The blogging site ‘Twitter’ is probably one of the most powerful marketing and brand-building tools for ecommerce businesses all around the world. If you are an ecommerce business owner and wish to engage and entertain your customers as well as be a part of a massive community, then Twitter is the way to go. But successful marketing and brand-building on Twitter (or any other microblogging site for that matter) requires a lot of work. It’s a lot more than just simply posting tweets about your latest products. It takes dedication and commitment and an honest interest in all things that would benefit and interest your potential customers.
As an ecommerce business owner, I am open to any suggestion or idea that comes my way, especially if it is related to increasing web traffic and satisfying my customers. A while back, a good friend of mine suggested I get hooked on to Twitter and try my marketing skills over there. At first I thought this was a ridiculous idea. So I contacted my mates at Devix Corporation (an ecommerce service provider that first helped me get started with my website). They told me that it is indeed a good idea to try my hands at marketing over Twitter. And that’s where I got my confidence from. Follow some of these tips and experience success like never before.
What you should Tweet about?
Ecommerce business owners there are two essential priorities before you get started on Twitter:
• Identify your audience
• Decide what to publish
You could either opt for doing special sales and discounts to build publicity or if you happen to be selling a premium brand, then maybe you could improve sales by uploading photos of people who have used your product along with the valid information about it.
When you get started, always be friendly and conversational. People like to buy from those who are genial and value customer relationships. Besides, it is always nice to know that there is a real person behind all those tweets instead of some money making con artist. Reply to people and even go to the extent of asking people questions.
You need to understand your target audience and you need to act as a person and not just some business entity. A good marketer will always show keen interest in their potential customers and take the pains to find out what their customers are interested in. align your brand with all those things that your customers most value. This is what your Tweets should focus on:
1. On your customer – I know this may seem like I am reiterating but this is a very important point.
2. On the Conversation with your customer – Turn your Tweets into a series of conversations. If you happen to be following a certain persons Tweets and it’s about an interesting topic, then add to that conversation in a positive manner.
3. On providing How-To advice – If the kind of products that you sell to your customers helps them complete a certain kind of task, then consider tweeting ‘How-to’ content.
4. On giving away coupons – Every potential customer is a big fan of coupons. So start tweeting about the deals and offers that you are providing on your site.
What to try on Twitter?
Now that you have some good Twitter marketing strategies in hand, here are a few campaign ideas that you could try out:
• Randomly give away retweet awards – When someone retweets on your offer, then send them a direct message offering him or her an additional discount or perhaps a free item. This way, you’ll encourage your customers to keep retweeting. And the word will spread.
• Hold a special tweet up – When all the twitters meet in the real world, it’s called a meeting or a tweet up. For product launches, major events and special sales, consider starting and promoting a tweet up.
