then unfollowing them once they become your followers.

But some say that to follow your followers is a form of courtesy.

In the end, I felt that the first strategy wasn’t fit for me and I had decided to go with following my followers.

As a result of that, I was often criticized for following over 130,000 people on Twitter. People are always asking me if I can follow conversations of 130,000 people. Truth is, I can’t. And I don’t.

Question is: Why do I follow so many people?

1. I don’t know anyone on twitter

I didn’t know anyone when I started back in 2009, and no one knew who I was. I was one of the first among my friends to join Twitter.

Since I didn’t know anyone, I initially followed less than 100 people, and had approximately the same amount of followers as well.

I didn’t know what to do with my account, but one fine day, someone responded to one of my tweets about posting a new blog post. He wasn’t someone I knew or someone that knew me. He was a stranger.

That conversation was what made me fall in love with Twitter since 2009. I was able to connect with someone without any boundaries. That was when I knew I had to connect with more people.

2. Accessibility

I wanted to give people access to reach me whenever they feel like. I did end up following a lot of spammers, which was damaging my Twitter stream. I had to slowly remove them and thankfully it worked.

These days, anyone can simply reach, ask questions, or talk to me through direct messages on Twitter. So although I don’t keep tabs on all 130,000 people that I follow, at the very least they can keep tabs on me at any one time.

3. It takes two to connect

I always felt a “follow” was like a business card, you should exchange it with one another. Having said so, this theory works well only when those people that you’re ‘exchanging’ with don’t use your email to spam you.

I always felt that it takes two to connect. When someone shares an interest to what I have to say and is following me, I need to follow them. Since they took the time to introduce themselves to me, I’ll introduce myself to them. It’s common courtesy.

I did try to not follow people back although they have engaged with me and they decided to unfollow because when they reach a point, they had to unfollow those who did not follow back.

4.  Random encounters 

For some reason I believe in random meetings and chance encounters.

Once, someone who was my follower, and whom I was following, sent me a DM because he saw my tweets about attending a conference. However, we haven’t even spoken to each other on Twitter before the direct message that he sent. So he was a complete stranger to me. It turns out that he was also attending the same conference.

We met up over drinks during the conference and had a great chat. We still talk till today.

5. I wanted the numbers. 

Starting and seeing how others had huge followers, I was going after the numbers too.

Believe it, people do judge the amount of followers you have. Just like how people are looking at klout score too. Scary huh?

Following my followers has helped me to know great minds in business too.

Since I follow people and people follow me back, I am lucky to have the opportunity to connect with so many of them both directly (tweets, DMs) and indirectly (RTs, Comments on my blog). This two-way connection is much more accessible for my followers and to the people that I am following.

I’ve even connected with many them further on other social networks as well.

Having said so, what might have worked for me might not work for you. You don’t really need to follow 130,000 people on Twitter. Do what you think is best for YOU and experiment with what you have in mind.

photo credits: by MShades, Horia Varlan

One of my followers pointed me to ModCloth, an online women’s clothing and accessories company. ModCloth focuses on independent and vintage-inspired fashion founded by two sweethearts from their college dorm room.

Since then I’ve had my eyes on them. ModCloth, in my opinion, ticks all the boxes as to what it truly means to be a social business and they are a great example for every brand to learn from.

The key to being successful on social media isn’t about tweeting or updating Facebook statuses, it’s about giving an immaculate customer service, adding value and building a great community, ModCloth does all that and MORE.

1. FACEBOOK

With over 500,000 likes on Facebook, ModCloth shares a mixture of status updates such as elegant photos, memorable quotes, personal videos from their Youtube channel, and engaging questions. They have built an amazing and engaging community through constantly asking interesting questions that invokes participation.

They also have a dedicated album that shares photos from their customers. These photos are also posted on their wall to share with everyone else.

2. TWITTER

With over 80,000 followers, you would expect them to link their Twitter account to their main home page, after all, sales are important right?

ModCloth doesn’t link their Twitter account directly to their home page, but instead it is linked to their ‘Social Butterflies’ page. It is a page dedicated to giving users more information about their team behind the Twitter account, blog, and other social media profiles.

