Aww, Be Sociable!
Mama was right. If you play nice, you'll do well in life. Check out this report from Alltop
. The article chronicles a study which demonstrated that companies that were most engaged in social media increased revenues by an average of +18%. Those that were least engaged saw decreased revenues of ~6%. There has been a preponderance of anecdotal evidence that social media marketing has strong positive effects on sales. Now I am pleased to see that studies are beginning to provide some figures to back up claims.
Social Media Alone Doesn't Work - You Have to Do It Well
Once again, Mom wins out: if you're going to do something, do it well. Here are some tips for managing a Twitter account and leveraging your email lists to get a fan club going for your online store.
Brick and mortar stores have the advantage of face to face communication with customers. It helps develop a sense of connection between the store entity and the customer. Entities don't have personalities; they tend to me nameless and faceless and hence don't engender a lot of loyalty among a customer base. Happily, you CAN give faceless entities a personality using twitter and similar 'realtime' social media platforms. Back them up with a facebook and ning group, and you'll have a powerful marketing arsenal to support your online store.
Anything can have personality. Check out this twitter profile. It's so wonderful, I follow it! Take some time to read through the last few weeks of tweets from the 520 bridge (located between Seattle and Bellevue, WA).
Miva Merchant has a pretty good twitter presence too. If you're a client, you should DEFINITELY be following this thread.
How to Write Compelling Copy in 140 Characters or Less
The short of it is, it takes practice. I suggest beginning by managing your twitter account on your desktop or laptop computer. Add twitter to your cell phone and get comfortable checking tweets from people/entities you follow. Start by following MIvaMerchant. Feel free to check out SEOmoz as well. Look for other online stores with twitter accounts and follow those. It will help you tweet better yourself. You'll know immediately if tweets from a particular account simply sound like sales pitches or lack a personal voice.
Personality is the key to success on twitter. If you're optimistic this morning, despite the rain, let people know about it? Having trouble with your computer? Tweet it - you may even get a solution in a response. Actively engage in conversations with others. If no one is responding to your tweets yet, have a conversation with yourself. Open a twitter account for your business and one for yourself personally. It's ok to talk to yourself on twitter. It's even recommended! Some time ago, SEOmoz' CEO
Rand Fishkin tweeted late one night that he was really tired, but still needed to write up a post on an important technical SEO matter for the
SEOmoz blog. SEOmoz
responded a moment later, saying, "@randfish. Don't even think about going to sleep until you have that post up!" The Company was tweeting/talking to the person. Of course, it was the same fingers doing the texting, but the effect was wonderful. In the morning, people buzzed around the twittersphere, "Does anyone else think it's hilarious that @SEOmoz is berating @randfish to get work done?"
Think about ways to share information that will be interesting to your readership. Keep in mind that the readership you want is a readership that will buy items from your store and recommend you to others. So tweet often, but not exclusively about topics related to walking sticks, hats, travel accessories, or whatever it is you sell. There are thousands of fascinating images online (search google images just to start) that will intrigue your readers. There are funny videos to share, whether you made them or not (try not to promote videos with your competition's logo in them, of course).
And above all, keep it personal now and then. When you're taking a holiday, it's ok to tweet about where you are, link to photos online, etc. Be aware that announcing to the world that you are traveling leaves your residence, if it's location is easily identified, a little more at risk unless you have someone watchinf the place. Be thoughtful, reasonable, and wise about your use of twitter and you will gain a solid, engaged readership that will benefit your store.
How to gain followers for your twitter account:
Start with your email list. Let folks know that you have a twitter account and ask them to follow you. You can even offer a certificate or discount for followers only. Be sure to mention that sales and discounts will be tweeted regularly to encourage followers. Then follow through with a weekly or monthly tweet of a special that is ONLY available through twitter. With a unique identifier, you will be able to see how many people take advantage of the offer.
Put your twitter account on your website and again, mention that specials will be tweeted now and then, regularly, or however you wish to work it out. Test the process to see whether regular special/discount tweets works better than random ones.
When you ship good, add your twitter account and the enticement to follow you in the package. Some will be gifts and you will reach new potential customers.
Good Manners
In general, follow those who follow you. You don't need to add them all to your mobile device - just follow them on your desktop computer. It's more than a courtesy. It will help you see who is tweeting, what's on their mind and make your tweets more valuable as a result. It's a pulse on your market; leverage it.
Look for and follow twitter accounts that are business related, including suppliers, competitiors (as mentioned above), colleagues, and organizations. If you sell walking sticks, keep abreast of legislation pertaining to disabled parking, access, etc. Keep up with hiking news and fashion news. All these are segments of your market. Keeping abreast of the beat in all those arenas can be tedious; twitter makes it easier.
By now, you should have a good idea of what works and what won't in the twittersphere. Now go explore it. There are many add-on applications that make using twitter a richer experience. Talk to others, see what they like. Adding photos will probably be an important factor in the success of your twitter account, so get an addon that makes it easy. If you are following many others, sorting your tweets is important; again applications exist for managing all kinds of social media accounts. Explore, indulge (most are free or nearly free), and leverage social and mobile social media to increase your sales in the coming holiday season.
Gillian Muessig
President, SEOmoz
Use the code: SPECIAL09 to get a $200 discount on SEOmoz PRO annual subscriptions
www.seomoz.org/gopro
twitter: SEOmom
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