The Brilliant Marketing Tricks Blog Series

Don't miss out on this! Some of the big creative entrepreneurs on the interwebs are getting together to present a Brilliant Marketing Tricks Blog series this week and next.

Here's a list of all the events, provided by Tim Adam:

Monday Nov 8: Introduction to the Blog Series – Mayi Carles from heartmade
http://www.heartmadeblog.com/blog/introducing-the-brilliant-marketing-tricks-blog-series

Tuesday Nov 9: E-books – Tim Adam from Handmadeology
http://www.handmadeology.com/e-bookology-the-formula-for-a-killer-e-book/

Wednesday Nov 10: Collaboratives – April Bowles from Blacksburgbelle
http://www.blacksburgbelle.com/2010/11/why-relationships-matter-more-than-any-other-marketing-tactic/

Thursday Nov 11 (double dose): Podcast + Interviews – Srinivas Rao from The Skool of Life / Stylish Marketing
http://theskooloflife.com/wordpress/
+ PR Services for Small Independent Businesses – Jena Coray from Miss Modish
http://www.missmodish.com/

Friday Nov 12: Services + E-courses – Tara Gentile from Scoutie Girl
http://www.scoutiegirl.com/

Monday Nov 15: Online Shops – Mayi Carles from heartmade
http://www.heartmadeblog.com/

Tuesday Nov 16: Events + Shopping Parties – Mallory from Miss Malaprop
http://www.missmalaprop.com/

Wednesday Nov 17: Video – Nathalie Lussier from Raw Food Witch
http://rawfoodswitch.com/

Thursday Nov 18 (double dose): Facebook + Twitter – Irene Zuccarello from Imaginative Bloom http://www.imaginativebloom.com/

Social Photo Catalogs like Flickr + Pinterest – Nancy from Wolf and Willow
http://www.wolfandwillowblog.com/

Friday Nov 19: Building your Brand – Brittni Wood from Paper N’ Stitch
http://papernstitchblog.com/

Rivet Series Camera 2 by TimothyAdamDesigns

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Top 7 Twitter Mistakes

Twitter can be a very powerful tool if used correctly, but there are a few common mistakes people make that can get in the way of using it to successfully promote your business.

Scrabble Tile Pendant Celebrity Twitter by ThePendantFactory

1) Tweeting only listings
If you only tweet links to your etsy shop, nobody is going to be interested and you'll find it difficult to get genuine followers. Twitter is all about building connections!


2) Setting up your account with auto DMs
A lot of people set up their accounts to automatically send a direct message to any new followers- usually saying something like 'Check out my etsy shop! I sell cute stuff shopname.etsy.com'. This irritates a lot of users and might make them much less likely to visit your shop.


3) Tweeting your listings directly @ other people
Yes- some people really do this and it's not cool (or likely to be effective). Plus you might get reported for spamming.


4) Complaining about your customers
I actually see this a lot and it always suprises me because they might be listening! It also doesn't create a very good impression for any of your twitter followers who might be considering purchasing something from you.


5) Not building up a follower base
A lot of people only have a couple of hundred followers, and wonder why twitter isn't doing much for them. Personally I recommend having at least a couple of thousand in order to make it work for you.


6) Tweeting to the wrong audience
As well as building up some good follower numbers, it really is critical that you are reaching the right kind of audience. If all of your followers are etsy sellers, you're unlikely to get very far with it (unless you sell supplies).


7) Using True Twit validation service
This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make if you're trying to use twitter to promote your shop to lots of new buyers (in my opinion). It's a service that automatically sends a DM to anyone who tries to follow you, asking them to click a link and confirm that they're a real follower. A very high percentage of people will just ignore the link and you'll lose a lot of potential followers.

Needle Felted Tweet Grey and Blue Chick by FeltMeUpDesigns

Update: I've had a few questions about how to use twitter effectively- you can find all the info on that in this article.

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Twitter Marketing- amazon.com