Are you using Twitter to market your business?

[eborg9]

Thank you. I unsubscribe immediately from people who send me the auto direct when I follow them. It's not about how many people are following you anyway. It's about how many people are paying attention to what you say and that takes more than just the number of followers.

I know. It's like a freakin' epidemic. Who ever the first guy was that has that program for sale must be making a mint. Just about every new Twitter seems to sign up for it.

I must admit, for $20, I checked one them out, and it does have some very good tips and tools that I would have never known about and I actually use them today to run 4 different accounts..well worth it....but part of the shtick is, if you want to make money (through his affiliate program) add this in your reply and make money from each sale.

Great deal for that guy, but very annoying if you have been on Twitter for more than a month.

If you are all about how many followers you can get, like some kind of popularity contest, then I guess you are working on volume, but if you want to use Twitter for marketing your business, best not to start off your new followers with a link to your stuff right away...they will see it when they check out your profile.

[vangogh]

Sadly as Twitter becomes more popular you see more things like this. The tools can all be useful if used right, but it's gotten to be let's spam everyone to make a quick buck. Twitter is eventually going to have to do something or it'll start driving people away. It's getting to the point where you don't want to follow anyone unless you already know them from somewhere else.

Most people are good with the system and I do realize a lot of people just think it's a nice way to say a quick thanks. I usually only unfollow the people who send me a link with the auto direct. With the rest it doesn't do anything to endear me to them.

I may follow a lot of people, but unless they make it into one of my custom groups I never see what they say.

[lav]

just signed up for a twitter account thanks to this thread. When i created my account i was unsure if the best option would be to sign up using my business or as personal, so i just used my name until i see how it all works.

Would it be best to create a seperate account for business?

[KristineS]

I have to agree that you get more followers when you're just contributing and not continually trying to get followers. I've never understood that mentality anyway. What good is 5000 followers if 4500 of them don't give a rip about what you're saying? That just doesn't make any sense to me.

I'm with you guys on the auto DM thing too. I hate that. Nothing is more artificial to me than an auto DM that says "Thanks for following, I'm looking forward to Tweeting with you." No you're not, you can't even be bothered to send me a personal DM.

I'm also sick to death of the "I got 1000 followers in one hour" Tweets and DMs. I've never asked anyone how they done that, and I don't care.

[KristineS]

Lav,

Just saw your post.

I tend to keep my accounts separate, mostly because I'm aiming for specific audiences. Personally I think it gets to confusing and the focus gets too split if you try to be all things to all people in one account. For me, targeting has worked better and I think the accounts have been more effective in accomplishing what I wanted to accomplish.

[vangogh]

lav I have just the one account. You can change what your name shows as after the fact. You'd still have the same username, but people would see you as having the new name. If you want to do that and can't find it let me know. I'm sure I can find out how again.

As far as how many accounts to have it's up to you. I use the one, which works fine for me. I suppose down the line if I have more sites of my own I might want new accounts for some of them. I think it comes down to how you want to brand yourself. Do you want to brand you, your business, or both. At the moment my business is me and so one account is enough.

[lav]

I decided to keep just the one account for now.

Im after some opinions though. My initial thought when I looked at twitter was that I would be able to tweet when I have completed a job or proof or when i was about to install a sign, generally updates of what jobs we are working on and finishing throughout the day.

I thought this would be of great benefit for my clients as they could see how their job was going. I was hoping that it would attract those that are already clients that probably would not normally follow me and give them a reason to. Of course i would still throw in a tweet here and there about an update to my own sites or business as well.

What worries me though, would this be too many tweets (keep in mind im new to twitter and wouldnt know). So say I tweeted 10 times a day is that too many? would it encourage people not to follow?

Twtter isnt such a big thing in my area yet compared to facebook, not many of my friends or clients are using twitter yet so its hard to get opinions.

[vangogh]

10 times a day is not a lot. I'd say it's fairly normal though some people will tweet many many more times. As long as both you and your clients are following each other you can send them a direct message. Then only you and them will see it.

If you're tweeting at the site just add a 'd username' in front of your tweet. You use a space unlike with the @username. You'll see direct messages referred to as DM a lot, but it's just a 'd' at Twitter. If you're using a desktop client there's probably a menu item to send directs as well.

Did you follow me on Twitter? If so and I missed it, post your username here if you want. You'll likely pick up a few quick followers.

[KristineS]

Lav,

10 Tweets is not too many. I usually Tweet several more times than that in an average day.

[eborg9]

I
I'm with you guys on the auto DM thing too. I hate that. Nothing is more artificial to me than an auto DM that says "Thanks for following, I'm looking forward to Tweeting with you." No you're not, you can't even be bothered to send me a personal DM.
.

I kind of touched on this in the other post, but for me on one of my accounts...when I have a targeted follower and not someone just looking to build followers it's a combination of either people who love the niche, or people who are in the niche.
Everyone is going to get a "I'll keep you up to date on braking news and new stuff" kind of reply, but people in the niche will get a DM usually within the hour to connect for business, press and promotions.

It actually makes it kind of simple. I haven't had anyone unfollow, and when I tweet I get responses and click throughs, so for me, it's working.

I don't think an auto hello response on Twitter is any more impersonal than using a screen name. Hardly anyone uses their real name, so if you ask me the impersonal aspect of Twtter and other Social networking sites starts right there...fake names and avatars.

If everyone used their real names, and real pictures, I could see the point of impersonalization, but since you really have no idea who you are talking to until you make an additional connection, and find if they are who they say they are, I think an initial "auto hello" is just fine.

I don't think of them as "personal networks"...social yes, personal...no. Not to everyone on your list.
You pick through and develop a relationship with those that interest you either for business, or personally.
If you have 1000 followers, I hardly think you will be having anything more than a "Twitter" relationship with more than a small percentage of them.

But it also depends on why you are on Twitter too. If you are seeking out relationships for business, maybe a little more personalization is warranted. That is not may main goal..it's to gather and disseminate information in the niche. Be thought of as a source for information. It's not the same for everybody.

Now if there is an impersonal or rude aspect of Twitter, it's people who don't follow back. That's like saying "be enthralled with me, but I don't have time to listen to you". I don't care if you are Oprah or CNN, that's just rude.