Are you one of the many out there who wants to know how to meet “tweeps” and bring them home to your blog? I know there can’t be too many people out there who haven’t heard of Twitter yet, but just in case you haven’t I’ll give you a quick description of it.
Twitter is basically two things; a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send and receive messages, which are called tweets. These tweets can be no longer than 150 characters in length and will be posted on the home page of anyone who is following you. You can read them like news updates or interact with the people who are tweeting, just like you would on any other social network.
Now back to picken em up and bringin em home… Are you one of the many who thinks that Twitter is a silly time waster? If you are, you may be right because for some it is exactly that. It is easy to log on to Twitter and magically lose time, while you enjoy their tweets about their family with a link to their family webpage; tweeting about a tornado in Texas with a link to CNN; or they are tweeting about something interesting they found with a link to it. So, if you start reading tweets and going to their links and commenting … reading and going to their links…and reading…well you know what I’m saying. Quite a few hours could go by before you know it, though it may be enjoyable it is not very productive.
So, why would you even want to use Twitter? You should want to use Twitter because it is a great resource for generating followers to your Blog. Twitter is much more than a traffic generator by far, but in this post I am trying to focus only on the aspect of connecting with people through twitter and bringing them over to your blog. Just think what kind of traffic you could generate with a list of Twitter followers in the thousands. I know there are plenty of people using Twitter out there, generating more traffic and getting better responses to their add campaigns than with any other platform. Some people even claim, and I have no reason to doubt them, they make $1.00 a day for every follower they have on Twitter. It is mind boggling to think that in a matter of seconds hundreds or thousands of people could be reading what you just wrote! Now, I know the thought of this is exciting but let’s get to the process of how to use Twitter as a venue to meet people and genere traffic to your blog.
There are many ways you can generate followers on Twitter but I recommend you do a search from within Twitter for people who are talking about what you are interested in, so you can hold fun and interesting conversation with them on an ongoing basis. Twitter is, as I said, a social network and if you think of social networks the same way you think of a party or social gathering you will understand that people who go to these sites don’t want to be pitched to about your great new business opportunity, they want to laugh, hold great conversations, and have a good time. As Perry Belcher says in “3 Big Ways To Monetize Social Media,Without Pissing People off” think of Twitter as a party and if you want people to get to know you better invite them to your home. I don’t mean invite them over to your house but bring them to a place that represents who you are, your blog.
If someone is reading your tweets and they think you have a pretty good personality or like your view on a particular subject matter, they may want to get to know you better. If they want to get to know you better they will look on your home page and in your profile for a link to another site. This site should be something that represents who you are whether it’s a link to Facebook, MySpace or your blog. Now Facebook and MySpace are social networks too but you can put anything personal about yourself there that you could put in a blog. So, I’d say it’s pretty safe to say that those are decent alternatives to a blog, although a blog would be best because you can design it however you like. It’s like the difference between buying a house because it’s what’s available and building a house to your designs and taste.
Let’s look at your home (blog) and discuss what it is that your new acquaintances or friends are going to see. Well if you build your blog to the same standards as you would build and design your home, how would people feel when they go in your blog/home? Hopefully, they will feel comfortable and enjoy what you have to offer them. If they look around they should see that you have a passion for tortoises or fine art by the way that you decorated your blog/home, and if they want to know more about the tortoise you have on your mantle they don’t expect to have to pay to find out. I also, wouldn’t imagine you would stop right there and pull out your catalog and try to sell them one, meanwhile you get a commission off of the sale. That is pretty funny when you think about it. What I am trying to say is that you should bring people to your blog and your blog should represent you, your values, be interesting, entertaining and don’t try to sell them something as soon as they enter.
So, you now have your new friends at your home they like it, they like you and everything is hunky dory. Do you break out the white board now and try to explain your compensation plan? Ah…. No! Normally, at some point during your little get together the people who are new to your home will usually ask you what you do for a living. You tell them what you do and if they are interested they’ll ask you to tell them more. This is the same as having a link on your blog to an offer of some kind. You are not throwing it at them or shoving it down their throat, it’s discrete and non-intrusive. If they want to know more about it they can take their own initiative to do so.
This, I believe, is the best use of Twitter to grow your business or followership to your blog. You can be productive and have a great time while growing your business. It’s not to say that this is exactly easy, it does take some time. But if you take a couple hours a day or even just 30 minutes every day finding new people to follow and interacting with current followers, you will see your list grow and grow and grow.
I will write about Twitter again in the near future. There is much to talk about when it comes to Twitter…
