KNEWSTART
REPORT
Building Influence.
Growing a Following.
Developing Business
on Twitter
Creating Influence. Growing a Following.
Developing Business in Twitter
Welcome entrepreneur and thank you for downloading my e-book on Twitter. My aim is to make this
easy for you. So often people come to me confused and overwhelmed with Twitter. This is
unfortunate as it’s an easy platform. It’s also incredibly powerful for networking, developing
relationships and increasing business.
So, what you’re going to get from this e-book is information on how to increase your online
presence, followers and business through Twitter.
A word of warning first: Identifying your target buyer from the outset is a critical first step to your
success on Twitter; so you must set aside time to include it in your marketing plan. If you don’t,
you’ll just end up spending hours on Twitter with the hope of attracting the “right” customer, client
and opportunity. When you identify your ideal buyer right at the start and really clarify your market
and message you’ll get much better results with less effort.
Now, before we get started, I just want to stress that this e-book is meant for those who’s fairly new
to social media. The content contained includes step-by-step instructions on how to get started. The
aim of it is literally to get you started and to help you banish the overwhelm. It doesn’t contain
advanced strategies as these are available through my training and consulting programmes.
Instead, you’ll get sound strategies that are tried and tested AND work.
Introduction
Twitter in a nutshell is a simple social networking website that lets you share information with your
friends, business prospects and partners to let them know what you’re doing – right now.
Created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass, the service rapidly
gained worldwide popularity, with over As of July 2014, Twitter has more than 500 million users, out
of which more than 271 million are active users. Since its launch, Twitter has become one of the top
10 most visited websites on the Internet, and has been described as "the SMS of the Internet.
Unregistered users can read tweets, while registered users can post tweets through the website
interface, SMS, or a range of apps for mobile devices. Unlike many other social networks you don’t
have to know the people you are connecting with. Like Facebook Pages, and YouTube you can
have multiple accounts/businesses.
Twitter works around a timeline, which is displayed on a single page that’s updated every second of
every minute of every hour. It’s a constantly updated stream of news from people all around the
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world. As a member, you can add your own little message to the timeline - up to 140 characters
long. This is known as a tweet. By tweeting you’re not going to be able to see every user’s tweets.
You can choose whom you want to ‘follow,’ and others can choose to ‘follow’ you. And, it’s these
followers whom you can communicate (tweet) with. You might be thinking “wow, big deal” but there
is massive potential in this mini social networking site to meet other like-minded people, share info
and increase your rankings. These factors mixed with the ability to grow your followers make it a
perfect platform for business.
You can also use Twitter to....
•
Send direct messages (DMs) to users instead of broadcasting to everyone
•
Send and receive tweets via SMS and email from your cellphone/mobile phone
•
Search topics – find out what others users are posting about certain topics and trends
•
Develop some great applications through Twitter’s API
Twitter has taken the world by storm and there’s such great potential for you to increase your
business profile and sales. So, if you’re not a member yet, sign up for a free Twitter account at
https://www.twitter.com.
Why is it important for your business?
1. Reputation management
A Twitter campaign against a brand or business is far from unusual. Disgruntled customers or
former employees can criticize a company through it. Instead of ignoring the complaints, or trying to
take down negative comments, you can use Twitter to put your side of the argument, to address
customer concerns and to ask customers and people who do rate you to share their positive
comments. If you have made a mistake then admit it, but do stay cool and don’t get involved in a
Twitter catfight.
2. Recruitment
I know so many recruitment consultants and businesses that recruit very effectively through Twitter
so make the most of it.
3. High page ranks and increased traffic to your website
Having a Twitter account for your business can increase your online visibility. A Twitter profile is
public so any links you put into it back to your website or blog are known as ‘dofollow’ and will be
picked up by search engines. By updating your page regularly with links back to your site you
should move up the rankings.
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4. Event promotion and engagement with delegates
Twitter enables you to broadcast your event, post reminders and carry on discussions with
delegates. You can see who is going to attend your event and those who are maybes. With so
many young professionals using the social network, Twitter can be an excellent way of promoting
an event to would-be delegates.
5. Networking and build relationships
Twitter is probably the most social of all the social networks and you can quickly and easily build
valuable business relationships.
