Using Twitter Marketing
To Help Promote Your Art

Are you using Twitter marketing?

There is no disputing that social media is a powerful tool to have in your marketing bag when it comes to your artist marketing.

One of the major Social Media networks getting a lot of attention at the moment is Twitter.

What Is Twitter?

Essentially it is a free social networking platform and micro-blogging service that allows you to send updates via your mobile phone, email, from your actual account plus some other application services that are growing at a fast rate.

The interesting aspect about twitter is that it only allows you to submit an update (a "tweet") that is limited to 140 characters (convenient for SMS text messages) to your followers – hence it having been labelled as a micro-blogging platform.

It’s simple to use (plain text only - no HTML allowed) and yet so effective, and that is why it has become so popular so quickly.

One appealing aspect to twitter is that you can send and receive "tweet" updates via your email, instant messaging, your mobile phone (SMS) or from your twitter account.

When I first used Twitter, I have to admit, I simply didn't get it.

I could not see the point in reading a whole bunch of short posts from people detailing every movement of their day. It truly felt like a whole bunch of people simply talking to themselves.

What was the point in this? Why was this so popular? It seemed like a waste of time, not to mention a pointless exercise to me.

The reason why I didn't get it was because I was not looking close enough.

I soon realised that Twitter had real intrinsic value, and could be a very useful marketing tool because it is a "real time broadcasting" medium.

With email you have to filter through a lot of noise. It can be so time consuming. Twitter on the other hand, allows you to ignore what is not important to you. It is a direct messaging facility that allows you to communicate with your followers as a group and/or individually.

How Does It Work?

Twitter has been labelled as micro-blogging because it is predominantly a short blog-posting medium with a RSS feed, only it is not as static as blogging – it's brief, direct and up to date.

So if you are following me on Twitter, you have essentially subscribed to my real time RSS feed and you will be updated instantly.

Twitter is a mobile communication tool. For instance, while I was in my Twitter account the other night, I witnessed an update from one of my followers who was at a local football match. He sent a game score update to his followers (me being on of them) via his mobile phone with a photo of the game taking place on the oval. Yeah, I agree with you… that is totally cool!

How Can Twitter Help Me as An Artist?

The simple answer is…to find an audience for your art that extends beyond your family and friends offline.

It is a tool that enables you to keep regular contact with your customer (and/or collector) base. But it's important to remember that you use twitter to "share" your work and life as an artist as apposed to "selling" your art.

Essentially you are sharing your world in real time.

So if you are going to be selling anything, then it should only be that you are human. If you can do that first, then when it comes time to mentioning a piece of work you have available or an exhibit, your audience will be a lot more receptive to your offer.

If you want my opinion, I would set up your twitter profile and mention you are an artist and provide a link to your website. I would also suggest you explain precisely what type of artist you are in your bio (see "Create twitter bio" further down the page).

But what I would NOT do is over do it with tweeting pictures of your art all day.

By all means, do it now and then - as your follows will enjoy it. But don't over do it, because if you start using twitter as a pitching tool, you'll simply put people off. Use your twitter marketing thoughtfully.

Try to remember that twitter is a social network. People will naturally click on your profile to read your bio and click on your website link if you can demonstrate that you are human first and not a pitching machine.

So before you begin to set up your twitter account, perhaps consider what your approach will be. The reason why I mention that is because; in the beginning twitter was a cool little tool for people to network with their friends. It has become a lot bigger than that now. Twitter marketing has become very popular.

There are many businesses, products and services using twitter marketing as I write – and some of it is a bit annoying. So don't fall into that category – provide friendship and value first.

How Do I Build An Audience Of Followers?

Without followers you don't really have an audience.

So…if you have your own newsletter subscriber list, then send an email encouraging them to come and join you on twitter. If you frequent any art forums, send out a holler to your friends in there too.

If you have a website or blog, post a message or make a blog post mentioning your twitter profile. All these little things help to add to your twitter marketing.

Twitter Marketing - Focus On Your Niche Network

Ideally, you'll want to network in your niche. Consider the niche forums you contribute to each week – encourage them to follow you on twitter by leaving a link to your twitter page in your forum signature.

Make it known on your website or blog that you tweet on twitter with a "Follow me on Twitter" icon or link.

