13 June 2009

Twitter is Changing: How You Can Benefit

You may have noticed that Twitter is changing. I certainly have. Eight months ago when I became really active on Twitter a large portion of the tweets were valuable in terms of content. There were great quotes, business tips, sharing of thoughts and in between, some links for useful systems, trainings and products. The tweeple on Twitter spent the majority of time with a focus on connection, relationship building and communicating worthwhile information. Through this many high quality business relationships were formed. Links to blogs, articles, etc...were often viewed because they were being tweeted by people who we saw and heard from every day...people sharing valuable information in the majority of their tweets.

Fast forward to now. Twitter has been "discovered", in case you hadn't noticed. And with the discovery it is now most common to see tweet after tweet pitching and selling products, services and opportunities. You have to consciously search for a few pages to find a good quote or a great piece of business advice. In addition, the newer people on Twitter seem (in my perspective of following almost 5000 people) to have missed learning about Twitter Manners.

Good Twitter Manners include: thanking every single person who retweets one of your tweets; Writing DM's to new followers that DO NOT include a link to you lead capture page; Making sure that the majority of your tweets are NOT sales pitches but instead offer useful thoughts and ideas in 140 characters. This is just a started list, but you get the point. Be polite. Act as if Twitter were a room full of people who you were just getting to know, some of whom might become good friends or business partners over time.

So how can you benefit from the changes in Twitter. You now have even more of an opportunity to stand out from the crowd. If 90% of the tweeple are pitching and linking with every tweet, be part of the 10% that is sharing great ideas with high enthusiasm. Be the person on Twitter who is dynamic, personable and caring by writing tweets that communicatethis and that people find not only interesting but compelling to read. When you include links in your tweets, link to an awesome article or a blog post that will improve someone's knowledge in an area that you are involved. Also, be not only a conversation starter, but a conversation continuer. Look at who is tweeting when you arrive on Twitter and see if you can't add benefit to the conversation. Offer answers to questions or links to a solution you've read about. Share your own experiences if you think it will help someone else. When you get involved in a Twitter conversation, keep it going. Switch to DM's to exchange emails and make a stronger connection. Set up a phone call if it appears you've met a kindred spirit.

Can you do this and still use Twitter to send people to your affiliate product page, or your sales or capture page? The answer is yes, as long as those tweets are only 30% or less of what you tweet about. The beauty of this is that people are more likely to read those kinds of tweets from you, if they have gotten in the habit of reading your tweets whenever they seem them, because your tweets are always witty, thought provoking and informative.

This is how Twitter has helped create a large amount of business for many people over the time it has been in existence. It is not about pitching and selling. Nor is it about how many followers you can collect in a given time period. It is about quality and true connection. By being a good Tweeple you will find that Twitter will be a wonderful tool, connnecting you to leaders, friends, partners and business associates all over the world

1 comment:

MN said...

GREAT blog post. Thanks for the reminder on how to use Twitter the right way. :)

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