The One Twitter Strategy that Works
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As the social media elite wax on about the best ways to attract 20K followers on Twitter; in all of their singing they fail to realize that most of us haven’t even gotten our arms around adding email newsletters to our business marketing Kung Fu. Let me be the first to tell you that a good number of the gurus who built huge followings did so years ago when Twitter and Facebook were in their infancy and there was little noise in the channel. That time is gone and many of the strategies that worked for them are almost sure not to work for you, so what about the rest of us; how do we make Twitter work?
From building relationships with powerful, “Oprah-like” local influencers to getting the attention of Google, there are many reasons to tap online social networks but I will share one strategy I use that is simple and almost guaranteed to get your phone to ring. Are you sitting down? Okay, email your Twitter tweets to the next hot prospect you encounter, that’s it!
Okay, there’s a bit more too it than that but the technique is really simple. Let’s get ‘er done:
- Commit to posting three or so knock out, helpful bits of information to Twitter each day. Resist the urge to post any sort of advertisement or sales pitch. You can automate the process using tools like Tweet Later.
- Setup your first sales meeting: Over here I use a 2 presentation approach consisting of a needs assessment presentation and a solutions presentation. This is a powerful 2 step process that if done right positions you as the “must have provider”.
- Bite-sized Chunks: Email your prospective client one Tweet from step one above each day in between your needs assessment and solutions presentations.
- Prepare your business for a rush of new customers or clients.
Now that really is it!
Why this SYSTEM works
We can assume your prospect is interested in your product or service, afterall you were able to set up the meeting, right? The question in your prospect’s mind that the Tweet-a-day process answers is, why this person should purchase YOUR solution vs. moseying down to the shop a few doors away. Assuming your short tweets are “light bulb” bits of information gold that your prospect can instantly put to work (at no cost) you will build in your prospect’s mind a powerful sense of trust and liking. Who was it that said, “People do business with those they like and trust…”?
How do you engage vs attract followers?
Related Topics
Tags: sales, social media, twitter
March 9th, 2010 at 3:17 am
This is a great post! Whether you are selling product widgets or service widgets, your Tweets should already be relevant to your prospects. It the easy next step to make a point of sending the Tweets to them.
Another thing is that, whether or not the prospect is impressed, if the Tweets are good enough, they will almost certainly result in the holy grail — some ReTweets! Those can be used to build up your credibility over time as well. I “favorite” the ReTweets I enjoy, especially the ones ReTweeted with commentary. Then I use them to let people see that others just like them found the information I shared to be valuable. It’s like the perfect testimonial, and you don’t have to ask for it!
I also like the point you made about the social media gurus of our day. They deserve much credit, but it is also true that they built their audience when no one else was doing it. So much more is required now in order to create the kind of content and consistency that is necessary to be a stand out in your field.
March 9th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Hmmm Donna, I like your idea about favoriting your ReTweets…Repurposing your Twitter activity is what this post is all about and your addition hits a home run!
Human psychology suggests that it takes multiple exposures to your message before the person who wants to do business with you will actually make a decision, so the tweet-a-day mailer along with your ReTweet capture process can dramatically speed the time between prospect interest and action.
Great thoughts!
March 10th, 2010 at 4:26 am
I don’t really get it. Can you explain further?
March 10th, 2010 at 7:40 am
Karen,
Thank you for dropping by. Essentially what I am saying is take a weeks worth of tweets and email one each day to a prospective client. Do this becuase most people do not follow others on Twitter but they do read email. The value comes from the trust and authority you will build by sending a stream of relevant and useful bits of free information to your prospective client. People do business with those they like and trust.
Using this strategy your tweets do double duity engaging those who follow you on Twitter but also increasing the likelyhood of turning a prospect into a paying client. It takes on average 8 communications over a 16 month period before the person who wants to do business with you takes action. Emailing a tweet a day produces the same result in a fraction of the time.