Filter your Twitter traffic to other places.
Twitter is an indispensible addition to your “marketing funnel.” Do they even call it a “funnel” anymore? It is more like a “web.” You can use Twitter to drive traffic to other resources that you use for marketing such as a blog page or website updates. It’s a good way to get others moving to different resources that you have available that they might not know about. Your goal is to create a web environment where people can bounce from one resource to another, getting to know you and trust that you actually know what you are talking about. People want to do business with people, and Twitter is a good place to demonstrate that you are a real person.
The exchange of information through Twitter goes both ways.
You can share information with your followers, but you are also getting a constant stream of information from them. You can get the answer to a question from them, or answer their questions. You can have a dialogue and other people can join in. You can participate in a group chat. With hashtags, you can be part of “breaking news” – or tweet about an event you are attending. The list is endless!
Shameless Self Promotion is Frowned Upon
But one thing you should know is that you should not only tweet about yourself, or share only
links. Sharing only links is interpreted by some as spammy, especially if they are always your own links! Change it up – offer links AND dialogue. Offer things about yourself from your own websites, but also offer links about topics of interest to your readers from other sources. Ask people about themselves and they will want to know more about you. Here is an example of a recent series of tweets that I did that are all different. One of them directs followers to a link on a website showcasing our networking group, one is a personal greeting, one is a retweet, and one is a comment on someone else’s tweet.
What should be the ratio of business to personal tweets? The opinions vary widely. I have seen 1:10, 25% business to 75% personal, or half and half – depending, of course, on the nature of your business and what you hope to accomplish on Twitter.
Loading tweets...
45 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
Chris Lewis (@Wireless_Geek)
January 18, 2012 at 12:27 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Excellent insights! Thanks for sharing!
Max M.
January 18, 2012 at 7:41 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’ve been utilizing Twitter more and more recently. It’s been proving to be incredibly beneficial to directing traffic to my blog!
Max M. recently posted..Entourage
Mitch Devine
January 18, 2012 at 8:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hi Susan,
Thanks for the reminder about shameless self promotion! It’s certainly easy to lapse into. Scott Stratten (of @UnMarketing fame) claims that 80% of his tweets are conversations or replies. TweetStats.com is a useful site that can give you actual statistics, including the topics that you tweet about most often.
Mitch Devine recently posted..The Day the Internet Went Dark
Jon Upton
January 21, 2012 at 2:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
A good insight into getting the very best from twitter – thank you
Sharon
January 21, 2012 at 2:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You’re totally right. I can’t stand just tweeted links or pimping ones self. I just…unfollow.
thanks for the tips.
Sharon from EA
Sharon recently posted..“I Spy With My Little Eye…”
Erik van Erne
January 21, 2012 at 2:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hello Susan.
Thanks for sharing and remind me to do more on shameless self-promotion.
Erik van Erne recently posted..Martin Luther King’s Last Speech: "I Have Been To The Mountaintop"
Grace Alexander of Brilliance On Demand
January 21, 2012 at 2:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
The idea of ‘bouncing’ from platform to platform within your circle of content is spot on. Thanks!
Candace Mountain (@candacemountain)
January 21, 2012 at 2:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You did a great job and correctly stressed the importance of not making twitter all about self-promotion.
mgilstrap
January 21, 2012 at 2:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I like your page and how you have set it up, like how buffer is added, makes it easy to add to mine and to share with my followers
Kim Lavigne
January 21, 2012 at 2:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I agree Susan! These are great twitter tips! It should be used for networking…it’s a social network site ! Be social!!
Kim
Kim Lavigne recently posted..Hootsuite
Nicolas Liu
January 21, 2012 at 2:28 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I like the insight, especially about the percentage between personal and businesses.
Nicolas Liu recently posted..No. 1: Hawaii – Janet Novack – Forbes
Jan Kaptein
January 21, 2012 at 2:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Great tips for my use of Twitter better!
