Freelance Copywriter | Web / SEO Copywriter | Brighton/London » twitter

Nyouse: Connecting People to Press

Leif Kendall — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:58:31 +0000

To diverge slightly from copywriting for a moment; I’ve been busy cooking up a side-project which might interest you:

Nyouse.com, pronounced “news”, is a new website that connects people with journalists.

Do you have a story to tell? Do you have breaking news that the world needs to know? Do you have a whistle to blow or an announcement to make?

If you do, then use Nyouse! It’s very easy…

Just follow these steps:

Log in to Twitter.com (you’ll need a Twitter account to use Nyouse. But they’re quick to set up and free to use.)
Write a message that explains your story. Twitter messages (a.k.a. tweets) are limited to 140 characters so you’ll have to provide a flavour of your story, rather than all the details.
Direct your message @nyouse or include the hashtag #nyouse
If you want to indicate the location that your story is connected to, include the first half of your postcode as a hashtag. e.g. #bn1 for Brighton
Wait for a journalist to get in touch.

Find out more about Nyouse on the Nyouse Blog, or read my post on Words By Me.

Nyouse is built on Inuda’s SocialPlume Twitter application, and is sponsored by Inuda and Kendall Copywriting.

Recent Contributions to Other Blogs

Leif Kendall — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:52:15 +0000

I’ve been a promiscuous blogger! Hope you enjoy the following posts:

Dharmafly

Twitter: the Simplest Little Big Complicated Website in the World

Freelance Advisor

Freelance Supermarket

Use Twitter to Find Work, Make Contacts and Develop Your Reputation: 12 Tips
Social Networking: Good for You, Good for Your Career

Twitter: Make the Most of Every Tweet (You Receive)

Leif Kendall — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:42:42 +0000

Quick version

Get the most out of Twitter – make sure you notice when people address you, and respond when it’s appropriate.

Long version

In my opinion, Twitter is best when it’s a fairly open channel of communication. This means that you let people freely read your tweets, and you allow yourself to be easily contacted by others – even if you don’t know them.

It’s this degree of openness that recently allowed me to quiz Matt Cutts of Google on a couple of SEO-related issues. It’s staggering that I can have such easy, friendly access to a key person at one of the world’s largest companies.

To get the most out of Twitter, it’s important to regularly check your @replies (see image below). If you use Twitter as a communications channel, it’s crucial that you catch the important messages that come your way.

Corporate Twittering: A Marketing Mess in a Social Space?

Leif Kendall — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:32:53 +0000

Back to Andy Budd’s recent post about social media consultants clogging up the social media world…

I was wondering about businesses using social media tools, and whether or not it’s okay. Is it right for organisations to invade a space intended for socialising? Does anybody really want marketing to trickle into their online conversations?

It’s always going to be a delicate issue, as many people resent marketing messages intruding yet another aspect of their social life. So what’s acceptable?

I think that the ideal compromise between marketing and social media is for individuals within organisations to exist online – representing their organisation but no being defined by it. So a company’s people enter the social media-sphere, bringing their business with them.

Corporate communications

Who wants to hear what a company has to say? Arguably, very few people give a monkeys what a lifeless entity has to ‘say’. But if an organisation’s people can join in – representing both their own self and their employer, then everyone is happy. The organisation gets thoughtful, proactive participants in digital life, a discreet marketing boost and the chance to show the world what an open, progressive company they are.

Everyone else wins because we don’t get showered with generic corporate communications or blatant spam.

What do you think? Are corporate Twitter accounts bad, bland or brilliant?

Why Twitter? – Method in the Mayhem

Leif Kendall — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:26:24 +0000

Short version:

Twitter , while seemingly pointless, is actually useful. If you’re clever and persistent, you can use Twitter to:

Let contacts get to know you as a person
Develop existing relationships and create new ones
Learn about your friends, colleagues and contacts
Demonstrate your intelligence/wit/charm
Get answers to your questions
Find new clients
Find volunteers to help you get things done

Long version:

This post is all about how I accidentally started lobbying for Twitter, and the justifications I gave for its use. If you don’t know already, Twitter is essentially a website that allows you to create your own account, then post short messages (limited to 140 characters) that answer the perennial question: What are you doing?

Twitter is loved and hated – to some it’s a beautiful device that brings them closer to their world, and to others it’s an inane time waster and an unwanted surge of information in an already overloaded world.

I recently found myself evangelising on behalf of Twitter at a party – I was recommending Twitter to a social media consultant, who viewed Twitter as an unnecessary additional distraction.

So, how did I justify Twitter?

