Why Build Relationships on Twitter?

You can build relationships with and connect to REAL PEOPLE.

Oh, Big Advertising, the trade winds are a shifting. Consumers are way past the tipping point now where they tend to trust ‘Regular Joes now more than Big Giant Corporations.

My guess is, that if you’re reading this article, you’re probably more likely to be a Regular Joe than the CEO of a Fortune 500. (Dare I coin a new phrase? CE-Joe? Hmm, no - I’ll pass.)

So, the real glory of Twitter is not so much that you can easily build a list of followers as I discussed in my last post . It’s the fact that you can build RELATIONSHIPS with them.

And this is where you, the Regular Joes, have an advantage!

What I’m going to do for you in this post is get you started creating those relationships. I’m going to give you a daily process that, if you follow it, will easily turn your Twitter account into a magnet in whatever industry or niche you may be in.

In some of my previous posts, I already got you started on the path to Twitter greatness.

So, let’s recap my 4 main rules of engagement shall we?

1. Get Followers
2. Build Relationships with them
3. Get them Clicking & Retweeting and…
4. Make Money.

In my last blog post I talked about how to get tons of followers and gave you some (hopefully) compelling reasons why you should bother. If you took action as I suggested, you will have literally thousands of new followers very soon.

So, Now what?

This brings us to the next phase of this Twitter takeover. It’s time to start to really build a relationship with your followers. But first let’s talk about why it’s so important to do so.

So here’s the question: Who do YOU trust?

Sure, you might say your Mom or Dad, but really for most things… you trust your closest friends. What we’re talking about here is who you trust for recommendations. But to put a finer point on that and put it within the framework of a business discussion:

Who do people buy from? People (and companies) they trust!

Therefore, as you’re building your relationships on Twitter or any other social networking site, that’s actually what you’re doing… building TRUST. And it’s imperative that you do.

“How?”, you may ask. It’s not that hard really.

You’re going to want to first start by engaging your followers. This can be as easy as a simple and personal welcome message when they follow you. Some people I know actually do this manually (by hand) for each and every follower that they obtain.

I can see the validity of this method - but it’s awful time-consuming. Especially considering that there are a number of services out there that can help you do this.

My personal favorite is SocialOomph.com. It’s free and easy to use. Not only does it send out automatic welcome messages for you, it also allows you to schedule tweets to go out in the future among many other very powerful features. Go check it out SocialOomph.com, it’s an incredible free tool.

You’ll want to be sure to create a welcome message that adds value or engages your new follower. Otherwise, you’re just creating spam straight to their direct message inbox. Stay away from even attempting to tell your new follower about any product or service that you might have. It’s a sure way to turn them off and have them unfollow you immediately.

What you want to do is get them replying back to you right away. For instance, ask a question that’s easy for them to answer - their favorite gadget, football team, or whatever’s appropriate to your interests.

There is some debate about automatic welcome messages and I’ve had several discussions (some heated) with people on Twitter about it.

The bottom line is this: You must give value and further your cause in some way. It’s a delicate balance. You can’t just say “Hey look what I got, don’t you wanna buy one”. And be warned, “Hey thanks for the follow, looking forward to tweeting with you” ends up being just as useless to you in the long run as well.

Finally, what I really wanted to do was give you a quick “daily process” that you can follow to really ensure interaction on Twitter. Feel free to add in more than this if you want to, but if you do this each and every day, you can be certain you’ll have a growing base of people you’re starting to build a relationship with.

Daily Process For Your Twitter Account

1. Read your @mentions and reply to all of them.
2. Post what you’re actually doing or thinking about right now.
3. Post a favorite quotation, recent news link, or just basic info (this can be from online or offline resources) HINT: Go to http://alerts.google.com and set up some alerts for your interests to be automatically sent to your inbox.
4. Scan your own timeline & look for conversations to jump into.
5. Go to http://search.twitter.com, search for topics of interest to you, and get into a few conversations there as well. While you’re there, go ahead and search for your own name and/or company name to see if anyone is talking about you
6. Check your direct messages (DMs) and reply to them as well.
7. Repeat this at at least 3 times a day.

In a future blog post, I’ll share with you some awesome secrets about how to get your Twitter friends to click on stuff you send out, and even more importantly how to get them ReTweeting like crazy as well.

If you like what you’re reading here, you’re going to love my Coup de Twitter system. It covers all 4 of the main steps to Twitter Domination in easy-to-follow and easy to swallow step-by-step video format. But first, check out the FREE video on the home page - no sign-up required.

Now get out there and kick some Twass & be sure to follow my Sensei booty @harrisfellman on Twitter.

Thanks again for reading,

Harris Fellman
Marketing Sensei

You are right: you don’t have to comment or retweet, but would it help if I told you it would be much appreciated?