$17.95 AUD | 27 pages | 1.7Mb | PDF

How to use Twitter for business

The rise in popularity of Twitter means that business can no longer ignore this social media platform.

This article teaches you how to use Twitter for business to increase website visitors, leads & sales by connecting with people. Note: This article is an updated version of the eBook “Using Twitter for Business”.

What you’ll learn

• What is Twitter?
• Why using Twitter for business is personal
• The 5 golden rules
• Why limiting self promotion will grow your business
• Practical ways to use Twitter for business
• Real world examples
• Personal branding vs business branding and which is better
• How to get started & build your network
• How to build solid relationships
• How to manage your reputation and find out what’s being said about you
• Glossary of terms
• Tips from other small business owners successfully using Twitter
• Which Twitter tools to use
• Answers to frequently asked question

About the Author

Practical Mag articles are written by Clare Lancaster, a communication design professional with over 10 years of online business development and marketing experience.

Clare runs several online businesses, her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Forbes and she is a regular columnist for Nett Magazine.

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I just got a new Twitter follow.

My notification email said that authorj was following 782 people and had 162 people following him. From past experience this usually indicates a spambot. Anyway, I’ve just finished a big job, I’m feeling nice and relaxed and have a bit of time so I went to check out what he was about.

The first post in his stream has authorj wondering how to get people to join his site without looking like a SPAM bot then a link to his site. I followed the link and had a quick look at his site.

Ok authorj here’s some thoughts.

1. Stop following people so quickly.
2. In fact, I would unfollow at least half of your network right now.
3. Start linking out to something other than your website
4. Have a conversation with someone. Have a look through your network and @ someone who has said something you want to reply to
5. Go from there. Grow slowly. You’re wasting your time if you keep the same approach.
6. Locking all the content on your site is a bad idea. I can’t even find out more about you – if I have no connection to you I’ve already pressed the back button.
7. The Kingdom book trailer is interesting but I’m so frustrated that I can’t find out more about you or the book that I’ve stopped watching at 28 seconds
8. I’m persevering here and clicked on the “Join now” link. I reach the signup page and I’m completely confused and still not sure why I would want to join this community. Maybe you’ve already got a thriving reader community but if you’re trying to reach new readers you’ve lost me.
9. Moral of the story – give people who have never heard of you a bit more content to get to know you before they decide if they will signup to your community or not. And have a conversation on Twitter to make connections to new people.
10. Good luck authorj.

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Thanks for visiting – let me introduce myself and show you around.

My name is Clare Lancaster – I created my first website in 1995 and was using ‘social networking’ in 1996. I studied Communication Design at QUT in 1998 and started my commercial career as a Search Engine Optimisation Specialist (SEO) in 2001.

If you’re interested in knowing more you can find out about my background and what I’m up to now here.

If you have read my article with Glenn Wheeler you might want to know more about the “Using Twitter for Business” eBook available for $14.95 or you may be interested in my consultancy Dot Marketing.

Thank you for visiting and feel free to have a look around the blog and visit my other websites:

Dot Marketing Consultancy www.dotmarketing.com.au

Are you a woman in business? Take a look at www.womeninbusiness.com.au and feel free to submit you business to the directory – the website will be up and running soon.

Get up to date and learn how to use Twitter for business or pleasure at www.twitterguide.com.au

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Head over to Crane Factory to read Paul’s review of my e-book (and why you it’s so awesome and you should buy it and tell all your friends about it)

He talks about how it helped him and features a little quote from me.

Don’t forget about your exclusive discount

If you’re interested in purchasing the “Using Twitter for Business” E-book you can do so here.

I’ve made a $5 off discount so my blog readers can purchase the book for $9.95 (it’s selling for $14.95) valid until the 30th of April, 2009. Use the code “Blog” upon checkout.

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Concept

As I move more and more into developing my own projects I wanted a way to still offer my knowledge to those who would find it useful – without having to pay my consulting fees.

I’d been thinking about product vs. service business models and realized that my knowledge could be perfectly packaged as an information product – an E-book.

Through listening to those around me – my clients, blog readers, my twitter network and colleagues I saw the need for a practical guide to using Twitter for business – something that I’m an advocate of because of the incredible benefits it’s offered to me.

The E-book is targeted at Business Owners, Marketing Managers and Web Designers – all people who don’t have time to read lengthy documents and who need to get up to speed and implement the strategies quickly.

I’ve designed the E-book to be simple and concise guide – giving readers essential information and simplifying the processes for easy implementation.

E-book Design & Creation

When selling online THE most important factor is trust. My reputation means everything to me, especially in a time where every man and his brother is a self proclaimed “online marketer”.  The last thing I want to be associated with is “Get Rich Quick” or hyped up products with no guts.

