Twitter is an undermined and untapped gold mine with lots and lots of potential customers and opportunities.
5 Steps to generating leads on Twitter
Search for tweets that are asking industry-related questions.
Giving a helpful response to an industry-related question is a great way to get your name out there and to build trust. Using a tool like Hashtagify.me you can plug in keywords related to your business or industry to see what’s being asked. For instance, I could type in ‘bookkeeping’ and a question mark to find questions related to accounting. Now I can respond with helpful suggestions or ideas, and potentially gain a new, targeted follower.
Search for tweets about your competitors.
Another great way to find relevant conversations to contribute to is to search for hashtags about your competitors. For instance, if someone tweeted that they were unhappy with a service being provided, you could respond that you are sorry about their experience, and you are happy to offer a free consultation. You don’t want to become known as someone who ‘poaches’ other people’s clients, but there’s nothing wrong with building connections by offering helpful advice and an opportunity for a better experience!.
Use relevant hashtags.
Remember that you are not the only one searching for relevant hashtags! Chances are your target market is also searching for industry-related hashtags, so make sure to use them in your tweets. Remember that tweets with 1-2 hashtags are most likely to be retweeted (and generate more leads) than those with 3 or more hashtags.
Participate in Twitter chats.
Use a tool like Twubs to find live Twitter chats you can participate in. These chats can help you connect with your target market, and can help establish you as an industry expert. You may even want to host your own Twitter chat in order to build deeper connections with your current customer base. For added visibility, you may want to consider sponsoring an industry chat; for instance, having your logo and URL displayed on the chat page or having your business mentioned by the host.
Search for tweets that are requesting recommendations.
Searching for relevant hashtags and keywords will be one of the best ways you can find highly targeted tweets you can respond to. Using Twitter’s Advanced Search function, you can look for tweets containing industry keywords coupled with the word ‘recommendation’ or ‘looking for’. For instance, if you’re a web designer, you may want to search for ‘web design’ and ‘recommendation’ or ‘looking for web design’. If you are a local brick and mortar business, you will likely also want to specify a particular city, maybe even a zip code or a series of zip codes!