There are several key Do’s and Don’ts when using Twitter.  The Do’s are really Do’s and the Don’ts are REALLY Don’ts.

Don’t—

SPAM or attempt to directly sell someone on Twitter, even if you know them.  It’s in bad taste, and could get you reported as a Spammer and/or Blocked.  If someone becomes interested in what you offer, they will reach out to you.

Send out the same Tweet over and over , Spammers do this.  If you want to schedule tweets to repeat, my advice is only repeat something twice in a day (every twelve hours).

Be negative to other people

Ignore those with less clout or influence than you…engage those that engage you and be honored that they sought you out.

Auto DM new followers–this has ruined DMs and made them almost worthless.  Don’t even consider it.  Auto DMs are impersonal, and mean absolutely nothing

Do—

Listen, listen, listen.  By using a platform such as Tweet Deck or Seesmic you can import your lists into columns and watch what everyone is discussing.

Re-Tweet what you find interesting, therefore giving credit where credit is due

Thank people when they re-tweet you.

Post links to interesting and compelling material that is relevant to what’s trending and what people are discussing.

Engage people and develop REAL relationships.  I’ve made some great friends on Twitter!

And finally, enjoy!  Twitter is old fashioned networking, but done over the Internet, and can bring a great sense of belonging.

Did I leave anything out?

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

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

Describing how to grow your business with Twitter is a dicey and difficult issue, and I’ve been thinking about this post for a long time.  It actually been weighing on my mind and has inhibited my ability to move forward with other posts, simply because I was not sure how to approach this important topic.  So, let’s start with the negatives and move into the positives.

What are the negatives?  Well, much the opposite of what many think, you cannot jump onto Twitter and start talking about what you sell or how you consult or how what you have or do is going to greatly enhance someone else’s business–or life.  Quite simply, it’s not that simple.  Unfortunately many who have set up a Twitter account, followed a few people, and have had a few follow them back, posted about what they do and how good they are at it, or listed information on a house they are selling, or that they are a Social Media Marketing expert, find it all for nothing.  Then what do they say?  “Twitter is a waste of time.”  Well, if approached in this fashion yes, it is.  Remember the movie “The Graduate” and the cocktail party where the guys says “I want to say one word to you, just one word:  Plastics.”  I love that quote!  So here’s the Twitter version of it:  “I want to say one word to you, just one word:  Relationships.”

Yes, Twitter is about building relationships, and unfortunately that can be easily overlooked.  Yet, it’s not about “Let me know how I can help your business.”  The idea is to be MUCH more sincere.  How?  Easy, interact with people that are on Twitter, but do it sincerely.  That means interacting with people who Twitter about things that interest you!  Don’t ever look at a person as a ‘mark’ or ‘prospect,’ and you will actually develop more than relationships, you will develop friendships, as I have.  When you find yourself looking forward to seeing your friends pop up on Tweet Deck or Seesmic, you will have gotten it–until you’ve reached that point, you haven’t.

In Part 2, I’ll talk about a specific experiences we’ve had developing relationships and actual friendships!

Tell me about your Twitter experiences, have you developed any great friendships as well?

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

As a web development company working with businesses throughout the country, we get a great deal of questions regarding driving traffic to a website.  Almost always the customer leads the discussion to SEO, and while we think a proper, yet basic, SEO setup is warranted, our belief is that fresh content drives both traffic and indexing.

Participation in blogging, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are far less expensive than both ongoing SEO work and traditional advertising and have the potential to quickly reach exponentially more people, yet we still hear the following reasoning NOT to participate:

1.  ”We are too busy.”

(Response:  That’s great, especially in this economy, but if you’re busy, your competition has taken notice, and is doing EVERYTHING they can to take business away from you, EVERYTHING.)

2.  ”We don’t know anything about computers.”

(Response:  Business is dynamic.  It is no longer sufficient to open a local brick and mortar business, and hope for the best.  Be proactive, learn what to do–blog about the passion you feel for your business.  If you have an antique store, blog and video blog about your passion for the pieces in your shop.  If you own a restaurant blog and Twitter about your specials and anything going on such as live music–I promise you, your customers want to know!)

3.  ”Our customers are not online.”

(Response:  If your customers are seniors, they are the fastest growing demographic online, and, as they move into retirement, their children and those taking their positions at companies that may be your clients, are online.)

4.  ”I tried Twitter and had only 8 people following me.”

(Response:  Social Media Marketing is a long-term investment.  You cannot be online for a couple of weeks and expect major changes, yet time invested will have a lasting effect.)

5.  ”I don’t like Facebook.”

(Response:  Facebook recently crossed the 350 million person threshold.  Your customers are there, if you don’t connect to them there–someone else will, that’s for sure!  And while you are considering spending a few thousand dollars to create one of those awful local cable TV advertisements, you could spend a fraction of that money to advertise via pay-per-click on Facebook in only your geographic area, and reach far more people.)

As a reader of this blog, what are your thoughts about businesses using Social Media to market themselves?  Do you have questions about getting started, or have you had some specific success or failures?

Your input and thoughts are welcome.

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix