Selling on Twitter without Being Hated
Selling on Twitter can really help you on the marketing end, but the microblogging site has become such a hotbed for people pitching to you that merely signing up can feel like you’re simply preparing yourself for infomercial nightmares.
But if you’re going to be selling on Twitter, whether you’re selling yourself, your time, your service or your product, you must remember that others are warning Twitter newbies against you! Why? Because you may not be providing much value to a new user. Heck, you may not be providing much value to an established user. To avoid being written off as a spammy, pitch-making salesman on Twitter, stick to Twitter’s initial intentions as a microblogging platform.
1. Twitter is a blog
You wouldn’t make your traditional blog overly spammy, loud and obnoxious. Don’t do it with your Twitter profile either.
2. Twitter is a community
There are other people on Twitter. This is why you chose Twitter to sell your business, right? Just remember that they’re people and not just users. Interact with them on a level that’s of interest to the both of you in order to build worthwhile relationships. From here, you may not only have a friend but a promoter as well. Friends come in handy for recommendations (#followfriday or hash-tagging your Twitter name), retweets or telling their twitterverse of your greatness. Don’t forget to respond accordingly and reciprocate!
3. Twitter still asks the question “What Are You Doing?”
So tell us. What are you doing? Just because Twitter is a great way to market yourself doesn’t mean that’s all you have to do on Twitter. Even if you have a profile seperate for sharing your personal stuff, you can still use your Twitter business profile to talk about things related to the industry, talk about what’s going on outside the office window, or talk about what you had for lunch today. You’re still providing value and you’re humanizing yourself all the while.
4. Use auto-follows and auto-DMs wisely
Admittedly auto-following users that follow me, along with sending auto-DMs helps me save a lot of time when it comes to Twitter maintenance. But abusing these features can ruin your reputation before you’ve gotten your foot in the door. Don’t use either of these features to pitch. Just keep the auto-DMs personal and perhaps redirect them to a link where they can learn more info about you, such as the welcome video I created for my Twitter followers.
5. Throw a Tweetup
If you can leverage Twitter to redirect traffic away from the Twitter public updates and direct messages, you may be better able to convert communication into a business transaction. Twitter is still rather basic in many of its functions, and emailing, chat, a one-on-one meeting or even a Tweet-up can be great ways to engage Twitter community members and makes you a lot more personable as well!
Written by Kristen Nicole from Kristen NicolePosted on April 27th, 2009 and filed under Blogging
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11 Responses to “Selling on Twitter without Being Hated”
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Very good article Kristen. I only Retweet things I find intersting or reply to people I find interesting. I could seriously do without the amount of marketing on Twitter. It’s really just another form of spam, but we’ve signed up for it because it’s the “in” thing.
I also RT’d this article in hopes that people will use Twitter as a personal status venue more often and not just a springboard to send you off to their product or blog.
Again, very good article! Thanks so much for posting this.
Patti
Thanks Patti! I really appreciate you checking out the article and thank you so much for the RT!! That’s what the Twitter community is all about, right!
I agree with you. Sometimes it’s disgusting to receive rapid promotion tweets. If you could use Twitter wisely, I’m sure you’ll get the profits,
I’m completely new to Twitter and I use it as a social network. Social meaning ‘interacting with people’ and I really get tired of those who only twit a sales pitch or link to their blog, article, etc.
Maybe I’m wrong here, but I’d rather other people see me as a real person and not just a freelance writer.
We look at the great authors like Stephen King and we feel they’re beyond our grasp because of who they are. Granted, I’m no Stephen King, but if I were I’d still want people to see me as a real person.
I also use Twitter to promote others I think highly of instead of myself. I know self promotion is part of ‘the deal’ but again, I don’t want to self promote so much that I offend people. I’d rather people see me as someone who promotes things I’m interested in and maybe, just maybe, they’ll decide to check me out as a writer too. Again, I may have this all backwards, but I just feel it’s the right way to do things.
Thanks again for your post!
Patti
Great article and I too will RT
I have built some awesome industry related relationships for one of my brand new sites – and I’ve done it pre-launch! I have spend time looking at each site (as I set aside time) and RT for those who follow me and helping them in any way I can. Once my site is ready I will be able to very “softly” announce the grand opening of my site. I love Twitter and I wish others would take the time to educate themselves on business etiquette and find ways to use Twitter without looking like a spammer. *SmiLes* Suzanne
I appreciate your out the article.thanks for twitter.i agree with you.
I also use twitter to promote others i think highly of instead of myself.thanks for twitter.
Nice tips.I really appreciate your twitter.I use it as a social network. social meaning interacting with people.
Simple. Don’t use twitter. Which makes you already hated.