There\’s a rumor going around.
It\’s growing. It\’s dangerous.
And I think I may have encouraged it.
People are starting to believe that Twitter is a sales tool. They see the site as a valuable resource that allows them to broadcast their sales messages and land new deals.
They\’re right… up to a point. People are making sales that way. They\’re including their affiliate links in their tweets, talking up their own products and generating views on their squeeze pages. They\’re selling goods too.
But using Twitter in that way is just a huge waste of the site\’s potential.
In Twitter Power, I describe Twitter as the Internet\’s water-cooler. It\’s a social venue, a meeting place to which everyone is invited and everyone is open to conversation. The bios are the name badges, and the links are the business cards. It\’s sociable, it\’s friendly and it\’s a lot of fun as well.
That makes it a fantastic networking tool.
You can go on Twitter and meet the leading people in your field. And I don\’t meant \”meet\” as in \”read their websites.\” I mean ask them questions and read their answers. You can react to their comments and see their responses to you.
You can converse with them.
You can learn from mentors, chat with executives, and yes… you can talk to potential clients and customers.
But if all you do is pitch directly to those leads, then you can expect your response rate to be very low.
It\’s a bit like walking up to someone at a party and saying, \”Hi, I hear you own a restaurant. I sell tables. Want to buy some?\”
That\’s not how relationships are built. It\’s not even how business relationships are built.
Twitter allows you the opportunity to get to know people. It lets you become part of a community that\’s discussing your industry and talking about the kinds of products and services you offer. But the sales come as a result of the closeness that community brings.
The best way to sell on Twitter is to forget about selling on Twitter. Focus on writing tweets that form friendships. The sales will take care of themselves.