How to Make Money on Twitter

Twitter is a community whose members share news and views and take part in discussions about various subjects, including products.  The site has more than a billion registered members, three hundred million of them active and using mobile devices.  Last year, it was reported that almost one quarter of adults using the internet have a Twitter account, around 40% of them using Twitter daily.

So Twitter is definitely something most sellers should consider as a marketing tool, not just on eBay, but also on Amazon, Etsy and other marketing portals.

Here are a few things to get you started using Twitter to grow your profits:

*  Most people using Twitter do so to find solutions to problems, not always to find products.  By providing help and advice, sellers can build a following on Twitter and use Tweets to direct traffic back to their listings on eBay and other ecommerce websites.

So people selling products to help cure acne and other skin complaints, or providing health supplements for people and pets, will find Twitter an effective place to promote their goods.  Answer questions, solve problems, and Twitter users will trust you and your products and buy from you in preference to rival sellers on and outside of eBay. 

*  Twitter can be used by sellers to provide support for buyers and answer questions for people as yet undecided about buying.  

*  The mere fact a seller has an established social networking presence gives the business a professional air and suggests superior after sales and back up service.  

* There are numerous promotional methods on Twitter, some free, others low cost, a few prohibitively expensive for small business owners.  Promotions can be used for sales on or outside of eBay and other high fee-charging marketing platforms and so cut selling overheads at those sites.  

* Twitter provides Buy It Now buttons leading direct to several long-established ecommerce platforms.  Sadly, some direct sale options are currently unavailable outside the United States but if something works across the Pond, you can bet it won’t be long before it arrives in the UK.  So study what’s available to American sellers and be prepared to move fast when our turn comes.  

*  Avoid heavy selling on Twitter, and most other social networking sites, or you are more likely to alienate site members than build a massive entourage of potential buyers for your products.  Be helpful, be approachable, give subtle hints about your products and link to their sales pages on or outside of eBay. 

*  Twitter is a blogging website, much like any other, but where most outside blogs feature posts hundreds or several thousand words long, on Twitter they extend to a maximum 140 characters.  So there’s little space to make your posts stand out from the crowd, explaining why the most effective Tweets, in selling terms, at least, feature eye-catching headlines and otherwise inaccessible information, frequently free and bonus incentives.  Because they are short, most Twitter posts take minutes to write compared to hours and possibly days for longer blog posts.