Twitter :: Lisa Saline – Affiliate Manager | Online Marketing Strategies

Archive for Twitter

Apr

On Twitter, You’re More than Just a Number

Posted by: Lisa Saline | Comments (0)

It was bound to happen.

We live in a society that judges people based on their appearance, their age, and material possessions – did you really expect Twitter to be any different?

True, there are more than a few users who will judge your Twitter status or efficacy strictly by the number of followers you have. They tend to collect followers like baseball cards, and fancy to count themselves among the Twitter elite.
Well, that’s all well and good, I suppose – but more isn’t always better.

The Pulpit, or the Parlor from a purely logistical perspective, how many genuine connections do you think you can cultivate, nurture and maintain – without spending every waking moment feverishly typing 140-character pleasantries? I don’t know about you, but the notion of trying to keep tabs on twenty thousand of my closest BFF’s sounds more than a bit daunting. In fact, it sounds downright impossible.

Even as I say this, there are sure to be some Twitter users who would vehemently disagree. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. For my part, I prefer to interact in a parlor, as opposed to a pulpit-style atmosphere on Twitter – and in order to do that, you can’t focus on developing a congregation. Instead, you focus on developing a camaraderie. This mindset will likely prevent you from ascending to the elite Twitterati status, but it won’t prevent you from being successful.

The most important things to remember about Twitter are:
* Be yourself. Mama said it best, and she was right.
* Be engaging. Offer insights, ask questions, and join the conversation.
* Be helpful. Retweet posts from others. Your followers will appreciate it, and so will the original poster.
* Avoid the pushy sales pitch. Folks buy from those they know, like and trust.
* Be grateful. Thank those who help you, and those who offer value to you.
* Recognize other Twitter users, and recommend them whenever you can.
* Remember the 80/20 rule – 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers/prospects.

Of course, this isn’t to say that those folks with tens of thousands of followers aren’t successful (just look at Barack Obama) – but it is a safe bet that the dialogue between user and follower is dramatically different. Like anything else, your mileage may vary.

At the end of the day, the most important thing to remember is that Twitter is a tool, and the manner in which you use it will determine your overall success.

Categories : Twitter

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Sep

The Global Phenomenon of Twitter

Posted by: Lisa Saline | Comments (10)

The global phenomenon of Twitter has spread into every imaginable market, with more tools and uses becoming available all the time. Despite this, new users often pose the same question:

What in the heck am I supposed to tweet about?
Veteran Twitter users would find it difficult at best to answer this question with any amount of brevity (despite the 140 character restriction) – but, for business users, there is at least one universally applicable subject matter that you can start with, namely, your frequently asked questions, or FAQs.

Why Tweet Your FAQs?
Suppose you have a product that generates lots of user questions - whether it is assembly questions, installation, technical support, maintenance, accessory orders or the like, there are bound to be some questions that you receive on a regular basis. You’re already answering them on your website, (you ARE doing this, right?), so why not consider a quick tweet with the link to help direct Twitter users who may be in need of this information?

Some Other Examples:
* Link to the directory of local sales/maintenance representatives
* Link to short training videos you are hosting on your site, or at YouTube
* Link to your newsletter subscription page
* Link to welcome videos
* Link to free technical manual downloads, ebooks, coupons or other offers
* Link to event calendar with upcoming events and appearances

We all know that there “is no such thing as a stupid question,” but we’ve all felt reluctant to ask one at some point or another. Help make relevant information readily available, even to the shyest of customers by offering this information as tweets.

In addition, you can build customer loyalty and goodwill by encouraging them to send you their questions, and you can answer them in a public twitter “shout out.” Everyone loves to be made to feel special – consider offering a special discount or freebie to the best question each month in order to increase submissions.
Many Twitter users that may not have previously been aware of your company will be able to find you by way ofthe”search” tool on the Twitter website – think of your tweets as a 24/7 sales tool that serves double-duty as product information.

Twitter is a viable, free tool that can provide your company with immeasurable value. With just a small investment of your time, you can provide customer goodwill, product information and advertise - all with just 140 characters.

