If I were to walk up to you at a conference, business or social function and state, “Hey my company offers celebrity protection services, call me”, hand you a business card and walk away, what would you think? Probably that I’m nuts, rude, and you’d promptly throw away the business card in the nearest trash barrel.
The exact above scenario is being played out on Twitter every day. Tweets that do nothing but state “Hey you by my stuff” or “Hey you buy my services.” Time and again I see personal protection businesses send out tweet after tweet to various businesses and individuals whom they don’t know, have no relationship with and share that they offer executive protection services and to call, skype, direct message etc with the hope that someone will say yes. I call them cold calling tweets. Tweets that are so annoyingly rude and no better than a telemarketer on the phone.
This attempt at marketing on social media just doesn’t work and will get you blocked and unfollowed in a heartbeat. As my friend and social media pundit Barry Cunningham says “Absurdity at it’s best…kind of defeats the purpose of social media. We’re supposed to be building relationships.”
How to build a relationships on Twitter
Establishing your brand in your niche on social media takes time – weeks, months, years. When you first setup your profile on Twitter you are 1 among hundreds of millions and depending on your niche – among hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Start connecting and making relationships with your market by sharing valuable, useful information. We are in the digital age where information is constant – your job is to curate that information and share why it useful to potential customers. Create your own content to share your point of view and host it on your website thereby bringing potential customers to read more about you, sign up for an email list or download a free product. Build that rapport and trust.
As far as marketing your specific products and services on Twitter I follow the 80/20 principle – 80% valuable information, 20% marketing – and not cold calling marketing! Marketing with a strategy and purpose. Tell me a story about the product – don’t just “sell” to me. If you think about it, you are building a brand for your product or services. It is all about providing value to your customer and client.
Here’s example I see a lot of on Twitter:
Hey you: Buy this microphone from Amazon (insert link)
A better way to market your product:
Recording Audio On A Tight Budget? Check out my recommendations (insert blog post link).
The link doesn’t go directly to Amazon. Instead, it goes to a blog post with recommendations on products, links to those products, and a podcast that explains how the products work and why it is important to have good audio in your podcasts.
Yes, it requires more time and energy to create a blog post and a podcast. But how likely is that visitor to return for more advice, get recommendations, or buy one of your products?
