Coca-Cola Racing Invites You To A Twitter Viewing Party

Social media brings fans together. It makes events more rewarding for those who are in attendance or watching at home. Since I am not at Daytona International Speedway, this weekend I’m watching the Coke Zero 400 at a NASCAR Hall of Fame viewing party in Charlotte, NC. My friends at Coca-Cola Racing are inviting all NASCAR fans to join in the fun by throwing our own viewing parties to see how real NASCAR fans watch a race.

Before and during the race tomorrow, tweet @CocaColaRacing live videos and photos of your #NASCAR viewing party using the #MYCOKERACE hashtag. Coca-Cola Racing is giving away a special race day prize pack to one of my followers which may include: a Coca-Cola branded Grandstands Cooler, a Coca-Cola branded Recycling Koozie to keep your drink chilled, and a Coca-Cola Racing cap!

In order to be considered for this giveaway, follow these steps:
1.  Follow @CocaColaRacing on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cocacolaracing.

2.  Tweet a photo of you watching the #CokeZero400 #NASCAR race with the hashtag #MYCOKERACE.

Make it a race day to remember!

Update on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 6:40PM by Jenny DeVaughn

Watching the Daytona 500 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame had a lot of benefits. For less than the cost of parking at a race, you get a comfy seat, air conditioning, food/drinks at decent prices, a 60 foot screen, no commercials, one free iRacing simulator ride, and a scanner. Plus, you are surrounded by other NASCAR fans too.

The Coke Zero 400 proved to be an exciting race too. You can always follow Coca-Cola Racing on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cocacolaracing. One disclaimer: the prize was provided and may be shipped to the winner by Coca-Cola, but Coca-Cola is not a sponsor, administrator, or involved in any other way with this giveaway. All opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of The Coca-Cola Company.

The Most Influential NASCAR Related Twitter Accounts

There are over 13,000 Twitter accounts with bios that contain the word, NASCAR. Over the past few years, we've seen an increase in NASCAR accounts from drivers, drivers’ loved ones, spotters, media professionals, fans, crew chiefs, pit crewmembers, racetracks, sponsors and fans.

Inanimate objects accounts are on Twitter for race-related items like The Orange Cone. There are also a handful of fake parody accounts featuring NASCAR executives, drivers and even their beards.

According to Klout, here are the most influential NASCAR related Twitter accounts and their bios for the past 90 days:

1. @NASCAR - Official news and information on races, drivers, teams and industry events

2. @KevinHarvick - Driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing

3. @mw55 – (Michael Waltrip) – NASCAR fan

4. @DennyHamlin - Driver of the #11 FedEx Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

5. @RyanNewman39 - NASCAR driver of the #39 US Army/Haas Automation/Tornados Chevrolet

6. @KaseyKahne - Race Car Driver

7. @Kenny_Wallace - The OFFICIAL Kenny Wallace Twitter Page

8. @Elliott_Sadler - Racer. Hunter. Golfer. Softball Player. Proud Dad

9. @jpmontoya – (Juan Pablo Montoya) - Colombian car racer. Currently racing NASCAR, Former F1, IndyCar, Daytona 24, FIA F3000, Indy 500 winner/champ.

10. @BrianLVickers – Never Give Up

You may get an update on this list by visiting Klout at http://klout.com/#/topic/nascar.  The Klout score measures influence based on your ability to drive action. This list was created by Klout to determine online influence over a specific topic, NASCAR. Klout judges quality of content by the reactions it produces, not if the reaction is negative or positive. Some of the accounts above may create more negative, than positive responses with their tweets.

Please note, a Klout score is a single social media metric and may drastically change once the season starts or other NASCAR notables start tweeting. Notice that the Twitter accounts with the most followers, does not necessarily mean that they have the most influence online or offline.

