Turns out tweets about food, kittens, and kids are much more appealing than tweets about spreadsheets, product benefits and serious stuff in general.


As Barbara Gibson (Chair of IABC) puts it in her article about the power of writing about food on twitter, “It’s the silly things that bring people together, allow us to connect and develop relationships.”


If you’re looking to woo people on twitter or launch a twitter campaign - sometimes, the best way to do it is by saying something completely silly. For example, if you sell blenders - you may tweet something like “The Top 20 Most Disgusting Drinks of All Time…One Uses Raw Eggs and Sardines!” and then link to a list on your website of the most disgusting drinks - with a link to your blenders and maybe some more appealing recipes


Think of your posts on twitter as what you would say to friends at a crazy party (where you’ve had a few drinks or at least your friends have)… You can still talk about the “serious stuff” - i.e. what you do for a living, why your products are great… but come at it with a jovial attitude and think up things that are a little… well… silly. Do this and your responses on Twitter will skyrocket.

 

A few days ago I told my younger brother to sign up for twitter so he could be my twitter friend. He first asked me what the heck twitter is and then after I explained it was a place to type little mini message updates - he told me it sounded a little too weird for him. “What do I have to update people about every day?” he asked.

 

It wasn’t until I told him that Joe Sugarman was following me (and I was following him) on twitter, that my brother got excited. You see my brother has been faithfully studying copywriting for the last couple of years and Sugarman is one of the greatest copywriters of all time and one of my brother’s personal heroes. 

 

Twitter is being used by the most innovative marketers to make a HUGE impact. Just to give you an example - at my company, we do a lot of work with online product launches and twitter has now become one of the best ways to announce a new product and quickly get it out there.

 

I know that when I first signed up for twitter (not too long ago), my first question was “How do I actually use this thing?” I had a lot of friends who were constantly updating me about everyday things - i.e. going out to lunch, coming back from a workout, hanging out at the airport… Although I didn’t get it at first, those little messages started to become addictive. Even though what they were doing was somewhat mundane, I still was interested because they were my friends.

 

Once I got into it a little more, I began following business gurus that I admire. I find it so cool that I can keep up with what Eben Pagan is reading or what seminar Joe Sugarman just returned from or see the CEO of Zappos warming up a pizza with his iron in his hotel room… all of this on twitter.

 

All of this is “cool,” but what is really amazing is how twitter can help you market your business.

 

The following are the top ten steps to successfully marketing your business on twitter:

 

1. Pay Attention To Your Name: Your username is very important. It is listed in each post and is a part of your business or personal brand. Be sure that it doesn’t contain too many letters or odd symbols (like underscores).

 

2. Be a Proactive Follower: Search for people to follow right when you sign up (you can follow me at http://twitter.com/lauraroser - that is - if you want). The more you follow, the more likely you are to be followed. The following links will get you started searching: 

• Twitter’s search engine: www.search.twitter.com 
• Twellow.com: more targeted searches by categories
• Twitterati.com: lists the top tweeters (for a list of the top click here)

 

3. Manage Your Replies: I recommend downloading a program called tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) - this will help you to organize who is on your list and your responses. It also makes it easier to send personal messages. TweetScan can also be great to manage your replies (I haven’t used this, but it’s gotten great reviews).

 

4. Advertise Yourself: Add your twitter account ID to your email signature so people you email can start following you. (your ID, by the way, is just www.twitter.com/YourUserName).

 

5. Say Something That Makes People Say “Wow!”: For example, if you are selling pizza ovens, you may say something like “did you know that president JFK ate 200 pizzas a year? http://tinyurl.com/blah.” The url at the end would direct them to your pizza oven site. (I just made up that stat, in case you were wondering).

 

6. Read The Bios Of People Who Follow You: See what interests them and send a personal message. This is a good way to form a relationship. For example, if someone who enjoys art just started following you, send them a personal message about an art blog they should check out. This gets the conversation going in a positive way.

 

7. Don’t SPAM: In other words, don’t send a personal message to a bunch of different people with the EXACT same question or content. And don’t just try to sell your products or services. Twitter is about providing useful information. It’s fine to mention what you do, you company, etc… but change your mindset from one of “sales” to one of “information giving.” Make it your mission to help others, give useful information and build relationships with no ulterior motives… If you find someone who can genuinely benefit from your company, offer your help in a very genuine way.

 

8. Say “Thank You”: I have to admit, I don’t do this one very well. But, it is an excellent idea to thank people for taking an interest and following you. The more interest you take in someone else, the more interest they will take in you. Also, if someone decides to follow you, it’s nice if you start following them. 

 

9. Keep the Conversation Going: Make sure to update your posts often. This keeps you in the minds of your fellow tweeters and increases the odds of people building a relationship with you. The more information rich your posts are, the better.

 

10. Direct People To Your Sites: If you have an interesting article you just posted on your blog, post a link for people to go check it out. If you just released a new product, post a direct link to it in your twitter post. Get people going to your website. Twitter has a limited number of characters, so you may need to use tinyurl.com or a similar service to shrink your url down.  

 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at laura@virtualmg.com (follow me at twitter.com/lauraroser)

 

Happy Tweeting!