Using twitter for marketing purposes

  Twitter Marketing Part-4

Using Twitter for marketing purposes

Okay, so you should be all set now to use Twitter in the way you REALLY want to use it.  There are thousands of people who are already well aware of how responsive this site can be, and also how much it can help you to build up a steady stream of traffic to your desired website or business. 

 

In this section, we are going to cover the most important points when it comes to marketing on Twitter.  There is a right way and a wrong way to do this, and if you go at it in a heavy promotional way, you aren’t going to get the results you want.  I have come across users in the past who have clearly set up lots of separate Twitter accounts and have just one thing to promote.  And strangely enough, they never hang around long enough to learn how to do it properly. 

 

So let’s see what you need to do to make sure you get it the right first time. 

THE FIRST RULE OF MARKETING 

 

This is the one that confuses a lot of people.  That’s because it is a contradiction in terms.  You see, the first rule of marketing is not to do it all the time! 

 

Now I know what you might be thinking.  You wanted to start using Twitter because you heard about other people who were doing the same thing.  And they were getting more sales, more visitors to their websites, more contacts… the whole caboodle. 

 

Now how on earth are you going to get all that if you aren’t going to do any marketing? 

 

That is where the distinction is.  You ARE going to do some marketing… but you aren’t going to do it all the time.  A good way of understanding how this works is to think about how you like to use the site yourself.  Do you like to go on Twitter to read nothing but marketing messages from other people?  Of course, you don’t.  You like to go on the site to find like-minded people that are worth following.  You want to get some benefits from being on there, and you aren’t going to get those benefits if the only people you follow are people who are constantly promoting their 

own stuff all the time.  If you wanted to read a slew of sales pages you could go straight on the internet to do it. 

 

So when it comes to attracting the attention of other people you need to think along those same lines.  Ask yourself what your followers are looking to get from you.  The answers to this question will come from your reasons for being on the site in the first place.  So if you are a writer and you are looking to link up with other writers (and you have a writing blog you want to get them to visit), you need to think about what they want from you.  Knowledge and advice are two hot favorites, whatever subject you and your followers (and future followers) are interested in. 

 

What you need to do is become known as someone who gives good advice and also offers good links to external websites other than your own.  It’s very much the same as giving away freebies to establish a bond of trust between you and your followers.  If you give them a website address that has nothing to do with you (and isn’t even an affiliate link), and they like it, they will realize that you are someone worth following.  They know you aren’t just trying to sell them stuff all the time. 

 

That means that when you do direct them to your website or blog – generally for a very good reason – they are much more likely to follow that link to see what you have got for them. 

 

Some people only post a tweet when they have updated their blog and have a new post for everyone to read.  But while this doesn’t always mean that the person is trying to sell something, it can lead to apathy on the part of the people who are following that person.  It’s much better to throw in a link to a fresh post on your blog perhaps every four or five tweets, or maybe more.  This isn’t a mathematical formula, but you can see that separating out yourself serving links with others that are purely for the benefit of your followers, is well worth doing. 

 

This more subtle way of marketing is not only more rewarding in the long term, but it is also more enjoyable for you.  It will force you to become more engaged with other people on the site – and that is an excellent way to draw people in. 

 

 

WHO ARE YOU MARKETING TO? 

 

 

We have covered this to a degree already, but since we are now into the marketing section of this book it is worth covering it in more depth. 

 

You need to figure out the primary ‘ideal’ person whose attention you really want to grab on Twitter.  Not every follower has to fit this model, but you should make sure that the vast majority of them do.  For example, a website designer may want to attract the attention of people who are looking for someone to design their website.  Writers will be 

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looking for people who may want them to write something.  And people who work successfully from home may want to attract the attention of other people who want to be able to do the same thing. 

 

The first two examples show people who want to sell services.  The final example shows someone who could be selling either a product or a service or both.  But in both cases, the person knows who they want to reach and why they want to reach them.  That knowledge will influence the type of messages they will tweet for their followers. 

