I know many just do not “get” Twitter. That is OK! I didn’t either at first.
As with most social networking online, Twitter started out as just a fun time-twiddler but now it is used by big corporations and businesses to increase their footprint. There are even “social media professionals” hired by these companies to manage the company’s Twitter and other social networking, so it must be important to business.
This post is not about the mechanics of how to set up twitter. You can find that online just about anywhere. I want to show you my experience in how you can use Twitter for business.
Twitter is microblogging...really micro...like 140 characters per post. There are several other microblogging sites:
http://www.twitter.com http://www.plurk.comhttp://www.jaiku.com [/list]"What's the point?" "Why do I care what you eat, drink, and do every minute?" Would you be surprised if I said I AGREE with those comments?
The key to Twitter for business is knowing why you are doing it in the first place. What do you hope to accomplish? You need
purpose,
focus, and
consistency to let Twitter help your business. Without those three things, what IS the point?
Before you start Twitter, carefully consider these questions:
*Why are you tweeting? (to increase sales? to meet neat people? to find great resources?)
*Who is your best audience (demographics) to get that accomplished? (friends? family? customers? potential customers? anyone? everyone?)
*How do you find your best audience and will they want to tweet with you?
Here is an example of how I use Twitter for business:
Before I set up an account, I knew I wanted to draw in the handmade community. This was for several reasons: 1) to share my jewelry design experiences and creations with like minded people, 2) to find potential customers, and 3) to support my blog traffic.
Once I set up my account and did my little profile about my handmade shops, I searched for some of the selling venues (they all have twitter accounts now) and started “following” many of their followers. You can search on handmade selling venue forums for “twitter” and come up with threads with a lot of twitter links.
In the meantime, I set up
http://www.twitterfeed.com to post 1) my new listings, and 2) my new blog posts. It will do this automatically. I have it set up to post only the last two items in a two-hour time frame. Therefore, many days there is nothing tweeted automatically and some days there may be four items tweeted automatically throughout the day.
I log into Twitter a couple of times a day, usually for about 5 minutes. It is easy to jump into a conversation and meet people by finding an interesting person who has posted a link. Look at links and comment – the links could be articles, items for sale, tutorials, or other things. Tweet what you are up to today – work-wise, studio-wise, personal-wise. This makes you interesting. Tell about your handcrafted items. [/list]I have to say that I do tweet about my daily activities which includes my marketing day job. Therefore, I will get followers that are PR or marketing professionals. They find me through a key word search on Twitter. I don't follow them back because I am focused on the handmade community with this account. If I want a marketing focused account - I would make a separate one. You cannot be all things to all people.
What is the result of my business twittering?
*I have met some awesome artists/crafters and we now chat on Twitter when I see them
*Some of my twitter friends actually email me to talk "shop," ask advice, or discuss opportunities
*Blog traffic goes up when a post is tweeted
*Product views go up when they are tweeted
*Links automatically tweeted from your blog or products help SEO
*Your tweets themselves help SEO (so be careful to be professional)
*Venue referrals – I have indeed had a few crafters sign up under my referral number
*Sales? None yet that I can attribute to Twitter, but I consider Twitter to be soft marketing and don’t expect direct sales, although some do get sales
*Recognition? Yes, GalleriaLinda is increasing recognition around the Internet through Twitter and other social networking sites
Twitter has had good value for my jewelry business strategically. I hope you will give it a try and give it a chance.
Remember: Purpose, Focus, Consistency!TIPS:
*Be selective about who you follow back – you will get scammy, spammy followers – just don’t follow
*Look at profiles before deciding to follow
*Keep focused on your core audience, go find them, follow back, follow them
*Tweet at least once a day at different times of the day if possible to interact with new people
*Practice safe computing (firewalls, internet safety software, etc...) - you could get a malicious link - it happens but not very often
*Don’t make promo links for your items the main focus for you – this is social and many will unfollow
*Share your handmade goods, your experiences in life, and your resources through links
*Expect people to unfollow – that is normal – sign up for
http://www.qwitter.com to get a report on who unfollows you and the last tweet that was the last straw – do not take it personal
*There is a cap of 2000 following that is related to the number of followers. Read Twitter’s FAQ to find out why and how to increase above that[/list]Above all – have fun with this! That is what it is all about!
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