Categories : Other, Sales & Marketing, Social Networking, Traffic Generation, Twitter

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Sep

3 Secrets to an Effective Inbound Marketing Campaign

Posted by: Lisa Saline | Comments (2)

3 Secrets to an Effective Inbound Marketing Campaign

Utilizing effective inbound marketing properly is an excellent way for you to build your business, as well as to get traffic by the masses into your website. There are a number of different ways in which this can take place, but as with anything, there are always going to be some secrets which will help you to get more traffic. Here are 3 different ways that you can use inbound marketing in order to ramp up the visitors to your own website, and to increase your bottom line.

Content Syndication – The new buzzword is tribal syndication, but you may be a little bit confused as to how this actually works. With this type of syndication, you are actually part of a network of marketers that are working in a related niche. Because there are many power marketers that are involved with tribal syndication, the amount of traffic that gets pushed around can be overwhelming. At times, this type of syndication can work within the same network, such as twitter to twitter or Facebook to Facebook. At other times, however, you can cross the line and push people from network to network.

Search Engine Marketing – SEO has received a lot of attention over the years, and this is not without good reason. As a matter of fact, many online businesses owe their existence to search engine marketing, regardless of whether it is free traffic that they are getting from the search engines or paid. The big secret to this is to target your keywords properly, and from there you can really expand in almost any direction that you want to go. Because people are very focused with what they are doing online, target what they are searching for and you can grab a piece of that traffic and send pre-warmed leads to your website through the search engines.

Social Media Marketing – Welcome to Web 2.0. Even though social media websites have been around for quite some time, their popularity has just recently hit critical mass. When you take part in social media marketing, such as what can be found on Facebook or twitter, you can really achieve quite a following in a short period of time. Many of these social media networks utilize their own internal search engine frequently, and you can be part of this by optimizing your social media marketing in order to attract those that are interested in what you have to say.

Utilizing effective inbound marketing properly is an excellent way for you to build your business, as well as to get traffic by the masses into your website. There are a number of different ways in which this can take place, but as with anything, there are always going to be some secrets which will help you to get more traffic. Here are 3 different ways that you can use inbound marketing in order to ramp up the visitors to your own website, and to increase your bottom line.

Categories : Facebook, Search Engine Marketing SEO, Traffic Generation, Twitter, Viral Marketing

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Aug

3 Tips to Integrating Social Media into Your Marketing Practices

Posted by: Lisa Saline | Comments (3)

The Internet has really proven to be a great resource for local business owners, and many of them are just now discovering exactly how many customers it can send in their direction. One of the reasons why this is the case, is because people are now searching online for local businesses by name, or by what they have to offer. Along with that, many of them use social media networks regularly on their cell phones, and you can also use this to drive insane amounts of new and repeat business to your location.

One of the best ways for you to be able to do this is to simply ask your existing customers to follow you on one of the social networks, such as twitter or Facebook. Whenever they do this, it gives you the opportunity to market to them and to send them a message or update about your business. This can be a very powerful tool, and if used properly you can really fill your location with customers very quickly.

Something that you may want to consider, is running specials from time to time and contacting your customers through these social media networks. For example, if you run a small restaurant, you may want to have a special evening that is themed in some way or another in order to attract customers. By sending out a message on the social media networks about this special event, you will not only get visitors that will be attending it, you will also remind people to come by and visit you at any time.

Make sure that you are active on these social media networks, even when you’re not sending out information that is specific to your business. This gives people the opportunity to form a bond with you, and a certain level of trust is also going to be achieved. When this takes place, people will feel as if you are talking to them directly, even if you have hundreds or perhaps thousands of followers.

Finally, try to get people interested and adding into the conversation whenever you are posting messages on Facebook. This helps to build your local network, as their friends who are also part of their network will see what they have to say. This is an excellent promotional tool, and it is one that should not be overlooked by any local business that would like to achieve higher numbers and to get more customers to come in their door regularly.