[samsonthomas]

Hi

Do you use Twitter as a marketing tool for lead generation?

Here are some valuable tips that can benefit you greatly.

1. How frequently should you update your tweets? Many people who use twitter as a marketing tool have this question. The answer is: ideally you should post two tweets a day.

2. Mix up your tweets content. Keep one that should be a helpful link for your audience - providing some valuable info, etc, instead of a sales-oriented link. In doing so, you'll be earning yourself real value in the form of trust of your followers.

3. Give time in between. Don't post your tweets for the day simultaneuously. Keeping a gap of a few hours is good. Use a tool like SocialOomph (you will have to register for a free account) to schedule your tweets, so you don't have to login everytime.

4. KISS - Keep it short and simple Use a link shortening tool like bit.ly. You can also track the clicks on your links.

5. Post links to your own blog. Some of your info links should point to your own blog posts giving them valuable content. It will strengthen your relation with your followers and also build your readership, apart from giving your blog search engine friendly link juice.

6. Laugh. Link to humour in some of your tweets. People love a good laugh, and allow them to know you as a real person, not an information machine. Keep to your niche (if you have built a niche following) so that you can have “inside” jokes.

7. Tweet lot of ideas. Take note of interesting sites you come across that can give helpful info or tools. You can help your followers by sharing, especially if they belong to a common niche.

8. Preliminary research. Simply researching relevant and interesting topics can give you valuable links.

9. Be alert and re-tweet (RT). Follow the celebrities / experts in your niche. There are sites that provide a list of popular people. You can also use Twitter Search to find them. When they tweet something interesting, re-tweet it to share it with your followers.

10. Engage them. Ask pertinent questions inducing them to respond. This will result in lot of replies. Your twitter id appears on their replies and all their followers can know you and begin following you. This strategy is the secret to grow your followers exponentially

11. Ruffle some feathers by asking controversial questions. Ask people to give their opinion on an issue. So you'll be interacting with your followers and they'll love the tips and help from you. It also increases the chance that they’ll recommend you to others – again, increasing your followers.

[CarlosAT]

Good info. Thanks!

[GreenBayRealtor]

This is a great list of things to keep in mind on twitter. I'm slowly implementing everything up above! Traffic to my site definitely increasing

[samsonthomas]

@GreenBayRealtor

That's great. I have also seen a surge in followers. Besides that, some Twitter posts are also listed in Google. Gives a great boost to your readership and traffic to your website as well.

[Joelrunner]

I don't really use Twitter as a form of lead generation, but believe in it firmly so that my potential clients can get to know me - which helps immensly in terms of increasing my odds of getting business from leads/prospects who are in my sales funnel.

[Madtown RM]

I don't believe you can build great relationships on Twitter by tweeting twice a day. It takes a lot more commitment than that IMHO.

[samsonthomas]

Originally Posted by Madtown RM

I don't believe you can build great relationships on Twitter by tweeting twice a day. It takes a lot more commitment than that IMHO.

If you tweet about "I am drinking coffee" not twice even 100 times a day will not make any difference. However, if you use it as a business tool, giving out links to valuable info, or updating your followers regarding a new legislation or state of the market or anything related to your niche, it helps to build trust.

They are more likely to visit your blog / site. Of course, you need to update your blog posts to Twitter using something like twitterfeed. More visitors to your site will mean more sales especially if those visitors take you at your word.

[Madtown RM]

Originally Posted by samsonthomas

If you tweet about "I am drinking coffee" not twice even 100 times a day will not make any difference. However, if you use it as a business tool, giving out links to valuable info, or updating your followers regarding a new legislation or state of the market or anything related to your niche, it helps to build trust.

No doubt that tweeting about drinking coffee 100 times a day is of little to no interest to anyone, however I disagree that the only way to build rapport is by sending out "valuable" links, etc. There are thousands of people doing that every minute of the day (in many cases through automated tools). Yes, some of that activity is good but for the most part I have found that my business has grown through Twitter simply by interacting with people in a non "bot-like" way, ie having conversations and little exchanges over a period of minutes, hours, or days - both serious and silly - with like-minded people.

[samsonthomas]

Originally Posted by Madtown RM

No doubt that tweeting about drinking coffee 100 times a day is of little to no interest to anyone, however I disagree that the only way to build rapport is by sending out "valuable" links, etc. There are thousands of people doing that every minute of the day (in many cases through automated tools). Yes, some of that activity is good but for the most part I have found that my business has grown through Twitter simply by interacting with people in a non "bot-like" way, ie having conversations and little exchanges over a period of minutes, hours, or days - both serious and silly - with like-minded people.

Twitter is not the only way - its one of the ways to build rapport with your potential clients. And its a really easy way. "Valuable links" through automated tools is no better than spam and if someone does it every minute, very soon they lose value in the eyes of the client.

The point is that your followers should be able to view you as a person they can trust - not as an information machine. Your blog should contain helpful information which can be linked through Twitter. That will increase your readership and trustworthiness. And you can provide other juicy info too - the ideal frequency of tweets being twice a day. One helpful link and one sales link in a day is good enough.

A non bot like conversation - both serious and silly humor (specially humor specific to your niche) - that is a great tip.

In fact, that's exactly what I meant in my original post.

[catey03]

Beautiful posting man!
Love the ideas.
Keep it up.
Thanks.