6. Reaching key influencers
Twitter can help you get in front of experts and those with influence in your sector. It can also get
you connected and visible to journalists; in newspapers, magazines, on TV, radio, and even
mentions by prominent sites, such as government agencies. And remember when you’re
associated with these people your influence increases. Your market will trust you more as you’ll be
viewed as being in with the ‘in crowd.’
Learning the Basics
Hashtag or #
One of the most complex features of Twitter for new users is to understand the hashtag, Twitter
hashtags like #janefrankland help spread information on Twitter while also helping to organize it.
The hashtag is a favourite tool of conferences and event organizers, but it’s also a way for Twitter
users to organize themselves.
Although not terribly complicated, hashtags have some unwritten rules.
The primary one to remember is don’t overuse them. If every one of your tweets is a hashtag, you
dilute the usefulness of them by fragmenting the conversation. In addition, many people will shy
away from you because you’ll come across as unprofessional and spammy. Instead, if you’re
looking to create a hashtag, be sure that it adds value for yourself and your followers. The best way
to utilize them is when you need to organize information. Conferences, major events, and even
reminders (i.e. #todo) can help organize specific tweets and make life easier on you and your
followers.
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Retweet or RT
Retweeting is an integral part of the Twitter experience. The retweet (or “RT”) allows Twitter users
to share the best links, tweets, and gems they find from others using the service. Retweeting is how
Twitter users share interesting tweets from the people they are following. They copy and paste the
original tweet and send it out. To give credit to the original person, users usually put “RT” plus the
originator’s username at the beginning of the tweet.
Reply or @
If you see an @ (that isn’t part of an email address) on Twitter, it is typically followed by someone’s
screen name. It’s a way to hold a public conversation with that person.
Direct Messages or DM
DM stands for direct message. It’s a way to hold a private conversation with another Twitter user,
but you can only DM people who are already following you.
Overhead or OH
Overheard – usually this is something funny or profound that someone overheard while going about
their daily tasks.
Follow Friday or #FF
Usually written with a hashtag, (#FF), this stands for Follow Friday. Every Friday, users recommend
other people to follow to spread the Twitter love.
Twitter Chat
A Twitter chat happens when several people get on Twitter at once to share ideas with one another.
They do this by using a specific hashtag. For example, every Sunday, bloggers participate in
#blogchat.
Lists
Once you start following lots of people, you can put them in different lists to keep them more
organized. People can also add you to their lists to keep their own streams organized. Lists can be
public or private.
Favourite
If you want to save a Tweet for later, you can favourite it. This is being used more and more.
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Building a list of followers
Here we’ll be discussing how you can start building a large network of ‘followers’ i.e. friends, clients,
associates, and customers. Many new users of Twitter are constantly asking how they can use the
site more effectively for their business and since the site has grown into an Internet mega monster
that’s globally known and talked about, they’re right to ask. The fact is Twitter is a fantastic tool for
your business.
Internet relationships are very different from actual personal relationships. They’re based primarily
on like, know, and trust. Many people and businesses are reaching out to others through social
network websites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook and many others.
If you’re new to Twitter you may not realize that you can create your personal or business brand
and virtually dominate your market, simply by building a list of followers.
Setting up your profile
Once you've set up your Twitter account you’ll want to work on setting up your profile. Twitter lets
you easily customize the look and feel of your profile page. You’ll want to pay close attention to your
one line bio.
Bio line
Besides your profile photos and tweets, this is what people will read first. They’ll judge what type of
person you are before they decide whether or not they want to follow you. You’ll only have 160
characters to describe who you are and what you do, so you need to make it good.
Photo
It’s essential that you use a real photo of you rather than your company logo or the egg that Twitter
gives you. I recommend you use a real photo because people connect with real people and trust a
user with a face. A user profile that has a business logo just screams sales and is a turn off for most
people. Also, and this is in my opinion a major deal breaker, invest in a professional photo. I know
that people connect and follow based on a photo that connects with them. So ask yourself, does
your photo represent your brand? Do you look like a professional i.e. someone your fans would
want to do business or interact with?
