I get asked a lot about using social media to promote my business, and using Twitter to do so in particular. While I always stress that there is not a single right way to do this, and that no one has all the answers, and that different things work for different products and brands, I do have 10 tips that I think you can use no matter what ways you use to promote yourself.
If you want more information on any particular one, leave me a question in the comments, or contact me.
1. Be yourself. Let your personality come through, no one likes a robot. You will ultimately be more successful if your followers get to know you, at least a little.
2. Interact with your followers. Don’t simply push out your message. Talk to the people that follow you. Get to know some of them. Twitter is not a one-way communication device.
3. Don’t Sell. Inform and engage your followers with useful information about your product or service, answer their questions, fill a need, but don’t just sell.
4. Interact. Find people or groups in your area that are getting together, or having Tweet-ups, and attend them and introduce yourself. Ask questions, explain what you do, network, but don’t forget tip #3.
5. Repeat Yourself. There is a fine line here, you can definitely do this too much. But users, new ones especially, tend to forget that Twitter is like a river, constantly moving. You can’t expect all of your followers will see every tweet you post. Tweets have a very short shelf life. They get buried quickly. Don’t be afraid to re-tweet your own messages, just remember not to go overboard.
6. Copy Others. I don’t mean I want you to infringe on anyone’s copyright. No, I mean find someone in a related or altogether different industry that you think is doing a nice job and tailor some of their ideas to fit your product or brand.
7. Be a Giver. Take a genuine interest in helping others in ways big and small. Retweet interesting things, promote something a friend is doing, or promote the friend in general. Whatever cliche you want to use for this: karma, paying it forward, etc., take some of your time to do something good for other people.
8. Use a desktop client. I use Tweetdeck, but Twhirl and Seesmic Desktop are popular, and Mixero is a new one with potential. Just Google Twitter desktop clients, try a couple and find one you like. The point is that these programs extend Twitter’s functionality exponetially. You can group your followers, run searches, see all your replies and direct messages in different columns…the list of benefits goes on and on. Try one and see what I mean.
9. Don’t Lose Track of Time. Twitter is fun, and interesting, and it can be very easy to spend all of your time there. Don’t let it take over your day, because after all…
10. Twitter is only one arrow in your quiver. Twitter is just one more way to market yourself, there are lots of others: LinkedIn, your own website, a blog, or a Facebook page. Make sure that the others are up to date and ready to go, too.
Good luck to you.
Also remember this: No one has all the answers, everyone is still learning, we all make mistakes, and we all have things to imporve. Experiment, refine your efforts constantly, and don’t be afraid to keep trying new things.
Let me know how it’s going for you.
