Posts tagged Internet Marketing
How to Get Followers on Twitter
Jan 24th
Although on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn you want to connect with people who are interested in what you have to offer and people from whom you can learn, Twitter requires a different strategy than on Facebook or LinkedIn.
But on Facebook and LinkedIn you extend an invitation to people and you wait to see if they accept your invitation. On Twitter anyone can follow anyone without an invitation – in fact, this is part of Twitter’s power.
Thus your aim is to get followers on Twitter who are on the “spine of your story.” That’s my expression – borrowed from good writing practices – that means followers who are interested in what you are about rather than random followers in areas of no interest to you.
FYI – Of course you can get followers in additional areas connected to a hobby or additional interests. But right now we’re talking about getting followers on Twitter who are on the spine of your story for your business or career.
First step, do not tweet about things such as what you had for dinner (unless you are a chef, a restaurant critic, or the like). Choose your tweets to get followers on Twitter who are interested in your subjects.
Let’s say you are a clothing manufacturer who imports cloth from China and then sells your men’s shirts on the Internet. You might want to get followers who have brick-and-mortar clothing stores and could carry your men’s shirts. Or you might want to get followers who have their own online stores and could carry your men’s shirts.
(Remember, in the Internet world competition works differently than in the real world. There is now a global market for your shirts, and other websites selling your shirts can expand your sales opportunities.)
You start tweeting about a variety of related subjects, such as Chinese export laws, U.S. import laws, problems of helping customers buy the correct size shirt online, delivery options, and sales tax concerns for Internet purchases.
Does this mean you have to know about all these subjects? Not necessarily. It means that in your tweets you have to share links to news articles and blog posts on these subjects. (You are interested in these topics yourself, remember?)
How does this get followers on Twitter for you?
Other people who want to engage in conversations about these subjects will do a search for these terms either through the Twitter search function or through third-party applications such as tweetbeep.com. When these people find your tweets, they will probably click on your username to read your Twitter profile.
If your Twitter profile supports this same interest, they will probably follow you, especially since all this requires is a click on the FOLLOW button.
Now to help people find you even easier there’s an added step. You can use a # (called hashtag) before a term that people are likely to search for. Perhaps you’ll write a tweet that says:
Just read an insightful blog post on U.S. #import issues – [blogpostpermalink - probably using a URL shortener such as tinyurl.com]
Now when others search on #import, your tweet can more easily be found by the Twitter search functions.
Of course, this technique works both ways. You can search on your subjects of interest to find people who tweet on these topics. Then you can check out their profiles and consider whether to follow them. If you do follow a person, there’s a good chance that person will follow you back.
One other important tip for getting followers on Twitter: Take part in tweetchats that are connected to your topics of interest. A tweetchat is a real-time conversation on a specific subject. For example, #smallbizchat takes place on Wednesdays from 8 to 9 p.m. Eastern U.S. time.
By participating in and adding value to these targeted conversations, you can get in front of potential followers who are interested in what you are interested in. If your tweets during the tweetchat have been helpful, you will probably find that you get followers on Twitter immediately after the tweetchat.
Remember, the most important rule for getting followers on Twitter is to share information (on the spine of your story) that other people find valuable.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is an Internet business consultant. If you liked this article, you’re going to love her free report on “The Top 3 Internet Marketing Elements” – claim your report now from www.TeachMeInternetBusiness.com
WordPress Autoblog Plugin
Twitter and Self Improvement?
Jan 24th
Twitter is all the rage these days. And no doubt, it is a powerful tool in growing your online business. I recently read that having Twitter followers is like having a sub-list. Definitely, “the money is in the list,” which says a lot about the value of Twitter. And makes it important to think about how you use Twitter and what kind of people you follow on Twitter.
Until very recently, I didn’t reach out and follow people on Twitter at all. I just followed people I knew. Then I got introduced to Mr. Tweet, and “he” recommended some great people to me. Now I’m consistently finding great new people to follow.
I basically follow four types of people on Twitter. First, there are those whose posts always make me smile. I like these people, even though I don’t know them outside of Twitter.
Second are those whose posts always give me something valuable or interesting. Usually they link to a blog post or news article.
The third type of person I follow is those who seem to run entire businesses on Twitter. They communicate with everyone. They tweet so often there’s no way they could have time to run a business outside their Twitter connections.
And finally, there are those who do nothing but market their products. I have no sense of their personality. They post nothing but sales links and make claims that if I click I can make $1000 this week. This type always follows me first, and I follow them back to make sure I’m never like them.
I’ve never thought about what type of a “followee” I am, or what impression my Twitter “friends” have of me. I just tweet what I’m thinking about, questions I have, stories that catch my interest, and an occasional plug to ask people to consider joining my list. I automatically tweet my blog posts and Ezine Articles.
As I’ve started thinking about how I use Twitter, I realize that I don’t use it very effectively to grow my business because I have no “Twitter strategy.” But I also realize that if I did use Twitter more effectively, not only would my business benefit, but my personal growth would too.
Think about the purpose of Twitter for internet marketers. You try to show your followers that you are intelligent, interesting, and have something of value to share. You want to earn their trust so they will do business with you. This is not to say that Twitter doesn’t have dual purposes. I follow a lot people because I have an interest in purchasing from them, not selling to them.
But, I digress. Let’s assume your main purpose is to develop relationships that will make you money. You are trying to be the best person you can be. You are putting your best foot forward. Trying to be helpful, positive and uplifting. Trying to add value to people’s lives.
And, when you add value to others, don’t you necessarily add value to your own life? Even in the worst of times, it’s helpful to repeat positive affirmations, to sing a happy song, to put a smile on your face. Because your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference. It knows only what you tell it. That’s why we become what we think about most of the time.
So, if we are being the best we can be, if we are portraying the person we want to become, aren’t we affirming and strengthening our best character traits? Isn’t that self improvement? On top of our own efforts, we’re reading a Twitter stream full of people also trying to do and be their best. What an awesomely positive environment! It’s like free therapy.
I don’t know if it works this way for everyone. But I know my Twitter stream consists of all types of people doing and saying positive things. No one’s doubting my decision to become a “full time” online marketer. No one’s talking about how hard and depressing the recession is. All of the things I despise about the outside world aren’t in my Twitter stream. Wow, I follow great people.
You should devote at least 30 minutes a day to your personal growth. And, no, your tweeting doesn’t count. Putting some thought into your Twitter strategy, however, and being a genuine, real person when you tweet, is totally congruent with a plan for self improvement. So, in thinking about your Twitter strategy, both your online business and your personal life will benefit from considering how your self-improvement fits into that strategy. Happy tweeting!
Make Money Online