Are you getting lost in the sea of Tweets? It’s easy to do. Heralded as one of the most powerful marketing tools of the new era, Twitter is full of promotional posts and constant chatter.
When you make a post, it doesn’t stay in view very long. In fact, if your friends and followers haven’t seen it in the first few minutes because they were doing something else, chances are they will never see it. That’s why it is so important to Tweet regularly, and repost your promotions throughout the day. Along with imprinting through constant reminders, you’ll connect with those who missed previous posts. Learn how to make the most of your social media interactions and do it right.
Commercial Internet
Complain about it all you want, commercials work. They have worked on TV from time eternal, and they work online. That’s the big power behind Twitter. It’s like a constant stream of commercials.
In its early days, Twitter was a chatroom full of one-liners. It was mostly communicating thoughts, ideas, and just banal random actions and thoughts during people’s daily lives. Today it is more like the Shopping Channel in micro-blurbs. Commercial Internet in its very most condensed form.
There’s nothing really wrong with that, and actually it is a big bonus for anyone looking to spread the word about their writing or other marketing products. Why? Because commercials WORK. They are annoying, they are often complained about — but they WORK. If they didn’t advertisers wouldn’t be paying millions of dollars per second for commercial TV spots.
When it Works and When it Doesn’t
Even though commercials are a fantastic way to brand yourself and sell a product, they can fail, especially in the fast-paced world of online marketing and Tweeting. Would you watch a television channel that was absolutely NOTHING but commercials? Well, okay, some people do i.e.: the Shopping Channel; most of the time though, to get commercials to work you have to provide valuable content that tunes viewers in.
Imprinting
It takes at least a dozen imprints before a consumer recognizes a brand. That’s fairly old advertising wisdom, and in the new market online, it’s a little outdated. It can take hundreds of visual reminders before a consumer makes a move and clicks. You have to get your name/product/book/post in front of faces hundreds of times before it works. You want people to think about you when they are looking for what you have to offer.
Regular posting is imperative to a good Twitter campaign (same is true for Facebook, blogging and any other strategy). That makes tools like TweetDeck, HootSuite or any of the other Tweet posting tools great values. You can strategically schedule regular posts so that they show up even when you are doing other things like writing, shopping, cleaning house or running errands.
Is Your World Big Enough?
To reach people you have to have them looking at you. You need followers. Find others with similar interest and follow them. Most of the time they’ll follow you back. Don’t be too picky, but do look for Tweeters that actually communicate with followers and also occasionally re-tweet. If their wall is full of their own marketing tweets and nothing else, you probably won’t get any value from them at all.
There is one exception to that rule. The big bloggers or people with very interesting tweets give you information and value from re-Tweeting them to provide great content for your stream.
The Wall of Shame
Are you desireable? If your profile page is nothing but a solid stream of links to your own work with no communication or cross-posting (reTweeting) no one will want to follow you, Tweet your links to their list, or communicate with you. Make sure you have a lot of useful Tweets in-between your own marketing posts. Again, a great reason to use a tool that lets you schedule your marketing Tweets, and keep track of your own Tweets so you can visually see how they are appearing in the layout.
Using Tweet Tools
TweetDeck and HootSuite both have the ability to show multiple columns on your screen. The main column is the regular feed stream. You can modify the columns to add ones that show you the list of your scheduled Tweets, and many others.
Set up a Column to show your own tweets. Nobody else can see this, but it’s a great way to see what you’re posting in real time to make sure you have enough communication between the commercials.
You Are Not Alone
Retweet on Twitter, share on Facebook and comment, comment, comment on other poster’s remarks. You are not alone in the world, and being an island is not conductive to good fellowship. There are very important benefits to you when you share other people’s work and make comments on their tweets, or even Facebook messages–you connect with them, and if they respond, you are reaching their lists along with your own.
Use Hashtags
These are a great way to reach target audiences beyond your actual list. Pay attention to what tags are available already, or start your own. Add these hashtags into your posts when they are relevant by typing #hashtag (replace the word hashtag with whatever tag is appropriate). Some popular hashtags for writers include: #Amazon, #amreading, #Kindle, #Smashwords, #Kindlereaders, #blog, #blogreaders. Remember do not put a space inbetween words when you hashtag or it will be broken off and you won’t reach the group you are aming for. For instance, if you type #Kindle Readers, you will reach the #Kindle group, but not the KindleReaders group. Established hashtags will have a waiting audience for you, however, where your new hashtag may take time to catch on.
There’s a lot to learn with online marketing, and it is an ever-changing world. It’s fun and exciting, and sometimes frustrating–but it works, so get going and use this valuable tool to its best advantage.
If you found this post helpful, please comment and share it. I appreciate your presence and would love to hear from you. (Spammers need not bother. I DO watch.)
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