Twitter “Business Killers” To Avoid

Anyone who has followed me for anytime at all on social media has heard me say this more than once –  I love Twitter!

Sure it is noisy. Yes, it is has quite a few spammers and bots and “push” marketers. I will concede that point, but just about everything good that has happened to my business has had its origin in Twitter. It is surreal quite frankly. You want one example? Just a few days ago, one of my Twitter followers sent me a link to this article published by Marketing Profs:

I am the 10^th most retweeted person on Twitter by digital marketers, just behind ex-President Bill Clinton and the only woman in the top 10! Really? Me?

I am not bragging, honestly. I am telling you I was, and am just like you. Why have I been able to build a huge personal brand using social media and specifically, Twitter? Because I avoided two critical mistakes that kill 99%, no make that 99.9% of all Twitter presences. Anyone interested in what those mistakes are?

Here they are:

1. Twitter Business Killer #1 – Stop Making Twitter about YOU

I see this mistake all of the time, across all social media sites, but especially on Twitter. When you are done reading this post go to @kimgarst on Twitter and read my feed. You will see that I am giving social media tips, providing motivational quotes, chatting it up with people, answering questions, etc. There is not a whole lot of pushing products, preaching, creating false hype, etc. I am simply trying to lead with value and let the sales follow. It works!

So you say, “Yeah, but you are not doing business on Twitter”. Wrong. I use Twitter to distribute my blogs, support my newsletter, publish social media, motivation and business tips, “pull” people to my Facebook page with free e-books, announce new products, services, classes, advertise free webinars, etc. You get my drift here?  I try to provide value every step of the way.  I want to be your trusted resource for social media information for the “Do-It-Yourself”, small business owner or small entrepreneur community. I want you to see my commitment to you, not your commitment to ME!

How does that make me money? Trust me, when somebody finally decides their company needs to jump into social media, or a small business owner finally makes the commitment to learn it themselves, I am often the first person they think of.

So what value can you provide to your community that will put your company “top of mind” when it comes to a purchasing decision? Find cool, fun, consistent and creative ways to do that on Twitter and I promise the business will find you.

2. Twitter Business Killer #2 – Clear the Noise

You do not want to, or have time to “tweet” with the 500 million of us on Twitter now. In the world of limited resources, you need to connect to, have conversations and otherwise engage with “tweeple” in your target audience and in your target demographic. Yet, time and time again I see people dive head first into Twitter, start following everybody they can with little or no strategy and have conversations all day long with people who they could not possibly ever do business with. If you own a pizza shop in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, it is not going to do you a heck of a lot of good to spend hours a day on Twitter talking about the upcoming pro football season with someone in Seattle.

Do not get me wrong. I am not saying that you cannot have a community member from Seattle or that you cannot talk about football, but your core strategy should be building a community of people who are in one way or another connected to your real, non-virtual world community. These are the relationships you should foster and the people you should be serving up value to all day long so, once again, you will be “top of mind” when it comes time to buy what you are selling.

How do you do this you ask? Use search and advanced search directly on Twitter, or third parties tools like Hootsuite and ManageFlitter to find sort, follow and connect with people interested in the things you are interested in and having conversations about things related to your business.

Take these two pieces of advice and I promise, it will not be long before you start seeing results and loving Twitter as much as I do!

What do you think? Have I hit the nail on the head or am I missing something here? I would love to hear your thoughts below.

About Author

Kim Garst

Kim Garst is a renowned marketing strategist and speaker who is trailblazing the use of artificial intelligence in digital marketing. With over 30 years of experience as an online entrepreneur, Kim helps entrepreneurs grow their business and authority online by using AI technology. She is leading the way with proven AI frameworks that help entrepreneurs build authority in their space.

She is keynote speaker and an international best-selling author of Will The Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media.

Named by Forbes as a Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer, Kim is well-known for her skill to simplify complex technology and make the use of AI understandable for business growth. Her relatable, actionable advice helps guide new entrepreneurs to harness the power of AI to succeed in digital marketing. Kim is leading the way in combining human and technological skills to create a new model for AI-powered marketing.

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