Rachael, 2019 A.D. Black T-Shirts
2 years ago
Thursday, May 6, 2010
How To Use Twitter To Build Your Brand
Twitter is a great way to get exposure for your online brand or store and the best thing about it is all the great connections that can be made for free. When using twitter it is important that you come across as a real person and not just someone that wants to sell a product. This is easy if you enjoy people and enjoy having fun conversations on twitter. The three most important strategies to use for building your brand are using twitter search, starting the conversation to develop strong personal relationships, and be proud of your products.
When marketing on twitter you need to use twitter search. Why? By using twitter search you can find people that are interested in keywords that relate to your online store, thus giving you a targeted list of followers. For example, if you have a Zazzle shop that sells funny t shirts you may want to search for Zazzle, tshirts, funny tshirts etc. Make sure to search for similar stores that sell products similar to yours as well. If you sell graphic tshirts you may want to follow those who are fans of Redbubble or Threadless as an example. When you follow those that are interested in your products or services you need to remember it is a numbers game. Some people are not going to follow you back or will take longer to follow you back. Make sure to give someone a week to return your follow and if it takes longer than that, probably better to unfollow. You can unfollow 200 people in a day, but is not recommend, for that is too many people to unfollow at once in one day.
Secondly, if someone does follow your brand acknowledge them and introduce yourself. It can really go a long way if you @reply someone and thank them for following you. If they reply back, start a conversation about their interests. You should be able to comment on their bio or something on their blog to show them that you took the time to check out their profile. This helps in two ways. First, for those that respond you are likely to make a new friend. People like people who are interested in them. If you expand your conversation you can make a very strong friend or ally. You can develop great friendships and networking relationships with people on twitter that can open new doors even if you never sell them anything from your online store. Making connections with people on twitter is the most valuable thing you can do. Remember, that when marketing on twitter, people buy from those that they know and those that they like. Your number one goal should be coming across as a likable person so being a social butterfly and keeping things light works great on twitter. If your fellow tweeps are thinking of you as a person you are doing it right, if they think of you as a brand you are doing it wrong.
The third thing you need to do on twitter to build your brand is to be proud of your products or merchandise that you are selling. If you make a sale share it with the world and provide hashtags with it so that others who have interests in your product can find it. If someone on twitter buys from you personally @reply them and thank them for buying from you. Follow up with them later to make sure that they are still thrilled with your product and services, to let them know that you care about their opinion. Following up on a sale can lead to that person being a delighted returning customer who brags about your online store or shop to all their friends. The 90/10 rule on twitter is a great way to remember how much to tweet about your own products on twitter. 90 percent of the time you should be engaging with your twitter friends about conversations that have nothing to do with your online store. Talk about movies, sports, or any other common interests you and your new twitter friends have. 10 percent of the time brag about your store, cause hey there is nothing wrong with being proud of all the hard work you did to put the store together and create the products. If you have made friends on twitter they are going to want to share your great news by sometimes even retweeting your accomplishments. The possibilities on twitter are really endless when you can engage your followers and treat them as people and not customers.
Twitter is one of the best ways to market if you learn how to use it effectively and the best thing is, it's free! If you know what to search for on twitter, who to befriend and network with, and what time is appropriate to brag about your products or services, it is almost a guarantee you will succeed on twitter. You can make connections and friendships that are way more important than selling someone an item. Twitter really is all about connections and if you are a light hearted social butterfly who treats people as friends and not customers their really is no limit as to what you can accomplish.
Tim Fox
Soge Shirts, Funny Tees
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Posted by Soge shirts Labels: branding tips, engaging on twitter, making friends on twitter, Marketing, marketing tips, online marketing, personal brand, twitter, twitter marketing, twitter tips
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Excellent blog post! I am still learning how to balance promotional tweets and personal tweets. And I have to experiment more with twitter search. Thanks for your tips!
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