There is a great discussion going on in the private brainstorming forum at SSWT between Elite Members, so I thought I would bring the discussion public here on ClickNewz and get even more feedback.
The discussion is about Twitter.com, a micro-blogging service used for social networking, and specifically whether it is valuable for marketers outside the Internet Marketing niche. The general concensus has been that Twitter is a valuable social marketing tool for Internet Marketers only. I disagree...
Being in the IM niche with some of my work online, I can vouch for it being a valuable tool for both marketing and networking. In fact, during my first month using Twitter.com, it became the #1 referrer for traffic to my IM blog.
I have also collected tons of useful information and resources, found joint venture opportunities, and used it to get valuable feedback.
Previously considering it "just another time-suck", my first month on Twitter proved me wrong. But would it be valuable for marketers in other niches? I think yes...
Example
Lets look at one non-IM example: homeschooling. And this is just an example, so use your imagination and put these ideas to work for you in other niches such as parenting, bible study, dieting, fitness, etc.
Even if Twitter is heavily populated by Internet Marketers, a certain number of them are homeschooling parents. You're also going to find IM'ers that have a presence in the homeschooling niche (per our example).
Your social marketing strategy should focus on networking within the right circles, and building a following of those that are specifically interested in your topic. To start, set up an account using the name you are known by in your niche (not a keyword, so use "Jane Smith" vs "homeschool bot").
Next, use the search box at the top of your Twitter account to search for people in your niche. Start with names you are already familiar with and see if they are on Twitter - if so, follow them. This will include website owners, bloggers and publishers that you may have previously viewed as "competitors".
After you have exhausted your niche networking contacts, use the search box to bring up keyword results. Start with the most obvious: homeschool, home school, homeschooling, curriculum, etc. Find people who are engaged in discussions about your topic and follow them as well.
Keep your own tweets on topic. This will help you to build a niche following. You might tweet about a homeschooling resource you found (whether its on your own site or not), what you are doing with your children, the new curriculum you ordered, etc. Include links to your site for reference ocassionally, but make it a good mix.
Log in daily and "listen" to the discussions of those you chose to follow. Respond to tweets and get involved in the discussions. Spend your first month getting to know people and networking without an obvious objective. After a few weeks you will begin to see opportunities to exchange links, set up joint ventures and get valuable feedback. If you pay attention to the people you follow, you'll also collect some incredible resources!
Consider using Twitter as an extention of your own site, and invite your website visitors to "follow you" for a daily homeschooling tip (again, replace "homeschooling" with your own topic). Its another great way to build a relationship with your target market and also continue to follow-up with them. Consider it List Building, social media style 😉
Share Your Results!
If you network on Twitter.com outside the Internet Marketing niche, share your results with us! Have you found it valuable for networking and marketing in your niche? Yes or no, we'd love to hear details. You can leave a comment below, or blog your response and then trackback this post.
Best,
Related Posts:
5 Ways To Build Your Twitter Following
Social Marketing Pitfalls & The Twitter Time Suck
Twitter: A Valuable Marketing Tool & Much More
Twitter: Complete Waste Of Time, Or Valuable Marketing Tool?
About Lynn Terry
There are a lot of fellow coaches on Twitter so there is another active niche.
Great topic Lynn!
I'm in the fitness 'fat loss' niche and have found Twitter to be an incredibly valuable tool for networking, building relationships with my existing readers, and attracting new customers and JV partners.
I've also come up with a way to make my services appealing to Internet Marketers who are using Twitter.
I created a Ning community called Twittercise http://twittercise.ning.com
I film exercises that I do at my desk and they are easy for Internet marketers to incorporate into the day using just their bodyweight and a stability ball (which I sit on instead of a chair).
They are workouts that are as quick as their tweets 😉
My target market is busy moms with my Fit Chic program and have found Twitter to be the funnest place to communicate with busy mompreneurs and have found some great JV partners with products that my busy mom customers would absolutely love.
Thanks for the great discussion Lynn. You Rock!
Scott Tousignant
http://www.Unstoppable-FatLoss.com
Perfect example, Scott! I had you in mind when I wrote this actually, as I follow you on Twitter and love your fitness tweets 😀
I may be an "Internet Marketer" but I am also a woman and a mother with a million other personal interests outside of IM...
Excellent post, Lynn. I happen to be a homeschooler as well as a home biz coach, so I liked your analogies! 😉
Here's my question...You said to keep your Tweets "on topic". I think that's helpful. But what if your interests, like mine, are very varied. Do you think it's best to keep all under one Twitter account, or have a separate account for each major focus (ie. IM, home business, homeschooling, faith in business, social networking, IM in France, etc...)?
Looking forward to your response.
Well, it begs the question - if you had multiple accounts, would you tweet yourself? lol
Seriously, I think it depends on your objective. If you are using Twitter as part of a social marketing campaign, then you want a twitter account for each niche or site. If you are using it for personal or general networking, thats a different story.
Lets say IM and homeschooling for example - if you publish a homeschooling tip every morning, that might be annoying to most of your IM followers. So in that case I would separate it.
Hey Lynn,
The belief that Twitter is only valuable within the IM niche is slightly myopic. There are tons of niches which could make use of Twitter swimming through my head.
Twitter was not intentionally created as a marketing device for internet marketers or otherwise.
So, how it could it only be useful to internet marketers? (Logical reasoning here. LOL)
Unfortunately, since a lot of internet marketers are using the tool for internet marketing purposes, it's difficult for people to see beyond that. But, it definitely goes beyond.
Twitter is about finding and connecting with people who share a common interest with you. Internet marketers tend to seek out other internet marketers. Knitters tend to seek out and follow other knitters. Dieters tend to seek out and follow other dieters. And so forth.
