Has Anyone Here Actually Increased Sales Because of Twitter?

[Aggie Villanueva]

I use twitter all the time to make posts from all my sites. http://twitter.com/myaggie2

I'm only on twitter because every business person says you should be, not to make friends, so this discussion is only about the business aspect of Twitter.

But I've yet to make more than one business contact, though I have over 600 followers, and no money whatsoever. I get very little response. And I feel so limited by the word limit. I much prefer Facebook where you can post notes and event invitations, etc. And you can give a full answer to all your replies.

Has anyone else seen sale increases, or made contacts that benefit? I'd love to hear everyone's Twitter stories!

[A. F. Stewart]

I've gotten an interview from Twitter, and more exposure for the book reviews I write. I've also gotten some excellent promotion advice from people posting links. And since you are on Facebook you might want to link the two; you can feed your Tweets into your Facebook updates when you join the Twitter Facebook group.

As to the word limit, I found it limiting at first as well, but you do get used to it. I won a Twitter Fic contest held by Book View Cafe recently.

[Aggie Villanueva]

That's fascinating, A.F. For several months I've linked all my social sites (about 15) through hellotxt.com (a great free program if anyone wants to look it up). Every comment I make is simultaneously sent to about 15 of my social sites by just typing it in once at hellotxt.

I've had the experiences you speak of at Facebook. I've made so many business contact/friends. We've exchanged guest posts and info through each other's blogs/sites. I've enlarged my mailing list greatly, been interviewed and interviewed others, all because of my contacts at Facebook.

But I just can't seem to find the same benefits on twitter.

BTW, Do you have a link for your twitter fic contest? I'd love to read your entry.

[A. F. Stewart]

I use the TwitterFox application and keep an eye on everybody's Tweets straight from my browser; I find it makes networking on Twitter easier. I know other people who use Twitterfeed or Tweetdeck.

The topic for the contest was fairies and slot machines; you can find my winning entry (scribe77) here: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/BVC-Twitter-Fic-Contest-2-Win... Book View Cafe runs a Twitter Fic contest fairly often; I've received two honorable mentions in their contests as well as the win. I find it quite a challenge to write an entire story with such a severe word limit.

[Aggie Villanueva]

I couldn't find the text to your entry there, but I see your point. What a challenge. I will look further for your text. I also checked out your new discussion. I will be following it to learn more.

[Linda Bond]

Thank you so much for the link to hellotxt. I've found it very useful.

[C. M. Albrecht]

I don't see that Twitter has done anything but annoy a few people who feel that promotion is not the idea of Twitter, but rather it is a social site. As to social visits, I've only had two personal contacts and they were over-the-top raunchy. I hope this author section will be more enjoyable.

[A. F. Stewart]

It's not the promoters or the people networking that annoy on Twitter, it's the spammers.

[Ofira Sephiroth]

An increase in sales, I haven't seen that happen. I get more sales from my blog than anything. Most of the people I've connected with on Twitter are fellow writers as well. I'm on my blog, webpage and as for social networks...Facebook is where I hang out the most.

[Lea Schizas]

To be honest I haven't seen an uprising in sales because my marketing on Twitter is mostly to get readers for my various blogs and ezines. In that I have seen a big increase. The day I started to twitter links to Apollo's Lyre's blog we got 30 new readers in one day.

So I guess it depends on what you are marketing on Twitter, what your goals are.

Lea

[Aggie Villanueva]

Thankx for all your input everyone. I learn a lot from this kind of interaction.

[KP Kollenborn]

I recently joined Twitter myself, but having heard other business owners through other networks, the bottom line with Twitter is mainly keeping in contact and updating your status. Basically it's to let people be aware of your presence and keeping up with others who are in similar businesses to see who your competitors are and to make sure there aren't any negative influences circulating about you or your business. Twitter is like a newsstand.

[Linda Alexander]

I have had a very noticeable & impressionable rise in book sales in my most recent book--& even a few of the others--since I began regularly working Twitter & Facebook. While there are quite a number of aggravating factors, particularly on Twitter, they're relatively easy to ignore. Just don't follow them back. I haven't found anything that difficult about ignoring the pests.

And maybe I have a different outlook on the concept of networking in general. For me, it's called "social networking." As an author, yes, I'm selling my product, which is my book[s], but I'm just as strongly selling myself. The more I offer value to someone else's life--in whatever quick tidbit of information I may add, or a quick uplifting comment, or a bit of help if someone asks advice--I'm making a positive impression on others as to who I am &, yes, what it is I have to offer the masses. I firmly believe that people buy an author's book as much, if not more, because they find the author compelling as they do because they find the book's subject matter compelling. I've sold copies of my current book to folks who are interested in my next book--which hasn't come out yet--because they've come to know me on Facebook.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that you get out of these network applications what you put into them. I've found them very worthwhile, not a negative impression on my time, and a great boost in sales & visibility--also very important for an active writer w/new works coming out.