Promoting Your Business or Product With Twitter

So, why do people follow you on Twitter? People usually follow others on Twitter because they find the person or business interesting. Maybe they want to keep up on all the things that you're doing. Maybe they want to be the first to know about any new products or updates to existing products that you provide. They want and expect to learn more about you or your business. So how do we use that power to promote our business or product?

Now, some will say that Twitter is not for marketing your business or products. They may unfollow you because they feel you're trying to sell them something, and not contributing to what they are looking for. The thing to remember here is that you will never be able to please everyone. This is true in all aspects of life and business. If you are producing quality, useful products or services that will improve people's lives or business there's no reason to not tell your Twitter followers about it. After all, they are following you because they want to know about these things.

The main thing to remember when using Twitter to promote your products and services is that people hate to be sold. A good way to lose your following and degrade your brand overall is to try to hard sell people with Twitter.

So how do we reach the middle ground? After all, we are business people and we are looking to increase our market and ultimately our sales. The key is to remember that Twitter is a social tool. When you tweet, think of how you would take the tweet in a normal conversation. If you were at an event and the topic of what you do for a living comes up, and they ask what you do for a living. Would you say:

"I sell TV's, and you know I have the perfect TV for you! The TV has the latest technology and is beautiful in any room. I sell more TV's than anyone in the area, so I know I can get you a great deal! When would you like to purchase?"

First reaction from most people would be to either walk away from you, act like they have a phone call, or just politely decline.

Instead of that, you could say:

"I sell TV's. If you ever need a good TV for a good price, let me know."

In both cases you have made an offer and you promoted your product. However, our second example more than likely will lead to the conversation continuing normally, allowing you to build a relationship with a potential customer.

The social aspect of Twitter is pretty much the same as any other social environment. If you have a new product coming out soon, tell people about it. Don't hard sell it. Tell them what is great about it. Tell them the features and how it will help fill the needs that they are looking to fill. Build the product up through multiple tweets. Some of the big product launches from the biggest names in the world use Twitter for weeks before the product launches as way to increase market buzz. People love to be in the know of things that are new and upcoming. Giving them a little bit at a time and keeping them interested will increase your success.

From a sales perspective, you are not going to be making a sale in a 140 character message are you? The message in your tweet is going to drive your prospects to the next step. If you are using a sales page that does all the hard work with the aggressive sales techniques, by all means send people to it and let it do its job. Use your tweets to peak people's interest to get them to want to see what you're pointing to.

So, when writing a tweet, try to make sure that it doesn't read like a headline. Try to look at it from a general point of view. If someone was to retweet your tweet, would they feel that they are spamming a product? Or would they feel like they are sharing something valuable? Don't put to much hype or unbelievable claims in your tweets either. It's an instant turn off for people and they will not likely click through to your next step, let alone share it with others. Also make sure that when writing tweets, that people won't feel tricked once they see what you have linked to.

Promoting your products and services through Twitter correctly will not only increase your product/company brand positively, it will increase your sales as more people spread the word about your products and services.