Update: 2/15/2010 – Due to the overwhelming response to this article, an enhanced e-book version of the same name has been published. 20 pages will show you how to maximize Twitter for your business, blog, and brand. Download the FREE e-book here!
The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Twitter Success
Twitter is an excellent marketing platform for entrepreneurs to grow their business, blog traffic, or brand. You’ll find plenty of social media marketing gurus that want to sell you a system to get 500 new followers a day, make zillions of dollars in referrals, and increase your blog traffic by 2000% in 30 minutes. However, I’ve got an ultimate weapon that will guarantee you long-term business success on Twitter.
“Giving-to-get” is my ultimate weapon when it comes to marketing on Twitter. I touched on this concept in last week’s post, “The Biggest Marketing Secret – Ever, Finally Revealed”
What’s Twitter All About?
If you’ve been living under a digital rock for the past two years and you don’t know what Twitter is, then check out my article, Are you a Twitter Newbie or Power User? When you’re done, come back to this article and join the rest of us.
One thing to note about Twitter is that it’s a platform for engagement, sharing, and connecting – not just for marketing. Using it for marketing alone would dub it as a tool . . .
“A tool is typically used once and discarded (in other words, something useful but not valuable). A platform is something solid used to stand on. Something sturdy you can build something on top of.” – myself in an interview with @latarahamying for her blog. Check out the full interview here: Savvy Marketing Moments With Rod “the Success Coach” Kirby
If you want to successfully generate traffic to your blog, website, or grow your business on Twitter, here are a few things you should do;
Find Your Voice
What's Your Twitter Voice?
Your Twitter voice is equal to what you share and how you brand yourself. If you’ve been on Twitter for a while, it’s easiest to figure out your voice by how people list you (or, how they categorize you). You can read more about Twitter lists from Twitter’s official blog. If you’re new to Twitter or aren’t listed then you need to find your voice.
It’s important to know exactly how you’re going to represent yourself on Twitter – this determines if people will relate to you and your Tweets. Take a look at the graphic on the right. From it we can see that “I am the voice of Business, Marketing, Social Media, and the Life Coach.”
Tips for Finding Your Voice;
- Know who you are
- Know what you want to achieve on Twitter
- Look within your industry
- Look at the popular people you follow
Update Consistently
Ever follow someone only to realize that they update maybe once a month? And when they update it’s never anything useful or cool, it’s just random like;
“Just woke up, about to get some breakfast . . .”
If this is you, please, quietly excuse yourself from Twitter . . . you’re hogging up my stream. Consistency will breed consistent followers and traffic. The key is to find the right balance and not post too much or too little, but get into the sweet spot of your flow.
Tips on Updating Consistently;
- At Home – find the best time of day when there are the least amount of distractions and go for it.
- On the Go – Use tools like, Ping.fm to update on the go, especially if you’re a busy person.
Organize or Participate in Twitter Activities
Remember, Twitter is a platform for connecting with like-minded people, so CONNECT! Get into Tweet chats whether they’re live streams or standard chats. I organized a short-lived event called the “Monday Morning Rockstar Challenge”
Rockstar Challenge
The idea was to kill the Monday blues by encouraging productivity. I would give the winner a shout-out in a “winner announcement” blog post which made people feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Plenty of people participated, but we just couldn’t keep the momentum going. It was definitely fun while it lasted.
Organize your own games or events on Twitter by using Tweetgrid for chats or Tweetchat for a live Q&A (at the time of this posting, the Tweetchat site was down). By taking the initiative you’ll position yourself as a leader and people will flock to you when they’re in need.
Share Useful links
Does this Make You Feel Happy Like it Does 4 Me?
Twitter is a platform for sharing which is critical to getting quality traffic, leads, and followers. When you jump into the ecosystem of sharing that’s when your level of success will rise. I share articles that I find on marketing, blogging, success, tech news, and more. Whatever I think someone will find useful and promote my Twitter voice/brand.
