Facebook and Twitter for Online Retailers

Community sometimes sells. Members discuss shared interests -- hobbies, travel, politics, medical conditions, favorite foods, you name it. They create their own buzz and 'user-generated' content about their favorite products and services. They recommend things to one another -- everything from the cars they drive and the restaurants they frequent to the places they travel for vacation and the online retailers they absolutely trust and adore. Think about it: Are you more likely to purchase something based on the recommendation of a salesperson or a family member or friend?

We all belong to communities already -- our family and friends, your neighborhood, perhaps a school or church or a professional organization. All of these communities can help you research popular products and services and spread the word about what you do and the products and services you sell.

You can tap the full potential of these communities, extend them, access different communities, and even create new communities online via social networking sites and services, including two of the most popular: Facebook and Twitter.

Getting Connected on Facebook

Facebook was created for college students to keep in touch but has expanded to serve a variety of communities - from extended families to alumni groups, fan clubs, advocacy organizations, and everything in between.

After you join Facebook (membership is free) and create a personal profile, you can then invite people to become your "friends." Other members can invite you to become their friends or request to be your friend, but both members must consent. Only friends have access to one another's profiles and other content they choose to share (unless you change your settings to allow everyone to see you and your activity). As soon as you have a few friends, you can communicate with them in the following ways:

• Post a message on your "wall" for all your friends to see. Messages can include text, photos, links, video clips, or birthday wish lists.
• Join or create a "group" and share content with members of that group. Groups may include thousands of members.
• Email friends for more private discussions.

Tip: If you must sell, soft-sell. Facebook is a social site, not a sales site. Posting a short message about a product or service you like (and perhaps have for sale) is acceptable, as long as you don't abuse the privilege. If you wouldn't do it at a family or class reunion, don't do it on Facebook.

Facebook is good for:

• Getting a better feel for popular trends


• Identifying potential opportunities


• Promoting items for sale (soft-sell only)


• Letting friends know about your website or blog


• Notifying your friends of a new post on your blog


• Connecting with people who share your interests

Facebook is not good for:

• Hard-sell advertising
• Sales pitches

Keeping in Touch with Twitter

On Twitter, the question of the day, every day, 24 hours a day is this: What are you doing? And on Twitter, millions of members are constantly in the process of updating that question and reading other people's answers.

Each Twitter update is considered a "tweet" and is limited to 140 characters. Members (membership is free, by the way) can post messages using an Internet-enabled computer or via cell phone or a third-party application like Seesmic. Messages tend to be simple and direct, and conversations move along quickly.

You can also send private, "direct" messages when you don't want to share with the entire Twitter community. For example, if a person has a public question about a business, and you did not want to share your answer with the whole world, you can reply directly so that it would be seen only by that individual.

Spotting Popular Topics and Trends

Tweets are archived, and you can search them at www.search.twitter.com. This is a great way to identify popular topics, market trends, and individuals who are most actively involved in various topics of interest.

Attracting Your Own Following

When people find someone interesting on Twitter, they "follow" the individual. Typically, your "followers" can see all the tweets you create instantly - if they are either at their computer or they have their cell phones or third-party Web applications like Seesmic set to receive your messages. If not, your messages get buried by newer tweets.

By looking at a Twitter user's profile, you can see all the people they follow and all of their followers. If you are interested in following people who discuss eBay, you can choose to follow Richard Brewer-Hay of the eBay Ink blog. Then, just look at who follows him, and you'll find lots of other people to follow who are also interested in eBay. Similarly, if you sell American Doll apparel and have followers who buy what you sell, chances are good that the people who follow your followers may also be inclined to purchase American Doll apparel.

You can tag your account with up to three terms that describe your interests. To tag your account and find others who share your interests, visit www.wefollow.com.

Tip: One way to grow your list of followers is to put a Twitter badge on your website. Twitter supplies the code, so you can install it yourself. The badge shows visitors your latest messages and lets them see you are involved and current. It also gives them a way to follow you in the future.

Many Twitter users feel it's polite to follow anyone who follows them. Some automate the process -- which I do not recommend doing -- by using a free service such as TweetLater (www.tweetlater.com). If you follow a large number of people, a large percentage of them will auto-follow you, increasing your list of followers, but the numbers can be deceiving and misleading if generated automatically.

Recognizing Tweeter's Marketing Limitations

Marketers have yet to truly figure out a way to successfully monetize Twitter. Some say if you have a huge list of followers, you can tweet about your business and drive sales. While there are some success stories, they are the exception. Consider using Twitter more for eavesdropping on discussions to find out what's hot and what's not, as well as a permission-based marketing tool to promote sales and events related to what you sell.

Twitter is good for:

• Spotting trends


• Connecting with trendsetters and keeping up with their latest activities


• Notifying people of a new item for sale or post on your blog


• Getting quick answers to questions through informal polls


• Maintaining contact with people in your field of interest

Twitter is not good for:

• Driving substantial sales


• Replacing a website or blog


• Developing loyal customers and solid business relationships


• Creating deep or lasting content that people will read in the future

Supplements, Not Replacements

Both Facebook and Twitter should be considered helpful tools to supplement your current business. Neither of them can replace your website or blog. They can however, increase awareness, drive traffic to your website or blog, and establish you as a credible source of information in a particular subject area (if what you're sharing is credible).

Facebook and Twitter are free and relatively easy to use. Take some time to sign up, create your profile, and get connected. In time, you too will gather many friends and followers and have a community in place to clue you in on what's popular and do some of your sales and marketing for you.

Posted by Mikal at May 13, 2009 3:30 PM | TrackBack

eh.. really like it.

Posted by: Cubanas Follando at July 1, 2009 4:50 AM

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