Build Your Business Using Twitter - Part 3

You've probably read my first 2 posts on using Twitter to build your business. In this 3rd part of 4, I talk about how to market your products and build on the following you already have. Didn't see the first 2 parts? Don't worry, check them out here..

Part 1 - Building your followers

Part 2 - Engaging with your followers

The whole point of you as a business having a twitter is to build your brand and ultimately sell your product or service. But how do you do that without pushing your product in people's faces or being overbearing? You don't want to turn people off after all. A negative image of your brand can take a long time to, if ever, recover. The way we can sell our service to people without putting them off is by being sincere, engaging and helpful.

Sincere

The description of 'sincere' is to be free from deceipt, say what you genuinely feel or believe, and not be dishonest or hypocritical. How do we put this into our twitter practise? Well to start with, never never never mislead your customers. If you say you're going to do something by a certain date or time, DO IT. This is my personal motto - underpromise and overdeliver. I live by that rule. Also, be upfront with your customers, if you are charging extra for postage, mention it. There is nothing worse than seeing a 'deal' only to find out once you add on postage or travel etc then you may aswell have paid full whack.

Engaging 

Tweet about things your customers want to read about! Keep them up to date with new product, photoshoots, launch days, and just your general business with behind the scenes photos and tweets. Give them secret glimpses of product or new services before anyone else. Do twitter competitions or discount codes if they retweet you. React to what they say too, if someone on your timeline has tweeted about something relevant to your business, give you opinion. For instance, sometimes on The Glam Collective's Twitter (my makeup business) girls will tweet about what they are wearing out or deciding on what makeup to wear for the evening. We always get back to them with our opinions or advice. Use the twitter search function to see who has been talking about your industry. We search for 'makeup tutorials' or similar and then we tweet whoever has been talking about that mention to them that we have a new tutorial. As they are already in that 'zone' they are way more likely to check out what you're offering. This can be time consuming so I recommend Tweet Adder which can automate and tweet to anyone who has mentioned your desired sentence or keyword (to be sincere - this is an affiliate link!)

Helpful

The best thing I have found about twitter for business is that it is a real time connection to the brands and companies you love. Recently, I signed up to a monthly beauty box service. When it was 3 weeks overdue and it still hadn't turned up, I tweeted them and got a response within a few hours. Make sure you check your mentions regularly and get back to any customer queries. It's much easier than replying by email and it takes less time.

Now, you may be wondering how these 3 words help you to sell a product. Well, it's all about AUTHENTICITY. You may put out the best deal in the world but unless your brand is believable and has customers who trust you, you will get nowhere. Building up a small group of customers who will rant and rave to their friends about you is better than making a flyer and shoving it in 5000 people's faces who have no connection to your brand. Twitter is a great way to build a really personal connection and brand authenticity.

Here are a few tips to spread the word of your brand a little quicker!

- Do discount codes or freebies to anyone who retweets the tweet i.e '20% off all merchandise for anyone who retweets this link'

- Make promotional tweets time sensitive, again try '20% off all merchandise for anyone who retweets this link - today only!'. This gives the push to an impulse retweet rather than the customer thinking 'oh I'll do that later' and then forgetting.

- Retweet messages of praise from customers BUT....BUT! Be careful with this. I see so many musicians and all they do alllllll bloody day long is retweet even the faintest of praise. Only do it a maximum of twice a week, and make sure it's really something worth sharing.

- Follow back your followers, it will make them feel valued as a customer.

and my 3 steps to promoting a new product..

1. Hint at it (mention it before the day it launches, put behind the scenes pics, information etc)

2. Promote it (when it does launch, make sure you tell people about it! 2 Tweets a day is good, any more than that and you could come across as pushy)

3. Remind them about it (Just because your launch day has passed, this doesn't mean you main push has. Every day you will be gaining new followers so make sure you tell them about outstanding offers or old products that may just need a new push)

Hope this helps guys! The next and final part to this series will be the ultimate list of Twitter NO NOs! Does anyone else have any great tips for promoting a new product or service on Twitter? If so, leave a comment below!

S x