So you've got a business, you're on Twitter and you're auto adding people based on keyword searches in the hope that they will follow back. Some do, some don't. When they follow back you hit their DM inbox with a link to your product/service and you can tweet all day about your awesome things, right into their stream. Perfect, right?
WRONG
Sure it's very low cost and due to low cost if it only works occasionally that's fine and dandy but you could and should be doing much better. I'll ask you one simple question: What happens to spam if it ends up in your inbox? You delete it, am I right? I know I'm right. The same thing happens with tweets but users are also blocking these days and enough bocks can lead to exclusion from search and in some cases an account suspension. Great plan. How's that working out for you?
So what's the right way?
Successful marketing is about communication so that's what you have to do. Keyword searching is still a good place to start and with tools like
Twitterfall you can even refine your search to a geographic location. So let's say you fix thingies in London and you've set up a search that will highlight people with broken thingies in the London area, that's a perfect start but what next? Simple, when someone in London has a broken thingy you can respond by letting them know who you are and how you can help. It's always good to strike up a little bit of a conversation and show that a) you're human and b) that you have the knowledge to help them out. Once you've done that they will probably ask you for more details on your service. That's the trick, making them ask you!
So you've made a new customer and they are happy with what you've done. They will probably now follow you on Twitter and because you made them happy they are going to tell other people. By engaging with that person you have just extended your potential reach to everyone they know too.
Building a fanbase
So you're getting followers and making new business left right and centre. Good work but you can still do more and expand further on this. Now that you're building a fanbase you can start publishing information to your feed that they will find useful and informative... No, I don't mean spamming them with links to your products but you can inform them of any special offers and/or promotions and depending on your demographic link them to things they will want to see or read. Now would also be a good time to start a blog if you don't have one. If you're a local business, people like to know how and what you're doing. If you're investing into their community or taking part in something fun in the area, that's exactly the sort of thing they will want to read about. Publishing your blog posts (once is usually enough) to your Twitter feed keeps them in touch with you on a more personal level.
Blogging is easy these days and with sites like
Posterous (what I'm using right now) it's as simple as sending an email.
Just the basics
Those are just a few basic tips on how to push your business or service on Twitter but there is still more that you can do but that all comes down to your own entrepreneurial spirit and creative mind. There are many more social media tools out there that can help you out and Twitter is a good place to be looking for them. The most important part (and I've said this so many times before) is engagement. Make friends with people and talk to them! One human being to another... Just like we used to do but digitally.
Of course there are automation tools out there that can make your life easier but you're talking to human beings (mostly) and they like to know that you are one too. If your information stream is purely robotic people will soon lose interest.
If you're looking into promoting your business on Twitter, I hope this information is of some use to me. Feel free to comment on the post or shout at me on Twitter (
@LStacey ), I'm always happy to help if there's anything you don't quite understand or if you're struggling to make it work.
Happy Tweeting!
Lee Stacey
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