Twitter is a flighty beast so your first task is to master it
So respect it
Decide what you want it to do
Recognise what your readers want from it
Respect
If you secretly think Twitter is for air heads Think again. It’s where you keep abreast of the world when you are in a hurry. It has levels, but much is deadly serious eg @BBC Breaking News. It’s a place for people power; a place to vent; a place to inform and a place to be funny. It often works as a sign post to what is worthwhile and of interest. It’s egalitarian. So stop being snooty and try to get good at it.
What do you want Twitter to do for you?
Companionship and advice of other crafters
Keep my existing buyers connected
Persuade local people to come and buy
Have a say on issues that matter to me and my work
Drive people to my online selling place
Can Twitter supply?
Twitter can do all of the above but you must hone some of your posts to your goals and keep reasonably focused.
Readers’ wants
Readers do not entirely share your goals. They really don’t want to read about your product daily but if they find you good company they will accept a thin trickle of your self promotion.
Think of Twitter as a social event. You can’t walk up to your target tell them what you want them to hear and walk away. You have to do all the chit-chat to slip in the core message, otherwise they will avoid you in future
It’s not about big follower numbers, it’s about the quality and suitability of your audience.
Some people follow you only to get you to follow them. No actual reading of tweets is happening.
Some are robot triggered ( set up to follow anyone who uses their target word in a message)
If you seem to be posting into a deathly void, don’t despair. Twitter is an iceberg. Most people read and don’t respond unless they are personally addressed
Some people just use Twitter as a way of reading your latest blog posts expecting you to post the link.
Growth will just happen. Add your Twitter address here and there, but never on your online shop. Never ever send people away from your shop.
Twitter is fickle. It is low commitment. Your task is attention seeking, while seeming not to be.
Evaluation
Frankly don’t bother, life is too short
Twitter’s job for the craftsman is to be a kind of rope bridge slung across the abyss to keep your business in focus for customers and fellow craftspeople. If it feels helpful, it probably is
Tweeting dos and don’ts
This indicates good idea( gun touting and cool)
This is not such a great idea (dead)
Be outspoken. Share your real opinions, not just fluffy pink kitty chat.
You want to be remembered and nice is bland is unmemorable.
If people feel akin to you they will respond to your product.
React, be current. As in Good morning…
Don’t run endless @ conversations which exclude
Happy Tweet when drunk but never ever Anti ones
If a tiny corner of your mind says maybe this is a bit risky then Listen and do not send
Pictures work
Never picture product without price and dimension
Assume people will want to know. That confidence spreads to buyers
Questions work well and draw in the lurking silent
Don’t offer a diet of undigested links
Twitter needs to be instant gratification
Loose the offers and freebies for followers
You make great stuff so act as if you do
Don’t re-tweet other people’s praise of you
It’s already out there in the Tweetisphere doing good
Re-tweeting it looks needy and boastful
Do punch over your weight on who you follow so you will learn to Tweet well
Don’t follow for a follow that is defeatist.
Check their tweets, only follow if they amuse and interest you
Don’t hog people’s timeline or they will get sick of you
Don’t make those awful Follow Friday lists
Why would your followers check them out because you list them, you are not the Dali Lama.
Use Twitter in its own right, as an end in itself, not as a clearing station
Don’t link up with Facebook, keep it live
Don’t welcome new followers, just reply if they tweet you
as those welcome lists look self-congratulatory and are a waste of your followers ‘ time
The core sell on Twitter is to direct followers to new stock online
“Fantastic collection of knitted teapots ready now (link)”
No gushing with !!! No little girly meaningless xxx because it is inane and insincere.
Twitter Heros
Here is a good Twitter slice You have from (bottom) question, then selling, then being current
Here is a totally brilliant Twitter slice, brilliant because its me
From bottom up
You have opinion and being current
then personal engagement,
then intro of the product( ie my advice)
then the disingenuous repeating of the pitch
Hopefully it is gently done and recognising that my Tweets should seem a mirror of me
Eg of a great Tweet : “gloriously melting pig cheeks” @NigelSlater it has the man and his message
Another Tweet hero is @hannahmcandrew a Scottish slipware potter with her “flip, fliperty, flip” she has constructed an accident prone, potter struggling to keep abreast of the demands and difficulties of her craft. Which is a wonderful pretext for showing us lots of product. She is very weak on dimensions and price though
Now you know how to add that vital T you need a couple handyman tricks to maintain your account
follow @support as that tells you when Twitter is sick and updates you on changes
If your Twitter is hacked
CHANGE your PASSWORD immediately
You do that by clicking on the Gear icon on the top right of your screen
Select “Settings”
Click Password from the menu on the left and put in new password
If your account has been suspended because Twitter suspects you were hacked,
visit Twitter support to fill out a form to regain access.
Once you regain control of your account Delete the spurious posts
you delete them by going to your Profile, hovering over the offending tweet and clicking Delete
Do everything you can to warn people what has happened so that you can minimise the damage and tell them how to put it right if they are infected by clicking on the phishing link
Do I Have to Tweet?
Actually no you don’t.
If you get it right and enjoy it, then do, but it’s really for good writers so if you are a great craftsperson and a useless writer then walk away from Twitter
Doing it badly will not help you at all.
You can’t Tweet for Success you can only Tweet for a bit more attention and its “softly, softly, catchee monkey” all the way.
Now that should be your Twitter all sorted if you have more questions then ask away in the comments.
If you want to know where Tweeting fits in read this post Online brick by brick
Handmade Lives 