There's a rumor going around.
It's growing. It's dangerous.
And I think I may have encouraged it.
People are starting to believe that Twitter is a sales tool. They see the site as a valuable resource that allows them to broadcast their sales messages and land new deals.
They're right... up to a point. People are making sales that way. They're including their affiliate links in their tweets, talking up their own products and generating views on their squeeze pages. They're selling goods too.
But using Twitter in that way is just a huge waste of the site's potential.
In Twitter Power, I describe Twitter as the Internet's water-cooler. It's a social venue, a meeting place to which everyone is invited and everyone is open to conversation. The bios are the name badges, and the links are the business cards. It's sociable, it's friendly and it's a lot of fun as well.
That makes it a fantastic networking tool.
You can go on Twitter and meet the leading people in your field. And I don't meant "meet" as in "read their websites." I mean ask them questions and read their answers. You can react to their comments and see their responses to you.
You can converse with them.
You can learn from mentors, chat with executives, and yes... you can talk to potential clients and customers.
But if all you do is pitch directly to those leads, then you can expect your response rate to be very low.
It's a bit like walking up to someone at a party and saying, "Hi, I hear you own a restaurant. I sell tables. Want to buy some?"
That's not how relationships are built. It's not even how business relationships are built.
Twitter allows you the opportunity to get to know people. It lets you become part of a community that's discussing your industry and talking about the kinds of products and services you offer. But the sales come as a result of the closeness that community brings.
The best way to sell on Twitter is to forget about selling on Twitter. Focus on writing tweets that form friendships. The sales will take care of themselves.
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
June 7, 2009 09:18 AM
I agree, Mr. J.
Twiter is SOCIAL media not BUSINESS media.
Social Media = Starting a conversation. That is all.
Thanks for all the value you add.
I appreciate all you do.
Keep the faith and keep being YOU!
~Ronald
TrueBeliever & HopeDealer
June 7, 2009 09:45 AM
"The best way to sell on Twitter is to forget about selling on Twitter. Focus on writing tweets that form friendships. The sales will take care of themselves."
I have nothing to sell on Twitter except my blog post. And yet 95% of what I tweet about isn't about my blog. It's conversations, links, connecting with people I hardly know about. If I push a great post, it's not mine - it's a gem I find in my reader - a fantastic how-to for example. Some other times, my tweets are just small talk - small tweets meant to reach out to fellow souls out there who need similar interaction.
Until I find out to my surprise that these people are even beating me to tweeting my own posts. They do it without prodding. That's great, right? And more meaningful.
It's not all about sales pitch. Just like in actual interactions offline. And I suspect more sales are generated with this consideration in mind. After all, we are likely to buy from people we know and like at the same time. Well done. This post resonates with me. ",)
June 7, 2009 10:06 AM
Excellent points. Solid business networking revolves around building personal relationships, not just sales leads. Ask around at any old school chamber of commerce type mixer or after hours networking event. You'll find the successful networkers connecting on a personal level, not talking about specific business opportunities. When a business opportunity or a query for a referral (for instance: restaurant tables) comes up, you're more likely to do business with someone you know and trust.
BTW, Twitter Power is an excellent book!
June 7, 2009 10:18 AM
Hello,
I truly believe that Twitter should be a tool to build relationships with others, and not mere sales tool.
You can share your knowledge, showcase your skills, and let people know who you are. This will build up your credibility. As your credibility grows, business and sales will just come along.
Thank you sir for reminding us once again on how to use Twitter the right way.
Have a great day!
JeD Chan
jedchan.com
June 7, 2009 10:39 AM
Great post!
Become a resource for the other person! Ask how YOU can help or support the other person.
Don't try to sell them or ask them to help you close a deal. The most important person is the person that you are speaking with and not yourself!
June 7, 2009 10:44 AM
Yeap, people need to learn the tool in order to use it effectively. There are living examples of people who actually made it big using this tool. =]
June 7, 2009 10:53 AM
I agree with you Joel. I like Twitter and how easy it makes it to connect with people that have influenced me over the years.
I do see a lot of people looking to make a quick affiliate sale at the cost of communication, engagement and reciprocity.