Do you use other Social Media sites like Facebook and MySpace? Provide a link in your Facebook profile.

It's Getting Loud In Here!

Twitter can be a noisy place. If you have generated a quite a few followers and are following quite a few people yourself, you'll quickly discover the timeline in your twitter account is constantly moving.

Unfortunately, some people blast consecutive tweets in a short time frame. For the most part you can simply pay no attention to these messages. But if it bugs you, then simply stop following the person making all the noise.

Alternatively you can use a program like TweetLater, or simply choose not to watch the twitter timeline and opt to be contacted by email instead.

Twitter Marketing Tools & Applications

There are actually quite a lot of twitter marketing tools available. Twitter don't actually provide much in terms of useful applications and tools on their home site. So I have provided a small list below to assist with your twitter marketing:

For Your Mobile (Cell) phone:

TinyTwitter - If you want to avoid SMS fees and getting dinged for updates and double dinged for friend updates continually arriving then check this application out. It will work on any Java enabled phone.

Twitter For iPhone - Utilise your twitter marketing from your phone. A visually friendly tool to post from your iphone to your twitter friends.

Firefox Plug-Ins:

TwitterFox - a Firefox extension that notifies you of your friends' tweets on twitter.

For Windows Users:

Twitterlicious - Read and write tweets with the minimum of fuss

Twitteroo - Update your Twitter status from your Desktop

For Mac Users:

Twitterrific - lets you both read and publish posts or "tweets" to the Twitter community website - very clean and concise.

Twidget - Dashboard widget for that allows you to update your Twitter status.

Some fun tools:

TwitPic - Great twitter marketing tool to share your photos of new pieces as you produce them to post on twitter.

Twiddeo - Another cool twitter marketing tool to share your videos on twitter from the web, your camera phone or from your webcam footage.

Shorten your URL:

TweetBurner - This is a handy twitter marketing tool. As you only have the use of 140 characters with each twitter tweet, TweetBurner allows you to shorten any URL links you may be submitting into your tweet post.

Create Your Twitter Bio

Once you have signed up for twitter, its time to create your Twitter bio.

Click the settings link up the top, then click on account and scroll down to fill the "more info URL" box with your blog or website address. This link will show in your twitter profile page.

When you go to fill out your online bio, think carefully about what you want to write. Essentially you only have 160 characters to use, so use them well. Try to provide the best description of who you are what you do. The idea is to make it interesting enough for people to want to know more about you.

Next, upload a good photo of yourself. Try to remember that every time you post a tweet this picture is going to be the first thing that people see on your twitter tweet. So go for something that is easy on the eyes but also stands out. You want to create that, "Hmmm...interesting," factor that gets people to read your twitter profile and eventually leads to them heading over to your site to have a look at your work.

So if you have a photo that you use regularly on other media sites and your personal site, consider using that very photo on your twitter account to maintain that consistency and instant recognition.

Your twitter account allows you to change your profile background. You can either choose from the selection twitter provides or upload your own.

To upload your own background image, click the "Design" tab in the settings area, then click the "Change background image" tab on the left below the "select a theme" images.

Twitter Marketing - Promote Your Twitter Profile

With each post you make on your blog, or with each new piece of art you upload onto your site, having an icon that notifies others of your update helps to generate traffic.

So what I recommend you do is to upload a twitter icon like TwitThis onto your site. This makes it so much easier for your visitors to let others know about updated content on your website or blog.

Twitter also has an application, TwitterSync, that allows you to update your Facebook posts via your Twitter account. This application is great if you are like me and don't log into your facebook account to update your status as much as you should.

Another application you may want to use on your blog or site is one of the Twitter's badges. You can customise these badges how you like, but keep in mind that they are Flash and JavaScript applications, so your site or blog will need to be able to cater for this.

Learn How To Use Twitter For Maximum Results

If you want a more comprehensive guide to completely maximise your twitter marketing efforts, then perhaps consider having a look at Alicia Pierce's Twitter Money Tree course.

In this course you'll get all the latest "cutting edge tools and technologies to help you make some money with Twitter.

If you are looking for better ways to get your work out there, connect with people in your industry, a way to brand your niche, get your personality exposed and get your face in front of the eyes of the world, then the Twitter Money Tree course could be worth looking into.

Most of all... have fun using Twitter!

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