 

The point I am making here is that having a huge number of followers is not the only thing you should be aiming for.  Let’s say you have ten thousand people following you on Twitter.  Now that is a huge number and something to be proud of.  Let’s also say that you are an affiliate marketer and you ultimately want to introduce people to your range of eBooks and other items you are hoping to sell. 

 

How well do you think you would do if your ten thousand followers encompassed all kinds of people in all walks of life?  Most of them might have full-time jobs, other interests, or be interested in anything other than affiliate marketing.  I’m sure you would agree that your results would be anything but spectacular. 

 

Now let’s consider the picture again if you could build up that same following.  The only difference this time is that most of those followers have some kind of interest in affiliate marketing.  They may be affiliate marketers themselves.  They may have an interest in affiliate marketing and want to find out how they can earn lots of money doing what you do. 

 

Do you see the difference? 

 

Your followers must match up (by and large) to your purpose for being on Twitter.  It’s obvious that anyone and everyone can choose to follow you if they wish.  But the content of your tweets should be enough to make sure that the majority of people who follow you share the same interest that you do. 

 

The ideal thing in this example would be to make sure the vast majority of your tweets would be about affiliate marketing or some aspect of it.  You could branch out into other similar areas if you wish, but it might be worth exploring affiliate marketing in depth so you have plenty of ideas for worthwhile tweets. 

 

It can be a good idea to make a list of topics or subjects that you can use for this purpose.  And don’t be afraid to ask questions or split a topic into a number of related tweets if you wish.  As you become more familiar with Twitter you will see that people have created a number of different ways that you can connect with people by sending worthwhile tweets on the site. 

 

Incidentally, asking questions is a good way to start conversations with people.  You will find that giving out web links to useful sites, or tweeting 

about good topics will encourage replies anyway.  But asking questions invites people to reply.  It may not happen all the time, but on other occasions, you may find yourself inundated!  It all allows you to experiment with the site though, and if you ask the right questions you might even end up getting ideas for other affiliate products to promote, in this example. 

 

If it helps, write down a short description of the audience you are trying to attract and tack it up above your computer.  This will help you keep on track as far as your tweeting is concerned. 

 

 

HOW TO FIND PEOPLE TO FOLLOW   

 

Let’s talk a little bit now about following other people.  One of the easiest ways to get people to follow you is to start following them first. 

 

Makes sense, doesn’t it?  But as we found out above, you need to find the right people, and this rule applies as much to following people as it does to make sure the right ones follow you.  So let’s see how we can make sure you find the right people to follow from the start. 

 

Let me point out here that the worst thing you can do is to sit back and wait for people to start following you.  Some people can make this work, but it takes a concerted effort and many people just don’t have the time to start like this.  The easiest way to start is for you to get proactive and to start following them first. 

 

So… how do you find them? 

 

Well, there are several ways and the first one begins with Twitter itself.  If you take a fresh look at your home page and scroll right down to the bottom of the page, you will see a link in that bar across the bottom.  It says ‘search’.  That’s the one you need to click on. 

 

You may also have noticed that there is a link at the top of the page; this one says ‘find people’.  You might think that is the best one to use, but that means you need to search for a specific name.  It’s good if you have some colleagues you want to find because all you need to do is key in their name and any relevant Twitter accounts will pop up.  You can then add them to the people you are following. 

 

But we are focusing on searching for people you don’t yet know.  And to do this, we go back to the wonderful world of keywords. 

 

So, once you have clicked on the search link you will be taken to the main Twitter search page.  It looks a little like any other search engine, and as such you simply need to type in who you are looking for.  Not names 

though – you are looking more accurately for what people DO, or what they are interested in. 

 

We’ll continue with the example on affiliate marketing we introduced above, so we can see how this works and how to get the best from it.  If you type affiliate marketing into the box and search for appropriate results, you will get a slew of results coming back at you.  These will have the most recent tweets first, which is good because if someone used to tweet about the topic regularly but isn’t interested in it anymore, those tweets will be way down the list. 