1. By demonstrating usefulness

I gave real examples of how Twitter had been genuinely useful to me.

Example 1:

I’ve been working on writing guides recently, and when I wanted some readers to give me feedback, I turned to my Twitter followers.

And nearly ten different people responded. And those are ten people who volunteered to read my guide. I’ve since received their feedback and revised my guide.

Without Twitter, I would have had to email the people I thought would be most likely to cooperate, or most interested in providing feedback. With Twitter, I can broadcast the request and let interested people decide for themselves. It’s less pressured, more casual, and more effective because of it.

Also, many people follow me on Twitter who I’ve never met – let alone emailed. So I’ve had relative (and in some cases total) strangers giving me valuable feedback. Without Twitter, that would not have happened.

Example 2:

Back to my writing guides… I realised that having nice looking PDFs would probably help the guides get distributed and get read. So I needed a designer.

As the guides are going to be completely free, and freely distributed, I’m trying to avoid spending money on them. So how do you find a designer who is willing to work for nothing more than a discreet marketing opportunity and a dose of good karma?

I was wary of even asking anyone to work for free, because I’m sensitive to the fact that many people receive requests for work on spec, or on the promise of equity. But I asked the Twittersphere, happy knowing that nobody could reasonably resent my request, because it’s so easy to ignore.

And you know what? I had two offers from designers, willing to take a look at my project. Currently, Emma Nicol from Door 22 is working on the guides (the guides are now published). Thanks Emma! I should point out that Emma only agreed to even consider helping me out because we had become better acquainted through Twitter.

2. By suggesting that not using Twitter means you miss out

What’s happening in your town? What are the latest web apps, memes or theories that are bouncing around cyber-space? How do you know about all the ‘latest’ things?

Twitter can be a great way to keep up with the world. People tend to Tweet about their new discoveries or latest passions. So you get to hear about them.

Increasingly, conversations are taking place within Twitter. Ideas blossom, burst into life, crash, burn and die before they’ve even left the Twittersphere. If you’re not on Twitter, you’ll never know.

3. By explaining the value of the seemingly inane

So you’ve looked at Twitter, and got annoyed because people post messages (or Tweets) like:

“Bad curry. Bad rice. Bad Chris.“
“GOOD MORNING!!!“
“Forming my burger mix into flat patties. Too much burger mix; tomorrow: meatballs!“

Now, everyone has their own idea of what is useful, what is boring, what is rude and what is pointless. The beauty of Twitter is that you can constantly refine your Twitter stream. If someone consistently Tweets about stuff that doesn’t interest you, block them. It’s easy.

But, it’s worth considering that even ‘inane’ messages about what people are eating or cooking or blogging about, are giving you a window into their lives. You may have a strong network of business contacts, but how well do you know your contacts as people?

Twitter gives you a great opportunity to get to know the people that you work and network with. Twitter also gives you a great opportunity to meet new people. And yes, that means meeting people in real life too!

4. By explaining that I’ve found work through Twitter

I’ve encountered new clients through Twitter – people I might never have met had it not been for a connection on Twitter.

For many people, Twitter is a great way to maintain contact with their network, and to expand their network in new directions. There is probably no greater way to casually, gently tell people that you exist.

In conclusion

Twitter offers powerful benefits. But you have to contribute before you’ll ever get anything from it. If you view Twitter as just some way to find people to do things for free, or just as a tool to promote your blog, or just as a forum to moan about your boss, then you’ll probably struggle to really enjoy it.

View Twitter as something bigger; something that you do because it’s fun, something that just happens to be very useful.

Copywriters on Twitter

Leif Kendall — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:45:39 +0000

I was looking for a list of copywriters on Twitter, but couldn’t find one. So, I decided to start one:

Thanks firstly to @lemondrizzle, who told me about many of these esteemed copywriters:

(if you want to be added or removed from this list, email me. Links below open in new windows.)