Another thing that WOW-ed me about this company is that they read every conversation on Twitter and respond to them too.

They not only thank people who say good things about them, but they also respond to people who don’t tweet to ModCloth directly. When you talk about engagement, this is definitely one of the most complete examples out there.

A couple of days ago, one Twitter user posted on her feed saying that she loves the ModCloth top that she bought but she doesn’t know what to pair it with. 20 minutes later, @ModCloth responded to her tweet directing her to their ‘ModStylist’.

Users are also able to make one-on-one style consultation with their stylist and it is FREE. Problem solved plus engagement 101 plus making new friends on Twitter. It is genuinely hard to find a reason NOT to engage with ModCloth.

3. REWARDS

Rewards are not only a great way to build customer loyalty; it’s a great way to build buzz and engagement on social media. ‘Name it and win it’ is one of a few contests that ModCloth launches. Customers are given the opportunity to name up to three names for their new featured product.

Each day, ModCloth will take the contest to different social platforms and customers will need to go to those platforms to join the contest. This great marketing idea helps spread the contest further and their brand across those platforms. It’s a great tip to build user-connectivity among all your social media accounts.

4. CROWDSOURCING 

Like ThreadLess, another great clothing line currently doing well on social media, ModCloth embraces crowdsourcing through a similar voting concept. What’s great about this voting concept is that it embraces user empowerment to ultimately allow those users to participate as the key decision-makers within the ModCloth production line.

‘Be the Buyer’ allows users to vote and comment about what they like/dislike about their upcoming products. Through those votes, the prototype designs will be produced if they receive enough votes from the people.

If the product that they like is chosen, ModCloth will send an email notification letting them know that the product is available. Comments that users give will also be taken to improve their future designs.

5. YOUTUBE

There are over 4,100 subscribers and nearly one million views on their YouTube channel, so clearly they are able to transfer their customer service charms through videos as well.

ModCloth uses the channel to educate potential customers by giving them make-up tips, vintage style hair tips, useful DIYs, funky interviews, and the always interesting behind-the-scenes videos.

These videos help ModCloth reach their target market and convert video watchers into evangelists and customers.

6. PINTEREST

ModCloth doesn’t directly share photos of their product there, instead they pin beautiful photos from a variety of sources online that fits with their target market, from hair tutorials, arts and crafts, creative decorations, to home-made recipes.

ModCloth also have a ‘Guest Pinner Gallery’, a user-generated Pinterest board that allows users to be a guest and share photos on ModCloth board.

7. INSTAGRAM

If you haven’t realized by now, let me just clarify that ModCloth is EVERYWHERE. They are on Instagram too and doing extremely well with a further 41,000 followers there. Like on Facebook, ModCloth shares elegant photos, behind the scene photos, and oh, their mascot too!

I think it all comes down to the fact that ModCloth took social platforms, found the strength of each of these platforms, adapted and specialized certain features of their company in each of them, and finally connected all of these platforms together to build a massive office suite. If you ask me where their business is based, I wouldn’t say that they are mostly active on Twitter or Facebook, but instead I’ll simply say that they are online. 

Because they truly are online.

What do you think?

Although the medium keeps changing, the value remains the same. Take care of your customers, and they will take care of you. ModCloth does that extremely well.

This post was also published on iStrategy Conference blog where I contribute on a weekly basis. Subscribe over there for more great blog post.

A laptop is one of the most vital pieces of technology. Get yourself one! Why? Because you deserve it.

I used to love my desktop. I had a laptop too, but I prefer my desktop because it feels good to have something anchored and unmoving. I’ve since migrated to love laptops due to my work schedule.

Recently, I was approached by Toshiba to be part of their influencer program and test their Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook. I never really knew how good it was until I really used it. Today, everyone in my family loves it and has been using it.

If you’re in search for a good laptop in need for work, entertainment, fun, and good portability, why not consider this?

