Yes it’s true we are going to Munich for SEOktoberfest!  Now the way this came to be is really shocking.  We were at the Fairmont at SESSJ and Marcus Tandler aka Mediadonis aka German SEO said to Greg “Dude, you and Barbara really have to come to SEOktoberfest!” to which Greg said “Cool!”. 

Seriously though it is a big trip and a busy time for us, but the more we found out about who was going to be there and what an elite group of marketers were making their way to Munich, we couldn’t pass it up.  After all it is Oktoberfest and Marcus is buying Greg and Dax Lederhosen.  I’m not kidding.  I suppose I’ll have to get a dirndl (traditional German dress) myself to not look out of place.  Do you think I’ll stand out?  How many Latin women do you think will be there wearing traditional German garb? 

Confirmed attendees for SEOktoberfest are Brent Csutoras, Joost de Valk (Yoast), Bob Rains (Let’s Make It Awesome), and Brian Clark (Copyblogger). So we are super excited and really can’t wait to get there.  SEOktoberfest will be held in one of the most popular tents and we have a private table that will be filled with some of the most knowledgeable internet marketers in the industry. 

So stay tuned because there will be pictures and I was told we need to start practicing drinking beer.  Lots and lots of beer.  So good thing today is Friday.

As I stated in my SESSJ post Twitter was a hot topic at the conference.  People were talking about it and people were using it.  When Greg and I go to conferences we always turn on our mobile tweets so we can keep up with where everyone is and what everyone’s doing.  God forbid we miss something good.

Between the two of us we have about 1700 followers (Greg has more damn it). Now I know a few hundred of those are bots, but the point is we’ve been on Twitter less than a year and that’s a lot of frickn people to be connected to throughout the day.  In fact it was last year at Pubcon that Vanessa Fox forced talked us into signing up.  We were very resistant to it.  We thought it was totally lame and only for total nerds.  Nine months later we are admittedly hooked on Twitter. 

Twitter has so many benefits and the opportunities you can find on Twitter are endless.  It isn’t going anywhere and with over one million users, everyday that passes before you join is a missed opportunity for you.  Stop asking how and why.  Stop saying you just don’t know what to do or what to say.  Stop saying nobody cares what you would tweet about.  It’s a simple question…What are you doing?  Answer it a few times a day. 

Still a hater?  Let me give you some examples of some amazing, funny, interesting things that happen on Twitter.

Proposals
In March of 2008 the micro-blogging world was privy to its first virtual wedding proposal. 

and she said

If you want to know more about this one you can check out the Wired post or follow them on Twitter.

Survival
In April of 08 James Karl Buck, a UC Berkeley graduate student, was in Egypt covering a protest when he and his translator were arrested.  James reached for his cell phone and tweeted one word.

Now can you imagine the stress and anxiety you’d feel if you were across the world and got arrested and were unsure of what was going to happen to you.  James was eventually released, but he had the comfort knowing that all of his followers knew what had happened.  Not planning on traveling to foreign countries? Replace the word arrested with ‘accident’ or ‘robbed’ or ‘help’.  It could come in handy.

Finding a Job
Look out Monster here comes Twitter.

Customer Service
Many companies are using Twitter to reach out to their customers and to keep an ear open for people talking about them.

Now I know from first hand experience that when you complain about @southwestair on Twitter, they respond.  Just one more reason why I FLY SWA. A couple other companies tweeting are @starbucks  and @jetblue.

Diggs

You might totally suck at getting stories to the Digg front page (not saying this guy does), but if you have enough people following you on Twitter, you may just get enough of a boost to get noticed on the Digg upcoming.  Of course your story still has to be good.

Host a Party

So just like that, we’re having a party.  Tony tweets it and all of his followers in LA get the message and we are getting together (the 6th is fine for me Tony, see you at the Bow).

Having a Baby

I found this one on BlogHer.  Now granted she didn’t actually do it because well, she wasn’t in labor long enough :/.  It’s only a matter of time though.

Expose Dumbness
Michael Gray is really good at this.  In fact if there were a crown for the best Twitterer…he’d be wearing it.

In case you’re wondering what Michael is talking about here’s the link to the LA Times home page.  I’d actually be interested in an explanation too.

Ask a Question

Chris wrote up a great presentation about Twitter using all of his responses from this question.  Just brilliant!

Breaking News
This past week I have been marveling about how so many of my bloggy mom friends are at the DNC.  My tweets from them have gone crazy and I almost feel like I was there.  Getting all this breaking news every few seconds is better than watching it on TV.

I hope you’re more intrigued and give it a try.  Just do it.  Join Twitter today and of course follow @barbaraboser and @gregboser.

It’s a simple question that is easy to answer and hundreds of thousands of people answer it every day.  Some people answer it every 10 minutes of every day.  It’s called Twitter.

Warning: Twitter use can be highly addictive.

Twitter is a micro-blogging site that is kind of like an enormous IM conversation that goes on every minute of every day.  That’s right 24/7 you can log on to Twitter and talk to people from all over the world and tell them one thing…What you are doing.  There doesn’t have to be anything meaningful or memorable behind what your doing, but just telling people gives them a chance to get to know you and what you do.

The way it works is that you get an account (free of course) and then start searching for people you know on Twitter and ‘follow them’.  Once you follow someone every time they update what they are doing, you’ll be able to see it.

Here’s what a typical day on Twitter looks like…

Now that you are following people, you’ll want people to follow you.  This isn’t as hard as it may seem.  Twitter is still a very new network, so the best way to get involved is to:

Participate
Start by telling people what you’re doing.

Reply
On Twitter all you have to do is reply to other users with a comment or an answer to something they may have asked and then your response will appear on their Twitter feed so the people that follow them will see that you are active on Twitter and some will follow you just because of that.

Be Funny
Most users enjoy Twitter just because it’s kind of a break from the norm.  If you say something that people will think is funny it’s likely they will follow you because well, who doesn’t like things that are funny?

Be Real
There is not much room for anonymity on Twitter.  If you’re having a bad day, say it.  If you are stuck on something you can’t figure out, ask for help.  You’ll be surprised at how many responses you get.

Use the Tools
There are tools that make Twitter easier to keep up with which can save a lot of time during the day.  I like Twhirl. You can download it from the Twitter blog.  It basically shows a little pop-up window whenever your Tweeples (Twitter friends) tell you what they are doing.  Twitter also gives you a badge that you can add to your blog so people that go to your blog can see what you are doing.  They may not have ever heard of Twitter, but they’ve heard of you and if they see the badge they may join and hopefully follow you.

That’s not a lot to get started.  Once you grow your network you’ll see what other people are doing to leverage Twitter.  There are many opportunities to market yourself or your brand on Twitter.

If you don’t already have a Twitter account for yourself or for your company.  I highly recommend you register it now before your competition does.  Currently Twitter has approximately 1 million users.  While many of those are probably not active or maybe they are Twitter zombies, I’d venture to say that the majority are using Twitter daily.

Once you join FOLLOW ME!