Posts Tagged ‘internet marketing’

Her is the final part in the Twitter For Internet Marketers series. The time has just flown by!  I hope you have been practicing all of your new Twitter skills.

By now you should have a basic plan and schedule for your Twitter marketing campaign. Have you tacked your checklist from our last lesson somewhere close to your computer yet?

In this last installment, we are going to talk about some of the common mistakes that Twitter users make, so you can avoid making them.

Over the last few days we’ve talked about what an exciting, cool, and extremely profitable social network site Twitter is. The fact is millions of people are using it to connect with each other all over the world, but as an Internet marketer there are some common mistakes that you will want to avoid making even before you start sending tweets.

Mistake number one:

The picture as your avatar in your profile is not yours.

I’m sure you’ve seen it. Some users don’t post their real picture. They use cartoon pictures, company logos, or their pet’s pictures. Although the pictures are quite cute and may grab some attention, most Twitter users will appreciate seeing a real picture of you, especially if you are trying to connect on a business level.

When you post your own picture it lets others know that you are real and that you’re confident enough with what you do to let others see you. You want people to recognize you as a leader in your market and having a face to go with a name always helps. Branding yourself in all of your marketing effortsis always a good idea.

Depending on your niche you will want to choose a photo that represents business, For instance if you are have a children’s online book store you will want to choose a picture that shows your fun side. On the other have if you are selling product to professionals you will want a photo that looks conservative and business-like. A nice smile never hurts either.

Mistake number two:

Automatically sending the wrong type direct message through an AutoDM.

In lesson two we talk about using the tool Future Tweets that automatically sends messages to people who follow you. What we didn’t talk about was sending the wrong type of message with this tool and how it can lose you followers.

Direct messages can be seen as impersonal and pushy when they aren’t written properly. If you decide to use a tool that automatically send messages to your new followers keep it simple and friendly. A message saying ‘thanks for following me’ is fine, but sending automated messages promoting your business or product is not a good idea and most instances people will click the unfollow button right away.

Mistake number three:

Trying to build a huge following before you have done some tweeting.

People will not be interested in following you when they click on your Twitter page to see what you’ve got, and notice you don’t have much. You need to have tweeted more than, “Trying to figure this Twitter out” and “I think I’ve got it figured out now.”

If you don’t know what to say, try “retweeting” (RT) some other peoples’ tweets that that are related to your niche. Read what other people are tweeting about and reply to them, this will help start up a conversation.  Talk about market related news, what you’re doing on your business right now. That will give you several tweets to get the ball rolling.

Mistake number four:

Tweeting promotion after promotion.

Yes,  you are using Twitter to promote your business, but posting one offer after another will only cause people to ‘unfollow’ you. When people look at your timeline and notice that you aren’t posting anything of value to them they will quickly move on.

There are millions of Twitters to follow, why should they follow you when you’re only tweeting about promotions? Remember this basic rule of sales “people want to know what’s in it for me”? Twitter is a social network and you have to keep that in mind before you post a tweet.

When you are using Twitter for your Internet Marketing business, you must learn how to communicate and build good relationships with your followers before you start sending them with promotions.

Even if you already have a good list of leads, it is still not a good idea to barrage them with promotions. As we have talked about before, promotional tweets should be sent only in limited numbers.

These are just a few of the more common mistakes committed by new and old tweeters alike. Take note of them and don’t make the same mistakes.

Before we close, I want to share a couple of more things with you that we didn’t have a chance to go over in the last
few posts.

The first thing is using the Twitter search feature. It is a very effective tool that allows you to check on yourself and your business. You will be surprised to find out how much chatter takes place on Twitter.

By using the search tool you can quickly find out what others are saying about you and your business and learn from them. If you find out any criticisms, think about them carefully. You can also make some adjustments to your business if there is a need to so that you ensure profitability.

The next thing is your Twitter background. The background on Twitter page tells a lot about your personality. If you plan to use Twitter for Internet marketing you will want to make the background look more professional. You can do this by using the basic customization tools that Twitter supplies to make some simplechanges to the color scheme of your page.

For even more impact you may want to consider a custom designed background. There are many editing programs that you can use to create your own graphics if you want to and if you do a quick search you will also find a variety of pre-made Twitter background available. If you really want to go all out you can hire a designer to create one for you.

Capitalizing on Twitter’s popularity can be very rewarding and profitable for your IM business, but only if you know what you’re doing. While I tried to cover the basics during this short series there is always more to learn and you will want to continue education as you go along and as Twitter changes and grows, I’m sure more great thing will come. Hey, if a cat can get over 1.5 million followers, couldn’t you do it, too?

Just remember the basic rules, keep your checklist handy and you will be sure to see results from your efforts.

Good luck with your twitter marketing campaign, and follow me!

In this first part let’s talk a little about how you can start building
a large network of friends, clients, associates, and customers
using the social networking website Twitter.

Many new users of Twitter are constantly asking how they can use
the site more effectively for their business and since the site has
grown into an Internet mega monster that is globally known and
talked about, they are right to ask. The fact is Twitter is a fantastic
tool for your Internet Marketing business.

Internet relationships are very different from actual personal
relationships. They are based primarily on like, know, and trust.
Many people are reaching out to others through social network
websites like Twitter, Facebook and many others.

If you are new to Twitter you may not realize that you can create
your personal or business brand and virtually dominate your
market, simply by building a list of followers.

Let’s talk about some of the ways you can you achieve this.