Thanks for sharing,
Karl
June 7, 2009 11:43 AM
You can "meet" them and follow what they do, but in most cases it is becoming very hard to really converse with them. Twitter is getting very mainstream, all these popular figures are getting tons of followers, tons of tweets so for them it is becoming more and more about broadcasting messages as they cannot converse with everyone.
But yeah I agree that forming relationships, conversing with people, helping people out works much better than broadcasting generic sales messages.
June 8, 2009 06:50 AM
Great information Joel!
Networking in person and online are the same. No one wants to talk to the person who only talks about themselves and their business. Engage in conversation, genuinely care about what others have to say, and add value. These principles will help you to cultivate great relationships in all areas of life.
June 8, 2009 07:00 AM
On my twitter account, I list in my description that I am a blogger, but I don't list my blog url. If the person is really interested, actively interest I figure they will ask me. Then, I can reply to them by DM.
Without my website listed, it's pure relationship building. I don't think you should blast your time-line with affiliate links. But, if the opportunity presents itself and you know of something that will help solve that person's problem, send them a DM with the link.
I don't like this idea of autofollow DMs with affiliate links.
I don't know you. Why should I trust you enough to buy something from you?
June 8, 2009 08:11 AM
Great thoughts and advice, Joel.
In the end, it's always about the relationships built-- not the information pitched. Even in the public relations field, it's more about building relationships with journalists than making a clever pitch.
June 8, 2009 08:11 AM
Well, well ...
:-P And who's fault is that peoples see (twitter, mybloglog, myspace and so on) only as / mostly as a "free open advertisement space for making money programs" ?
Have you notice - while we are talking about twitter - the mass promotion of "I make $874,772,720,491,000 a day on twitter, buy my ebook about how I made it" programs ?
Lot of users have none or very little knowledge about what is a business, what is marketing ... they simply use brutal advertisement force in order to break trough. Why ? Because they don't want to be part of "+90% will fail".
As about "You can converse with them." and the phrases above and bellow this quote:
My, oh my ... Most of the "big names" (if not all) are busy peoples. There for most of them (if not all) do one or all of those:
- twitter is outsourced. Somebody else log in, time to time, and write ...
- twitter is automated. Out there are scripts which allows to write content and pre-program time to be "posted", similar with autoresponders ...
- twitter is jammed. Start with about 5k peoples in one's "network", every refresh done = loose about 90% of tweeds.
On the other hand and up to now, you, Joel, are the ONLY one showing respect towards your followers (several posts back, when you said "sorry folks, I may not be able to read all your twitter messages").
Oh .. not the only one. Something similar Eric Holmlund said in his blog too ... :-)
ps: Do you have in mind to make a "Twitter Power, second edition" ? :-)
June 8, 2009 08:55 AM
Hi: I would like very much if you can be more specific. I am new into my ebusiness and would like to see some examples as how to do create real relationships in this new Twitter "world"
June 8, 2009 10:45 AM
This is very true. Sadly the blatant sellers are joining Twitter in droves and missing the point completely.
Twitter is a relationship building tool, if you take time to build relationship then the business that will be generated as result will be ongoing, long-term revenue building and not simply one off dirty deals.
June 8, 2009 11:56 AM
Perfectly put: succinctly, pointedly, and simply.
Trying to instantly monetize every bit of social communication corrupts the conversation and turns social networks into vulture dens.
Marketers, advertisers and others with a product or service to sell, should take a chill pill, let the dialogue flow, learn a few things about people and business, share some insights, ask questions, and let the sale take care of itself...and if it doesn't happen, take pleasure in the connection you made and nurture it for future reference.
June 8, 2009 08:18 PM
Joel, great post and appreciate your insight on this. Here is my opinion. Twitter should be used as a virtual on-demand networking group to build personal & business relationships online. That is what social media and social networking is all about. Engaging in meaningful conversation, discussing business challenges, and helping others is what its all about, especially during these times. Also, i read my news more on twitter now than any other site. The old BNI saying givers gain really applies to twitter. For Entrepreneurs, this has been a dream tool. Keep up the great work- Justin @JustinRFrench
June 8, 2009 08:27 PM
Joel,
I agree, in principle, with the intent of your post. And your book, for that matter.
However, my experience with Twitter has been somewhat less than stellar, and nowhere near what you have exemplified.