With a 1.8Ghz Intel Core i7 processor with a total of 6 DDR3 GB RAM, this computer provides you with excellent power and not to mention 128GB space. They say good things come in small packages and with the Z830 Ultrabook being the lightest 13” Ultrabook around, it certainly do.

Here is a couple of reasons why you should get yourself a portable computer, mine is ideally towards the Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook, here is why.

 1. It’s light and easy to bring around

My Portégé Z830 Ultrabook is only 1.12kg and anyone can bring it around. It fits the ladies too. My girlfriend LOVES it. Whenever she travels, she prefers to bring the Ultrabook around instead of hers.

It has a great boot up speed too, starting only at 2 seconds. So it’s perfect for those ‘on-the-go’ and it fits all travel companions.

2. You just never know when you need a laptop. 

I have travelled without my computer before and I regretted it. A portable computer helps you increase your productivity and manage your time properly.

3. Good battery life. 

The Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook is proven to last up to 8 hours. I have personally used it on a single-charged battery and it definitely could last that long. No more looking for an electric port in your local Starbucks.

4. I could write more.

Sometimes because I want a new environment, I bring my computer everywhere and that helps me to increase my writing frequency. I am blogging nearly every day now, sometimes even 2-3 blog posts a day.

5. Slim

This provides an easy method of transporting it by fitting it into your bag, briefcase or handbag like my girlfriend does. It fits nearly everywhere imaginable and it screams at you if you don’t bring it around (kidding).

Image taken from Toshiba influencer Beatrice Tan

If you’re looking for a portable computer that is not only light but comes well-equipped, this is my choice. Although many people recommend the iPad, I think due to the technological differences and functionality, I believe the Portégé Z830 Ultrabook has some strong advantages to match or even surpass other technologies.

What do you think? Love to hear your thoughts on this.

“This post is brought to you by Toshiba and Intel. Join the conversation on the Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook, Inspired by Intel at www.facebook.com/ToshibaNotebookPC.”

That is what Acura (or whoever is behind the account) about to learn as they “spammed” the wrong person, David Meerman Scott author of several marketing books like Real Time Marketing and PR. (great book and this is not an affilate link)

Oh.. I think its going into his book in the future too.

What happened? Well lets say they have not read any of my memo on personalizing tweets and they took the easy way out by using a tool called Local Response, a tool that helps clients to send tweets or @mentions to people in real time based on checkins, hashtags/keywords etc.

Also, they have forgotten to read a short line from Local Response which recommends clients to:

Continue the conversation when you get responses, even negative ones. People just want to know you’re involved.

What Acura did was send mass tweets or similar tweets to whoever was tweeting using the hashtag #jassfest2012 to let them know about the their VIP area.

Here is a screen shot.

Don’t get me wrong. I think automation CAN work on twitter, that is why I wrote about how KLM was automating twitter.

However this is different and I feel Acura have clearly missed a HUGE opportunity by automating this process as people thought they were genuinely getting a personal tweet from the brand.

I’m not saying it doesn’t work though. I am sure it works as one of the case studies on the Local Response page showed that they receive an average of 22% click through rate.

Probably due to people thinking they were getting personal tweets. I could be wrong.

Having said that I wonder what people will think when they found out that it was automated? Will you get pissed when you find out the tweet you thought was for YOU was sent to everyone else on twitter too?

Love to hear your thoughts.

Other than the Smartphone, the laptop is the second most versatile piece of technology that exists today. With the ever-growing range of portable computers that allow business owners to bring their work where ever they are, we tend to forget that the laptop is an amazing technological feat.

The best thing about my work is that I am able to work as long as I have a computer and a stable internet connection. In fact, I don’t need an office. Most of the time I am either working on my desk in my bed room or elsewhere.

Here are my favourite places to blog/work from:

1. My room/desk

This is the place I get most of my blog posts done most of the time. I love writing at wee hours in the morning because I love my surroundings to be quiet so that I can focus on writing.

I love music but I find music distracting for some reason.

On my desk there are two laptops. My Macbook Pro and my Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook. The reason so is because I share my computer with my family members or girlfriend when she visits.

2. My bed 

There is also my bed, where I am able to just relax and write something more relaxing such as this.