Checkers or Wreckers: NASCAR Driver, Brad @Keselowski's Twitter Press Conference #TPC

When I arrive at the race track, my heart beats faster and I can't wait for the engines to start. Tonight I was excited to attend the first Twitter press conference coordinated by Brad Keselowski. For those of you who aren't familiar with NASCAR or the Nationwide races yet, Brad grew up in a racing family and is a respected driver for Penske Racing. He joined Twitter in May of 2009.

In a green-white-checker finish, on-air racing personalities often mention that it is either checkers (you win) or wreckers (you wreck and lose).

Here are some good and not so great moments of tonight's Twitter Press Conference:

Wreckers:
Brad started the press conference using the web application of Twitter. There isn't anyone who monitors an active social media presence that would have recommended it. There are too many tweets to follow and you miss out on finding out who the real influencers are by not using a more robust social media tool. During the chat, Brad switched to Twitter for iPad and still missed out on some opportunities to maximize his time during the chat session.

Checkers:
The concept was like other Twitter chats, except that Penske Racing set up guidelines for the media to be able to ask him questions directly first. Fans were encouraged to tweet to any media member about specific questions that they had. Brad also introduced each media person that he took questions from to the fans. I liked this aspect, because it brought a level of professionalism to the chat.

Wreckers:
Active Twitter fans are used to a fast-paced chat session. When Brad tweeted answers or comments during the chat, he usually didn't use the pre-determined #TPC hashtag. He would also just reply directly to a person. If you weren't following that person, you may have missed the tweet too. This made it difficult for fans to follow the tweets. It also made it seem at first as if Brad wasn't participating or answering any questions from the media.

Checkers:
Brad was extremely transparent about any question that he chose to answer from the media. My favorite question was asked by Bob Pockrass with SceneDaily.com: If you win at the Brickyard, how long does your kiss of bricks last and how long before you wash your lips? This translates well with his target audience. By genuinely connecting with the media and his fans, the #TPC tweets reached 134,996 people during the most active part of the chat session.

Based on Brad's work ethic, I know that his next Twitter Press Conference will be faster with even better results.

Update on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 11:01PM by Jenny DeVaughn

Brad was kind enough to retweet my post and thank me for the feedback.

Infographic: Awesome Twitter Facts and Stats

Awesome Twitter Facts & Stats by Tech King

Profitable Silver Linings in This Recession Cloud

When you work in the recruiting industry during a recession, one benefit is having additional time for other activities that you normally wouldn’t be able to add to your workload. I found these silver linings during 2009:

1. Twitter
   I’m continually amazed at how 140 characters can impact your life, brand and career. This communication tool allowed me to extend my network nationally, discover breaking news and share best practices with leaders in multiple industries. I’m grateful for the variety of relationships and knowledge that I have gained.
   
   
2. Local Professional Organizations
   Being a volunteer within SHRM-Atlanta, NAAAP Atlanta, TAG Recruiting Society, ProWIN and other local professional associations gave me the chance to aid other colleagues who were in difficult career transitions. I found myself trying to motivate others to find their true passions in life. In turn, I was truly inspired.
   
   
3. Conferences
   By taking the time to travel to attend and speak at several conferences this year, I gained experiences that I couldn’t get from working at my desk or from a laptop. I met many new virtual friends in person, created innovative ventures and felt the collective support from others who were also working diligently to prosper in 2009 and beyond.

As my business increases, I will continue to be active on Twitter, volunteer in professional organizations and attend or speak at conferences. I’m excited about the business opportunities and trusted alliances that have been generated. Here’s to continuing to work together to reach our goals!

Follow Your Twitter Friends in Real Life

According to its developer, Presselite, Twitter 360 is a new iPhone 3GS application that enables you to visualize the location of your Twitter friends using the Twitter's Geotagging feature.

Here are some features of Twitter 360:

• See the latest tweets of your friends and the location from where they were posted. When a tweet is selected, a blue arrow (compass) is displayed to show the direction and the distance to the location from where the tweet was posted. The distance is updated in real time as you walk.

• It is fully compatible with Google Maps. It is possible to locate your nearest Twitter friends from your position on Google Maps within the application.