Personally, Twitter was my mini-blog away from Mild Insanity; a way to connect with people in general -- not as an internet marketing tool. As a result, I networked with individuals who shared common interests outside of internet marketing (i.e. web design, art, writing, local people, and even a couple old friends).
After setting up a few other sites which don't have anything to do with internet marketing, I immediately set up their respective Twitter accounts because I understood it would be a great way to connect with those individuals who shared the same interests. It was also a way to compartmentalize my likes without inundating my regular tweeps with stuff with which they had no interest. A positive side effect has been highly targeted traffic and resultant sales.
One thing I've been seeing a lot more of lately, which is also rather annoying, is Twitter spam. (Hmm, I sense a new word being born.) These accounts follow thousands of people and maybe 10 people follow in return -- and those followers are most likely because of auto-follow bots. In essence, there is no value there. (And people like me will completely block them altogether.)
Anyone who decides to try Twitter for internet marketing (or marketing in general), please do so with some sense and common courtesy to other tweeps. Set up the account to connect with people first, then the loyalty and networking will come.
~ Teli
Twitter is consistently one of my top traffic referrers, and I'm not in the IM niche.
I have been terrifies to try this, really. I am so boggged down with email, I see Twitter only with trepidation. And so I ask the question, is there a real cost/time benefit? Or to put it another way, could the time spent in Twitter disruption be more profitably spent making money/leads/etc elsewhere.
I am still not convinced enough to sign up!
Lynn,
you seem to have hit quite a nerve with your discussion on sensible uses of Twitter (or possibly lack thereof). One thing I don't think I've seen mentioned is the incredible power of Twitter as a data mining/trend tool that is both more raw and direct than say Google Trends.
There are two ways to use Twitter like that, and drive up your ROI for its use:
1) You can search Twitter on Tweetscan.com, which has gotten a lot better at serving up backwards data (looks to be complete since 11/2007).
2) You can use the "track [your keyword here]" command to get all of the relevant tweets picked out of the real-time Twitter time line as they occur (as opposed to searching over them later with Tweetscan).
As a non-IM niche example, one of the guys in one of my Mastermind Groups owns a Mind-Mapping software company. I just explained to him the other day how using Twitter/Tweetscan this way would work for him:
First, Track can be useful for some key terms in your niche that you want to be up to date on, or respond ASAP (or even real time) to people's questions/issues to position yourself as the expert in your niche.
The tracked tweets can be sent either to your cell (if it's set up), just beware of unexpected "floods" if you don't have an unlimited SMS plan. OR, you can have them go to an Instant Msg account such as Google's GTalk. This last option is preferable for all but the most targeted terms, because you can set it to archive the "chat" with Twitter (really just those tracked tweets coming in) into the Gmail account linked to that overall Google account.
E.g. if you track "mindmap" (and "mindmaps" etc.) you could chime in with anyone who mentions the term and looks to have a question, etc. thereby building you up as the expert and go-to guy/gal (or pay someone else to keep watch on this for you).
Look at this Tweetscan search link to see how often people are actually mentioning the term. (And you can obviously always just use Tweetscan, except that you lose some of the real-time urgency of it.)
http://tweetscan.com/index.php?s=mindmap&u=&d=
Track your own name/brand/other key terms. In the case of my friend Gideon (I got his permission to use his case), this actually turned out to be the perfect example for why this use of Twitter is INVALUABLE: You can detect Customer service issues, stumbling blocks on a site, etc. in REAL TIME!
http://tweetscan.com/index.php?s=novamind&u=&d=&de=1
I am working on a full scale post on this, when it's ready, I'll let you guys know.
Best - Alex
You are absolutely correct on this and a great example of using Twitter to engage and create followers. Many of my clients, all related outside of the IM niche, have enjoyed significant success on Twitter... It's definitely an option for most if you think creatively, like you (as usual) 🙂
Maria Reyes-McDavis
I use Twitter as a relationship building tool. It has helped me bypass the gatekeepers of many people who I haven't been able to connect with via email or web contact forms or phone calls.
I think in any industry, whether you're using internet marketing or not, relationship building is key and social networking gives you a great way of achieving that.
My sense is that it won't always be that way, as people get more and more contacts and inbox glut. Twitter bypasses much of the email overload, so right now I'm recommending that for serious relationship builders.
all the best,
Nancy Marmolejo
http://www.VivaVisibility.com
Hi Lynn,
Great to meet you through Twitter & thanks for telling me about your post here! 🙂
I mainly tweet to keep myself accountable to my health & fitness routine, that's my main topic...tweeting about my healthy eating and exercise. I have found others who share the same interest but I'm sure I could do more searching to find others.
At the same time I don't want to limit myelf only to that area because I am interested in networking with other successful internet entrepreneurs (like yourself!) as I am always learning more about blogging and internet marketing.
So am I off topic if I don't tweet about health & fitness? I guess I don't look at Twitter right now as exactly the same as staying on topic with my blog posts, maybe I should, but I'd really be limiting myself if I only followed folks who were in health & fitness. I've also tried to get my online friends who are interested in my topic on board to use Twitter as a real-time accountability system but so far no luck.
That's ok though, I'm still having fun with it.
So what do you think - should you stick to a single topic on Twitter like you do on your blog otherwise risk the loss of subscribers/followers? I'd love to hear what you have to say, thanks!
Hi JoLynn,
If you have two completely separate topics that you are equally passionate about, you might consider having two Twitter accounts - one for each.
If I had an "elvis sighting" blog (lol) for example, I would definitely set up a separate account to tweet about that, rather than risk losing the interest of my IM followers.
Hi Lynn,
Thanks, that might be a better route, I guess I wanted to avoid a separate account....I'll have to decide what I want to do with it.
Thanks a lot for your feedback!