Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time

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Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
 
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Since 2006, forward-thinking companies like Apple, JetBlue, Whole Foods, and GM have discovered the instant benefits of leveraging social media site Twitter to reach consumers directly, build their brand, and increase their sales. Some companies have whole teams of specialists whose only job is to respond to the tweets of consumers.

In this revised and updated edition of Twitter Power, online marketing guru Joel Comm explores the latest trends in how businesses and marketers can integrate Twitter into their existing marketing strategies to build a loyal following among Twitter members, expand awareness of their product or service, and even handle negative publicity due to angry or disappointed customers.

  • Updated with thirty percent new material, including all the latest business applications for Twitter
  • Includes new, recent case studies of companies at the forefront of the Twitter movement
  • Helps you develop your own social networking strategy to meet your specific business needs

Twitter Power is a must-have resource for any business leader who wants to keep up with the social media movement.

Twitter Tips from the Author
Driving Followers to the Mall

Look through my timeline, and you’ll see lots of different kinds of tweets. You’ll see links to my blog posts. You’ll see replies to my followers. You’ll see my opinions on politics, gaming, and social media. You’ll even see the odd quote that I’ve thrown in for fun and to spark some comments.

What you won’t see are tweets that tell people they should be buying my products. That’s not what I use Twitter for. I prefer to use it to build a brand and a community. In time, that will bring me more loyal customers and more sales overall. I can already see it happening in the number of visitors to my blog and the type of comments those visitors leave. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use Twitter to drive direct sales.

You can, but you have to follow a number of simple rules:

Don’t do it too often. A special offer once a week is plenty. More than that, and you’ll start to look like a commercial Twitter timeline rather than a personal one. That will reduce the number of your users.

Make the offers really special. Time-limited offers and discount coupons make followers feel that they’re being rewarded for reading your tweets. Being part of an exclusive club is a powerful motivator to keep reading.

Keep the offers targeted. People will follow you for all sorts of reasons. They might have seen your Twitter URL on your blog. They might have seen a reply to you in someone else’s timeline. Or they could have read one of your re-tweeted messages to name just three.

They’ll stick around because they find your tweets interesting and entertaining.

With a group of followers that could be quite varied, the temptation might be to make offers for any products you can think of. If someone offers you an interesting-looking joint venture, you might want to mention it on Twitter, offer a discount code, and see if anyone bites. You could do that, and some people might bite. However, if your keep your offers closely-targeted to your specialized subject—whatever that subject might be—you’ll continue to come across as an expert, and because your trust levels on that topic will be higher, your conversion rates should be higher too.

Don’t link to a sales page without a special offer. Although Twitterers understand that companies are using the site for branding and marketing, they don’t want to feel that they’re being pushed into buying. If the tweets are interesting and entertaining, then followers will be happy to read them.

In fact, they’ll enjoy them and they’ll see the company as having its finger on the pulse, as a firm that feels that it’s part of their community and that knows how to follow the community’s rules. Companies that are seen to view followers as nothing more than walking moneybags, though, aren’t going to pick up followers. They’re actually more likely to lose followers who were once customers.

Link directly to a sales page without making the follower feel that they’re receiving special treatment, and you create the impression that you really want to sell, not tweet.

Usually, the best way to drive followers to buying pages is to use the strategies we’ve seen already: Create entertaining tweets, and throw in occasional special offers that appear to reward followers while avoiding the appearance of a hard sale—or even that you’re marketing.

There is one exception though. A number of timelines have turned up on Twitter that take exactly the opposite approach. They’re a bit like Darren Rowse’s Twitterfeed account: They provide just one type of tweet and followers know exactly what they’re getting.

In this case, they’re getting nothing but special offers. Once in a while, MomsWhoSave (@momswhosave) will toss in a personal tweet. But it’s mostly discounts and coupon codes for its 8,375 followers.

