Part one received a great response. A BIG thank you to everyone who took the time to read it.

Are you being Talked About?

You hope so?

This is a very simple way to use twitter. You can monitor for mentions of you or your brand. If people are saying (tweeting) good things, and even when they are tweeting bad things; if you engage in the conversation - Twitter gives you an opportunity to market yourself in a positive way.

Get Talked About (RTed)

It’s easy, just SHARE

I am not a big brand, so when I started using twitter, I had only a very limited number of mentions in the twittersphere - I knew I needed to change this.

• The easiest way to get RTed on Twitter is through offering your Twitter friends (followers) great content.
• Get RTed by RTing your Friends - this is critical step towards building effective marketing on Twitter.
• Remember, the more you RT others - the more lightly they will do the same for you.

Now, if I twit a piece of information like a new blog post on Twitter, many others will RT which in turn sends additional people to my blog. So far, this has meant an additional 50-100 visitor per day.

Note: All this helps to build your friends (followers) organically. Simply put, the more you put in - the more friends and RTs you will get back out.

RT @nialldevitt #twittertip make sure you comment/recommend why someone should read the RT

RT @nialldevitt #twittertip if you want to be RTed, make sure you keep your tweets to less than 140 characters

Who are you Talking to?

The art of conversation

As I mentioned, I am at heart; a salesperson - this is the bit that really interested me about Twitter . Can it help me to sell my services? The answer is a resounding YES.

One big advantage, Twitter has over other social media is that it predominately happens in real time - hence you can have live conversations in the Twitter virtual world.

If you think about it, Twitter is the perfect online environment for the sales professional because:

• You have live opportunities to listen
• You have live opportunities to ask questions
• You have live opportunities to start conversations

And these are all key skills in developing relationships (prospects) …..Yippee!

Ok, so the questioning and listening skills that are required might be more subtle; than say those needed in a traditional face to face setting (meeting). I definitely believe it’s worth the effort, because the opportunity to do so is enormous.

Remember: RTing is at the start and heart of this process - In essence, it is both the seed and the building block rolled into one.

One of the reasons I really get Twitter is, I know that with the right amount of savvy - I can get to talk to key people within organizations right now. Going down more traditional prospecting routes, these same conversations could take me weeks to achieve. If you factor in the Twitter culture (the RT) you quickly come to realise - that Twitter is highly sophisticated business development tool.

Taking it Offline

VERY IMPORTANT!

If you really really want to maximise on Twitter’s potential, the next step is to take these relationships offline.  Again, this is easy, start by sending a DM and then arrange to have phone conversation, a coffee or a meet up.

RT @nialldevitt #twittertip every day, take one online relationship and make it offline

It’s Additive

I hope you enjoyed my Twitter Story thus far. I am off to tweet and retweet. You can catch me on Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/nialldevitt

Please don’t be a follower, be a friend

As some may already know, I was once upon a time social media sceptic. While I could see a distant value in using these tools, I remained unconvinced as to how an old fashioned sales gun like me - could generate real B2B sales using social media.

If I was sceptical about social media in general, I was entirely sceptical about Twitter. It appeared to me at first glance to be a lowest common denominator kind of tool.

My initial impressions

Having thousands of followers appeared to be the name of the game. With so many tweets and re-tweets, how could a B2B salesperson like me develop anything that resembled a meaningful business relationship on here? Where is the sophistication I thought? This is a nothing but a school yard tool containing a myriad of little broadcasts and where no one appeared to be listening.

So about two months ago and against my own better judgement - I decided to persevere with Twitter.

I started with Three Objectives

1. While having thousands of followers might be nice, I was only interested in people who genuinely wanted to follow me.
2. I had to be able to take these on-line relationships to an off-line setting, if I was to realistically create sales opportunities.
3. This had to be doable in either faster or easier terms than my traditional business development efforts to make Twitter worth while for my business.

So what I have I learnt?

Is Unique because it’s Pick Up and Go

Twitter is unique; It’s a “pick up and go” tool. It is it’s simplicity of use that makes it so effective. As I said earlier, I initially thought that this was a failing, but now realise that this is what actually makes it so effective . This is also probably one of the main reasons behind its massive popularity.

It Takes Time to Truly Get It.

That’s right, even though it is easy to use, it still takes time to work out how best to use it. While its functionality may be straight forward, the potential of this functionally is not. This is where the learning is, and this is what takes time to master.

So it’s a Broadcast Tool, Right?

Yes it is, but that is less than half the story.

Twitter is a truly amazing broadcast tool. It allows you to instantaneously tweet and get information out there. If others see value in this information, they will re-tweet it, further maximising on your potential audience.

It’s about Followers and Lots of them?

NO ITS NOT!!

The term “followers” is in my opinion an unfortunate Twitter description. It is the interpretation of what is a follower? And why should I follow? That turns people off understanding and using twitter effectively.

I prefer to think of my followers and those that I follow as “friends” or perhaps a more approvite description might be “potential friends”

• Remember, having followers in not worthwhile unless the follower is worthwhile.
• If you are interested in using Twitter as a genuine business development tool – do not treat it as a popularity contest.
• Having lots of followers is a result rather than an objective of using Twitter effectively.

The Most Important Letters are R and T

RT @damienmulley: Advising to follow “influencers” on Twitter is downright ignorant/fatal. Everyone has influence due to 2 letters: R and T

Damien Mulley brilliantly highlights through one of his tweets why re-tweeting is the most important thing that you will do on Twitter.

Think of retweets (RT) as Twitter’s very own currency.

• RTs build your followers, If you re-tweet someone - that person is much more likely to follow you.
• RTs lead to more people RTing you, If you re-tweet someone, they will nearly always RT you back.
  
• RTs are the first step in building proper relationships on Twitter.
• RTs not followers are the real indication of your influence on Twitter.

In Part 2

In Part 2, I will be discussing why in my opinion, Twitter should be used as both a Sales and a Marketing tool and why if you only see Twitter as a marketing tool - you might very well be missing the Twitter boat.

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