• Switch off the geolocalization option in the setting to be in "invisible" mode. Your friends won't be able to see where you are tweeting anymore.

It seems like only yesterday that Michael Marlatt was discussing the possibility of using your phone to connect with potential candidates or ideal business associates using geotagging. Now it's becoming a reality through mobile applications like Loopt, Foursquare, Plancast and now Twitter 360. Will Twitter 360 and these other geotagging mobile applications be adopted by corporate entities or just used for casual non-work purposes?

Check Your LinkedIn Profile for the New Twitter Update

If you have already connected your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, your Twitter name will now show up in your profile with a link to your Twitter page. This is a great enhancement for those of us that use LinkedIn as a research and business development tool.

Still need to join your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts? Click here!

Recruiters: Are Your Tweets Social Media Garbage?

When I started on Twitter, I was guilty of dumping. My Twitter stream looked like a mini-job board of open positions with links for qualified candidates to apply. It is impossible for a candidate have a conversation with a stream of open positions.

Here are some recommendations on how to avoid only dumping your jobs on Twitter:

1. Give value to your ideal candidates. Tweet about recent articles and blog posts that your target audience wants to know more about.
   
   
2. Connect with your potential candidates in person using Twitter. Coordinate and promote a tweetup.  Find a thought leader or author from their industry that you could feature at the event to generate additional interest.
   
   
3. Promote your professional relationships by tweeting about events and newsworthy highlights of your non-profit partners and other sister companies.
   
   
4. Help those who have questions via Twitter. Be sure to respond to each person, especially if they need to be redirected to another contact within your company.
   
   
5. Discover referral opportunities. Build relationships on Twitter with other recruiters who may be willing to refer candidates to you or partner with you on specific seasonal hiring projects.
   
   
6. Discuss competitive advantages of your culture. Any benefits that your organization offers that endorses a positive work-life balance is ideal tweet material.
   
   
7. Highlight loyal employees’ accomplishments or departmental successes of your business. Companies that are stable and doing well attract talent.
   
   
8. Remember your purpose on Twitter. Does your Twitter account exist only to broadcast open jobs and provide one-way communication to an audience of potential hires? Hopefully, your Twitter page is one small tactical piece of a significantly larger recruiting strategy.

How to Connect Your Twitter Account and LinkedIn Profile

To add your Twitter account, visit “Edit My Profile” and click “Add Twitter account” next to the Twitter field. Twitter will ask you to verify your account name and password. Once the account is verified, you’ll be asked how you’d like to share your tweets on LinkedIn (see below). Note that once your accounts are joined, you can change this setting at any time by clicking “Edit” next to your Twitter account name.

Note that in order to send tweets from Twitter to LinkedIn, your Twitter account must be set as public. Make sure the “Protect my tweets” box is not checked in your Twitter Settings.

Click here to add your Twitter account to LinkedIn.

You can choose which LinkedIn status updates you share with Twitter, as well as which tweets are displayed as your LinkedIn status. This gives you complete control over which networks see your updates and what they see, automatically or manually.

To share updates from Twitter to LinkedIn, visit the settings page. Here you have the option to share all tweets, to share only tweets that contain #in or #li, or not to share tweets at all. You can change these settings at any time be clicking “Edit” next to your Twitter account name.

To share updates from LinkedIn to Twitter, check the box next to the Twitter icon on the LinkedIn home page. The first time you do this, Twitter will verify your account name and password. Whenever the Twitter box is checked, that update will publish to your Twitter feed. Click here to edit your Twitter settings on LinkedIn.

Hashtags (#) are a way to provide additional context for your tweets. Use #in or #li to publish your Twitter updates to your LinkedIn status. Just make “#in” part of your tweet (for example, “Working on a new blog post about design optimization. #in”), and it will be displayed as your LinkedIn status. These can be added to your tweets at any time and will override your sharing settings. If your tweet is personal and you don’t wish to share it with your professional crowd, just exclude #in or #li.