It’s so important to make sure that your photo is right for your target audience. Look at the example
below. Jimmy, who’s being photographed, looks suitable for a corporate market on the left. He also
looks suitable for the music business on the right. However, if he posted his right profile and was
hoping to develop business within a corporate market he might find it hard going.
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Background
You also have the option to upload a customized Twitter background to your profile. This is
something you’ll want to utilize ASAP, as this is a massive benefit and way to get free exposure for
you or your company.
There are lots of free Twitter backgrounds that you can download and edit, but I’d recommend
branding your own. If you’re not a professional, invest in a designer or at least check out
Picmonkey, http://picmonkey.com. Again it creates a much more professional image and
encourages business transactions.
Get followers
The next thing you’ll want to do after your profile is set up is to get ‘followers’. If you have business
contacts or an email list that’s already using Twitter, invite them to follow you.
Put your Twitter url in your emails, on your websites and blogs and ask people to follow you.
Consider putting your Twitter url on your business cards too, so that you can gather followers from
offline activities as well.
Don't be shy. Tell everyone you meet about your Twitter page. Make it sound exciting and let them
know that you’ll be sharing important updates, great tips and information with them if they follow
you. You may be surprised to find out that almost everyone will click the follow button just to see
what you're up too.
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Another thing that I feel that is important is to seek out and follow your competitors and the experts
in your niche. This will benefit you in more than one way. It’ll give you a bird’s eye view of what
they’re doing on Twitter, so you can learn how to improve your own results and it will also put you in
front of all the people they’re in contact with. That last part is a bit sneaky but people are curious by
nature, so use this to your advantage. They like to see who’s following who, so often they’ll click on
the links and check out the followers of people they know and follow them as well. By following the
leaders, you’ll naturally end up will new followers. By doing this, you can build your followers very
quickly.
Re-Tweeting
Now let's talk about getting your tweets spread even further and increasing the chance of meeting
even more people by using 're-tweets’. Re-tweeting is a common practice on Twitter where you’ll repost someone else’s tweet that you like and you think your followers will like.
With this method, you’ll take the original Twitter message someone else has posted, and
rebroadcast that message to your followers.
To do a re-tweet (RT), simply click the re-tweet button on the Twitter website which will set up the
RT function automatically.
Reasons to Re-Tweet
When broadcasting the message, you should definitely give credit to the original poster. I know at
first it may sound like this will only be good for the original tweeter poster, but re-tweeting can
actually benefit you just as much if not more. Here’s why:
1. It provides more value to your followers
When you provide value to your followers, you make them happy. You’re also more likely to attract
followers. Providing quality content is always a great way to build your business no matter what
platform you use.
2. It will benefit your brand
If you point a reader to a source of good information that is truly relevant and beneficial to them, the
amount of trust that they have in you will increase.
3. It will help you build relationships with the original posters
Re-tweeting someone else’s content is an act of kindness, and for the most part bloggers like to
return the favour. You shouldn't expect someone to re-tweet your content just because you re-tweet
his or hers. Just keep in mind that your chance of being on the other end of a re-tweet increases as
you re-tweet.
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Re-tweeting is all about providing value to your followers so if you want others to re-tweet your post
then you want to make sure that you’re providing them with quality content worth tweeting about.
The bottom line is re-tweeting is a great way to add quality and value to your Twitter platform. If
done right, re-tweeting can help you educate your followers, build your personal brand, increase
future traffic, and connect you to other great people in your niche. Just be careful; if you use it
incorrectly, re-tweeting can actually hurt your personal brand and future traffic. You want to treat
your followers like gold. Don't ever send them to inappropriate websites or spam them with one
sales pitch after another.
Tools to Make it Easier and More Effective
Here we’re going to go over some tools that you can use to make your life on Twitter easier and in
turn better for your overall business development success. There are lots of Twitter tools on the
market but the only ones I recommend are the ones I use – Hootsuite and Buffer as between them
they can do just about anything the others do.
If you’re using multiple social networks then you may find the standard Twitter.com interface quite
inefficient and sometimes very slow moving. That’s why I prefer to use Twitter through Hootsuite –
www.hootsuite.com. Hootsuite is a free downloadable application, although there is a chargeable
upgrade with more functions, that works from your desktop and connects to your Twitter account
and your other social media networks.