Most nights, I’ll just lie on my bed and just write, write, and write. I usually prefer the Toshiba Portege z830 Ultrabook for this as I can conveniently toss and turn while I write. Since its weight is a mere 1.12 kg, I can do this without much hassle. Not to mention it can withstand 90-100 kg of pressure, so I don’t need to worry about accidentally falling asleep on it.

3. Hotels

I used to travel quite often with my girlfriend for work, for some reason I love blogging in the hotel room. I can just sit there and write when I feel inspired to write. Perhaps its the new surroundings?

4. Cafes

Image right: Jim Franco

Sometimes to get a different surrounding, I’ll visit my local Starbucks on weekdays (because its quiet) and start writing. I find that when I have different surroundings, it helps to stimulate some brilliant ideas that I would otherwise leave untapped.

I’ll get a cup of coffee (my companion whenever I write a blog post) and I’ll just write the whole day away. Most people think I’m a college student slaving away on my essays, but to tell you the truth, I’ve never done a single essay in a Starbucks before cos’ no amount of coffee in the world can soften that pain.

When I go out of my house or travel, I find myself picking my Toshiba Portege Z830 because it is portable (remember 1.12 kg) and functional. Its got a generous amount of USB ports, a great battery life (7-8 hours), and a powerful Intel Core i7 processor. So really it covers all my needs and then some.

Other than this, I also have blogged in a moving bus, on the plane (great place to blog), on a ferry (Yes we still have that).

Where do you spend most of your time blogging? Where do you enjoy blogging from?

“This post is brought to you by Toshiba and Intel. Join the conversation on the Toshiba Portégé Z830 Ultrabook, Inspired by Intel at www.facebook.com/ToshibaNotebookPC.”

A Twitter contest is a great way to not only generate buzz for your brand but also to grow your followers whom are interested in what you have to offer.

A Twitter contest is pretty straight forward. Ideally, you get people to share tweets with their followers in return for a chance to win a prize.

Before you launch a twitter contest, here are the four must-haves in your Twitter contest

1. Great Prizes

You don’t have to give away an iPad because its ‘hot’. Instead, give something that relates with your customers and something that your customers really WANT (besides an iPad).

It’s best to give away a couple of prizes rather than one big prize, that way it will give participants more incentive to join. It will also help you to increase participation. You can even schedule it daily, so even if a user doesn’t win today, they will try their luck again tomorrow.

If you don’t have the budget, alternatively, you can approach potential sponsors. That way you’ll be able to give away better prizes, and you can use your contest as a branding/marketing platform for your sponsors.

2. Rules

Like every contest, you will need rules! You will need to outline the contest terms and conditions, time frame of the contest, eligibility, and how the winners will be chosen.

You will also need to make sure that your contest meets legal requirements in your country.

You should read the guidelines for contests on Twitter. Twitter discourages users to keep retweeting the same messages. What you could do is ask users to write their own tweets and share them.

3. Generate pre buzz

You will need a plan beforehand. The idea of a contest is great, but you will need to create some buzz prior to the launch to get people know that there is actually a contest coming up. Pre-buzz helps in participation because people are already expecting the contest to happen.

Ideally you will need to use social media to start conversations with targeted followers before the contest launches.

You may also need to reach out to bloggers to help spread the contest. One important thing to note is to have a personalized email to every blogger.

4. Landing Page

A landing page is important, it will help you to explain the details of the contest such as rules, conditions, prizes/rewards, time frame of the contest, how users can join, how winners will be notified, and so on.

The Binkd Twitter contest app is a free application that helps you to create a branded contest page easily and ease the work for you.

With the application you’ll be able to create a contest in minutes. You don’t need to worry about the share button as it already comes installed for you. You can also set a hashtags (to track) when people shares from the application too.

Did I mention the Binkd Twitter contest application is FREE?

In my future post, I’ll write a step by step guide on setting up a twitter contest using Binkd.

What do you think? What other tips would you give to those who are considering running a Twitter contest?