@lemondrizzle – PR copywriter, amateur writer, storyteller, looking for illustrator
@edevries – Writer, copywriter and e-learning designer
@seocopyandstrat – David Rosam is an SEO Copywriter & online strategist
@brendancooper – Social media thingy
@johnmanley – copywriter who fired all his clients to write exclusively for his own web based businesses
@allonline2 – IT engineer, internet marketer, information junkie
@garethlpowell – author and copywriter
@nickobt – Advertising copywriter, daddy.
@copywritingblog – Professional Freelance Web Content Writer & Copywriter. Love to write ebooks, Sales Material, Web Content and PR stuff for clients all over the world
@cindyking – Cross-cultural marketer & international sales specialist, aligning cultural offers for international sales with copywriting for international markets
@divinewrite – SEO copywriter, tired father, lucky husband, compulsive reader, opportunistic runner. Owner of Divine Write Copywriting.
@rellyab – Copywriter. Mummy. Wifey. Catwrangler.
@eggboxrobin – Permission email marketer, writer, social media learner, likes singing in choirs, amateur poet
@angusmelb – I’m a copywriter who specialises in writing for the web.
@skinner – SEO/marketing consultant, deeply into search marketing and branding, Skype me: wellwrittenwords. LinkedIn: skinner[at]wellwrittenwords.com
@libbyvarcoe – Web writing trainer, web copywriter, aspiring screenwriter, toddler taimer
@traceydooley – I help entrepreneurs, authors, publishers and FTSE100/250 companies boost response rates and attract new customers.
@libbydavy – social media educator, entrepreneur, activist, artist
@hackneye – Freelance journo, (too) honest travel writer, guidebook author, hack, and copywriter from the London Borough of…
@acriley – Content Strategist. Handbag Enthusiast.
@rayedwards – Christ-follower. Husband. Father. Copywriter. Marketing strategist.
@maddiewebber – I am a Copywriter/ Web Content Manager for Kuno Creative
@jillwhalen – CEO, High Rankings – a pioneer in search engine optimization, beginning in the field in the early 1990s and founding High Rankings in 1995.
@askmammy – It’s all about YOU!
@michaelmillman – I Polish.You Prosper. $30 Million Dollar (Sales) Man. Maximum Persuasion Copywriter/Polisher, Marketing Strategist, Conversion Maximizer & Positioning Coach
@johnmcg – Online copywriter based in Reading, UK.
@rebecca_leigh – Freelance business writer creating smart, fresh copy (no lifeless corporate speak / no empty hype)
@ingridcliff – Web Words Wizard
@paigefiller – I have a crush on the written word
@vbright – quality copywriter, freelance writer,Squidoo Lensmaster, proud grandma!
@dangoldgeier – Copywriter, advertising industry columnist, videographer and video editor
@texturl – a boy. who writes. sometimes.
@helenbaker – Freelance web copywriter, editor and helping hand. Frustrated artist, photographer and armchair activist.
@wonder_wall – Likes threads n shoes; chocolate n choons. Has pet goldfish called Ian. Freelance stylist & writer.
@Gaylethewriter – I’m a freelance writer on the look out for work.
@annadewis – I love to write – advertising copy is my bread and butter, creative writing is my iced bun.
@tottielimejuice – freelance copywriter doubling as carer for mother with dementia and catching it!
@Angpang – Copywriter. Love creativity. Love excellence.
@jo_rosie – I am a creative type and I enjoy being stereotyped. I like feelings more than stuff and intend to enhance the world with my being. I also like shoes.
@mjmccracken – Freelance scribbler for branding, advertising and design. Sometimes also writes things for the Guardian.
@carolmcleod – Contented Copywriter for Green, NPO & Travel/Tourism industry, Info-junkie, social media wannabe, martial artist, mother, wife.
@WendyWells – Writer, Editor, Proofreader, Manchester United FANATIC, Instructor of Film Studies, Talks to Animals, Writes Words for the World
@Dmorrisey – Advertising writer. Radio DJ (KRCL). Baseball fan. Comic genius (self-proclaimed). East Coaster.
@clueycopy – Hot copy that gets noticed, wins business & makes sales!
@shelovestowrite – I’m a freelance advertising copywriter. I write for all kinds of clients and I LOVE my job. I’m also partial to my dog and the mighty MUFC.
@Radencovici - digital copywriter
@strikingprose – Freelance Copywriting Firm
@Cascadian – Assoc creative director at Merkle; free-market anarchist; loving husband + pug-dad; book-lover + reviewer; fan of Macs, paper, + pens.
@andymaslen – I’m an independent direct response copywriter and writing coach: I write books about copywriting too.
@chriscopywriter – christopher copywriter marketing agency | copywriting | public relations | internet marketing | search engine optimization | chris dusseldorp|creative director
@copywriterblog - copywriting top quality stories for your business communications
@CopywriterUK – As a Professional Advertising Copywriter with 20 years’ experience working for top UK advertising agencies, I promise you both creative ideas and copywriting th
@franknunz – 140 friendly

And of course there’s me: @LeifKendall

Note: These are not copywriters that I recommend. These are just copywriters that use Twitter. You’ll have to judge for yourself whether you want to follow them!