Image by: By Rosaura Ochoa
By Richard K. Noots
Say what you will about Twitter, but news flies fast. Especially with limited characters and the ability to let the world (AKA your followers) know what you’re thinking in an instant thanks to the powers of the Internet. We even just covered earlier this week about how Twitter has been having a tendency to break important news first. With over half a billion people using this site on the daily, you cannot afford to hate a site with such an amazing user-generated market.
That’s why the focus of today’s article is going to be on turning Twitter into profits for whatever business you may have. Whether you’re opening up your own corner store in the mall or a small section of the cyber world for your product, your concerns should always lie with marketing. More than that, you want people to do your advertising for you. Twitter is going to become your best friend in the near future, and here’s why!
#1) Let Your Followers Spread the Word
Obviously, you want your business to have it’s very own Twitter so it can be completely dedicated to your product. Once you’ve established that, it’s time to garner some followers! The best policy is to reward your customers with deals they can easily share with their friends over all social media, specifically Twitter in this instance. When your customers are enticed to share Tweets for deals, they’ll pass on more deals to the people they know.
Use your Twitter feed as a raffle. Every person that retweets your specials is entered to randomly win one hundred dollars. Run new product ideas by your followers and have them vote on what they like best, if you’ve the option to introduce new items. Twitter essentially provides a direct one-on-one with you and your customers for the ultimate form of advertisement, review and feedback. If you don’t use it, you’re letting your business suffer for no reason.
#2) Have Twitter Do Your Work For You
Now, for the Twitter followers you do have, what else should you do? Well, Twitter lets you give constant updates to all who care know about any sales or business deals you may have. More than that, you can have randomly-generated, exclusive sales that only show up on Twitter feeds. This can be set up on a system that can be near-automatic, so you won’t have to worry about dedicating all of your time to tweeting your day away.
More people will want to buy your product if you make them think about it. This is all you want Twitter to do. You just need a tweet to show up on another person’s feed and implant that thought in their head. Even if only one person out of a hundred of your followers actually buys anything, it’s still one hundred percent profit. After all, what does it cost to post anything on social media? That’s right, absolutely nothing!
#3) Learn How to Tweet Properly
OK, just because you’ve made a Twitter account doesn’t mean you know how to use it. Take the time to learn how the pros do it! Yes, you might even have to learn a little slang. There’s an art to getting people to share your thoughts, even if you’re passing along a deal. You want to keep your tweets short and keep the links at the top. Keep your tweets original and witty, or as much as humanly possible. No one is expecting you to be Sinbad, but effort does show.
#4) Search For New Customers
There are search sites available (like this one) that allow you to look for keywords that have been entered on Twitter. This allows you to actively seek customers looking for your product. Use any words that relate to what you’re selling, and scope out every person who even hints at needing your product. Privatized, unsolicited messages may be weird, but not in the world of Twitter. Speaking out to one person who didn’t know about your product could open up a whole new world of customers with just one inviting message.
Keep an open mind. The world of business is changing faster than anyone can predict, so it’s a wonder anyone can manage to stay ahead. New companies rise and fall practically as fast birth rates, which is why you need to fight to stay ahead. It may be overwhelming just how much it takes to improve businesses, but if you don’t do it, who will?
Do you use Twitter for business? Has it helped? It what ways have you noticed improvements or lack-thereof? Share in the comments for our would-be entrepreneurs!