Twitter can be addictive for many of us, whether we’re communicating with like-minded people about our professions or politics—or we’re group-watching “The Walking Dead.” But many others just don’t see the appeal or return on investment.
I’m here to show both groups three ways you can find new clients by using Twitter effectively.
1. Buy promoted tweets.
A few weeks ago, I spent only $36 to promote tweets for one week about my editing and writing services. I set the price limit, which meant I didn’t have to worry about a surprise bill of thousands of dollars if my tweets took off.
I used A/B testing and wrote two different tweets to see which received more clicks and/or direct follow-ups with me. About halfway through the week, when Twitter analytics showed that one tweet was performing much better, I cancelled the second tweet and created a third to try out. All of the tweets included a call to action (and link) to visit my website.
In one week, I received 65 clicks on a tweet that was an obvious advertisement for my small business. I also received a few emails asking about my writing, editing and social media services and dozens of new follows from potential clients.
Bonus: Buying a promoted tweet opens the door to your Twitter analytics—which is one of the primary reasons I bought the tweets. Now, I can view the response to all my regular tweets and see which phrases and topics perform better.
Think about what types of new clients you want to gain and what services you offer that might be appealing. Use those key phrases and include a call to action to visit your website. If you want to branch out into a new field, phrase your promoted tweets in a way that will target people in that field.
2. Search keywords on Twitter.
About once a week, I search key phrases on Twitter of services I offer that people might be asking about via tweets. For example, I am a longtime health editor and writer. I’m also a strong copy editor, so searching for the phrase “health copy editor” landed me a new client, who had tweeted she was looking for that very service for her health company. I replied, we exchanged a few emails, I took an editing test and I now have a consistent weekly gig editing website copy. I’m also in conversation with a few other potential clients looking for writers.
3. Respond to followers and retweets.
You have to be careful about direct marketing on Twitter because you don’t want to annoy someone who chose to follow or retweet you. I’m not a fan of the automatic direct message when I follow someone. I also don’t like tweets sent to me from what sound like a robot.
Instead, I am careful to look at bios and websites of people and organizations that follow me, include me in their paper.li newsletters or retweet me. I then tweet them a thank you and briefly explain that I’d love to talk further if they are in need of a specific service—and I tailor my message about my services based on what I think they might need. It’s a guessing game sometimes, but I make sure my tweets sound human. I’ve received a few replies so far and am in conversation with those potential clients.
We all know social media can be addictive and for an avid Twitter user like me, a real time suck. So, if I’m going to get bursts of dopamine from “playing” on Twitter, I make sure I’m having fun by finding new clients.