Twitter
is a community whose members share news and views and take part in discussions
about various subjects, including products.
The site has more than a billion registered members, three hundred
million of them active and using mobile devices. Last year, it was reported that almost one
quarter of adults using the internet have a Twitter account, around 40% of them
using Twitter daily.
So
Twitter is definitely something most sellers should consider as a marketing
tool, not just on eBay, but also on Amazon, Etsy and other marketing portals.
Here
are a few things to get you started using Twitter to grow your profits:
* Most people using Twitter do so to find
solutions to problems, not always to find products. By providing help and advice, sellers can
build a following on Twitter and use Tweets to direct traffic back to their listings
on eBay and other ecommerce websites.
So
people selling products to help cure acne and other skin complaints, or providing
health supplements for people and pets, will find Twitter an effective place to
promote their goods. Answer questions,
solve problems, and Twitter users will trust you and your products and buy from
you in preference to rival sellers on and outside of eBay.
* Twitter can be used by sellers to provide
support for buyers and answer questions for people as yet undecided about
buying.
* The mere fact a seller has an established
social networking presence gives the business a professional air and suggests
superior after sales and back up service.
* There
are numerous promotional methods on Twitter, some free, others low cost, a few
prohibitively expensive for small business owners. Promotions can be used for sales on or
outside of eBay and other high fee-charging marketing platforms and so cut
selling overheads at those sites.
* Twitter provides Buy It Now
buttons leading direct to several long-established ecommerce platforms. Sadly, some direct sale options are currently
unavailable outside the United States but if something works across the Pond,
you can bet it won’t be long before it arrives in the UK. So study what’s available to American sellers
and be prepared to move fast when our turn comes.
* Avoid heavy selling on Twitter, and most
other social networking sites, or you are more likely to alienate site members than
build a massive entourage of potential buyers for your products. Be helpful, be approachable, give subtle
hints about your products and link to their sales pages on or outside of
eBay.
* Twitter is a blogging website, much like any
other, but where most outside blogs feature posts hundreds or several thousand
words long, on Twitter they extend to a maximum 140 characters. So there’s little space to make your posts
stand out from the crowd, explaining why the most effective Tweets, in selling
terms, at least, feature eye-catching headlines and otherwise inaccessible
information, frequently free and bonus incentives. Because they are short, most Twitter posts
take minutes to write compared to hours and possibly days for longer blog
posts.
