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Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

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Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#11

Post by selcouth »

zazzle1234 wrote: post #8
selcouth wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eep, I am sorry for that. Yep, I am on of the founders of the site, but not the writer of the post. I was working on the site when we made an announcement about Trogger to some of our SFbeta attendees, and "found" that post from a few days ago and saw it hadn't gotten many informative responses. Was hoping people here could help me out - since I do twitter for our sfbeta event. Sorry to leave you with some nasty scab…

I think what you really wanted was to get people from HN on your site as a way to get users and possibly buzz. If all you wanted was to find out about how companies are using Twitter you could have posted an "Ask HN" asking just that question. If you want feedback about your startup you can post an "Ask HN" about that, too, but don't go pretending that you weren't just playing for traffic.

Actually, I didn't change the link (not sure how/who did, but that's fine) - and didn't know I could post "Ask HN" posts. Now that I know, I will in the future. (still not sure how to...but can figure it out now I know its possible)

Looking at most everything in the new section, they all link to outside links, so I thought that was required - like Digg. I restated the question here AND linked, so I could get responses here without the need for people to follow the link. Extra traffic to Trogger was a bonus, sure, but after SXSW and the hype of Twitter that continues there, I was curious.

Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#12

Post by zazzle1234 »

selcouth wrote: post #11
zazzle1234 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think what you really wanted was to get people from HN on your site as a way to get users and possibly buzz. If all you wanted was to find out about how companies are using Twitter you could have posted an "Ask HN" asking just that question. If you want feedback about your startup you can post an "Ask HN" about that, too, but don't go pretending that you weren't just playing for traffic.

Actually, I didn't change the link (not sure how/who did, but that's fine) - and didn't know I could post "Ask HN" posts. Now that I know, I will in the future. (still not sure how to...but can figure it out now I know its possible) Looking at most everything in the new section, they all link to outside links, so I thought that was required - like Digg. I restated the question here AND linked, so I could get response…

Yeah, I didn't realize only admins could change links, so I apologize for that.

Still, I'm not sure what your role at Trogger is, but if you're involved in marketing or promotional stuff you should understand why I and the other people who voted you down reacted the way we did.

Next time act in good faith. Ask the community directly and if you want to post a link to your own startup don't pretend that you "found it" on "some community site." Tell us up front that it's your startup and gosh HN is great and we'd love your feedback, etc.

Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#13

Post by darwinw »

I started to twitter a few weeks ago, and I was occasionaly posting links to promote my content, but when I check my google analytics, i hardly see any referal from twitter. So at the moment, i'm still unsure about how effective twitter is to my business.

Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#14

Post by johns »

darwinw wrote: post #13

I started to twitter a few weeks ago, and I was occasionaly posting links to promote my content, but when I check my google analytics, i hardly see any referal from twitter. So at the moment, i'm still unsure about how effective twitter is to my business.

A lot of people are using Twitter desktop or mobile clients which wouldn't pass a referrer. Have your direct accesses gone up?

Also, just posting links to promote your stuff is a really ineffective way to promote your stuff on Twitter. Twitter is about the conversations, not the broadcasts. Engage in some meaningful conversations related to what you're trying to promote and you'll see the benefits.

Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#15

Post by selcouth »

zazzle1234 wrote: post #12
selcouth wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I didn't change the link (not sure how/who did, but that's fine) - and didn't know I could post "Ask HN" posts. Now that I know, I will in the future. (still not sure how to...but can figure it out now I know its possible) Looking at most everything in the new section, they all link to outside links, so I thought that was required - like Digg. I restated the question here AND linked, so I could get response…

Yeah, I didn't realize only admins could change links, so I apologize for that. Still, I'm not sure what your role at Trogger is, but if you're involved in marketing or promotional stuff you should understand why I and the other people who voted you down reacted the way we did. Next time act in good faith. Ask the community directly and if you want to post a link to your own startup don't pretend that you "found it"…

Point definitely taken, and I will. I'll also definitely use the Ask HN feature now that I know it exists, since that is what my goal with that one was. I do think there is a really knowledgeable community here, that I'm working to learn from as I start to get into this field.

Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#17

Post by callmeed »

We've started posting announcements, conversation starters and small contests on our company twitter account (I've been doing it on my personal account a little longer).

It's still early, but I think it's a promising way to get the word out on stuff and start conversations. When we release new site designs or app features, it's another way (besides our blog) to get the word out.

Also, another strategy is to use the search feature and find people looking for product recommendations (this happens more than you think).

Search is also good for finding people who are frustrated with your customer service–or your competitor's.

Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#18

Post by Zev »

Not really a company, but an open source project I contribute to (there's also an App Store app, so it might qualify as a company, I suppose) has a twitter account that we use. We mostly have a few twitter searches for anyone having problems with the app (Colloquy) or looking for an IRC client on a platform we support to recommend to them. Occasionally we'll give out promo codes, either to bloggers or to anyone following us/twitter's public stream to use.

Note, for this, we don't use a bot — A. because traffic is low volume, only a few tweets every few days and B. (imo), bots that send send the same message to everyone regardless of what the query is, is obnoxious.

Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#19

Post by silencio »

auston wrote: post #4

My favorite of company twitter usage is from Kogi ( http://twitter.com/kogibbq ) - They use it to tell people where their Korean BBQ Taco trucks are around L.A.

I wish Alice (one of the people tweeting from that account) would stop capitalizing random letters in her sentences. Otherwise I agree, I love how they're using Twitter. It's really nice to see them update about delays and issues.

Re: Ask HN: How does Twitter help your company?

#20

Post by darwinw »

johns wrote: post #14
darwinw wrote: post #13

I started to twitter a few weeks ago, and I was occasionaly posting links to promote my content, but when I check my google analytics, i hardly see any referal from twitter. So at the moment, i'm still unsure about how effective twitter is to my business.

A lot of people are using Twitter desktop or mobile clients which wouldn't pass a referrer. Have your direct accesses gone up? Also, just posting links to promote your stuff is a really ineffective way to promote your stuff on Twitter. Twitter is about the conversations, not the broadcasts. Engage in some meaningful conversations related to what you're trying to promote and you'll see the benefits.

You made a good point, I saw increase in direct acesses but I need to find some ways to know that my effort spent on twitter produces that. Maybe url shortener like bit.ly can help in that regards.
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