I should be using it much more for direct networking and reply messaging.
Thanks for sharing!
William Stewart (@Billy_Stewart)
January 21, 2012 at 2:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Really useful insights susan and you are so right. like everything its good to diversify your content
http://xeeme.com/WilliamStewart
Derrik Jacobson
January 21, 2012 at 2:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
On the flip side, Twitter does require quite a bit of volume to be seen… as well as a large following in order for the lifetime of a particular Tweet to last more than 30 seconds or so.
Have you found a significant amount of internet traffic coming directly from any of your Twitter assets? How do you think it compares to the other big players like Facebook and Google+ in your experience?
Michael
January 21, 2012 at 2:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I am in CRM Business in Germany, but I have more “english” followers than germans. i Wonder why?
Michael recently posted..SmartCatalog for sage SalesLogix – Video
SusanCritelli
January 21, 2012 at 3:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Das ist eine gute Frage. Probably because a lot of people will follow you solely to get you to follow back, not because they actually care about your business. They may not care or notice that you are located in Germany. Then there are the english speaking spambots that you have to watch out for, and the people who go visit the page of someone with a lot of followers and just follow everyone, whether they have any connection or not.
SusanCritelli recently posted..Do You Have What it Takes to be a Mommy Blogger?
Anne Thomas
January 21, 2012 at 2:46 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thanks! Still learning all I can about Twitter, I like to use it to share or thanks as much as I can
Anne Thomas recently posted..January Recipes & Specials from Anne Thomas
Emmanuel Gonot
January 21, 2012 at 2:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thanks for the excellent points you raised here, Susan. For myself I use the 1 to 10 ratio but I intersperse my link tweets with shoutouts and dialogues with friends on Twitter.
Emmanuel Gonot recently posted..Switching Facebook Profiles On Empire Avenue and Klout
John Rodrigues
January 21, 2012 at 2:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
This is literally true since twitter can be a feed that inputs/outputs from/to others, e.g. beepl. It is a platform that they depend upon.
Dan
January 21, 2012 at 3:01 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I am the exception to the rule I guess as I almost never post about my business. I will Re-Tweet a link for a friend every now and than.
SusanCritelli
January 21, 2012 at 3:26 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Interesting! Would you mind sharing why you don’t post about business? I realize some kinds of businesses get better traction on Twitter than others.
SusanCritelli recently posted..Skills you need for your Home Business
Felissa (Two Little Cavaliers)
January 21, 2012 at 3:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thank you for the tips about using twitter properly. I have my ups and downs with it. Right now I feel like I have no time to devote to twitter at all
Felissa (Two Little Cavaliers) recently posted..Great Dane Super Bowl Commercial / Pet Bloggers Blog Hop
Richard Townsend
January 21, 2012 at 3:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I actually state on my profile that I don’t do personal tweets, so for business I think none zero zilch personal tweets is best… why because business is there to solve other peoples problems not boast about itself. Ric-orglearn
Richard Townsend recently posted..Power: Grab It or Live in Mediocrity
Jason Ramsey
January 21, 2012 at 3:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Great article, I’ve been using Twitter to drive traffic for around 3 years now. I love it!
Jason Ramsey recently posted..School of Rock is Coming to Wichita!
Craig Daniels
January 21, 2012 at 4:17 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hi Susan
A good post to remind people not to make Twitter about themselves.. I always try and use the 3 to 1 rule.. 1 about me and 3 about others..
Craig Daniels recently posted..Disruption: Coming Soon to a University Near You – Forbes
Liz
January 21, 2012 at 6:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Some great advice! I’ve always strived to have 1/3 Tweets be original content, 1/3 @replies to other people’s messages and 1/3 blog/news links I want to share. It’s a nice balance.