Photo credits: getty image: photodisc

“You don’t have to want to be a writer. You are a writer. You just need to write.” – Jeff Goins

I was lucky enough to be one of the first 50 people who had the opportunity to read Jeff Goins, “You Are  A Writer” book a week before it was released to the public (it’s out now).

If you don’t know who Jeff Goins is, I recommend that you take a look at his blog. I stumbled onto Jeff’s blog a couple of months back and I have been an avid reader ever since.

His writing caught my attention the first time I read one of his posts.  Jeff is an excellent writer who is able to connect and resonate with his readers. Every blog post that he wrote has an amazing lesson and many other takeaways.

So I was thrilled when I had the opportunity to read his book over the weekend. Although I had one of those tough weekends, I managed to finish his book in one sitting. I couldn’t stop reading his book because it is a captivating page-turner and I connected with it from the first paragraph itself.

In this book, Jeff starts off by sharing his personal journey on how he started to be a writer. It resonated with me because I have never considered myself as a writer, but Jeff clearly believes that we are all writers and that we shouldn’t be afraid to write what we know.

Every chapter you read has a personal story behind it too. You get the feeling that the book not only helps you connect with yourself but also lets you know a little better of what a writer really is. Jeff’s personal stories makes it that much more realistic.

In this book, you will also discover

• How to get STARTED and WHERE to start
• How to create a brand and make yourself memorable.
• How to build an audience and grow an audience

I highly recommend ‘You are a writer’ for all the writers out there who are still struggling to call themselves a writer or struggling to start this route. For those who have not found their voice, this is the book for YOU.

I believe if you read his book and you start taking action like what Jeff does every day, you’ll become the amazing writer that you’ve always dreamt of. At the end of the day, you’ll be able to say that YOU are a writer.

If you do anything long enough, it becomes habitual. – Jeff Goins

I remember attending my first social media conference back in December 2010. Days before the conference, I had butterflies in my stomach because I’ve not been to ANY conferences at all. I imagined so many weird scenarios happening in my head.

The worst part is, I made a huge mistake by not having enough business cards with me during the conference. It wasn’t a pleasant experience getting a card and not giving one in return.

Well, luckily I’ve managed to keep in touch with a couple of people whom I met back then. Right Zilkry?

photo credit: Moo

After that, I learned my lesson and I always have spare business cards in my wallet at all times.

So to those of you who is always looking for a good business card, I have some good news for you!

I am delighted to announce that Moo.com will provide us with prizes for 3 lucky readers in an EXCLUSIVE giveaway only on this blog. 

Moo? Who? What?

If you have not heard Moo.com before, they print business cards online, however they also have a wide range of postcards, minicards (which I am about to get), greeting cards, and many more.

You can upload your own images or any artwork to create your card, but if you don’t have an eye for design (like me), you can pick from designer business card templates and personalize it with your own details.

Competition Prizes

• 3 sets of 100 Classic Business Cards for 3 separate winners.

Duration

Giveaway ends on the 2nd of May 2012.

How to Enter:

To stand a chance to win one of the three Moo.com prizes, all you have to do is post a comment below (that easy!) and tell us: 

How do you get your business card to stand out from the others?

We’re looking for fun, creative, and unique answers. If you can make us laugh, you’re one step closer to walking away with some free business cards. It’s that simple.

Winners will be chosen from the comment below, so do enter a valid email address so that I can reach you.

I’m sure you’ll fall in love with the quality of their cards and you’ll be able to impress people with your brand new business card.

Good luck! Comment away!

Oh noo… google+ is dead!

Or is it really?

Recently Stuart Duncan, my favourite G+ user, shared his two cents on why people felt Google+ is dead.

It made PERFECT sense.

Image credit: Getty Image: quavondo

On his G+ status which had been shared more than 270 times. He said:

1. Go to Twitter.com from a fresh browser, ie, not logged in.

2. Sign up for a new account, name it anything you like.

3. Without following anyone, sit and view your stream for a little while. An hour or two should do.

4. Return in a month, view your stream. Does it still look like it did a month ago?

5. Write an article on how no one uses Twitter, it’s a ghost town and a complete failure.” 

What he said got me reflect my current strategy on Google plus and how much time I have been spending on it.