Excerpt from: http://learn.linkedin.com/twitter/

Discover Buried Treasures Using Twitter Lists

Twitter Lists can help you organize and group the people you follow on Twitter. With Twitter Lists, one can create 20 uniquely titled lists and add up to 500 Twitter accounts on each one. I’m honored to be a part of at least 100 Twitter Lists and appreciate those who have added me.

According to Twitter, “Lists are public by default (but can be made private) and the lists you've created are linked from your profile. Other Twitter users can then subscribe to your lists. This means lists have the potential to be an important new discovery mechanism for great tweets and accounts.”

Although there are many benefits of Twitter Lists, some do not see the competitive intelligence that they provide. Many have created lists for Twitter users in specific industries, professions, companies and locations. Company Twitter Lists are a bounty of poachable talent for recruiters.

You can easily search Twitter Lists using Listorious, an online directory of the best Twitter Lists. When you build a Twitter list, you save others time to figure out whom to follow in those niches and reveal who has the best content. Twitter Lists show which specific people decision makers trust, which can be leveraged for business development purposes. View your competition's Twitter Lists to see if there are any hidden gems.

Be careful when creating Twitter Lists, so that your newly discovered client prospects or trusted relationships are hidden from your competition. It may be more beneficial to keep your Twitter Lists private.

5 Reasons Why Your Company Should Tweet

Twitter is an exceptional research and communications tool. It will never replace the power of a face-to-face meeting.

Here are some ways Twitter can save you valuable time and increase profitability for your company:

1. Find and interact with decision makers faster. Discover ideal targets at http://exectweets.com.
2. Get desired news immediately. Twitter is a constant stream of the most up-to-date information. Search http://twellow.com for ideal resources.
3. Twitter is a free 24-7 networking event. Listen into multiple conversations, engage, establish rapport and build meaningful relationships virtually.
4. Retain your current customers. Instead of losing customers in a robotic automated phone service, provide immediate one-on-one help, first-class customer service and a positive experience for your customers all with an online audience.
5. Gain another competitive edge. Monitor tweets for keywords to gather real-time feedback for your company or competitors.

With any social media channel, it does take time to get started. However, the actual return on your investment may be priceless.

Five Things You Need to Know About Twitter Lists

While we are waiting for our Google Wave invites to hit our Gmail accounts, Twitter announced a new feature called Twitter Lists. Here are the 5 things you need to know about Twitter Lists:

1. You select Twitter users for custom lists like groups for your friends on Facebook.
2. These lists are only viewable by you or can be shared publicly. What categories will you be listed under? Spammer? #FollowFriday?
3. Developers will create third-party applications for these lists. I bet TweetDeck is already working on some cool options for Twitter Lists.
4. It is in limited beta release. Nick Kallen, Rael Dornfest, Vitor Lourenço and the rest of the stellar Twitter Lists team are putting on the final touches before it is officially launched.
5. For now, use TweepML to generate lists of Twitter users that you can follow with one click.

Your Personalized Twitter Newspaper

The Twitter Times is a real-time personalized newspaper generated from your Twitter account. It uses the most popular content from your tweets and those that you follow to generate your newspaper. It is highlights the most viral links, blog posts, articles and other content of your Twitter connections. You can also easily retweet from your personalized Twitter Times.

It is missing one of my preferred options for any online news source: an RSS feed for the page.

If you'd like to get your own Twitter Times, it is free and easy to do at http://www.twittertim.es. Simply put in your username and you will be tweeted when it is ready!

I Want My Life Back

Do you feel like all of the social media networks are taking over your life? It can feel overwhelming. At the end of the day, do feel like you just spent a lot of time online and didn't accomplish anything?

The social media tools that I use save me time, instead of wasting it. You can create a work/life balance using social media.