 

You will see from the way the results are displayed that the name of the person who wrote the message comes first.  You can then read the actual message, which will have the words or phrases you searched for in bold letters.  It’s worth remembering here that the search facility on Twitter works in exactly the same way as it does on any search engine.  So if you want to search for the words affiliate marketing in any order, or with one appearing without the other, simply type them in as they are. 

 

If on the other hand, you want to search for them exactly as they are above, make sure you type them in quote marks, like this: “affiliate marketing”.  This will enable you to get a list of tweets that only feature that exact phrase.  In this case, it doesn’t matter much either way, but it can be worth bearing in mind in some situations. 

 

What you will generally find when it comes to scanning the results page is that some of the tweets will be more interesting than others.  This can alert you to other members which could be worth following.  If you see anyone who really catches your attention, click on the username to find out more about them.  You can also click on the picture if you want to – it will still take you to their home page. 

 

If you read their bio and a few more of their tweets and you think they are going to be worth following on a regular basis, here’s what you do.  Underneath their picture, you will see a gray shaded button with the word ‘follow’ in it.  Click on it and wait for the response.  It should change to show the word ‘following’ and feature a small green tick as well.  Just for good measure, you will also get a tan line underneath that with a message telling you that you are now following that particular person. 

 

One good point worth noting – whenever you find someone in the results that you might want to follow, use the middle key of your mouse to click through to their home page.  It means you will get a new page opening up, and you won’t lose your results page. 

 

The next part of the process is basically to repeat the above process again.  Carry on going through the list of results and find people who fit the description of your ideal follower.  Who do you want to be introducing your business to, whatever that business might be?  Find them and follow them! 

 

Another point to remember is not to limit yourself to one keyword.  So in this example, you might end up searching for the phrase affiliate product as well.  You can also look for other derivatives and similar phrases that people might tweet about if they are talking about affiliate marketing.  Make a list and check them all in turn. 

 

You will also see that because Twitter gives you real-time results, the page will update to tell you how many new tweets have been published since you performed your search.  All you need to do is press F5 and refresh to add those to the ones you have got already. 

 

This process does take some time, but it is well worth doing.  You can probably add several dozen followers in an evening, if not more.  And once you have done that, be prepared to start adding followers yourself! 

 

You see, the act of reciprocity comes into play here.  Most of the people who you start following will follow you back.  Not all of them do, but most should.  And that means you are starting to build your network on Twitter – quickly and easily. 

 

And once you have used this initial technique to get your foot on the ladder that is Twitter, there is another one you can use too.  If you remember, you can check the list of people you are following by clicking on your ‘following’ figure on your home page. 

 

Click on that now and I will reveal another good way to find people to follow.  Incidentally, once you have a few people following you, you can do this with that set of figures as well. 

 

Let’s use our ongoing example again here.  You are into affiliate marketing.  And so are a lot of the people you are following.  So it stands to reason that those people are going to be following other similar people as well. 

 

The idea here is to find other suitable people by looking at the networks of other people.  All you do is hover your mouse over each username in the list.  You will notice that if they have filled their bio in, it will appear as you hover your mouse.  Another good reason why you should have your own one filled in is it will help more people to find and follow you! 

 

So, click on a name that looks promising, and then when you reach their home page make sure you click on their ‘following’ tab.  You now need to go through that list of people to see whether there is anyone that you would like to follow yourself.  You can do the same with the ‘followers’ tab as well. 

 

Do you see how easy it can be to find like-minded people on a site with as many members as Twitter has?  I’m sure you can.  These methods do take time but they are very rewarding.  And the more people you get in your network, the more people seem to be able to find you.  Because there are a lot of people on Twitter who use the same techniques as I have just shared with you.  That means you yourself will be much easier 

 

to find as you start showing up on other people’s home pages and followers lists. 

 

Of course, another reason why more people will follow you is if you give great value to your tweets.  Do you remember the importance of making sure that you don’t always promote your own interests?  The more you can look after your followers, the more you will be rewarded as a result. 

