Twitter Following... Part Four...

My Final Step - Twitter Efficiency

My day can be very busy at times, so I am always looking for ways to simplify my Etsy promotion using Twitter. Twitterfeed is a site that allows you to set up automatic tweets whenever you post a new blog post, list a new Etsy item etc. Twitterfeed does a lot of the work for me! Just a couple of things to keep in mind using automated tools like this:

• - Think about the settings you use. TwitterFeed allows you to set the frequency and the number of automatic tweets to be sent out. For example, if you list 10 etsy items at once, do you really want to send out 10 shop link tweets in a row? 
• - Don’t just auto post, ‘live’ chat is good as well as using this service.
• - You can set a tweet prefix in twitterfeed. I used to have ‘Just listed’ for my new etsy listings, but when I thought about it more carefully, I realized that many of my Twitter followers would not be familiar with Etsy and might not know what that meant! I have now changed it to ‘My latest design”.

Additional Tips:
You can easily manage your twitter accounts and facebook etc all from one place by using HootSuite. This is another way I find targeted followers- you can add a column that will show tweets from people containing keywords that you've set.

Happy Tweeting!

 



Twitter Following...Part Two...

My Second Step- Clever Following

As well as building up a good number of followers, it really is critical to make sure you seek out the right kind of audience for your products. If all of your followers are fellow sellers, it’s unlikely that your twitter activity is going to translate into sales very often (unless you’re a supply seller etc), or it might mean that you have to put in a huge amount of effort to get any results because your approach is not the best possible.

This part requires thinking outside the box a bit and working out your target market. Once you have some ideas about who your target market is, there are two main strategies I’d recommend for finding people to follow (in the hope that they will follow you back).

Following Followers- find people based on the publications, companies etc that they follow. For example, if you sell jewelry, you could find a fashion magazine on twitter and follow their followers- perfect target market just waiting for you! You can do this easily by using the ‘geeky follow’ feature on tweepi (or directly on twitter).

Search Using Keywords- you can use the advanced search function on twitter to find appropriate people to follow by using keywords they might tweet about, keywords in their profile, and based on location. So you could search for people in your city, people tweeting about a craft show or market that might mean they’re interested in handmade etc etc. Maybe try people who tweet about shopping and see if you can grab some shopaholics ;)

(Note- it can be good to have some fellow sellers to chat to on twitter to help you get the conversation moving and help you with retweets etc, I just wouldn’t recommend seeking out other etsians as your only strategy)

Click HERE to Follow me on Twitter.

Working on my twitter following...

Did you know that Twitter can be an incredible promotional tool for your etsy shop when used correctly?  It takes a while to get established in twitter land but it can potentially become a huge source of traffic and allow you to reach a targeted audience. It’s a powerful tool not available to such an extent with other forms of advertising and promotion.

My First Step- Build Up Twitter Following
The first challenge most people face with twitter is not knowing how to build up their follower base.

A basic strategy you can use to build up your follower numbers is : Follow, Reciprocate and Flush (defined below). I use Tweepi.com to manage most of this easily all from the one place (it will save you a lot of time! I love Tweepi!).

Follow- If you search for and follow a lot of other people on twitter, many will follow you back, thus growing your follower number.

Reciprocate- Some people will find you on their own and follow you- keep your followers by following them back.

Flush- To really build your follower numbers, you can follow as many people as you are able to (up to your limit) then wait for a period before ‘flushing’ (unfollowing) the users who did not follow you back. This allows you to then repeat the process and start finding more people to follow.


Additional Info & Tips:
You can keep an eye on changes in your follower number by using a twitter stats site such as TwitterCounter (although I’m not sure if it’s always accurate).

 

Click Here to Follow Me on Twitter

Hot or Not?

I’m learning that just because I think my product is great doesn’t mean others will. Some of my favorite jewelry designs which I assumed would sell ‘instantly’ didn’t sell at all. I found it very helpful to look up Etsy shops selling similar products and see how they are selling. It was a good exercise in price and product comparison. Taking a look at what we have in common and what is different or unique to each shop. I have sold quite a few items, but it is taking some time for people to “find me”. I’m starting a new marketing approach by: 

•  Handing out business cards
• Making fliers and posting them wherever I can
• Networking on Facebook and Twitter
• Listing or relisting at least one product each day
• Giving my jewelry as gifts and donations, with my business card
• Posting more often about my store/designs on this blog

Etsy is a great place for selling your handmade products and it is a wonderful way to make money from home doing something you enjoy.

Tweet you later!

I’ve been “tweeting” for about two weeks. I have made several new contacts and I’ve also seen some amazing artist’s work. I’m getting hooked on this micro messaging!

Think of Twitter as a means to get instant public messages out to your audience, whether it is an audience of friends or potential customers. Twitter is becoming an increasingly important platform for online communication and, yes, conversation. TechCrunch reported that Twitter has more than 1 million users and approximately 3 million messages are posted daily. WOW!

Was I mentioned in any of the 3 million?? What about my Etsy shop? This might be a good time to find out. Twitter provides a search engine that allows you plug-in company names, brand names, topics and even personal names. What is my buzz level? Are there any negative comments out there? If I were you I'd use the search engine to check on a regular basis. I’m checking now….

Tweet you later!

One Tweet at a Time!

Do you know what Twitter is? It’s a social media platform that lets users blast short messages, or ”tweets” to friends and fellow artists from the Twitter website. But it’s not just for staying in touch with friends. It’s also a great way to publicize your Etsy shop. You post a note for your followers in 140 characters or less. Yikes! For a chatty writer like me, this can be a little challenging. The most surprising thing about Twitter is just how much fun reading and writing 140 character posts can be! There are few marketing tools that deliver a powerful punch and are such fun to use.

I’ve been reading a great book for reference while setting up my Twitter profile: “twitter power” by Joel Comm. Following his approach to Twitter marketing has been easy and very helpful since I’m somewhat technically challenged when it comes to building a web presence. I recommend this book to all newbies on twitter.