So what do you Tweet?

[Former_Member]

Finally did it. I set up a Twitter account. Have no idea what to do with it now! Continuing along with my Pinterest theme, where I noticed I was pinned under "Items I would Lick", last night I logged in to twitter to see that I surprisingly had several "followers", three of which, according to what I gather from their email addresses seem to be porn queens of some sort! Whoohoo for technology, I get all the interesting ones.

[Former_Member]

Haha, I feel ya. I just deleted them :P

Anyway, start following some Etsy stores! There are a LOT on twitter. I tweet about interesting products I find here on the world wide web, recipes I want to try, fun DIY projects, etc. Just keep it real, don't go all crazy promoting yourself.

Oh! I also saw you connected your facebook to your shop. You can connect your twitter, too!

Hope this helps, happy tweeting! :)

[Former_Member]

whenever I list a new item (just new, not re listings). Also, sometimes when I'm featured in treasuries I'll thank them. I also tweet day to day stuff (like when I was baking a vegan cake the other day), to make it more interesting. I tend to ingore most tweets if they are exclusively about shops and new products.

[Former_Member]

I tweet when I list something new, or when something is back in stock.

I tweet my treasuries, ones I'm featured in, and ones that help to promote other team members shops. One of the teams I'm in does a shop of the week promotion so I tweet all the treasuries other teamies make in that.

I also tweet some completely random information like what I am doing at that moment in time. Helps to make it personal that way.

Also tweet what I am making and what might be in the pipeline.

This makes it look like I tweet a lot more than I actually do lol

[herie7]

I am relatively new to Twitter but love the format as I am not good at blogging. I tweet shop info on occasion, stuff going on in my local area (great way to pick up local followers) and find myself retweeting items from some of my fellow twitter followers. I love adding pixs to my tweets from the phone too.

I have some really good connections to people who share my passion for fiber, alpacas and knitting. I've connected to some local shops which aids in bringing in new followers. On occassion I do get the spam followers but they drop off after a few days and sometimes I do report them.

[Former_Member]

Thanks Ladies! Right now I am trying to figure out what exactly is the link to my Twitter account. Did I mention that I am no technological genius? Where do most people add it in their shops?

[FrenchVintagePrints]

I'm wondering the same thing so this thread is very useful. I may try it too !

[Former_Member]

I have my twitter synced up with my FB & Tumblr account. But if I'm to post anything solely to Twitter - it's pictures of my dogs or "shout outs" to people...lol

[Interrobangirl]

Go to Your Account then Settings, then you can connect to Facebook and Twitter! I tweet new listings and put pictures of all new items on my Facebook page with a link in the description. I also tweet about the general goings on in my life!

xXx

[Former_Member]

Thanks!! I now have a twitter button! Maybe that will get me more than porn stars...though they are quite amusing :)

[Former_Member]

haha I think the majority of my followers are spambots! But I usually post blog updates, a few shop listings a month ( I hate spamming my listings)
and the rest is just random things and instagram photos :)

[ShopGreyweather]

I tweet the same things as everyone else, new items, treasuries, events I am participating in, but sometimes I try to throw a non-business tweet in there - some sort of sentiment I am feeling that day to try to brighten it up and make twitter less boring for me :)

[Former_Member]

I tweet about shop stuff but I also try to show the girl behind the shop, too. People will want to see more than just links to treasuries!

http://twitter.com/22and33

[Former_Member]

Thanks for asking this, its interesting to hear everyone's replies. I find tweeting very unnatural but do notice it affecting the views. I must try not to spam!

[EclectasieDesigns]

All I know is that every time I add a new listing to my shop and tweet it, my direct traffic stats go through the roof. I tracked it back to Twitter! Don't get the same kind of results from Facebook or Pinterest.

I, too, don't ever know what to tweet. My last tweet was about the fire ant that bit my dog's tail and made him miserable - doubt if that will drive too many people to my shop!

[Former_Member]

I tweet about all kinds of things! I couldn't even begin to list it all here, but you can check it out @featherfunded. I using twitter for etsy! :)

[Former_Member]

Twitter is still a bit of a mystery to me ;)

[Former_Member]

I post when I have baking fails, show photos of items in progress, link to local bakeries or blogs about desserts, show photos of yummy desserts I eat...

[Former_Member]

Gena, I am following you so I can see all the yummy desserts you eat! lol

[ShopLaurenLeah]

I use twitter to connect with people on a personal level. It is important to think of Twitter like a magazine- there has to be a balance between advertising and content. Would you subscribe to a magazine that was 75-80% ads? Probably not that's why you should limit when you advertise on Twitter and when you connect with followers. Think of connecting with others as indirect advertising.

[FarmAndSimple]

I actually love twitter, and think its important to have a high personal-to-sales ratio of tweets if you want a lot of followers. It's social media at its briefest - you can log in a few times a day to report on what your kids are doing, or what you're thinking about, or your latest listing -- in only 140 characters! :-)

[thevicagirl]

Think of it as your FB updates, back in the day when it asked you what you were doing. Also talk to people you follow. That is my favorite part of twitter, it is like you have all of your favorite people at your fingertips. I sent a message to my favorite green crafter, way popular with books and TV and everything. He was looking at inspiration and I told him to check out my shop. He did and responded. Great for getting in touch with others. Love it.

[Former_Member]

It was great to read this thread....I'm always at a loss about what to tweet! I don't like to tweet too many listings, treasuries, etc b/c I get bored when other people do that....BUT, other than that, I don't really know what else there is to say!

I do retweet other people's tweets sometimes...

[Former_Member]

I also just started my twitter account, so I am still learning about what to tweet. There is a great blog article on etsy that you might want to check out for suggestions:

http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/etsys-guide-to-twitter/

They make a good point about connecting to others. Check how many times your message starts with @ to see if you are really interacting with others or just plugging yourself.

I'm not sure people want to hear about me eating soup or going grocery shopping, so I try to post interesting stories I have heard on the news, like the 40 lb cat or the cheeseburger stuffed pizza from Pizza Hut.

[Former_Member]

I think my real issue is not so much the communication, as it is with who I communicate with. By this I mean how you actually gain followers. I still struggle with the whole follower situation and as it stands, the majority of my few followers are other crafters some of which seem to use twitter primarily for tweeting new products. Twitter is sadly not something my close network of friends is interested in. But you guys have given me some great ideas and I am going to read the material suggested. Perhaps the fear is just due to my ignorance on the topic still :)