The main benefits of Hootsuite are that you can see the main Twitter timeline, the mentions you get
and your direct messages (DM’s) all on the one screen. You can also schedule your tweets, as you
can for all other social media activities i.e LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook.
Just make sure your message doesn’t go over 140 characters. Don’t send them straight to your
website. Instead work on building the relationship in Twitter or send them to your Facebook Page
so you can interact more. Or, go old school and Skype or meet.
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Personally I prefer not sending DMs, but just replying to the follows. I’d recommend always thanking
your followers for following you, working on engaging with them and then asking them to connect
and LIKE your Facebook Page. By doing this, you’ll also show up in their feed, which gets you more
exposure as oppose to just a private message that no one else, aside from the user can see.
Buffer, www.bufferapp.com, makes your life easier with a smarter way to schedule the great content
you find. Fill up your Buffer at one time in the day and Buffer automatically posts them for you
through the day. Simply keep that Buffer topped up to have a consistent social media presence all
day round, all week long. You can use Buffer through your website to post old blogs, through
Twitter and also Facebook. It’s so simple and really useful.
Sharing pictures and product images is now possible with Twitter by using their own service. Once
again I’d encourage you to post as much visual content as you can. We think in pictures and are
stimulated by them. They evoke emotion and can often tell a story better than words. And whatever
sector you’re in I can guarantee that your market is hungry for visual content.
Wordpress plugins
If you’re using Wordpress for your blog and don’t have a Twitter feed with it, there are quite a few
tools that you can use to automate your Twitter activities from inside your dashboard, for example:
Clicktotweet, www.clicktotweet.com - creates a custom link, which is easy to share. Literally you
simply write the message you want to share in the box, click the “Generate” button to create a
custom link and then share the link. Whoever clicks on the link will have the message automatically
added to their Twitter status box, and then they simply click to tweet! ClickToTweet can rightly be
called the easiest Twitter application to include a Retweet text in a link. I use it on my website see
the grey box with the red writing. You can add a traceable link e.g. through bit.ly so you can analyze
the results.
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Tweetily, by Flavio Martins (https://wordpress.org/plugins/tweetily-tweet-wordpress-postsautomatically/), will randomly select a post or page and tweet it automatically to drive traffic to your
site. You set the time; number of tweets, and the type of content to share and Tweetily will do the
rest.
Promoting and sharing your old content to your audience has never been easier. Just set it and let
Tweetily do the rest. If you blog regularly it’s a godsend.
Tracking, Monitoring and Measuring
There are two tools I recommend for tracking and monitoring, aside from your Google Analytics.
The first is Cyfe is a great tool for tracking your online activities. It’s really simple. It has an all-inone dashboard software that helps you monitor and analyze data scattered across all your online
services, like Google Analytics, Salesforce, AdSense, Mailchimp, Facebook, WordPress and more
from one single location in real-time.
The second is SumAll, https://sumall.com. Gain Facebook and Twitter insights with all your pages
and accounts. You can connect to as many platforms as you want to access and it has the best
social media- reporting tool on the planet.
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Turning Twitter Followers into Customers
Here we’re going to look at how you can gather new customers with Twitter. I have some great tips
that will help you increase your chances of converting your regular Twitter followers into lifelong
customers.
Research your market
Let's look at how you can use Twitter to conduct your market research. Every business has a target
market, but the simple fact is that many business owners often miss the mark because they don’t
know the true needs of their market. By using Twitter, you can easily listen to the needs of your
prospects, the issues they’re currently facing and the kind of help that they want.
Whenever you meet someone new on Twitter it's a good idea to try to establish a good relationship
from the start. Think like your customer. You buy from people who you trust and like. Your target
market also behaves the same way. It’s important, especially in social marketing that you get to
know your clients and do your best to win their trust and confidence.
A good rule of thumb is to try and keep 90% of your tweets full of helpful content and try to limit your
promotional ones. By doing so, you can attract more followers and customers.
Share your expertise
In order to show off your expertise on Twitter you will want to post quality content on your blogs,
website and other sites, like the article directory EzineArticles.com. Then share them with your
followers. Remember too, you can share from Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and
Instagram.