I've found - perhaps following the wrong folk? - the tweeple to be both insular and cliquish, to the point that it's often difficult to get any response at all, much less a _social_ one.
It seems that the folk that have been there for a while know each other well, but are somewhat averse to admitting anyone new into their circle.
Granted, I did make the mistake, early on, of spamming by promoting a Twitter product unsolicited by my follower - all one of him - but doubt that much clouded my reputation.
Experience to date indicates that there's a great deal of socialization going on ... by the [relatively speaking] old guard. But there's damned little of interest in letting tyros into the conversations. Frankly, I've had better results - and more communication - talking to strangers in bars.
To date, I see little to differ Twitter from any other of the so-called-social entities. It seems the welcome mat has been removed from the entryway.
June 10, 2009 02:21 AM
Very good lesson.
Twitter is for people you want to get to know and is a channel to do so.
Relationships come first. Remember the "Social" in social media?
June 10, 2009 01:22 PM
Unfortunately, this is really the case more and more for me in terms of who follows me. While I have made every attempt to just target others who are in my niche, it does not prevent spammers and other sales people from making appeals to me daily. Just curious as to how you and other fellow twitterers handle spamming followers?
June 10, 2009 08:54 PM
Very good post! The question is: is this trend stoppable?
My suggestion is to build a list of followers manually or by automation and begin relationship building with them by visiting their profiles, seeing what they're interested in and responding, answering questions,etc. If you can reach at least 10% of your followers this way, it's a good thing. The link farms are likely to continue. Youtube and Myspace faced the same types of challenges earlier on.
June 12, 2009 07:05 AM
Well Joel,
Couldn't agree more that social networking is about the conversation, and, as you say, "You can converse with them."
My favorite web site of the past year is http://www.backtype.com/people - where you can put in someone's name and find out how often they have commented on other people's blogs (and their own). If you go to Backtype.com, just make sure you're in the "People" section when you do the search.
Busy guys like Scoble and Brogan seem to find the time to join the conversation with thousands of comments. I won't put the number of times you've commented on your own or other people's blogs, Joel, but it's a tad embarrassing. Even my little brother has commented more!
June 13, 2009 02:26 AM
@Michael Benidt why I agree with you on the success on backtype I will like to comment a few things about twitter, well I believe when twitter or the owners of twitter started they had in mind a different ball game on the social network world, unfortunately we have seen a different buzz world from that, with so many twitters twittering their products or services the system has really been bastardized. Agreed that money is being made and some way it serves as another income generator, we need to be careful with this tool called twitter not making it look like a spam board
June 29, 2009 09:17 PM
LOL are u reading my mind? Just kidding! I am glad someone else thinks like me.This is the exact thing I discussed on my blog around 2 months ago (click on my name). At that time I thought I was being radical but after reading your article I am feeling better.
Great minds think alike as they say ;-)
Arindam
July 8, 2009 02:27 PM
Twitter if used efficiently can be used to bombard your site with traffic.
July 9, 2009 12:34 AM
That is exactly what I thought when I start using twitter.
I use friend-feed to post tweets and gain nothing.
Or say - It drives no visitors when you post a tweet about your new posts or products (almost 0) .
However, when start discussing, I managed to talk directly to Universities, newspapers and other big guys in my niche.
That is great source of info, because they recommend my site to their colleges.
July 21, 2009 10:30 AM
well...I agree with most of the points, but...
I have found that most of the people who follow me *want* to know what I have to offer. And if all I did was have conversation back and forth they wouldn't know what I have to share. Occasionally, you have to give them a link! and I *want* to know what they do! That's why I got on Twitter in the first place - to expand my circle of friends and customers!
Twitter drives traffic to my blog all the time. I can watch it real time using bit.ly and it is fascinating! Yes - it's *social* media, but it also the best source I've seen for sharing what you do *business* media. And if what you do is a product or service, sharing that is a normal natural thing to do.
I think I have a good mix of conversation, RTing, sharing links, and sharing what I do. I think it is balanced. I have seen MANY who don't have this balance - and we all know who they are - and we eventually unfollow them.
You can keep Twitter "pure" if you want and use squidoo for marketing - there are so many options. Just enjoy -
Phyllis
July 25, 2009 07:31 PM
Twitter is definitely a great tool although I find myself too busy to be twittering throughout the day.