Got my first quote request from Twitter - Almost yay!

[Ashley_Price]

It will be a FULL yay if we get the job.

 

[marcallum]

It's good to hear about your success on Twitter.

I've become a big convert to social networking this year but unfortunately Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are all blocked here in China. I'll be on there when I spend a couple of weeks in England at the end of June though.

 

That's really cool. We're hoping Twitter will spread the word about our business

 

[Piqueperfumes]

Well done - still trying to figure how Twitter et al can really be effective - I don't doubt they can, but at the moment still unsure how
Phil

 

[Ashley_Price]

What we have done on Twitter is a mixture of business and "good natured" tweets.

So I will regularly mention why having a call answering service would be good for people, an example would be "Leaving calls to voicemail could lose you business. Hiring a call answering service could win it! It's your call."

But this morning I was having a jokey conversation with a chap about staff and I said "As we are a call answering they have to be in the office... thankfully I don't." He replied "Could you give me an idea of costs for call answering...".

So have sent the quote off to him, wait to chat with him later.

 

[efficiencycoach]

Hi, I'm a twitter addict - and as I get 80% of my business through people I meet via Twitter, I'm quite happy to stay a twitter addict. (I'm @efficiencycoach)

To give you an idea after being on twitter for just over 12 months - and heavily promoting my blogs via twitter, I have built up an average week day traffic of 100 unique visitors to my website, and on average 1 enquiry per week. With a conversion rate of 50%, my business has got to the point where I have had to recruit extra coaches to help me service the demand for our services.

My secret is simple. I have a consistent presence on twitter and use automation selectively to allow me to do this. I have about 500+ automated tweets, and then use the rest of my time on twitter to have conversations with people and engage.

My tweets are generally in a ratio of 25% links to my blog posts, 25% efficiency tips & 'humourous business quotes', 25-50% updates on what I am doing in my business + replies to people. I allow myself the luxury of 1 tweet per day advertising one of my teleseminars or products.

Good luck with twitter. (I and many others have found it takes about 3-4 months before you generate business via twitter)

 

[bizloanservices]

I've been very anti-twitter after seeing some the rubbish being posted but this week I took a deep breath and signed up. And I have to say I've now 'got' it.

I can see how addicitive it can be but I can now understand how effective it can be. The immediacy is probably the key. Tomorrow morning I'm being interviewed on radio so tweeted that and it's sparked interest.

Only posted 11 tweets so far but very interesting and somewhat compelling. I would recommend it if you're sitting on the fence.

Delighted if you wish to follow me @bizloanservices

 

[Liybpg]

So, if people spend 3-4 months building up the reputation (or marketing themselves) on Twitter to get some kind of exposure, then they have to basically commit themselves to updating Twitter all the time (throughout the day) to get 1 quote per week, which translates to 2 order per month.

How much profit is that? Isn't that a bit too expensive?
Just to estimate - 2 hours per day @ 10 pounds an hour over 3 months (~60 days) = 1200 pounds upfront (effort before you get anything), then you going to spend 100 pounds per quote, 200 pounds per order (according to the calculations). Isn't it expensive? It seems free, but is it? How much time an effort do you put into twitter? How much time and effort does it really take to achieve anything on there?

 

[bizloanservices]

You cannot look at Twitter in isolation - it has to be just one small part of an overall marketing plan. I think you have to be lucky to get work just out of Twitter, unless you really do spend your life on it.

 

[Gillie]

So, if people spend 3-4 months building up the reputation (or marketing themselves) on Twitter to get some kind of exposure, then they have to basically commit themselves to updating Twitter all the time (throughout the day) to get 1 quote per week, which translates to 2 order per month.

How much profit is that? Isn't that a bit too expensive?
Just to estimate - 2 hours per day @ 10 pounds an hour over 3 months (~60 days) = 1200 pounds upfront (effort before you get anything), then you going to spend 100 pounds per quote, 200 pounds per order (according to the calculations). Isn't it expensive? It seems free, but is it? How much time an effort do you put into twitter? How much time and effort does it really take to achieve anything on there?

2 hours a day on twitter?? Hell no!! I get lots of business from it. Within ten mins of twittering about a new service I had two new clients - so thats two clients for one year for ten mins work ... and if you are spending more than 20 mins a day on the thing, you are badly organised.

There are so many applications now such as tweetdeck and hootsuite and so forth that allow you to manage your tweets accordinly, follow whats important and it keeps you informed rather than you have to spend some silly amount ie more than one hour a day on it ...

Some people still don't get twitter me finks!!

 

[crossdaz]

I've become a big convert to social networking this year but unfortunately Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are all blocked here in China.

Lucky you

 

[maxine]

Well done Ashley and glad twitter is kicking in for you.

It's not always the business promotional tweets that bring in the business.. quite the opposite. I think like Rob says it takes a while to "get" twitter. I can tweet about putting my washing out and hey presto receive a request for a quote from a really desirable customer.

It's also about the partnerships and wider audience too that all comes around eventually to either receiving more enquiries or having a higher conversion rate from enquiries where people then feel they know you.

Heather - efficiencycoach - I've enjoyed watching how you use twitter and organise things to include lots of personal tweets as well as business stuff and link into your other networks such as linkedin, facebook etc

 

[Liybpg]

2 hours a day on twitter?? Hell no!! I get lots of business from it. Within ten mins of twittering about a new service I had two new clients - so thats two clients for one year for ten mins work ... and if you are spending more than 20 mins a day on the thing, you are badly organised.