As we talked about in the last section, there are many tools that work with Twitter that will
automatically check the blogs you’ve posted and share them instantly on your page. Use Buffer or
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the Tweetily wordpress plugin to continue sharing former posts. But, remember to spread this out if
you do. Once a day is good. I’ve seen people (including social media experts) spam with 10 per
minute every hour and it’s annoying. Offering educational materials, seminars, video training and
networking events will also go a long way when you are trying to convert your followers into paying
customers.
There are so many different techniques that you can use to help the transition from follower to
customer by using Twitter. Just remember to keep the value of your content high and the volume of
your promotions low and you will begin to see more of your followers clicking on your promo links
and turning into customers.
Maximizing your Twitter Traffic
As someone who’s doing business online one of your main promotional goals should be to
dominate the social networks and Twitter is the easiest platform to get to grips with first. Simply by
attracting followers and making friends you can quickly build up a list of valuable leads and
prospects.
Did you know that Twitter is considered to be one of the most effective and impressive ways to
increase traffic? Gone are the days when most people were using it to simply send tweets to one
another and keep in contact with friends and family. Twitter, when used for business can drive a
serious amount of traffic to your website or Facebook page if you know how. Just imagine, with the
increased traffic to your website, you can gain more subscribers, leads and convert them into
paying customers which all leads to increased income.
Let the world know you’re on Twitter
As we talked about earlier, you need to spread the news that you’re on Twitter. You’ll want to
include your Twitter url in your email messages, post blogs and on your websites. That way,
everyone will know that you’re using Twitter.
Tweet good content often – daily not weekly
Believe it or not regularly updating your tweets will help you drive more traffic to your site. Avid
Twitter users like people who post tweets regularly. If you want to gain active followers through your
tweets you will want to set up a schedule for posting and do your best to stick to it.
You’ll also want to make sure that you reply to the tweets addressed to you. I don't recommend that
you stay on the site all day or spend long hours tweeting away your time. Just pick a good time
once or twice a day and login. As a rule of thumb spend 10 minutes on it, but be consistent. If you
have a mobile device, GREAT because you can sync it up with your Twitter account and you won't
have to worry about being away from your laptop.
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Don't worry if your followers don't become active right away. It may take some time, but they will
begin to notice the times that you are more active and after a while they will join in your
conversations, which is one of your main goals.
Just remember the basic rule we talked about earlier "keep 90% of your tweets full of helpful
content and limit your promotional ones.” This way you will keep the followers that really matter.
While some personal tweets are a must if you want to help your followers get to know you, you’ll
want to avoid sending out too many personal or unrelated tweets because it can actually cause you
to lose followers. After all there aren't too many of your business contacts that will want to hear that
you took a shower or what you had for breakfast, so keep your tweets focused!
By taking the time to build good relationships with your followers, you’ll be laying the groundwork for
converting them into lifetime customers for you business. Establishing a good relationship with your
followers is vital if you want to take advantage of the massive flow of traffic that pours through
Twitter every day.
Here’s a little checklist that you can keep handy:
•
Let everyone know that you’re on Twitter
•
Send tweets regularly
•
Re-tweet good content
•
Reply to the tweets addressed to you
•
Pay attention to the kind of tweets you’re sending
•
Make the tweets personal, but not too personal
•
Most of all, build good relationships Using Twitter is fun and easy that is why is has such a
big draw. I'll be honest, not everyone who uses Twitter as a business development tool will
be successful because it takes time, effort, and patience to see effective results. But, if you
follow these steps regularly you should see an increase of activity and conversion. I built
my Twitter following quickly, without automation, without having a blog – just by following
these principals. I know you can too.
Common Mistakes Twitter Users Make
Over the last few sections we've talked about what an exciting, cool, and extremely profitable social
networking platform Twitter is. Although millions of people are using it to connect with each other all
over the world, there are some common mistakes that you’ll want to avoid before you start sending
tweets.
1: Not using your picture as your profile avatar
I'm sure you've seen it. Some users don’t post their real picture. Admittedly, a cartoon picture, or a
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cheaply made company logo is better than no picture at all. But, the best picture you can use if you
want to make a good impression and get people to remember you is a photo of your face. When
you post your own picture it lets others know that you are real and that you’re confident enough with
what you do to let others see you. You want people to recognize you as a leader in your market and
having a face to go with a name always helps. A nice smile never hurts either.
