| 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. 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 IM 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 this post I want to share a couple of more things with you. 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 simple changes 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 course there is always more to learn and you will want to continue education as you go along and as Twitter changes and grow I'm sure more great thing will come. |
