While everyone else is concerned with Twitter unleashing their own business model, I know that all of you are more interested in how to create your own twitter business model and how to turn those followers into customers. Monetizing Twitter is not all that difficult of a task.
Some will tell you it’s a game of averages, that you should get as many people to follow you as possible regardless of whether they are actually interested in you or not, and start trying to sell things to them.
There is no denying that you will see some success with that approach, but by using that approach you will lose some of the added value that your followers can bring you. People who don’t care about you, aren’t going to retweet your posts, aren’t going to say good things about what you’re doing, and aren’t going to be engaged with you on a regular basis. So my suggestion is, that you build a following of people who actually do care about you and your product. While your numbers may not be as big as the next guys, the value of each of your followers, will be much higher.
Step 1:
Build you network of caring followers. Post about things only related to your topic. Follow only people who are interested in your topic, and engage with people who are interested in your topic. The ability to create your own little niche of sorts on twitter is one of it’s greatest features. Using search.twitter.com you can find people who are talking about topics that are related to your field and engage with them.
Step 2:
Engage these followers in some way. Whether that just be general comments, contests, or by posting news updates about your product you need to engage these people and let them know that they are important to you from the start. My favorite thing to do is a contest. They work EVERY time because there is always going to be a small niche of people who are just looking for free stuff.
Step 3:
Determine your Twitter sales approach. Twitter is a great tool for a lot of things. It can be used for customer service, blogging, or sales. If you are looking to make your Twitter account drive more sales for you you have to be sales oriented. Use it to post your sales and deals but also use it to help your customers out with any problems they might be having with your site.
Step 4:
Give people incentive to follow you on Twitter. This should be done whenever you are trying to get more of your customer or user base to engage with you on social media. Give them a discount code just for following you. It’ll make them feel like they are a part of something exclusive and special.
Step 5:
Announce that you are on Twitter. Put a twitter icon on your front page and link it to your twitter page. Blog about your Twitter account. Let people know that they can find you on Twitter and let them know that just for following you you’ll give them an exclusive discount code.
The best way to sell things online is to test new and creative ideas. I challenge all of you to try and push the boundaries of normal practices and put your own spin on them. These are more of guidelines to help you get started selling on Twitter than anything else. Take my ideas and give them your own creative boost. That is when you’ll be able to really take off with Twitter and your other social media campaigns.
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