2: AutoDMs
Never use tools that automatically send messages to people who follow you. Direct messages are
seen as impersonal, spammy and pushy when they’re automated.
3: Trying to build a huge following before you have done some tweeting
People will not be interested in following you when they click on your Twitter page to see what
you've got, and notice you don't have much. You need to have tweeted more than, "Trying to figure
this Twitter out" and "I think I've got it figured out now." If you don't know what to say, try "retweeting" (RT) some other peoples' tweets that that are related to your niche. Read what other
people are tweeting about and reply to them, this will help start up a conversation. Talk about
market related news, what you're doing on your business right now and keep it social. That will give
you several tweets to get the ball rolling.
4: Tweeting promotion after promotion
Yes, you’re using Twitter to promote your business, but posting one offer after another will only
cause people to ‘unfollow’ you. When people look at your timeline and notice that you aren't posting
anything of value to them they will quickly move on. There are millions of Twitter users to follow, so
put yourself in their shoes and think why should they follow you when you're only tweeting about
promotions. Remember this basic rule of sales "people want to know what's in it for me?” It’s the
WIIFM syndrome!
Twitter is a social network filled with real people and you have to keep that in mind before you post
a tweet. When you’re using Twitter for your business you must learn how to communicate and build
good relationships with your followers before you start sending them promotions. Even if you
already have a good list of leads, it’s still not a good idea to barrage them with promotions. As
we’ve talked about before, promotional tweets should be sent only in limited numbers.
These are just a few of the more common mistakes committed by new and old tweeters alike. Take
note of them and don’t make the same mistakes.
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Conclusion
Capitalizing on Twitter’s growing popularity can be very rewarding and profitable for your business if
you go about it with some tact and guile. As it’s still continuing to grow at an alarming rate expect
Twitter functions and features to change and improve in the future. Developers are always busy
creating new tools and applications to make the most out of Twitter so keep an eye out for them. My
best advice for you when you’re using Twitter is to use Twitter with good business sense and not to
abuse the power that it offers. Keep learning and using it, and as long as Twitter exists, I'm sure
great things will come.
Thank you, as always for reading. If you found this useful, please tell others and get them to sign up
to receive more information.
Wishing you much success!
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About the Author
Jane Frankland is a successful technology entrepreneur,
business consultant and speaker. She has built and sold her own
seven-figure business and is frequently invited to speak about
entrepreneurship, women in business, cyber security and social
media at events around the world. She has over 18 years worth of
experience in business development and has held directorships
and senior executive positions within her own companies and at
several large PLCs. She built her last business in her mid
twenties, and through her latest consultancy, KnewStart, provides
strategic business development solutions to existing or aspiring
entrepreneurs.
Jane believes passionately in entrepreneurship, empowerment and freedom. Through her work she
wants to see more businesses survive and thrive. She is particularly interested in modern business
development methods and is currently writing a book, Who The Google Are You, on how to harness
the power of the Internet for accelerated business growth.
Jane has a BA (Hons) from Loughborough University in Design, is a Nominated Young British
Designer and a Fellow of the Institute of Sales & Marketing (ISMM). She’s also a mother to three
children, has a Weimaraner dog and a black and white moggy. The question you’ll hear her ask the
most in business is ‘what’s your objective?’ The reason why is obvious. Time is precious and unless
you know why you’re doing something why do it at all. However, at home it’s always, “Shall we go?”
Jane can be contacted on:
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaneFrankland
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/JaneFrankland
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ABOUT KNEWSTART
KnewStart helps entrepreneurs and leaders start-up, scale and build
profitable global businesses. We’re on a mission to empower 1,000
businesses and 1,000 professionals in the next 2-years to take full
advantage of the extraordinary times we’re living in.
We offer 3 core services – coaching, consulting and training and a
community for thriving entrepreneurs to take advantage of.
CONTACT US NOW
To discuss this e-book or to find out how we can help you, contact us
now by phoning +44 (0) 20 8123 9463 or competing the inquiry form.
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