 

And that is the next point on our journey into understanding and benefiting from Twitter. 

 

 

HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE YOU DON’T LOSE FOLLOWERS? 

 

 

Twitter allows you to un-follow people as well as follow them.  That means if you start following someone and then change your mind for some reason, you can choose not to follow them anymore. 

 

But of course, this means that other people can unfollow you too!  So how do you make sure that doesn’t happen? 

 

Well, it’s all about giving people quality tweets and good advice.  Think along the lines of developing your network and forming connections with people rather than simply trying to sell stuff to them.  People can tell if your only reason for using Twitter is to promote your own business.   

 

But that isn’t the only reason you could lose followers.  The key to a good tweet is held in the phrase above – quality tweets and good advice.  You don’t have to pack good advice into every single tweet, but they should all be of good quality.  By all means, say hi or good morning when you write your first tweet of the day, but make a point of making more of it than that.  What else could you write about to enhance it?   

 

Similarly, unless you are using Twitter for non-business purposes, don’t start telling everyone what you are eating, or how much coffee you have just drunk.  You need to ask yourself each time, BEFORE you publish your tweet, whether or not your followers are going to be interested enough to read it. 

 

Some people might stop following you if you show no signs whatsoever of interacting with your followers.  Now you don’t need to start talking to every single individual and messaging them every hour of the day – particularly if you have thousands of followers – but it IS good to interact wherever you have a reason to. 

 

For example, if I see someone has posted a worthwhile link to a useful website, I will reply to them and thank them for it.  It’s good to tell them 

why you liked it as well.  It can get a dialog going and it shows you are interested in what your followers have to say, and not just in what you are saying yourself. 

 

But the main thing to remember above all else is not to offend people.  Some people like to be controversial, but it is rarely a good idea to be offensive in any form if you want to create a loyal and interested following.  One misplaced tweet could be all it takes to lose the followers you have worked so hard to build. 

 

In short, if your tweets are always well thought out; if they are always of good quality; and if they always give good value and are worth reading, you shouldn’t get too many people un-following you at all. 

 

Oh, and one other thing – make sure you shorten your URLs as well.  There is nothing worse than treating people to a huge great long URL.  And it may not even be seen properly anyway.  Use TinyURL to shorten all your URLs so they take up less space.  This is one of the most common ways to do so on Twitter. 

HASHTAGS 

 

These provide you with a way to track tweets – both yours and those written by other people.  In fact, if you take a look at your list of trending topics on your home page, you will sometimes see a word preceded by a hashtag - # - in that section. 

 

So how exactly do you go about using them? 

 

Well, it’s easy.  Let’s say you are a writer and you are interested in taking part in the National Novel Writing Month.  This goes by the quirky shortened name of NaNoWriMo. 

 

So what you might do, if you want to attract the attention of other interested writers when you tweet about this, is to include the hashtag #NaNoWriMo after each relevant tweet you make.  You can also track other tweets by typing that hashtagged phrase - #NaNoWriMo – into the search box on Twitter.  If you do this you will see that the results show up all tweets that have that hashtag included in them.   

 

Now you might think that hashtags aren’t actually that important.  After all, we already know that we can search for keywords, so why bother with a hashtag?  It’s really only a keyword with a hash symbol in front of it, isn’t it? 

 

Well… yes and no.  Hashtags are now useful mostly because people can use them to indicate shortened tags that people wouldn’t look up as keywords.  This is particularly the case when a long term is shortened drastically to make it fit on Twitter.  For example, #WSUVJS stands for the WSU Virtual Journalism Summit.  If someone reads one of your tweets regarding the subject and sees that hashtag, they know they can search for that tag and find other tweets on the same subject.  Finding them all otherwise could be a nightmare. 

 

You don’t always have to use hashtags, but it’s good to know they are there.  And as we have seen, they can help you with both categorizing your own tweets and finding other people’s too. 