I carefully considered the content and look and feel of the book – from the title page and throughout and also the webpage I designed to illustrate, promote and sell the book – ensuring that elements of trust building were included throughout.

I used Adobe Illustrator to design and create the pages and combined the PDF pages using Adobe Acrobat.

E-book Distribution

Once I was happy with the E-book, I signed up to E-Junkie for a trial account. It was incredibly easy to setup and will be using it again for my future E-books.

It offers a simple PayPal transaction process that is intuitive and familiar and delivers the E-book via an emailed download link.

Website Development

The website has evolved from a simple one page website to sell the E-book to a combined guide for beginners and information resource for more experienced users.

I had a couple of reasons for this –

1. It’s become a good resource for me to send people to when they ask me about Twitter – saving me time and also introducing them to the E-book
2. I felt like there is so much information available online about Twitter but not one place to go and see a collection of links and resources
3. It’s no secret that adding a blog helps bring search traffic
4. I wanted this blog to become more of a documentation of my various projects etc and felt like it was becoming a bit too much of a Twitter blog itself!

I used Wordpress (installed) to build the new website and created a unique theme to keep the look and feel of the site consistent with the branding of the E-book.

I added the TweetMeme button to each page and each blog post so that others can quickly and easily share the information with others in their Twitter network.

Affiliate Program

Another feature that made me choose E-junkie as my digital distributor was its simple affiliate program setup and management.

At this stage the affiliate program is invitation only – this is to protect my reputation and that of the E-book and to keep the management of the program to a minimum.

That’s it

I’ve got a few more phases and marketing activities in store for the twitter guide website and E-book but that’s a rundown of what’s happened so far.

E-Book Discount – $10 Off

If you’re interested in purchasing the “Using Twitter for Business” E-book you can do so here.

I’ve made a $5 off discount so my blog readers can purchase the book for $9.95 (it’s selling for $14.95) valid until the 30th of April, 2009. Use the code “Blog” upon checkout.

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“search.twitter.com is now arguably the most important website for any business.” Watch this 2 min video – it’s worth it.

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The guide was designed to answer the most frequently asked questions I get asked about Twitter by my consulting clients. It teaches you simply what it’s about and how you can use it in these key areas – Marketing, Sales, Customer Service and Business Development.

It was designed for Business Owners, Marketing Managers and anyone who needs to get up to speed quickly to start using Twitter effectively. It’s for people who need a concise, practical guide without the hype.

The guide is 21 pages with a bonus guide full of tips & tools from business owners successfully using Twitter right now. The advice is identical to the information I give my consulting clients and will not be republished on this blog.

Personally, I’ve found participating in Twitter invaluable.

The business opportunities that I’ve received (most recently being asked to write an article for Dynamic Business Magazine and Virgin Blue Voyeur In-flight Magazine) I wouldn’t have dreamed of if it wasn’t for my daily Twitter fix!

It’s priced at an introductory offer of $12.95AUD until midnight, Friday the 20th of March so if you want to pick one up, please visit the website twitterguide.com.au now for more information.

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I’ve found participating on Twitter to be an incredible experience – both personally and professionally. It has helped me build an audience for business launches, conduct market research with immediate feedback and shape my products and services based on this feedback – it’s a win-win situation.

I recently read this quote from FlexiCar’s co-founder, Monique Conheady – an early adopter of using Twitter for business.

“We decided to trial Twitter when we noticed our members posting “tweets” about us. And it occurred to us this could be a short, sharp way to stay in touch with both members and others who were interested in Flexicar’s movements. Plus we can follow our members, which helps us stay close to our member community. To be honest, it’s also a minimum of effort to get out a message at a time when emails get increasingly relegated to junk mailboxes.”

Click here for the full interview.

The last line caught my attention – “it’s also a minimum of effort to get out a message at a time when emails get increasingly relegated to junk mailboxes.” And got me thinking – is following a business on Twitter the ultimate form of ‘opt-in’?

The word “opt-in” is commonly used in email marketing – it’s a term used to describe individuals who give permission to receive promotional/email communication from an organization.

With news that social networking is overtaking email – is it more important than ever for businesses to be participating in Twitter? And when a Twitter user chooses to follow you as a business is this the ultimate form of permission marketing?

If businesses present themselves honestly, and communicate sincerely using this medium has their opportunity for promotion/sales/marketing doubled, quadrupled, or more?

Is following a business on Twitter the ultimate opt-in?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

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1. It doesn’t cost any money to use
2. It can improve customer service, communication and customer loyalty
3. It can reduce phone calls, drop out rates
4. It can create a team of evangelists who market via word of mouth for free (priceless)
5. A conversation is happening online whether you participate or not, you can use it for your benefit or ignore it at your peril.

