CheapTweet Blog

A recent ReadWriteWeb article about Twitter traffic revealed that Twitter only sends a small amount of traffic to online retailers. According to Hitwise data from the UK, about 5% of Twitter’s downstream traffic goes to retailers. A lot of that is due to the fact that retailers are just starting to figure out how to best utilize Twitter, a generally social (and not commercial) channel, to drive traffic to their e-commerce sites.

So, what’s a retailer to do? Is Twitter worth the time? And if it is, how should you use it? At CheapTweet, we certainly believe Twitter is worth most online retailers’ time, provided it’s used effectively. Here are a few Twitter tips for retailers.

Your Profile

• Always include a link to your store. Give your followers something to click on!
• Write a brief bio. Be sure to describe what you sell or do so new followers will know what to expect.  Don’t leave this area blank, no matter how self-explanatory your Twitter name might be.
• Include a picture or logo. Many people will not follow Twitter accounts with no picture. Include something visual for people to remember.
• Take advantage of the background. You can upload an image to the background of your Twitter profile. Consider something with your company’s colors or include an logo, photo or more text to describe your store.

Your Tweets

• Call your followers to action. Encourage your followers to do something. Be descriptive and active in your tweet language.
• Tweet diversely. Yes, you want to post links to your store, your blog, or your website, but include tweets about other stuff, as well. Post links to other interesting articles or sites, post some tweets without links, reply to others – just mix it up. Most people don’t want to follow a boring or spammy feed.
• Use keywords. Make sure your tweets include keywords that will help you be found in search. Not only do people use Twitter search to find other Twitterers, but tweets are also indexed by other sites (like CheapTweet, which is indexed by Google), so keyword-rich tweets will help people find your profile, both on Twitter and off.
• Be succinct and retweetable. Just because you have 140 characters doesn’t mean you should use all of them. Try to keep your tweets to around 120 characters so your followers have room to easily retweet you.
• Include unique links. Don’t just tweet the same link over and over. Use a URL shortening service like bit.ly to shorten unique links for each new tweet. This is especially important if you’re tweeting about different products or pages.

Promotions and Interaction

• Provide special Twitter-only offers. Your followers are a dedicated group of customers; reward them with special offers. Tweet coupon codes, limited-time deals, contests and giveaways.
• Tweet about promotions a few times. Twitter is a fast-moving medium. Don’t expect that your followers will see a tweet the first time you post it. Don’t post it three times right in a row, though; post it at different times over a few hours or days to be sure different groups of followers will see it.
• Engage followers. Think about unique and interactive promotions you can do on Twitter. Be engaged with your followers – ask questions, start conversations, answer inquiries.
• Post links to sales and news. Make sure you tweet about any sales or discounts your store is running, even if they’re not Twitter-only specials. And let your followers know what’s going on with your store and your company.
• Monitor your brand. Set up an RSS feed of the Twitter search for your company and product names. This way, you can keep track of what people are saying about it and respond quickly (and helpfully).
• Experiment! The best part of Twitter is that we’re all still figuring out how to best use it. Don’t be afraid to try new promotions and ideas, see what works and use that knowledge for next time.

Just like other channels, using Twitter effectively means providing relevant and interesting content and participating in the conversation. If you have other tips for retailers on Twitter, we’d love to hear them in the comments!