Using Twitter for Business

Twitter looks to many to be a complete waste of time. Especially when it comes to using twitter for business. That was my initial take. But, as of the first of this year, I decided to test it an take it more seriously just to see. I have learned a lot and feel as if I still know very little about this tool.

[featured-image single-newwindow=”false”]Courtesy IStockPhoto[/featured-image]

While I am pretty new to the Twitter world, I have found interesting connections. The other day I found myself educating other business people in how to use Twitter to be effective. So here is my process flow that I shared with them.

Content for My Twitter Feed

First, I look for great content. The point of Twitter is not to talk about me, but to talk about things those people who follow me would like to know. So I look for content related to my focus areas of helping people take control of their income through career or entrepreneurship. And, sometimes I share interesting things I feel others would like to see, regardless of the topic.

When I find great content sources, like blogs, I follow them using my feedly. I have a feed setup for “Own It” which is content sources which are related to  taking control. In this feed I have blogs by people like Dan Miller, Pam Slim, and Dave Ramsey. These, as well as many others, produce great content to help inspire people to take control. So, I review it and share a good deal of their stuff.

I also take advantage of Twitter lists. I have a list for Entrepreneur and Career. I will look at the flow of tweets on this, and choose some I like to retweet.

Scheduled Social Media 

I do not spend all day on Twitter or other tools. By very definition, this is not taking control. So first thing in the morning, I take about 15-30 minutes looking for sources of good content from Feedly, twitter lists, and my email and then I queue it up in Buffer. Buffer is a great application to help you stagger content release through the day. And better yet, for the basic use of the tool it is FREE! In each Buffer post, I might post a quote, a link, a thought, or do a retweet of someone else’s Twitter feed. Sometimes I make comments, sometimes I just let the post speak for itself.

My Own Content 

I will also mix in some of my blog posts. I would guess I put in one of my posts per 10 other posts. My point is not to talk about me, but to mix up stuff that is interesting and helpful. Those people who only tweet their stuff loose followers.

Quote for You 

One thing I really like to do is share quotes and thoughts from others. So often in the morning I will take out a book or conference notes and share a thought from the speaker or author. Then I will copy them on the post using their twitter handle. For instance, if you quoted me you could put my handle “@dalecallahan” in the tweet. This assures I will see that you are quoting me.

 An Example of Connecting via Twitter

For instance, I recently attended a conference with Jeff Goins. I had a note from something he said at the conference that I tweeted out. So, I included his name.

I posted “Do not chase trends, do your passion. @JeffGoins”

Why?

I want these people to know I liked what they said. While just mentioning their book or their name might be seen by them, I am pretty sure including them on the tweet gets noticed. I am not really looking for anything from them, but I do what them to know that it is about them. I do this with people who are clients, friends, authors, etc – anyone whose content I am sharing.

Often those people I share comment back and often then they also follow me back. Notice Jeff follows me. This happened after I mentioned him. After all, we all want to be part of the community who likes what we do! 

 

Has Twitter Added to My Bottom Line?

This is the real question people want to know. Directly, I am not sure. But I do know that Twitter has influenced my spending and therefore added to other people’s bottoms lines (so I assume is has the same impact in reverse).

Here i s an example. Paul McGuire mentioned the book Platform to me. I thought, just another book. But Paul thought it was great and I respect him. But did not buy it. Then I saw other people who I respect sending tweets about the book. So I bought it. I put $15 or so in Michael Hyatt’s pocket. 

His product delivered the goods. In fact, I liked his product so much, I started to check out his blog and his podcasts. Then, I spent $1200+ to go to his Platform conference. Today, I am part of his Platform University and spend money on him each month. 

Did Twitter do this for him? No – not alone. But combined with a great product and other sources, Twitter certainly influenced me to spend money.

Does Michael Hyatt know this? I never told him (I guess if he reads this he does), but I think overall he gets it. Has anyone been influenced to buy from me via twitter? I have no idea. But I know it is part of the message.

One Last Twitter Trick

Buffer has an analytics tab. Using this tab you can see what other people have responded to by retweeting, making a favorite, commenting, etc. This helps me to see what those who follow me like. This is important to me because it tells me what they are interested in hearing. From this information, I can learn what to tweet in the future as we’ll as what products might be a fit for my audience.

Disclaimer

OK – with all that said, I only started to get serious about Twitter in January 2013. So, I am a newbie. Other advice out there has much more weight. I just found so much interest in this with clients the other day, I thought you too might like to know.

[reminder]Have you ever seen money flow from Twitter? [/reminder]