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Customer Reviews

Best Book On Twitter
 
Review Date: February 10, 2009
Reviewer: Ann Paris, Daytona Beach FL
This is the third Twitter book I have read and this one was the best by far. In my reading and marking pages, I found at least 50 specific marketing strategies I can use right now. Being an author of 20 books myself, I am a tough critic of these kinds of books. I would give this one my highest recommendation for anyone wanting to learn about Twitter or online marketing in general.

[...]
Are You On The Twitter Sidelines?
 
Review Date: April 5, 2009
Reviewer: J. Blount, Sales Gravy, USA
What are you doing? Does anybody really care?

That was my first reaction to Twitter. Why in the world would anyone care if I was at the grocery store or hanging out with my friends? To me the entire concept behind Twitter was kind of stupid. So for months I resisted - a naysayer on the sidelines.

Slowly though it began to occur to me that Twitter held real value for my business. With a few microblogs a day I could stay connected with my customers and keep them connected to me.

Of course with any new technology there is a learning curve. And in today's fast paced world not knowing how to use new technology to your advantage can hold you back, and worse, give your competitors' an edge in the marketplace.

So if you, like me, are asking "What can Twitter do for my business?" I highly recommend author Joel Comm's new book, Twitter Power - How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet At a Time.

Twitter Power shows you how to leverage the real power of Twitter for instant business benefits like reaching new markets and increasing sales. In the book Comm provides step by step instructions for integrating Twitter into your current business strategy. His techniques will help you build a loyal customer base, expand brand awareness, and generate buzz for your products, services, and in my case - web content.

One of the best parts of the book is Comm's 30 Day Plan For Dominating Twitter. This one chapter is worth the price of the entire book! This step by step plan will give you the kick start you need to get off of the sidelines and into the Twitter game. Give Twitter Power a try - it worked for me. And be sure to follow me @salesgravy.

Jeb Blount[...]

If you want to be a successful Twit, you need this book.
 
Review Date: February 24, 2009
Reviewer: Rhiannon Bowman, Charlotte, NC
If you're interested in creating a successful Twitter account- especially one you hope will boost your bottom-line- you'll find the book is worth every cent.

It's obvious from the start of the book, which you'll want to read in front of your computer, that Comm wants readers to utilize it as a reference guide to get started and make productive use of their Twitter time- not be an end-all-be-all Twitter Bible (he leaves plenty of room for Twitter to upgrade).

New Twitter users will find the first three chapters immensely helpful, while those of us who are already Tweetie Birds (follow me @RhiBowman) could easily skip them. Though, I wouldn't, if I were you; you'll likely find a couple of wise tips you never knew you were looking for within those pages. They cover a brief history of social media, Twitter's recipe for success and how to get started- from choosing a user name to resources for designing your profile page.

While it's true much of the rest of the book is intended for business users, the good-to-know information will be helpful for those who are all about Twitter fun, too. Every Twitterer wants to build a following (chapter five), needs to "play nice" (chapter 12 covers legal-ese) and lots of groups might be interested in using Twitter to communicate with their members (chapter seven). But, business users will want to pay particularly close attention to the chapters on customer service, brand building and using Twitter as a tool to drive traffic to your Web site (and products).

The book is easy to use as a reference with its thorough contents page(s) and comprehensive index. So, for those who don't feel they have the time to read cover-to-cover, you can certainly pick through for the specific information you need to know.

Speaking of picking, I do have a couple of gripes. I'll start with typos; they're distracting. There aren't tons of them, but there are enough of them for me to mention them here. Second, of the many helpful Web sites Comm lists, I did find that he has a business interest in one of them (TwitPwr.com). Wish he would have disclosed that fact. (Maybe since the name is so close to the book's title he assumed we'd figure it out.) Lastly, his co-author Ken Burge, mentions a portion of the book's Web site several times in techy chapter 11 but, as of this writing, it's under construction. Of course, the book is only one week old. And, frankly, those are minor problems and shouldn't prevent you from reading the book.
twitterstats

Here's why: the book is going to help you increase your "followers" list and it will help you use Twitter more effectively- whether for business or for pleasure. For proof, look at the stats for my Twitter account. When I began reading the book- three days ago- I had 328 followers. Right now I have 454- and, I've only just begun to follow Comm's advice. Plus, I've gained followers that I genuinely like who I hope enjoy Tweeting with me.