Once you’ve set up your Twitter account you will want to work on
your profile. This way you can quickly customize the look and feel
of your page. You will want to pay close attention to your one line
bio. Because this is what people will read before they decide
whether or not they want to follow you. You will only have 140
characters to describe who you are and what you do, so you have
to make it good!

The next thing you will want to do is get ‘followers’. If you have
business contacts that are already using Twitter, invite them to
follow you. Put link’s in your emails, on your websites and blogs
asking people to follow you. You could even put your Twitter url on
your business card, so that you can gather followers offline as well.

Don’t be shy! Tell everyone you meet about your Twitter page. Make
it sound exciting and let them know that you will be sharing
important updates, great tips and information with them if they
follow you. You may be surprised to find out that almost everyone
will click the follow button just to see what you’re up too!

Another thing that I feel that is important, especially for Internet
marketers, is to seek out and follow the ‘gurus’ and the power
users of Twitter. This will benefit you in more than one way. It will
give you a bird’s eye view of what they’re doing on Twitter, so you
can learn how to improve your own results and it will also put you
in front of all the people they are in contact with.

Curiosity, you can’t fight it, so you may as well take advantage of
it. People are curious by nature! They like to see who is following
who, so often they will click on the links and check out the followers
of people they know and follow them as well and by following the
leaders, so to speak you may naturally end up with new followers
as well. Just try and keep your target market in mind when you
choose ‘gurus’ to follow.

Now let’s talk about meeting even more people and making
hundreds of new friends by using ‘retweet’s’.

With this method, you take the original twitter message someone
else has posted, and rebroadcast that same message to your
followers. When broadcasting the message, you should definitely
give credit to the original poster.  I know at first it may sound like
this will only be good for the original tweeter, but retweeting can
actually benefit you just as much if not more because;

1.  It provides more value to your followers.

When you provide value to your followers, you make them happy!
You are also more likely to attract followers. Providing quality
content is always a great way to build your business no matter
what platform you use.

2. It will benefit your brand.

If you point a reader to a source if good information that is truly
relevant and beneficial to them, the amount of trust that they have
in you will increase.

3. It will help you build relationships with the original posters.

Retweeting someone else’s content is an act of kindness, and for
the most part bloggers like to return the favor. You shouldn’t expect
someone to retweet your content just because you retweet theirs.
Just keep in mind that your chance of being on the other end of a
retweet increases as you retweet.

Retweeting is all about providing value to your followers so if you
want others to retweet your post then you want to make sure that
you are providing them with quality content worth tweeting about.

The bottom line is retweeting is a great way to add quality and
value to your Twitter page. If done right, retweeting can help you
educate your followers, build your personal brand, increase future
traffic, and connect you to other great people in your niche.

Just be careful if you use it incorrectly, retweeting can actually hurt
your personal brand and future traffic. You want to treat your
followers like gold. Don’t ever send them to inappropriate
websites or spam them with one sales pitch after another.

Remember you want them to like what you have to say, so they will
follow your lead. Then when you do recommend something to
them you will get the results you are looking for every time!

That’s it for part 1. Now go to Twitter and start building
your followers by providing them with great content that they will
love you for! And check back here for part 2, tomorrow.

The old school of marketing teaches you to put up your best front when trying to sell something. While this is true, your best dress is not always what sells. You need to over-deliver on the product your selling. Give your customer more than what they expected and they’ll be more likely to buy from you again in the future. But how you brand yourself in your marketing materials can make a difference, too.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t get into internet marketing to have to wear a suit and tie… Put on my Sunday best. I like the idea of not having to shave when I get up… Dressing like a slob while I’m working… Working at whatever time of the day or night that I feel like… etc. If I wanted to dress up for work, then I would have a JOB!

Someone who is portraying themselves as an internet guru by wearing a suit and tie just doesn’t have a clue as to why most people get into this business. If they have no idea as to why I am an internet marketer, then how the hell are they going to teach me anything about the business… They don’t have the first clue! They’re just trying to sell you (and me) more junk that they copied from someone else and have never even tried on their own!

Branding yourself is very important in this business. People like to know who they are dealing with. Why else do you think my picture is on the front page of this site… besides me being one handsome SOB… and most of my other marketing materials??? Because I want people to know who I am!

You need to find a picture of yourself and incorporate it into your advertising as much as possible. Use the name you wish to be known by as often as possible, too. Pictures of your pet or an avatar won’t do much to instill confidence in your buyers. They want to know they are dealing with a real person!

I was known as Hammer the Almighty on the net, so I branded my marketing efforts around that name. But I haven’t stopped there. I’ve been incorporating my real name as often as possible to brand it with my marketing company. I want people who see “Hammer the Almighty” to think “Gary Calvert” and vice versa.

This has worked out well for me. The people who knew me from social sites now link Hammer with Gary and other marketers link Gary with Hammer.

The best advice that I think I can give here is to just be yourself. Be real! More people will relate to a real person than one who is so full of BS that he can’t see through it. Look at the most successful marketers out there… Frank Kern, Mike Filsaime, Joel Comm, Yanik Silver,… etc; Do they dress in suits and ties in their marketing pics? NO! Why? Because they are projecting their own image… Not the image they think will make them look more successful.

Truth be told, many people are intimidated by successful people. The average Joe (or Jane) is able to relate to other average people much easier than someone who is trying to impress them with their dress for success attitude.

So, get your name and image out there. Let your light shine! Be real and you will find that many more real people will follow you and listen to what you have to say and buy what you have to sell… But remember to over-deliver, too.