• I wasn’t spending time on it at all. I’ll login, spend a few minutes here and there and leave. I find it tough to “stick” to it. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.

According to ComScore, the average users were spending 3 minutes on Google Plus and nearly 7 hours on Facebook a MONTH.

• I don’t share much at all, usually photos or status updates here and there.
• I didn’t have a strategy. (mistake I made when I was on twitter too)

So after giving it another try and of course spending more time on google plus.

Here are my thoughts

1. Its beginning to win me over. I had one status which generated over 400 +1’s and 200 shares.
2. Some of my post gets better visibility and engagement than Facebook. That is because my network on Google+ is more targeted while my Facebook is more towards friends and acquaintances. Whenever I share something more personal, it has better engagement.
3. I like the conversation on Google plus because I it definitely brings a deeper conversation than twitter just like so many mentioned.
4. I still like how straight forward twitter is compared to G+, whenever I tweet someone, its for that person.

I’m not saying I adore it so much that I would give up Facebook or twitter, or would share the world how amazing twitter, facebook or google plus is.

I’m just saying, it works if you spend time and effort on it, just like every social networking sites.

What do you think?

This post was originally published on iStrategy Conference where I contribute on a weekly basis. Check their blog for more marketing tips from experts around the world. 

Yup, we’ve talked about it. Facebook has finally turned all of our Facebook pages into the latest timeline format. If you have not read much about the timeline yet, I would recommend that you read some of our previous posts on this topic. One of them includes what you need to know about the cover.

Furthermore, because the timeline takes up such a huge ‘retail’ space, getting a timeline that stands out for your brand is crucial.

Here are some of my favorites so far.

1. Livestrong

In my opinion, Livestrong’s cover ticks what a cover photo should be. It’s simple, yet it has great branding.

I love how the cover photo connects with the Facebook tab too.

2. Pretzel Crisps

This is one of my favorite snacks. Everyone loves pretzels. Who wouldn’t? Pretzel Crisps’ cover shows the versatility of their snack by putting a picture that shows different ways of eating them. It’s catchy, but it’s also informational. Thumbs up from me.

3. Photoshelter 

Talk about having a FACE for your social profile. Photoshelter has tons of them. This definitely made them look much more ‘social’, and more importantly, much more human.

4. KLM

One of the leaders on social media, KLM isn’t afraid of hearing what their customers have to say. It’s a great picture that encourages their customers to converse. By doing that, KLM shows how important their customers’ feedbacks are to them.

5. Angry Birds

No one can get enough of Angry Birds. Angry Birds’ Facebook cover is a great strategy to brand their new Angry Birds Space installment. And the adventure continues.

6. Starbucks

7. Dr Pepper

If you look closely, you’ll be able to see avatars of Facebook users made into this canvas. It’s a pretty neat idea and shows just how popular their brand is.

However there is no information about the cover, even if you were to click on it.

In my honest opinion, they would have made a bigger impact by thanking their fans for their support instead of uploading another picture of their brand.

8. Levi’s

Levi’s chose a simple message to be displayed on their cover photo. Instead of going for their products, Levi’s simply decided that the message stands above the rest. It’s a great message, no doubt about that, but it could use a little ‘corporate’ branding help to make it outstanding.

Nonetheless, kudos to Levi’s for taking the road less travelled, and therefore deservedly being on my top 10 list.

9. H&M

In order to raise awareness about their campaign against AIDS, H&M has an interesting Facebook cover which helps to raise awareness about their cause. It is another example of an age-old marketing strategy being adapted well on to the shores of social media. It’s a pretty bold cover photo with a very strong cause behind the message. It definitely gets your attention, doesn’t it?

10. Dunkin’ Donuts

Is it true that all cops love Donuts? Well, I love Donuts too!

Another thing I love about Dunkin Donuts? THIS! I love how they are thanking and showing their fans some love. Sincerity at its best and definitely makes their fans feel appreciated.

What’s your favourite and what did I miss? Share your thoughts below.