I can't help but believe Comm would be proud of me for paying attention to the numbers.

Rhiannon Bowman, Freelance Writer
The Word Trade
rhibowman.wordpress.com
If you're using Twitter you need to read Twitter Power!
 
Review Date: February 6, 2009
Reviewer: Miles Baker,
I've been following Joel on Twitter for over a year as of writing this. Over that time I've seen his Twitter following grow by thousands of followers! Watching this amazing growth and following Joel's tweets I've realized he definitely knows Twitter inside and out. I'm glad he's finally released all his knowledge and tips into book format.

Just in the the first few chapters Twitter Power covers the basics and potential mistakes I see SO MANY people making with Twitter. It then goes on to cover many other helpful aspects such as how to use Twitter to build your brand, getting help, building a team, applications you can use with Twitter, and more.

I highly recommend reading Twitter power for anyone that uses Twitter and wants to get the most out of it.

Miles Baker
www.twitter.com/milesbaker
www.MarketingWithMiles.com



Twitter Power is Twitter for Super-Affiliates
 
Review Date: October 13, 2009
Reviewer: Christopher Abraham,
A couple weeks ago I flew down to Atlanta to meet Diane Myer (@flydigemini) of StudioCom (@studiocom) at her Atlanta agency. After chatting, she handed me a copy of Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time. Having never read it herself, she passed it off to me so that I might read it and write a book report for her. Here's that book report.

Twitter Power was written by Joel Comm (@joelcomm) and is a rare bird: a book that is both a shameless, step-by-step self-promotion and marketing guide for social media and a book that trains readers on best practices, which is a great help to people new to social media (Twitter being only one of many social media tools that it shows you how to use).

Twitter Power is dead center between the PhD work of history, case studies, and Twilosophy offered by Shel Israel in the form of Twitterville and the more moralistic 101 step-by-step work of Tee Morris in All a Twitter. What makes Twitter Power different to me is that is spends quite a bit of the book ignoring Twitter. It backs off and deals with the broader social media solutions offered over the last decades, including advice for blogging and the history of social media. Then it paves the way for why Twitter actually matters -- not only offering partial context in the form Twitter's history but also context that traces back to BBS systems.

Mind you, this isn't Cluetrain. Twitter Power does suggest that just about anything and everything can be monetized and is open to monetization -- and it also suggests that maybe, sometimes, dropping affiliate links into everything might not be the right way to play it.

I appreciate this sort of shamelessness. It is more honest and a lot less moralistic than a lot of the other Twitter books. For example, this is the only book I have read that doesn't do the requisite Guy Kawasaki witchhunt.

In fact, unlike many of the books I have reviewed, I dog-eared page 48. I have been meaning to jump into Photoshop and create myself a custom Twitter background image -- like all the cool kids make. The one I have isn't nearly as pimp-daddy as I would like. So, I turned down a corner to remind me to go back and either make my own or drop $100 for @Twitart to make one for me.

Like I said, this is a useful book!

I think 2009 is the year that the nerds who are trying to keep Twitter pure and pretty get a wedgy and a good pantsing, and Twitter gets a little less "church lady" and a little more "rock star." Joel Comm is someone I look to as a leader. Additionally, I am much obliged to MC Hammer (@mchammer), Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee), Darren Rowse (@problogger), Chris Pirillo (@ChrisPirillo), Steve Rubel (@steveRubel), and Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) for also paving the way to Twitter and blog shamelessness! God bless all your souls.

Thank you, Joel Comm, for actually writing the book on it.

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