Here are some basic time management tips for the major social media sites:

Twitter - Let's face it. The public Twitter stream is full of noise. Use TweetDeck to set up filters, groups and searches. Focus on the industry leaders and potential clients that can advance your professional growth. Plan time to tweet and stick to it.

Facebook - Check Facebook after normal business hours. I use Facebook mainly for personal use. It can be a distraction from my professional goals. It is easy to start a click fest and forget what your purpose was by checking Facebook in the first place. Become a fan of any important company or group pages, so you will be notified of updates or upcoming events.

LinkedIn - I have always had a free account and have over 17,000 first level connections. Many people wonder how I was able to do this. It's simple. I set specific goals to grow my network. Every day I would send out a specific amount of invites and spend 30 minutes on revenue producing activities in LinkedIn.

Be sure that when you are working online that you are not randomly checking for updates to your social media networks. When using any social media tool, you must focus on your reason for being there and determine your action plan to reach your goals.

Create a Well-Attended Tweetup

Tweetups are all the rage. You get to finally meet the people behind the tweets and have a real conversation. Right now, I'm honored to help coordinate the tweetup for the 2nd Social Recruiting Summit.

Here are my insider tips on how to organize a successful tweetup:

• Give yourself at least two weeks to plan and an additional month to promote your tweetup. Tweetups usually fail because of poor planning and marketing.


• Work with a colleague that you can depend on who may also have an interest in the success of this tweetup. This may help generate better ideas and give you an accountability partner.


• Schedule your tweetup during a conference or before a larger event. It reduces the amount of promotion that you will have to do all on your own. You can personally invite the speakers, organizers and other sponsors to attend and promote your tweetup as well.


• The best time to have a tweetup is after normal working hours like at 6PM. Motivational beverages usually help spark conversations.


• Work with the venue in advance to offer free or discounted food and beverages to your guests. You can promote this as well to get more interest in your tweetup and it will benefit the venue.


• Give the attendees free WiFi. It may seem like a no-brainer, however, I have attended tweetups where it was impossible to tweet. You can always work with a wireless vendor or pick a free WiFi hotspot.


• Create an invitation using Twtvite. It displays the hashtag that you are using for the meetup, who has RSVP'ed, location of the tweet via Google Maps, allows you to share this invite to other social networks, all of the other important details and most importantly, it's free. You can also print name tags using people's familiar Twitter names and avatars.


• Leverage your other non-Twitter networks, like LinkedIn or Ning Groups. You can easily find other professional groups with members who may also wish to attend your tweetup, even if they are not active on Twitter.


• Pick up the phone and reach out to those who you truly want to be there. I appreciate it when someone calls or even emails me directly about an upcoming event.


• Take photos at the tweetup and follow up afterwards with a link to a photo album via Flickr or on Facebook. This will help maintain the friendships online and in-person.

So get started and don't forget to invite me, @jennydevaughn.

Bad Tweets Vs. No Tweets

While watching the MTV Video Music Awards (VMA's), Taylor Swift started to give her acceptance speech for Female Video of the Year. Kanye West boldly interrupted the show. He thought Beyonce had one of the best videos of the year and should have won.

Kanye could have waited until the event was over and had a traditional interview with the press. He chose to grab the moment and literally the microphone.

According to TwiGUARD, this caused a huge spike in Twitter traffic and became a trending topic. MTV is live-blogging the event and also tracking all of the fast-paced tweets. This unexpected drama was given top billing. I'm sure Kanye's publicist and management are not taking the night off.

Kanye West's name was actually booed when it was brought up later by P. Diddy when he presented the Best Male Video of the Year.

For an artist like Kanye West, who seems to enjoy controversy, is it better to get bad publicity or no Internet traffic at all?

Update on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 11:15PM by Jenny DeVaughn

UPDATE:  Beyonce showed the power of doing the right thing and gave someone else the spotlight.

During Beyonce's acceptance speech for the MTV Video of the Year Award for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she asked Taylor Swift to come out to give her acceptance speech instead.

Glad this post has a better ending and a high volume of tweets about being first class.