‘Cardinal’ Rules of Twitter
As a Social Media Specialist VA, I have new people following me on Twitter all the time. It is always my choice as to who I will follow back. It is very important to stay focused on who your target market is and build your relationships in that community. Having said that, I always check the profiles of anyone who is newly following me.
There are many people out there who have not yet grasped the concept of just how powerful Twitter can be. The following is an example of a particular profile I reviewed recently. The entire Twitter stream was made up of the same kind of ‘conversation’. There was very little interaction. I will share 5 tweets here and give you some ideas as to how these tweets might have been done differently. This individual is in the eco-friendly industry and their profile implied that they were looking for business contacts. The following tweets are not business related. Here is how they might have showcased their expertise, and shared value-added information to their target audience. See how you can use these examples and adapt them to your own environment. Don’t be afraid to standout. Be colorful. Be a Cardinal!
Tweets:
1. Just removed the lint from the dryer, yuck
As an individual in the eco-friendly industry, while removing lint from the dryer is admittedly not a stimulating chore, it is one that needs doing. So if I were inclined to talk about this, here is a way that this could have been done differently.
Don’t throw out your dryer lint. Place it on branches of trees. Birds will use it to feather their nests. With Spring around the corner, this can be a timely tweet. Even better..consider writing a blog post on 5 ways to use your dryer lint along the reduce, reuse, recycle approach and tweet a link to the blog post. You’d be surprised how many uses there are!
2. Just had my second cup of coffee from ******* . Am finally waking up.
Take this opportunity to remind readers about not contributing to landfill.
Took my thermos for a second coffee fillup this a.m. to ****. Finally waking up. Glad I’m not adding more cups to landfill. Even better, consider investigating some organic coffee growers and write a blog post on the benefits. Share this information with your readers. Again, Tweet a link to the post.
3. Looking forward to dinner – chicken cordon bleu YUM!
It’s ok to share some personal tweets from time to time. Try to focus 80% of your tweets on business related information. However, this doesn’t mean that when you post something personal, that you can’t add value. This might have been better..
Looking forward to dinner – chicken cordon bleu. Love this dish. Here’s the recipe. Tell me what you think! Add a link to the recipe. Even better, provide a picture using a product like Flickr. You can attach the pic to your tweet.
4. Good morning from ******. It’s sunny and beautiful here today. Hope it keeps up.
Again, there is an opportunity here to share some environmental news with your readership. Try this.
Good morning from ****. Weather is beautiful here today. Check this Farmers Almanac prediction for 2010. Provide a link to farmersalmanac.com. Even better, Encourage people to start thinking about planting their own organic vegetable gardens this year.
5. Time to paint the kids’ bedrooms. **** wants her room painted pink.
You might consider educating readers that there are low VOC (volatile organic compounds) available today. VOCs are key to the ozone…so consider a tweet like this..
Time to paint the kids rooms. So glad there are paints with low VOCs now and in such great colors too! Even better, consider writing a blog post on 10 ways to decorate a room using eco-friendly products. Again, tweet about it and provide a link to your blog post or your website if you sell some of these products. Add pictures to your blog post to make it more interesting and include one in your tweet.
These alternatives share industry related information to your target market and showcase your expertise/understanding of the issues in the eco-friendly space. By adding value, your readers are more likely to return, eager for more content. In this way, you begin to develop relationships and build intimacy and trust. Twitter is a great tool to drive traffic to your blog or your website. But as I have said before, stay away from heavy marketing tactics where you are doing nothing more than selling wares. The social media space is all about adding value and creating relationships.
Take a look at your industry and see how you can begin to adapt your tweets in this way. Let me know how it’s going. I love getting feedback. As a Social Media Specialist, I am here to help you grow your business. Here on my blog, you’ll get commentluv. That’s great for all you bloggers out there. Leave a comment and you can leave a link back to your own blog! But you don’t have to be a blogger to leave a comment. I’d love to hear from all of you.
Happy Tweeting!
Joanne
While physically located in , Ontario where I live with my family, as a VA, I’m virtually yours anywhere….
Thank you Kathleen. I am glad that you got something from it. I have had some great feedback on this post. It seems to have resonated with readers very well. Twitter can be confusing to many as to how to use it for business purposes. Happy Tweeting!
Joanne
Great examples Joanne. I think this article really helped me to understand things a little bit better.