Robert Mcloughlin
January 21, 2012 at 6:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Susan,
I most certainly agree and use Twitter to drive traffic to targeted resources. As Craig highlighted above, 3 to 1 is a good rule of thumb. Thanks for sharing
John Sullivan
January 21, 2012 at 8:37 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Twitter is becoming less and less useful data . more and more sorting thru B/S and Even more about Zuckenburg Selling Your Traits and data .once Google + gets mainstream , twitter goes the way of my space
Steve Cassady (@SteveCassady)
January 21, 2012 at 10:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Nice Post. It is a shame a lot of users do Broadcast only. When I use some of the twitter follower analysis tools, you see many that do quit after a few months due to lack of success.
Steve Cassady (@SteveCassady) recently posted..12 Most Common Mistakes of Small Business
Billy Akerman
January 21, 2012 at 10:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You are so right on the money with your assessment. I noticed a big jump in followers once I started doing the thing you speak of in this post. Thanks for sharing.
Billy Akerman recently posted..Obama And Congress Scramble To Find Money For Tax Cuts
Vicki Coggan
January 21, 2012 at 11:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I have only recently begun using twitter more frequently although I have had an account for some time, so this article was very helpful, thank you
Tom Laing
January 21, 2012 at 11:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m still learning about social media and articles like this are most useful in adding to my knowledge. Thanks for the post
ERNIEARIAS
January 21, 2012 at 11:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’ve been successfully using Twitter to promote my blog site and recently found out about an app named Twylah, which creates a landing page out of your tweets. Thanks for the tip Susan!!
ERNIEARIAS recently posted..Skills, Motivation and Attitude: Which is the most important?
Savio Sebastian
January 22, 2012 at 7:55 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
great article…
Savio Sebastian recently posted..Cedric Gouliardon Farewell Video – Pixelmetrix
Louis Sokol
January 22, 2012 at 10:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Very good insight into using twitter
Michael Eisbrener
January 22, 2012 at 11:00 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I have a more than one twitter site and do not spend enough time interacting. I used to produce a ‘show’ each day but have gotten a bit lazy. Thank you Susan for the information.
Michael Eisbrener recently posted..Disappear Inflammation, Disappear Pain
Jorge Purgly
January 22, 2012 at 7:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hello Susan, thank you very much for the mission!
Jorge Purgly recently posted..Ginastica Laboral
Luis Monteiro
January 23, 2012 at 4:03 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hi Susan… great view on Twitter. I don’t use it as much but that as to do with the fact that i don’t know how to use it, I mean… in terms of marketing or keeping up with the updates. I’ll follow your posts to learn more about it…
Thanks!
Denise Sonnenberg
January 24, 2012 at 12:43 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I like this series of blog articles. Short and sweet. Get to the point. Deliver good information. And move on. That’s what people like.
Denise Sonnenberg recently posted..How To: Troubleshoot Your WordPress Blog
Krishnendu Dutta
January 25, 2012 at 4:29 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I am learning all about social media these days and many thanks for these tips. As you know that average life of a tweet is around 30 sec and within that 30 sec you need to catch attention of potential customers to drive them to the site. I think if anybody does it well he definitely knows the “art of tweeting”.
otheddyGreart
January 27, 2012 at 7:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hello! Just want to say thank you for this interesting article! =) Peace, Joy.
Roland
January 28, 2012 at 11:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Many thanks for taking the time to explain the terminlogy to the noobs!
Guillermina
January 29, 2012 at 11:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Greetings, Susan, I stumbled upon your webpage by mistake when i was searching Live search for this topic. I must say your webpage is truly valuable. I also really like the style, it is amazing!
Todd
January 30, 2012 at 11:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Twitter has been becoming more and more a new focus! Thanks for the tips and idea’s! Best- Todd
Joanne
February 1, 2012 at 6:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Great article Susan. I’ve been on twitter for a long time and I’ve seen it used for many things. People that use it only to promote themselves usually get unfollowed. lol
Joanne recently posted..Valentine Recipes To Make With Your Children