ACFW Virtual Conference: Day 3, Three Ways to Use Twitter

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by:  Staci Stallings

Three ways to use Twitter

When I was first on Twitter, it took me awhile to “get it.”  I followed a few people, had a few follow me.  I would send out manual tweets a couple times a day.  I would “converse” some.  I did a couple of prayer chats (so FUN!  Check out #tworship and #MKBibleChat for two of these).  I have since gone more the automated tweet route because my time is at a premium, but it’s worth knowing that there are many ways to actually use Twitter both for marketing, for social networking, and for being seen as an expert.

Let’s look at these.

SELL-ONLY TWEETERS

Most marketers want to use Twitter for direct “sell” tweets, and there is nothing wrong with this.  There is one huge Tweeter that I know–all he does is tweet about books.  He retweets book tweets people send him, and he sells tweets about books on his feed.  He has built the feed up to around 87,000 followers.

His followers do not expect him to be “social.”  All they want is information about books, and that’s what they get.

CONNECTING AND SOCIALIZING ON TWITTER

A second way to use Twitter is to be social or to connect with others.  This is a legitimate way to use Twitter, and at first most marketers said that your feed should be 80% social and 20% selling.  If you plan to be social on Twitter, I would say your feed should be about 90% social and 10% selling.  Many people get really turned off by a tweeter who talks with them AND tries to sell to them.

I know some authors who saw their follower roles drop dramatically when they started tweeting about books (theirs or others in tweet exchanges).  So my best advice is if you want to be social AND sell, have two separate feeds.

Be social on for example @_StaciStallings and sell on @StaciStallings (always use YOUR name to build brand.  Don’t tweet as @TwitterButterfly if you are trying to sell books as Hannah Taylor.  Twitter-brand your name (or your company’s name) into people’s lives!  It works).

BEING SEEN AS AN EXPERT

Twitter can help you be seen as an expert pretty quickly if you know how to give out great information to your followers.  One great way to do this is by using the CONNECT page on your Twitter account.  The first tab on your Twitter page is HOME.  This is your main feed where all of the tweets from people you are following appear.  Next to HOME is CONNECT.

The CONNECT page lists tweeters who have:

• Retweeted you (read one of your tweets and sent it on to their list)
• Followed you
• Sent you a tweet (not direct message) in other words, they tweeted TO you over their feed.

This is a great place to be a little social even if you are not mainly focused on being social, by replying to others, thanking them for the retweets, etc.

CONNECTING BY RETWEETING

To Retweet others (i.e. send great information you read on your feed to others), hover over the bottom of the tweet you think is RETWEET-worthly, click Retweet and then Retweet again on the blue box.  Just retweeting great information can get you seen as someone others WANT to follow and pay attention to.

Because my followers are Christians who like books, I retweet Christian sayings, quotes, and Christian book information.  I also retweet great author information because many of my followers are Christian authors.

The basic idea is to know what you want to use Twitter for (more on that tomorrow), stick to your brand, and have fun learning!