We all use Twitter in our marketing and everyone, well all twitterers anyway, know how to tweet, follow, unfollow and retweet. This article is not for the people trying to “figure out” Twitter but instead here are some tips for creating a stronger presence online to build you and your brand.
Advanced Twitter Tips
First things first. If you have 10 niches do not use 1 Twitter account. Any old email address can have a Twitter account so me sure to build a new whole persona for each niche. This means having a niche related bio as well as a picture so that you so not look like a bot but instead like a real person.
First thing after this is that you should go to Fiverr and get yourself a bunch of followers (not more than 1,000 though). This is not the same as customers but it helps to build social proof. Do not for one minute thing that 1,000 Fiverr followers are ever real people because most are not. These first followers are likely to be spammy so the groups that you create below should keep the noise out of your stream.
Who to Follow on Twitter
Within your niche there will be certain people that are very important and should be followed so that you can get a feel for what is news and what is important right now in your niche. You can do this easily by searching directly in Twitter as below
Do a search in the top box and select “People” from the left side to see who Twitter thinks are the top people in your niche. Just follow all the ones that seem important.
You have other places to look for important Twitter users as well. I start with doing a Google search for top twitter users <niche name> this will usually be a great way to find hidden influencers. Also there are sites like WeFollow and Twellow among others.
Tracking Who You Follow on Twitter
Now you should have about 100-200 followers whose opinions you care about. The best way to track these users is through Twitter Lists which is setup right within Twitter itself. You can find it under the little head at the top of the Twitter page where you find the rest of the profile and other settings.
Once you have created your new list add members to it. This way you can have separate lists for customers, prospects, influencers and any other grouping you would want to follow and to respond to. These lists are real people so you should be able to keep up and comment or respond to them as opposed to your main stream which may be messy with bots and spammers.
Finally you want to start following people that could end up being customers. This is fairly simple although automation could help. The most simple way is to go into Twitter once or twice a day and do a search for your keyphrases.
So for example in the dating niche you can do searches for “tired of being single” or “relationship time” or whatever your keyphrases are and when you see these tweets just send them a tip, it is important not to sell hard because you will get banned from Twitter really quickly but something like
@single_lady I know what you mean the bar scene gets tiring after a while.
Something like this is good as it will get your name out there to your prospects but not make you look like a sheister or a stalker. Doing this and having an active Twitter stream of your own will get you some followers that may do business with you in the future and should not take you more than a few minutes a day.
There are also other ways that you can gain Twitter followers outside of your own searches on Twitter. Make sure that you get your name out by posting your twitter handle wherever you can
- Forum signatures
- Blog posts
- Articles
- Google+
- Directories – add yourself to sites like WeFollow and Twellow
What to post to Twitter
This is going to be the most important part of your Twitter experience. I like to think that I am tweeting to two different groups at the same time. You are trying to get noticed by your influencers, to become a thought leader in your niche and you you are tweeting to your potential customers as well. Not all tweets of course are going to both these groups of people
Here are some random tweeting tips
Tweeting Tips
140 characters is a lot. Only use 120 so it is shareable – This is a fairly common piece of advice. You want to make sure that people have the ability to retweet your tweets. In reality you will find that most often your tweets will not be retweeted but you are tweeting a few times a day and your followers are going to be getting a good idea about you from all the things you tweet.
Don’t just post links – Often people want to post links to all their articles as well as great other posts that they find. This is very easy to do but if you think about it you will not look like a person but will look more like a bot. You want to send out links for sure but also you want to post news and views with no links. Post actionable tips every day as well. it is important that your stream is something that your readers are interested in so that when you post links they are more likely to click over to your site.
Don’t post quotes looks like a bot – Every big automated twitter account posts quotes. Well maybe not all of them but most of them anyway. Most people really don’t like seeing quotes all the time. It gets old real quick reading quotes that you just go “Uh huh, seen that before”. so instead of muddying up your stream with these just post some personal stuff or things you think people may find interesting. People love to learn about other people not just about what you sell.
RT popular twitters in your niche with comments – This is a great way to get noticed. Don’t retweet everything from the thought leaders in your niche but retweet some, comment with an @ to them (never DM) and this way your comment will show up to them as well as your retweets showing up to them. If your comments and replies are well though out then you will be included very quickly. The noise on Twitter forces the good stuff to really get noticed.
Engage across platforms, share Facebook finds and Google+ as well – You should be bouncing between the different social networks. You should have a dedicated Facebook and Google+ account for your niche sites as well and this give you a chance to share pics, comments, and news across platforms. Although you may have followers on Twitter that also follow you on Facebook, and on Google+ more often than not individuals will likely only follow you on one platform so don’t worry about posting Facebook stuff to Twitter.
Engage your followers by asking a couple questions a day – This is something really important to do. You need to be asking questions on your Twitter stream. Questions are the only way that people are going to have a reason to engage. Ask a question in the morning and a question in the evening and make sure that they are usually not business related. Something like “which is better Apple pie or Pecan pie?” Is great. This is totally social (thus the social network aspect) and it is really going to divide people.
Engage by answering or helping – Whenever you can make sure you are commenting back to your prospects. If they say it is too hot, mention that it is nice where you live or worse maybe. If people have questions try to be the answer guy. I find that most of the time in all of my twitter streams no one is commenting and is just posting so any time that you are engaging it is a real difference to what everyone else is doing on Twitter
Is Twitter Art or Science?
This is a question that I have had in my own head throughout the writing of this article. I think you have to be very flexible on Twitter. This is supposed to be a fun platform and the rules I have above are designed to help you engage and communicate but hopefully make sure you are not coming across as a promoter, spammer, or stalker. As you go through the first couple of months using this method on Twitter I expect that you will see results but remember that compounding is really at work here. As you engage and help others it will become recognized and you will build a following and a tribe. It is up to you to find the people but as you earn their trust you will be able to transfer the conversation to your site a lot easier to sell them there.
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