Does communicating with 140 characters create intimacy for you and your brand? Grow your biz?
I love to give my friends their "intro to twitter" moment. So I'll share this case study with you. A friend has been trying to get his book published for two years - and he emailed me to let me know that he had submitted the book to a new site owned by Harpers that allows you to submit unpublished manuscripts. Visitors to the site read the "books" and vote - and after a week or two, there he was #1 on the site with his manuscript. He was so excited.
So I suggested to him that it was time for him to start using twitter. Within an hour, he had set up a profile for himself and also a profile under the name for his book. I then suggested that he search twitter and start following all the editors and publishers and literary agents he could find and updating his tweets about the ranking of the book, etc. I continued to coach him on how to use twitter (and the automatic updates to facebook) to educate and excite people about his book.
That was two weeks ago. As of today, he now has two top agents looking at the book, has been added to all of the top editors and others that he has reached out to, had two important literary bloggers write about his journey of converting what was a script (and not a very good one) to this book. He updates me (via email) almost everyday with news about people talking about his brand.
What's so compelling about this story - and I'm sure that you have your own to share - is that the message that you bring to your facebook and tweets needs to tell a story. To be a reflection of you and your brand. To get people excited - and wanting to hear more.
I'd love to hear about personal experiences with what has worked - and not - when it comes to these important tools on the web. Some questions that I'd like to know answers to:
1. are people following your links to read your blog or other message if you include a tiny url in your post
2. are you garnering the type of audience that you hoped to attract
3. are you successful with converting these messages to revenue? or just growing followers
4. what does having a large number of followers actually do for you and your business
Thanks -
Julie
So I suggested to him that it was time for him to start using twitter. Within an hour, he had set up a profile for himself and also a profile under the name for his book. I then suggested that he search twitter and start following all the editors and publishers and literary agents he could find and updating his tweets about the ranking of the book, etc. I continued to coach him on how to use twitter (and the automatic updates to facebook) to educate and excite people about his book.
That was two weeks ago. As of today, he now has two top agents looking at the book, has been added to all of the top editors and others that he has reached out to, had two important literary bloggers write about his journey of converting what was a script (and not a very good one) to this book. He updates me (via email) almost everyday with news about people talking about his brand.
What's so compelling about this story - and I'm sure that you have your own to share - is that the message that you bring to your facebook and tweets needs to tell a story. To be a reflection of you and your brand. To get people excited - and wanting to hear more.
I'd love to hear about personal experiences with what has worked - and not - when it comes to these important tools on the web. Some questions that I'd like to know answers to:
1. are people following your links to read your blog or other message if you include a tiny url in your post
2. are you garnering the type of audience that you hoped to attract
3. are you successful with converting these messages to revenue? or just growing followers
4. what does having a large number of followers actually do for you and your business
Thanks -
Julie
Tags: brand, facebook, marketing, tweets, twitter
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Heim on -
Excellent post, great case study and terrific questions. Now, if we could just get some of the other 40 some members of this group to chime in.....
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Permalink Reply by Teusner Wines on -
We've only been on twitter for just over a month and at this stage have around 1400 followers. We are getting good website traffic after posting links via twitter but the main benefit is just interacting with the people who try our wines. Our O.S. distributors are also on twitter as are many retailers who stock our range so contact with them and organising and promoting the tasting they hold is invaluable. While direct sales via our website haven't moved much we have picked up around a dozen new accounts (etailers, retail, restaurant) in the U.K. and U.S. via the medium.
Followers - I'm more interested in quality than quantity as far as followers are concerned. Sure there will be tyre kickers and the odd spammer but the majority have a genuine interest in wine and I clean out the follower at the end of each week via Tweetlater.
Twitter can be time consuming so I'll sit down with the winery crew in the morning, work out whats coming up during the day, look at any wines or reviews I'd like to quote etc then type them up and schedule the posts(via Tweetlater) at regular intervals during the day so I'm not dumping all the info at once...I can then check in via my Blackberry during the day and answer any DM's and @replies.
We've had interst in holding twitter tastings at events and retailers also which we will look at doing in the near future. -
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Permalink Reply by John Heim on
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I'd be interested to hear about a "Twitter Tasting" if anyone in the group has done one or is planning to do one. Also, has anyone used Twitter to announce small releases or other special (scarce supply) events?. i.e. "new release.....limited availability....reserve by @replies". If so, please share your story with the group.
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Permalink Reply by Dan Payne on -
Julie,
I'm using Twitter to follow people important to segments of my business, following trends, see who & what they are talking about and doing. -
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Permalink Reply by kent higginbotham on -
Hi Julie,
Ditto from John on the way you presented this string! I have just started using twitter and I don't know how it is going to translate into revenue yet, but I am confident by laying a good foundation and not over exposing our brand, that we can convert our good relationships/personal relationships into consistent sales and brand loyalty. Having your brand visible and personable yet non-invasive will eventually pay off on our time investment in this media. Get to know em before ya sell em is the philosophy I am going to use for now. I look forward to reading more replies to this string. -
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Permalink Reply by Darby Higgs on
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Like most new technologies and services Twitter gets oversold by enthusiasts. You can quickly develop a profile and a gain some followers, but in my experience you need to have some substance behind the buzz,or in this case twits.
Don't be fooled that you can suddenly make sales on the internet because using Twitter is so easy. The success stories are all about people who have an infrastructure like a solid business or a content based website already in place.
My feeling is that twitter is best for building relationships and finding business partners rather than going for the quick sell. -
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Permalink Reply by Barbara T. on -
Darby,
I agree with you about twitter being more for building relationships. Over time that relationship can build to something wonderful. Which may or may not include sells.
Right now what I see with Twitter, is people following each other. Sending out twits, then nobody interacts with the twit.
Since I've just started my twits provide wine information or a video or comment about our wines or the winery. There is no hard selling. I've sent out RT's, with the original twitter not responding back for a thank to the RT.
All I see now Twitter is people twittering away, with no real bonding or building a relationship. Just look at me.
I'd be interested in knowing how others are building relationships, if at all. -
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