There are so many applications now such as tweetdeck and hootsuite and so forth that allow you to manage your tweets accordinly, follow whats important and it keeps you informed rather than you have to spend some silly amount ie more than one hour a day on it ...

Some people still don't get twitter me finks!!

2 hours per day was based on efficiencycoach's post, where it says "I have about 500+ automated tweets, and then use the rest of my time on twitter to have conversations with people and engage". I don't know how much time that means, I just assumed 2 hours. But of course it wouldn't be fair to say that all business need to engage in personal conversations with their clients over twitter. Some will be better off with couple of simple twitts per day.

 

[efficiencycoach]

As I run a coaching business, it takes a while for myself to go from a first contact to an enquiry/referral. Most people don't wake up and think, 'I need a coach' & I'll contact the first coach I bump into...

As a client is probably worth £2k+, I'm quite happy at my rate of enquiries, coming through twitter.

As I use automation for 'the content' rather than conversations part of my tweets, I'm not spending 2 hours a day on twitter.

Twitter has also brought me valuable alliances & collaborations & and a decent level of traffic to my website.

As bizloanservices quite rightly said, twitter is all part of the marketing mix. It is the part of the marketing mix which is working well for me.

 

[Gillie]

2 hours per day was based on efficiencycoach's post, where it says "I have about 500+ automated tweets, and then use the rest of my time on twitter to have conversations with people and engage". I don't know how much time that means, I just assumed 2 hours. But of course it wouldn't be fair to say that all business need to engage in personal conversations with their clients over twitter. Some will be better off with couple of simple twitts per day.

Its all about developing a strategy, using the tools to make it efficient and not getting side tracked - the only time I spend longer on twitter is Tour de France time, as I follow most of the top cyclists and get the inside information on what is happening and what happened.

If as for me for instance, my average client spend is big ie many K's then I can afford to spend more time developing relationships than those who gain merely pounds for their business. Again its about developing the network that can help you move your business forward, and yes whilst I now don't gain direct business for one side from twitter, word of mouth and people knowing me and passing on my details, means I gain!

 

[Call Tracker]

I think it is a very useful tool and we have had a good few referrals from it. If you send useful and interesting tweets you will get more out of it. Its a great way to make announcements too. Well done!

 

[marcallum]

Lucky you

Is a signature link always okay, or is it sometimes considered advertising? Some moderators are more touchy than others about the amount of self promotion.

Mark McCallum
Getting work done in China

Is the one I've put under my name ok do you think, or a bit too much like advertising? I've not made 15 posts yet to be able to add mu url. Better be more active.

 

[Lloyd Morgan Productions]

Twitter is a great way to get your name out there and find services to help your own company.

@lloydmorganprod

 

[Formidable Photography]

From my perspective, Twitter is one of those things that you get out of as much as you put in - the people who don't 'get it' don't seem to realise it's about engagement rather than just tweeting adverts.

I've done really well out of Twitter but then I put a lot of effort into maintaining relationships on there.

You can find me on twitter under formidablephoto

 

[Whittie]

I contacted you a few months ago, but never recieved a reply.

Well done with twitter though.

 

[efficiencycoach]

Mark, you are absolutely spot on, success on Twitter is all about visibility and engagement. Like any networking group you get out what you put in.

 

[AdamJ]

I've always liked the idea of twitter, joined up and spent a good six months being very active. The problem was the more people I followed, and I didn't go daft with it so it wasn't a huge number, the more new tweets there were every time I looked, usually a couple of hundred new ones every few hours. In the end, only the most recent at any time were looked at and sifting through those to eliminate the irrelevant (to me) self-promotion or just 'I'm having a coffee' posts was too much and I stopped using it as it just got to a constant stream of disconnected comments and info.

Out of interest, anyone have sale success on Twitter with selling to large businesses rather than selling to smaller companies or individuals?

 

[Ashley_Price]

The thing with Twitter is, if you use something like Tweetdeck, etc., you can set up searches, etc., so that when someone tweets something that IS of interest to you or your business then it will show up in a separate column.

You don't have to search for the same thing every time, with, say Tweetdeck, you set up columns and each column could be a different search criteria.

 

[adventurelife]

It is fairly simple. Set up search's for the product/service that you offer. When people ask questions about the products/service just answer them. Through time it leads to business.

Example many travelers going to Morocco and Marrakech ask questions about where to stay, what to do, culture, etc etc. We answer their questions, we do not promote what we do, we just answer questions. They ask more questions we answer, and at some point they normally get round to asking what we do. When we tell them , we get a % wanting to meet us and do what we do.

It drives business weekly.

Free leads, think about it

 

[Formidable Photography]

Did you mean you contacted me?

 

[Dorada]

I use tweetdeck to run a number of twitter accounts which makes it a hundred times easier for you. A quick glance and I'm done - rather than logging in and out of various accounts. I only use Twitter as part of an overall strategy though... and then only for the backlinks or traffic push. I actually think it's white noise - so well done for those of you that are seeing results. I do see plenty of traffic results - but my direct business has come from forums, and Facebook, to be fair.

 

[helmuc]

gratz

still twitter is a real gold-mine for finding specific information - just follow certain organisations (don't get tempted to follow not related ones) an voila