Will Hardison

5 Ways To Make Money On Twitter

Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by Will in Blog, Professional, twitter

I’m sure you have heard by now that Twitter is the hip thing to do now online. What is Twitter? Well besides a website that loses money, it’s a micro-blogging platform that allows you to post your thoughts in 140 characters or less. A majority of users look to Twitter for a social outlet, but some are actually making money using Twitter. Here are 5 easy ways to make money on twitter.

1. Turn Followers Into Creators

Ask your followers for help, and offer prizes for those who comply. For example, if you’re running a special for ½ off one of your products, ask your Twitter followers to spread the word by Re-Tweeting (copying and pasting your message on their page) your message. Offer everyone who Re-Tweets it a chance to win that product for free. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your message spreads bringing you new customers and increased sales.

2. Sell Products on Twitter

Twitter can help trigger the memory of those who are interested in your product or service. Small reminders and subtle messages can help drive daily traffic to your website. Be careful to not be flagged as a “spammer” while promoting your products on Twitter. Remember, you want to provide value to those who follow you on Twitter. Keep in mind that you’re goal is to get Re-Tweeted, so keep messages close to 110 character so users can add their own personal message when re-tweeting.

Example: ½ off our winter tires http://ow.ly/UAOT (this entire message is 40 characters)

The re-tweet looks like this “RT @willhardison ½ off our winter tires http://ow.ly/UAOT You can’t beat that deal!!” (this entire message is 85 characters)

3. Look For Leads on Twitter

Ever wonder how people randomly follow you 30 seconds after you’ve said a magical keyword like “website” “marketing”, or  “ecommerce”? They’re using searches to look for users who include those keywords in their posts. To check this out for yourself go to http://search.twitter.com and type in a word like Websites, Graphic Design, or Indianapolis. This will allow you to see recent posts that include the searched word. Look for a future blog post that explains this search process further.

4. Sell Products for Twitter

This option is the most time consuming and requires an investment (unless you know how to build your own application). Twitter applications generate millions in sales. There are twitter applications that incorporate, organize, and rearrange tweets in real time. For example Twackle is a Twitter app that collects messages posted by professional athletes. Again, this route is the most time consuming and costly seeing how you have to develop an application from scratch.

5. Find Customers Anywhere

You never know where your next customer comes from. If you’re selling a product, what keeps you from selling it to someone 5 states over and shipping it? Or, if you’re providing a service that can be done electronically, you can potentially find your next customer in Japan. Twitter allows you to be found by anyone and everyone. Make sure you’re not leaving them out.

What have been your experiences on Twitter? Have you found new clients or increased revenues through using the system? If you have additional tips, please let me know. I’d be happy to add them.

Tags: making money, marketing, Networking, twitter