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Twitter- Branding Your Etsy Business 140 Characters at a Time
140 characters
Branding over time: Twitter allows you to post only 140 characters at a time, so you have to keep in mind your overall long term goal. Are you using Twitter as a marketing tool or just for personal use? If your long term goal is to use Twitter as a tool to add to your marketing toolbox, you want to leave your personal posts out. Your customers don’t care if you are going to the grocery store. Keep in mind that you are building a footprint with the Twitter community.
What should you be tweeting about? (Market-Minded)
You should be posting new items in your Etsy shop. This will keep people updated on what is going on in your shop. You can also post sales, deals…anything related to your shop. I like to post every time I list a new item.
Twitter also allows you to interact with customers in a unique way… so make sure to be active!
Interactive posts:
Just like the forums on Etsy…you should try some interactive posts. I have created the “Lunch Time Series” on my channel which includes…Top 10 Monday…Saturday Super Shop Feature…and Mid-Week Etsy Feature. All three of these are promoting other shops, and never my own. Each one of these have generated thousands of hits and many sales for other shops (never my own). I do promote my own information…like the blog posts you read. Building a readership takes more than spamming the crap out of your followers…you have to provide them something to look forward to when they see your posts.
Ask for help:
This can fall under the interactive category also. You can ask for opinions on products…just like the Critique section of the Etsy forums.
Promote your blog:
I also like to promote my blog on twitter. If you are more focused on the marketing side…be sure your blog is headed in the same direction.
There are thousands of business using Twitter as a marketing tool…here are just a few that come to mind:
Woot - a popular online retailer will often post their newest deals
JetBlue- they will post their promo deals
New York Times- news
BBC -news
Apple- news and deals
TweetStats provides colorful graphs on month-to-month Twitter use, daily and hourly tweets, people replied to most, interfaces preferred for individual Twitter users. I love this tool…it is easy to use and it looks cool!
Search Twitter - With this tool, you can find out what is happening right now. This search tool is on the Twitter site, and is a great way to keep updated on the latest trends.
TweetWheel - If you have 1 or 5000 followers on Twitter, this tool is for you! The TweetWheel will tell you which of your followers know each other. This cool tool helps you find this out visually. Oh, and if you have a LOT of followers, this will kind of take a long time!
Twerpscan - Once your follow list is up to the number where you want it, who shouldn’t be following you? If there are marketers following everyone they come across in the hopes those people will follow back, this tool can help identify those marketers and block them if you like.
Twittervision: Public Twitter feeds overlayed realtime on Google Maps -
Twitt(url)y - Twitturly is a service for tracking what URLs people are talking about as they talk about them on Twitter. To keep things fresh and the quality high, twitturly only shows the 100 most popular URLs over the last 24 hours. The 24 hours are constantly sliding and we have an advanced algorithm in place so you always see what people are currently talking about. Another cool option is you can filter out Tweets by language.
TweetAhead - Schedule tweets to be posted ahead of time with a simple Dashboard widget. This cool tool is only for Mac users…
Twistori- This little tool is a complete time waster..but really COOL! You have to check it out!
Quick Do’s and Don’t s
1. Do use Twitter to promote your Etsy shop…items…sales…coupons…giveaways
2. Do use Twitter to create a brand/footprint for your Etsy business
3. Do promote your Twitter channel all over. My Twitter
I am currently offering 2 FREE Twitter badges I designed for your blog…you can pick them up in my Etsy shop HERE…complete with html code instructions.
4. Do interact with your readers
5. Don’t be a spammer. You don’t need to post everything all the time.
PLEASE Look the Twitter Terms of use>>> HERE
6. Don’t use Twitter as your only marketing tool. Spread yourself out there. Just like we say on Etsy, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Links to check out:
New to Twitter? Things you MUST know…
How to TWITTER to Increase Business
Comprehensive Etsy Twitter Directory
50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
The Official Etsy Twitter List -
Who uses twitter as a business tool?
Twittermania: 140+ More Twitter Tools!
Twitter in plain English
7 Responses to “Twitter- Branding Your Etsy Business 140 Characters at a Time”
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I am still scared of Twitter… I see from GA that it is one of my top 5 referring sites & I know I need to use it more to promote. ARG!! Thank You for making it not-as-scary though! You’re info has been so helpful!
#6, was one of my Mom’s favorite too. I started my twitter page, I’m getting followers, but I find that I get overly involved and forget about the work I also should be doing.
All in all I do understand Twitter a lot better now. Off to Twitter after I work ; )
I have been dying to start twittering. Problem is that for some unknown reason my phone won’t validate. The Twitter help page suggested contacting my carrier (one of the BIG ones) who said they had never heard of Twitter. (HUH??!)
Almost amused, I’ve started asking every cell phone carrier kiosk and store in town (150,000 people - not a podunk town) and the only people in my town who have heard of it are other customers.
My cell phone contract is almost up and I’ll be switching. I figure that the first cell phone salesperson who can say, “Sure, I know about Twitter” will be the one who gets my business.
I guess the moral here is not so much for Twitter, but for businesses to be up to date on what their customers are doing with their products in order to help them enhance their experience, and return for more.
Very informative. I was literally “scared” to approach twitter, but felt very comfortable after reading your information. Thank you.
I am new to twitter and am still in the process of figuring it all out. One thing I can’t figure out for the life of me is how to update my profile?
I will surely give your advice a try and see how it works out.
Sarah
Great post, although I have to say I use Twitter both as a marketing tool and for personal. I have cultivated a few good friendships there and they in turn have also “spread the word” and that has turned into sales for me. I have done very little on Etsy lately except to point people to my shop to see what I have for sale. My commissions have gone thru the roof and people who I talk to on a daily basis who have gotten to know me are now buying. I would caution against using Twitter to just post url after url of items from your shop or you will soon find yourself unfollowed by the Twitter community. Social marketing is like a giant party. You’d not walk up to a person you just met and launch into why they should buy from you. Get to know people and let them get to know you, soon, very soon you will see your sales and views increase as well.
I like the ease of using TwitterFeed to automatically post all of my website and blog RSS feeds to Twitter.
A few people have mentioned to me that Twitter is their preferred way of keeping up with the feeds that interest them.
Another benefit is that having links to your latest posts automatically appear on your Twitter feed is a good way to add value when you don’t have time to Tweet otherwise.
Rena