Here are a few tools you can use to share good stuff with good people on Twitter;
- Google Reader – I always shout this tool out because it’s such a big part of my social media strategy. Use it to follow, read, comment, and share your favorite blogs across multiple networks. You can find a bunch of the articles I share on Twitter on my Google Reader Shared Page.
- Feedly for Google Reader – This is an awesome plugin (compatible for Firefox and Chrome) for Google Reader that gives it a magazine-like interface. Best part of all, when you’re logged into feedly and visiting a website in another tab, you can save, favorite, or share that article while you’re browsing.
- Google Blog Search – This is by far the best way to look content, discover new blogs, and share it with your network.
- AllTop - This great service indexes the top headlines from different websites and blogs. It’s great for finding “what’s happening” in your industry.
Share Multimedia Content
Got Multimedia-Content to Share?
The great thing about Twitter is the amount of diverse content you can find. Don’t just settle for 140 characters, show people the world around you, videos you find on the web, or other details. I do this through my Tumblr blog which is nothing more than great multimedia content that I find and share from around the web. I’ve got it to share on Twitter whenever I create a new post automatically so I don’t have to “double post.”
You can easily share multimedia content by using these services;
- Twitpic – great for photo sharing from your PC or mobile device
- Twitvid – excellent for sharing videos from your computer, mobile device, or even a webcam
- Many of your favorite websites like Youtube, Flickr, and Digg support sharing to Twitter (links take you to my profiles on each). It’s all a matter of finding quality content to share!
Don’t Talk to Yourself
The first thing I look at when deciding on who to follow is whether or not they actually engage in conversations or if they just talk to themselves. You’ve seen him/her before, they spew out link after link promoting their projects and never talk to anyone. Remember, it’s called, SOCIAL media for a reason. Don’t be afraid to start conversations, re-tweet, and engage with others.
@BrendaClayson
Make an Offer
If you’ve done all of the above in some capacity then you will have earned the trust, loyalty, and admiration of those that follow you. You will have added value to their streams and they’ll love you for it. If this sounds like you then you have earned the opportunity to make an offer. Not to ask for a sale. But, to craft a tweet of significant importance to your business, blog, or brand and put it out there for everyone to click and share.
Note: Don’t abuse the opportunity by tweeting that offer too much. I like to promote blog posts at different times through the day but only after I’ve shared good content.
Lightning Round – My Quick Tips
Here are a few things that I do, personally, that gets me more traffic, followers, and business;
- Schedule Tweets During Peak Usage Times – I use Hootsuite to schedule quotes, new blog post announcements, calls to action, etc. Just be sure to check in and engage everyone once in a while!
- Address People by Their Real Name – Make your conversations more personable and direct. This reinforces trust and builds a genuine relationship between you and the other person.
- Ask Questions Give Answers – There’s a wealth of information waiting on you in the form of your followers and vice versa. Don’t let it go to waste!
- Offer Your Best Advice – I regularly give out information that I would typically charge people to get in my coaching sessions. However, giving your best advice puts you on people’s mind when a need arises.
- Accept Quality Followers, Not All - I have a low follow to follower percentage by choice. With my 200 followers I have a stream of people I can count on and that’s super valuable to me. I’m more capable of focusing on a few hundred than a few thousand.
- Be a Tease - Got a blog post you’re working on? Give out teasers throughout the day until you finish it. You’ll grow anticipation and people are more willing to share it if they’re waiting on it.
- Be Original - Sharing links is all fine and dandy, but don’t forget to share original wisdom, knowledge, or information that people can’t get anywhere else. It solidifies you as a quality person to follow.
Remember, Twitter is more than a marketing tool – it’s a platform for building, engaging, and sharing. If you take the time to maximize the tools presented in this article you’ll get more followers, blog traffic, and business. What would you add to this list? What tips would you offer to entrepreneurs looking to make it big on Twitter? Share your thoughts below.
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About the Author
Rod
