Twitter and Sales: How to Cash in on Your Own Twitter Platform

Yeah, we’re tweeting.  Day and night, night and day.  Great for marketing. Great for reaching out to current and potential customers/clients.  Great for brand building.  But can Twitter increase my sales?

You know that social media platforms (including Twitter) can be a valuable marketing tool and a wonderful outlet for connecting with current customers or potential business. The question becomes: How do I turn the Twitter conversation into a real one, complete with the potential for making a sale or closing a deal?

Facebook, as you’ve likely discovered, is not a “build it and they will come” platform.  Twitter, on the other hand, is extremely useful for seeking out a customer base, developing sales leads, finding vendors and suppliers, etc.  Scourge the Twitter platform for colleagues in your industry, those who might be interested in your products or services and individuals or businesses that would be ideal clients/customers or service providers. Begin building your online community.  By “retweeting” others’ posts, you get noticed and you build a valuable source of content for your own followers.  It’s an ideal way to network and connect with others.

The latest feature from Twitter is Twitter Ads, which were recently released to all United States users.  Now, you can advertise your business or promote specific tweets, much like you can do on Facebook.  Read more about this process here, and consider investing in Twitter ads as a part of your overall social media strategy.

There are a number of online, third party tools and sites that can help you easily manage your Twitter account, follow and unfollow other users, and build a relevant, meaningful following. One such tool is ManageFlitter, an online application that – with a few clicks of the mouse – helps users manage and navigate the Twitterverse.

The free version of ManageFlitter enables users to follow or unfollow up to 100 users a day (a helpful feature for users attempting to grow a fan base via the “follow/unfollow” method). However, the paid version of the site is well worth the investment. For as little as $12/month, users can sign up for ManageFlitter features such as “PowerPost,” which sends out scheduled tweets at the times they’re most likely to be seen by the most users possible. The paid version of ManageFlitter also includes basic analytical tools, which can be helpful when assessing the overall impact of your Twitter campaigns.

Remember that Twitter and the other social media platforms are all about the soft sell and taking your time to develop online relationships and trust.  Be patient and inform, educate and entertain people first, later you can sell them your newest concept, product line or event.

This great article via Hubspot examines some top tips in finding sales leads and prospects on the popular social site. Some great advice! View the full article here and tweet on!