Social Media Marketing - 7 Tips For Using Twitter For Business

By Cameron Groth

The mere title of this article may seem deceptive to some after you read the tips below. The idea of social networking isn't to sell or market your product or business opportunity at all. People who use social media for this reason may get some success here and there, but in my opinion they're totally missing the point of it. In the long run, it is the user who employs the following tips that will get the most from their social experience.

1. Build a relationship with your followers! This is by far the most important tip here. If you forget all but one tip on this page, remember this one. Social media sites exist to enhance the relationships you have with family, friends and associates. Become interested in as many of your followers as you can, people like to feel important. If you have a thousand followers on Twitter but you're still able to form a relationship with a person based on their interests, they're going to follow you wherever you go.
2. Message people regarding their interests, not your own. If your followers are human (and most of them probably are!) they're just not that interested in what you do in your spare time or what you did on the weekend. Certainly you can tweet about what you're up to and what you did on the weekend, that is the point of Twitter! But you don't want to be directly messaging people ranting on about your business or your roast tonight with Aunt Esther. Talk to your followers about their interests! People are much more likely to talk to you about something they're interested in, and the aim of Twitter is to build a relationship. If you're genuinely interested in the person you're talking to they can feel it and they will respond well to it.
3. Provide quality updates. Don't overload people with updates. Nobody likes a Twitter-maniac, in fact people will probably remove you from their list if they feel you're overloading them with useless information constantly. Don't spam the same comment either, even if it is used sparingly. Use identical comments twice (max) and then move on. How annoying is it watching the same TV-ad once every ad-break for a whole week? The updates that are most successful are the ones that relate to the common interest of your followers. In use of Twitter for business, 75% of your updates should be about (but are not limited to) network marketing personal development you're going through or interesting facts and tips. Maybe even some inspirational quotes! Anything that relates to the interest shared by the majority of your following. The other 25% should be personal updates, because you want to appear human to your followers too, no-one wants to be friends with a machine.
4. Group with people who share common interests, not randoms. You don't want to be connecting with people who have no interest in you and share none of your interests. These people are either following you so they can get more exposure for themselves, or they're allowing you to follow them for the numbers (makes them look and feel important). In a way, you could use these random people to get referrals to others who may share some common interests. I think it's probably more efficient for you to only target people who share common interests, let the randoms refer for themselves, don't waste your time chasing it.
5. Do not directly sell to your followers. Rid yourself of the selling mindset when using social media. This is not a sales pitch, it isn't a huge list of potential customers. This is about you making quality connections with people around the world who may come to value you and help you build your credibility. Sales may come indirectly sooner or later, but focusing just on sales and marketing in the social network will end in failure in my opinion. If nothing else, social media is fantastic practice at building relationships which is so vital in our industry. Without trust, value, common ground, empathy in your networking (in social media and otherwise) all you're doing is plodding along and maybe forcing your product down some peoples throats.
6. Allow yourself to be taught by others! Just as you are letting people know what is happening in your life (and in your company, in your personal development etc), read and become interested in other people. There are millions of people on Twitter, and most of them will have a fascinating thing they can teach you that you never knew! Twitter is a great social networking tool but it can also be an awesome educational tool for you and your business.
7. Do not slack off. When you stop microblogging, you are forgotten quickly. Believe me, when MySpace was very popular I had over 27 thousand friends and had no problem making and keeping friends because I was active and engaging. These days I lose between 50 and 100 friends per day because I no longer maintain my profile or my connections on MySpace. The more quality updates you provide, the more exposure you have to people of common interests. So if you're providing captivating updates often, do not slack off; because people will come to expect a certain level of professionalism from you, a certain regularity. Being regular with your updates (but not overbearing) is paramount in making and maintaining quality connections

Cameron Grothhttp://www.cjg.me/ - Free 7 Day Video Bootcamp for Home Businesses And Many Other Quality Training Resources. Fill out the form for instant members only access.

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