Twit101

These days companies are looking for ways to tie their business into social media and the local communities to gain more exposure. Some are using blogs and sites like Twitter to try and sell. You have probably read over and over, that social media is not a selling tool, it’s a community. Meet and interact with your fans, customers and people with similar interests, don’t turn it into one long commercial.

One great way to utilize this community and possibly get some sales might be to hold an event of some sort. This will tie in your store, product or event to your online presence. Because it is free, social sites where you have established a community, are a great place to gain exposure for your business if you take your time and build relationships and trust with the people in your online community.

Here are some steps to get you going.

Find Local Businesses Using Social Media

Aside from using search.twitter.com to find local businesses and tweeple by name, other sites offer options which may make things a bit easier.

Where to Look For Them

Localtweeps shows a long list of tweets from locals. Localtweeps has a section to add an event. In my area there were only a couple older ones listed. The keyword search doesn’t seem to be as good as it could be, but finding local tweets works great.

Nearbytweets lets you search by zip code and keyword. This is very helpful to see what local people are tweeting about.

Twellow can be considered the yellow pages of Twitter. The option of searching for keywords by industry is a really great feature I don’t recall seeing anywhere else.

What To Do When You Find Them

Before you contact them, start retweeting and publicizing their goals. This will help you gain their attention and show you are a fan and aren’t just in it for you.  Follow the local tweeters in your area who’s target customers are the people you want to attract; this includes bars, hotels, clubs or any local businesses.

Just because you are supporting their cause or event by retweeting does not mean they will do the same for you.The key factor many companies overlook is the relationship part of social networking. You can’t pop in on a Monday and be running with the big boys by Friday; it takes time to be trusted.

Find Active Users on Local Business Blogs

If you find a local business who is actively tweeting, odds are pretty good they are using other social media sites. It is very common for a business to use a blog of some sort. Companies are slowly seeing the benefit of the community a blog can help create.

Where to Look For Them

A good place to start, since you are following them on Twitter, is their profile. Most, if not all companies have a link to their site on their profile. If for some reason they do not, give them a quick Google search.

What To Do When You Find Them

When you go to their site, make sure you leave meaningful comments about their topics. It isn’t about you, it is about them. Don’t try to pimp your sale or event or product; leave intelligent, useful information to benefit THEIR readers.

See if they will donate a decent giveaway, maybe use their location for the event

Attend Local Events

There are always events, sales and even tweetups going on. If there aren’t any, hold one yourself. There is bound to be a couple people locally who would get together for coffee or a drink to talk about almost anything. Don’t be discouraged if the attendance is low; it may take a little time to get the word out.

Use a Twitter based service like Twtvite to get an idea of how many people will be attending. If you have a fan page on Facebook, put the word out there. Don’t be nervous to ask people to meet up in the real world.

Where to Look For Them

Tweetups – Tweetvite, Findtweetups and many other services are out there.

Events – You may need to look on a few of the sites or search Twitter for a local events. Look for people who are promoting their event multiple times a day.

What To Do When You Find Them

If local people / businesses you are following hold an event of some kind, go and introduce yourself to them, shake their hand. It will help them put a face with your online presence. Bring friends to increase the attendance at the event they are promoting

This will build a relationship with people who have followers and a network you are trying to reach. When you meet someone in person it advances the relationship and they will be more inclined to promote your event.

In the next part, I will go over more steps to promote your own event. In the meantime start building your community and retweeting other people’s promotions. Good retweet karma is never a bad thing.

How do you use social media to promote your event?

image credit Alan Stanton