Related reading: How to Sell Social Media to Cynics, Skeptics & Luddites – Tips, Resources & Advice

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Twitter is a micro blogging Web 2.0 service. Sound scary? It’s not.

Essentially, Twitter is a simple tool where you enter short messages of under 140 characters. You can use it to update your status – like you would on Facebook, reply to other users and post links that you find interesting.

At its core – its reason for being is its social networking functionality. Again, like Facebook, Twitter is best used when you have a network of friends – however in this case your friends are called “Followers”.  You can follow anyone, and anyone can follow you.

I’ve been using Twitter since October 2008. I was introduced to it while watching a live stream of the vice presidential debate through cnn.com – while I was watching the video I was also watching a stream of world citizens comment on the debate in real time using Twitter.

This insight into people’s thoughts on such an important issue to all of us had me hooked and I signed up and started exploring the Twitterverse.

When I signed up the first person I followed was @tara_g. I had read her blog and she mentioned going to the first Online Divas event so I thought I’d be interested in what she had to say. I slowly built up my “follow” list mainly focusing on local and eventually Australian Twitter users.

Since then I’ve built my network slowly – I use Twitter for a couple of reasons, to connect with likeminded people (or people in my industry), to learn from people I admire, to become part of my local online community, and to let potential clients know more about me, my skills and what I’m about.

I use Twitter daily and the opportunities I’ve experienced – both professionally, businesswise and personally have been incredible.  Not to mention the quality of people who are also using it – from online business owner Kate Morris (@adorebeauty) to leading female entrepreneur Suzi Dafnis (@SuziDafnis) I’d love to see more and more Australian business women using Twitter and reaping the rewards. The best bit (well, one of the best bits) – it’s free to use.

Top 4 Tips for Starting Out Based on My Twitter Experience

• Decide how you want to use Twitter and who you are there to connect with. For example, is it to make friends, communicate with potential and existing customers, be the face of your company to increase exposure and transparency, offer another personal level of customer service etc.
• For a couple of weeks use the search facility to find Twitter users who are talking about subjects that interest you.
• Don’t follow a huge amount of people straight away, connect with a few Tweeps, have conversations and observe – learn the Twitter etiquette (etiquette of course, is a necessity in any social situation) learn from people you enjoy reading.
• My number one tip is to be transparent and be yourself – talk as though you’re having a conversation – because you are.
• My second number one tip is to upload a profile pic, fill out your location, bio and add a website so that when you start following people they can find out more about you and are more likely to follow you back.

Top 4 Twitter Etiquette Tips

There are a million and one articles on the Internet about how to behave on Twitter. Here’s my advice when using Twitter and interacting with your followers.

• When someone follows you you’ll be notified via email. Send them a short greeting and thanks via Direct Message.
• Don’t boast or talk about how many followers you’ve got – that’s not the point.
• Think about what your followers want by following you – don’t use Twitter solely to talk about yourself and your products or services – add value to their day by using your 140 characters to post interesting links or insights into your expertise or interests.
• Make sure you reply if someone has replied to you (when you have something to add) but be aware to not flood your Twitter stream with replies to people. If you’re having a long or private conversation start using the Direct Message function.

Twitter Glossary

Microblogging: A form of blogging that allows users to publish brief text updates and/or  links to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user.
Tweet:  Used to describe a post of 140 characters or less on Twitter.

Twitteriffic: A service that allows you to Tweet from iPhones/PC/Mac without visiting the Twitter website.

Tweeps: A group of followers on Twitter.

Twitterverse: Used to describe the online environment of Twitter – like blogosphere.

Followers: Another user of Twitter who has opted to “Follow” your Twitter posts.

Direct Message: A private messaging function used in Twitter also limited to 140 characters or less

@: The @ symbol is used when you want to reply or get the attention of a user. It is known as a reply. To reply to someone place the @ symbol before their username. E.g to reply to me on Twitter you would write @clarelancaster.

#: Used to follow a subject or event and placed at the end of a relevant post. Useful when searching twitter to see all users posts on that topic.

RT: Stands for Re-tweet. The action of copy and pasting another users post (including their @username) so that your followers can benefit. Twitter etiquette says you need to place “RT” at the start of your re-tweet to acknowledge the content is not yours.

TinyURL: A service that shrinks URLS to minimize characters used. TinyURL Link.

Failwhale: The image of a whale held up by small birds that appears when Twitter is overloaded with users.

Are you Twittering?

If you’re already using Twitter, leave a comment about how you heard about it and who was the first person you followed?

If you want to follow me you can! My username is @clarelancaster. I’d love to hear from you.

Update 19th March, 2009.

I’ve just released a Beginners guide to using Twitter for Business as a result of its exploding popularity and to answer the questions of my consulting clients. The advice in the guide will not be republished here.

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