I recently did a revenue analysis for 2009 and discovered something. Almost 80% of my revenue from that year can be linked directly back to Twitter. Since my last post, I’ve been asked how I’ve made Twitter work for my business. Honestly, that question makes me uncomfortable because I am not a Twitter expert; I just happen to love the medium. But enough people asked so I thought I’d put what has worked for me in a blog post. The short answer is that it didn’t “just happen.” I devoted time, exorbitant amounts of time and effort into building my brand on Twitter. Here are 5 things I did:

1. I made it more about them than me.

Do you remember what it was like to be new on Twitter? It was pretty scary for me. I was posting on Twitter but no one was paying attention to me. I had hardly any followers. I remember the first time I was re-tweeted by someone I didn’t know. I called my husband and screamed into the phone!

When I decided to get strategic about my relationship-building on Twitter, I made an important decision and that was to be helpful. Instead of following “big name” people on Twitter with the hopes of a response, I found people in my niche market with hardly any followers at all and offered to help them. My help came in the form of Follow Fridays, re-tweeting their posts and there were a couple of occasions I offered some free coaching. I remember the time when I spent 2.5 hours helping someone edit their ebook. There was another time I tweeted something about having a brother with Autism and I met a complete stranger for lunch one day because she (as the mom of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder) asked to hear my story.

2. I sent personalized Direct Messages (DMs) to my most interactive followers.

I remember several times last year when I would spend 2 hours of my Monday mornings sending an encouraging message to these folks. When I celebrated my birthday last year, I was overwhelmed with birthday wishes and messages from my followers. I sent a DM to every single one of them and thanked them by name. By the way, I never (ever) sent automated DMs. If that is your practice, stop, just stop now. There isn’t anything personal about those messages. It’s spam and it’s irritating.

3. I talked to people.

I literally picked up the phone to get to know my followers on Twitter. And in those conversations I didn’t talk about myself. I asked a lot of questions about them, what their business was, what their needs were and how I could help. Fantastic friendships and yes, business came from many of those phone calls.

4. I didn’t ask for anything.

It wasn’t that I was afraid of the ask. It’s that I didn’t want my relationships to be based on self-promotion or sales. I can see your heads spinning and I understand your objections. Truthfully, I probably was on the far extreme of not asking. But I had been duped too many times by people who wanted to “help,” when their true intention was to sell me something. I did not want to be remotely associated with that crowd. Now when I do ask, people know me and my true intentions. And by the way, they are more inclined to buy.

5. I was me.

This was a stretch for me. I worked for 11 years in one of America’s most conservative industries (insurance) in two of their most conservative companies. During that time  I was conditioned to leave my quirky, spunky, “challenge the status quo” self in the elevator on the first floor. After escaping the corporate world, I dove into social media. I found the freedom to fully be myself exciting and a bit scary. I had questions like “How much is too much to share?” “Do people really want to know that I have a phobia of clowns?” “Is it okay to be a bit silly or nerdy or weird?” Today, my conclusion is yes, yes and yes. Be who you are, be human. Let others (yes strangers) get to know you. Zig Ziglar once said, “People do business with those they know, like and trust.” That is what relationship building is all about. In contrast, spammers rarely share of themselves – because their focus is on sales, not relationships. They push the product and offer “free” help to get your click.

By the way, there are many, many people who disagree with me on this. If you’re one of them I’d love to hear your perspective in the comments. I wrote more about this topic in a post called “Please Don’t Like Me.”

BONUS 6. I built relationships nationally as well as locally.

This is the best part about Twitter – you are able to expand your reach. I’m virtual which means I do coaching sometimes face-to-face and also by phone; I travel for training and speaking. There was no reason to limit my sphere of influence to my zip code. As a result, I have valuable, strong, relationships with people in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, California and Florida. These are people I never knew before Twitter and that I now know now I can count on in a pinch. They are referrals sources for me, they are fans of what I do and help spread the word about Sanera online and offline. And I do the same for them.

What has worked (or not worked) for you?

The photo is a picture of me with Margaret Anaglia, Owner of Al’s Gourmet Nuts and Sanera Camp graduate.

Tagged as: Branding, relationships, Social Media, twitter