How to Grow Your Business with Twitter, Part 2
03.3.2010
In the first post of this series we discussed how important it is not to look at Twitter as a way to step onto the platform and begin to market your product or service. At the heart of Twitter are the same aspects of any sale: Relationships. The focus one must concentrate on is the building of great relationships on Twitter–and the benefits can be stunning in several aspects. At Webvantix we never looked at Twitter as a way to market our web design/re-design business, and therefore only accessed Twitter on an individual basis, not even using our logo or our name, other than in our link and bio. So, what did that mean? We wanted to develop friendships with people we encountered on Twitter and if they ultimately became interested in what we did, that was fine, but the relationships came first. One aspect of focus was to use the ‘favorite’ tool on Tweet Deck (before Twitter rolled out its ‘List’ function). Through the favorite tool, and now through our Lists, we developed a number of different groups, but most important was our ‘Local’ list that enabled us to talk to people in our area, on a grass-roots level. We were Twittering with other local business owners and they were Twittering with us. Combine this with our seminars and webinars and a natural interest in our work began to bloom. No sales pitch, no pressure, just a natural progression of a relationship. Ultimately we encountered @lisasmith a business owner in desperate need of a professional website design.
Lisa had quickly developed a website for her business that had recently been launched, but as she indicated to me, she needed a professional deployment to be competed before her company was in full sales mode in early Spring.
Concrete Form Rentals BEFORE Webvantix
We worked closely with Lisa to determine who would be visiting her site and what her main products were. We developed a proof that enabled her to silo her site’s visitors onto the appropriate landing pages.
Now you may think this is the end of the story, but actually it’s just beginning. As we discussed, we developed and grew the relationship with Lisa through our ‘Local’ list. While discussing Christmas trees with Lisa one afternoon, I indicated that instead of spending $65 on a tree, that she and her family were welcome to stop by my small farm a cut a tree. She and her sons visited one Saturday before Christmas and we had a great time hiking through the woods to find the right tree.
Concrete Form Rental AFTER Webvantix (with Slio buttons at the bottom)
Now, every relationship you develop on Twitter may not blossom into a great client/vendor friendship, that becomes and actual friendship, but it’s substantially more satisfying from a business and personal standpoint than just trying to peddle you wares.
We continue to encounter new and intriguing people and companies from a local as well as national and international standpoint. Our attempt is to continue interact with people as individuals and not as prospects. If you have a paradigm shift and begin to look at Twitter as a relationships tool, you may find yourself surprised and pleased by the results, and you may find yourself defending Twitter the next time someone tells you that Twitter is a waste of time and is for egocentric people with nothing better to do–my guess is they’ve not had a bunch of kids to their house for a Christmas tree hunt on a snowy Saturday in December, all thanks to Twitter!
Do you have a story about Twitter bringing you together with a new friend or customer? Please share it with us.
Preston Ehrler, Webvantix @prestonehrler
