Brief explanation of Twitter:
The basic description of twitter is that it is micro blogging. This means people are “blogging” about anything and everything as long as they can fit it in 140 characters or less. What does this mean? There is a lot of junk out there on twitter.
Why is it good for business?
Done properly, Twitter can help establish your reputation as a knowledgeable person in the industry. People will be more open to your recommendations and willing to purchase on your suggestions when they feel you are an active part of their community.
Done poorly and you will be viewed as a spammer, which reflects bad on you and the products your are trying to promote. For the most part, sales from a spam are few and far between. Those who do make a sale also have a high number returns, thus loosing the initial commission.
The key, as with all social marketing, is openness and honesty.
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Getting Started:
You'll want to create an account on Twitter.com. Upload a picture and fill in your profile as people will be more apt to follow you if they can get to know you a bit. The next step is to follow people. Search for fiends, people you admire and of course you'll want to follow us, @trx_fitness.
Watch what they do and get a feel for how twitter works before diving in.
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Lingo:
@name: This is how you respond to someone specifically or give credit to someone on twitter. For example: @trx_fitness is the current twitter account for Fitness Anywhere. If you want to post something directed to that account you would do it like this.
@trx_fitness when will the video of the low rows be on the site?
Or in reference to:
Everyone should follow @trx_fitness and stay up to date on the TRX.
Note: even when you are directing your comments to a specific person, it is still viewable by the rest of twitter.
RT: ReTweet. Use this when passing information that someone else has tweeted. For example, if @trx_fitness have tweeted, “TRX was featured on American Idol last night!” The proper way to “retweet would be...
RT @trx_fitness: TRX was featured on American Idol last night!
DM: Direct Message. These are messages that you can send directly to other people and are private, not seen by the rest of the twitter universe. You can only directly message people that are following you, and only people you are following can directly message you.
#: Hashtag. The # sign (referred to as a hashtag) is used when you want to specify an event or subject. By using #, you ease the search or filter use to people only interested in a topic. For Example:
Fraser lead a great discussion today about using the TRX in PhysTherapy #IDEA
The #IDEA refers to the IDEA conference and people searching for comments about that specifically will find it easer by searching on #IDEA rather than IDEA and finding all the tweets like...
I just had a great idea. Peanut Butter and Chocolate... TOGETHER!
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Don'ts
Twitter is a way to highlight the personalities behind the company. It provides a way for customers to feel more connected to the brand. As a company front man, there is the added responsibility of always being “on.” That being said, this list of “don'ts” might be a no brainer... but didn't want to leave these unspoken.
Don't say anything that can be considered racial, condescending or sexist.
Don't post anything negative about competitors, places (like towns, states or countries) or person/people (it is perfectly acceptable to provide a “review” of a restaurant, venue, etc. as long as you are not just ripping on it).
Don't tweet about mundane things. “I'm headed to lunch.” Is not going to get you much of a reaction.
Don't bombard twitter with a bunch of tweets all at once. A good rule of thumb is to keep it to a 5 tweet an hour minimum.
Don't tweet drunk. It might seem like a good idea at the time, but remember, this is public.
Don't retweet something and leave off the original Twitter poster. Always give credit to those who wrote it first.
Don't just tweet about what you are doing. Highlight people that you are following.
Don't tweet your daily schedule if it has no value. i.e. “Going to a meeting with LiveStrong.” better “meeting with LiveStrong to discuss how TRX and Lance can change bicycle fitness.”
Don't just start following people randomly. Twitter monitors this and if it seems you are doing something shade, it will freeze your account.
Don't just post your affiliate link or create a bunch of twitter accounts for the soul purpose of pushing your affiliate link on people. Not only is this annoying, it will get you banned from twitter if they catch you.
Don't use foul language.
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Do's
This about how to get people interested in following you and providing useful information.
Do Include the why when tweeting about what you are doing. “Just ran the Lyon st. stairs in 1.4 min. Beat my last time and getting close to goal of >1 min.”
Do Follow people who are in the fitness niche. More on how to find these people later. Follow people who have interesting views and ideas that are pertinent to this industry, not just people that you think will make you look good.
Do Tweet at least 3 to 4 times a day. People will be more apt to pay attention to what you have to say. You can also schedule tweets in advance. More on that later.
Do RT (retweet) others when you come across something interesting. @trx_fitness posts a quote a day... good content to retweet.
Do Fill out your profile and picture as thorough as possible, include a link back to fitness anywhere.
Do Be polite and respond to people when they send you a DM or an @ reply.
Do include your affiliate link in your profile and recommend the TRX to your followers.
Do Think about having a separate “personal” account if you think you are going to be using twitter to share info between friends.
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This should at least get you started posting on twitter. Once you are following us, give us a few days and we'll follow you back. Send us a DM and let us know who you are!