 

 KEYWORDS 

 

 Yes, we’re back to keywords again.  If you are really serious about trying to attract a specific group of people on Twitter, you should make the effort to become familiar with the keywords they are likely to be looking for. 

 

We know that keywords can help people to find our tweets – and our bio – on Twitter.  But if you can do some research and find more keywords as a result, you should find that you get even better results. 

 

There are plenty of keyword tools online that can be used for free, and you should be able to produce some kind of list that can help you target the right kind of people. 

 

Keep an eye on the tweets that get a good response as well.  Sometimes you will get responses from your followers even if you don’t ask for them.  You might get replies or direct messages, but they will both point to a tweet that has been popular or got a lot of attention for some reason. 

 

The more familiar you become with the site and the more you learn about what your followers want, the more accurate you can be in attracting more people.   

 

Now you might be thinking that we have overdosed on keywords somewhat.  But that simply isn’t true.  I can’t tell you how important they are.  Think about what happens as you become more and more established on Twitter.  You might get 100 followers in your first week, so that’s 100 home pages (plus your own) that your tweets will show up on.  Don’t forget that if you look at your own home page, you can see all the tweets published by everyone you are following.  That means your own will show up on all your follower's pages as well. 

 

And of course, as you are clicking on other people’s lists of followers to add more to your own list, so other people are clicking on other lists as well.  And the more lists your own Twitter username shows upon, the more followers you are likely to get. 

 

In other words, the more places you show up on the site, the better your results are likely to be. 

 

ADVERTISING YOUR TWITTER STATUS ELSEWHERE TO GET EVEN MORE FOLLOWERS 

 

 Do you feel as if you still don’t have enough in the way of followers?  No problem.  So far we have only focused on getting followers on Twitter itself.  But of course, you can find people and encourage them to follow you to lots of other places as well. 

 

The easiest way to do this would be to add a note to your blog telling people they can find you on Twitter.  But why write something when you can display a badge instead? 

 

Twitter is very helpful in this respect.  It has a page dedicated to providing badges for you to use free of charge, although it isn’t the easiest page to find.  It’s located at http://twitter.com/badges.  As you can see, they have some badges that are designed for specific sites, chiefly other social networking sites.  But if you want one for your blog or website or any other site you might be a member of, click on the ‘other’ option and click on continue to carry on. 

 

As you’ll see you can either go for a plain HTML widget, which does actually look quite nice, or you can go all out for the Flash version.  Just select your choice and continue once again.  It’s then a question of copying and pasting the code into your website.   

 

You’ll be interested to know that Twitter isn’t the only source of badges for promoting your Twitter account elsewhere either.  If you scroll to the bottom of any Twitter page you will see a link to the ‘apps’ section.  From here you can explore countless widgets and other items that have been created by fans.  And of course, there are other websites online that have their own Twitter badges and widgets they will give you the code for. 

 

The important thing is not to overdo it.  There is no need to put a huge Twitter ‘follow me!’ sign in neon on every single page of your blog, for example.  But you should make a list of all the sites and blogs that you have or you are a member of.  Then you can gradually work your way around them and install some kind of widget on each one. 

 

The great thing about these is that they update as well.  When you install your widget it will usually have around the last half a dozen tweets on it.  But as you update your account and post more tweets, you will find that your badges and widgets will also update automatically. 

 

You can also opt to have a simple banner on your site if you wish.  These often have some kind of bird picture based on the one on the Twitter website.  People are then invited to click on it and follow you on Twitter if they wish.  You might want to use a combination of these to see which ones work best for you. 

 

Another way to connect with people is to write articles that would appeal to the kind of followers you want to attract.  You can distribute these to article directories, post them on your blog, or write them for other blogs if you can.  In the end, you simply say that you tweet about your chosen subject on Twitter, and then include your home page address so people can find you. 

 

It couldn’t be easier to build up a significant Twitter following, could it? 

Twitter Marketing Part-1=> What is Twitter, and why should you be interested in it?