Oh great…another Twitter post?
For those of you that weren’t on Twitter last week or don’t follow me at all, I won second place in Blogworld Expo/Alltop Contest*. The idea of the contest was to get people to go to my Alltop page and click the “retweet” button at the bottom of the screen. Pretty simple.
During the course of giving it a shot, I realized I was actually getting close to the lead and decided to make a push for it. In doing so, I broke one of my own Twitter rules (and a rule most of you swear by as well). I became a broadcast-spam-machine. Of course I wasn’t selling typical spam garbage, but I was constantly repeating myself and just shouting out through the Twitterverse, looking for anyone that would be willing to click a tiny green button. As I thought about it, I was a bit disappointed in myself for breaking that rule, but I did learn a few things.
Twitter Life Lessons From RErockstar.
Broadcasting, not conversing. – Ok, I’m guilty. I broke this rule. I became a shouting machine; asking, begging, screaming for anyone to help. But it worked. Why did it work – we all hate those people don’t we? I think a couple of you voted for me just to shut me up. I don’t blame you. I attribute my success in doing it to a three things: relationships, localization, and a definitive reason.
- Realtionships are the big winner here. Having a relationship with people made it easy for them to help me. Most people like to see their “friends” succeed (even online friends). Even some people I have only spoke to here or there were confident I wasn’t sending to some sort of spam site. Relationships become trust with time.
- Localization got me help from people who didn’t care or know what REBlogworld was. I’ve made a point to get to know some of my local Twitter friends and they came out in droves to support me. Best of all, they introduced me to other locals I didn’t know and know I have some new locals to chat with.
- Having a definitive reason behind what I was doing made it easier for people to swallow. I wasn’t trying to just sell a house, I was trying to learn and promised to bring back what I learned. I gave them a reason to want me to go. Vague “click this” tweets will receive a lot less attention than something that defines who, what, why, when, and how.
Specific targeting works better than casting a wide net. I did a lot of generic tweets. I did a bunch of @replies as well. By targeting specific people, I was able to get their attention. Not everyone reads every tweet in every stream. I saw close personal friends on Twitter for extended periods of time – they weren’t retweeting it. Seconds after sending them an @reply, I saw the retweet. And then they started asking people to help. The more specific the target, the better the response.
It’s hard to describe what to do in 140 characters. Because the word “retweet” was involved, it was very difficult to get people to do what I needed them to do (you had to go to my page and click on the green retweet button). Instead, many people would add the RT to my tweet (or other’s tweets) and send it out on Twitter. Those weren’t counted. I wrote specific instructions of two blog posts and even tweeted them with specific “how to” language. People scan – even on Twitter. Because of this, many saw “retweet” and did what they knew how to do, not what was needed to be done.
When in doubt, offer something in return. I actually started with this theory. Since I needed people to react and perform a specific series of actions, I thought it wise to add some value to the work. I originally offered 10 cents for qualifying retweet to be donated to Mothers Fighting For Others, at around 118 retweets, I began offering 50 cents and by the end I offered up $1 for the last run up to the win. I finished at 139 qualifying retweets. (As a side note – don’t tell @headmutha, but I’ve decided to pay it all as $1/each. Since I’ll be meeting her at Blogworld, I decided to give her a check when I do.)
Last but not least, be thankful. I really appreciated everyone’s help during my quest. I tried to thank everyone personally and I think I got most of them (I’m sure I missed a few). A little appreciation goes a long way. I’ve spoken to a lot of people since then – wishing me the best, chatting about things, asking me questions. We’ve created connections. And connections lead to community.
* Although the point of me referencing Blogworld and Alltop were not for anything more than to explain the backstory, in light of the recent rules regarding blogging and freebies, I don’t want any big old fines to come crashing down on me. I did receive free passes to Blogworld for the contest.
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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” I became a broadcast-spam-machine. ”
That’s pretty funny.
At the end of the day, do you wish you would of just made a donation to that charity and skipped the entire experience?
Do you think this hurt your twitter “reputation” any?
I thought you were too busy to even breathe recently..
LOL!
JK!
RM
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That site looks terrible, why would anyone want to visit it? Looks like a bunch of RSS feeds dropped on a page. Seems silly to waste your time tweeting/spamming people for such a lame site. JMO
Matt – lots of marketing lessons in here, but a bigger lesson in conversion.
“I wrote specific instructions of two blog posts and even tweeted them with specific “how to” language. People scan – even on Twitter. Because of this, many saw “retweet” and did what they knew how to do, not what was needed to be done.”
That was the marketing part. People got the message. What follows is the conversion part.
1) Because people scan – they frequently miss the point of the message and they dont act.
2) Employ the MISS principle – “Make It Super Simple”. You have to make it idiot proof.
The “how to” was still to difficult. The AR post was confusing if you scanned it. If you had made it “Send me to ReBlogWorld with 2 Clicks”, then given just two instructions with two buttons (with the reasons why afterward), – you would have won 1st place.
The biggest marketing message here is what Guy demonstrated. He leveraged his reach to drive a ton of people to his site that otherwise would never have done so. This lesson is a post of its own though.
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Sorry about the bold text everywhere – I forgot to close a tag. Shame on me.
Rob – The charity donation probably would have happened regardless at some point. I think what they’re doing is great and I’ve never spoken to someone who is so committed to their cause. I was after the BlogWorld passes – that was my goal. The charity tie in just helped me reach my goal. It probably did hurt my reputation with some who weren’t actively involved with me on Twitter. Most of the people I know seemed very supportive. I only had one negative reaction from someone – and they are someone I have only spoken to once or twice and there was no real bond there. One of the great things that came out of this for me personally was a boost in confidence – I quickly learned how many people out there support me as an agent. People I look up and admire. It was a personal ego-booster.
Fred – By your comments I can’t tell if you’re just commenting on that aspect of the post or you didn’t read the whole thing. My intent was never to advertise for Alltop, although throwing that link out there is a form of advertising. My intent was to get to BlogWorld. I do agree that Alltop is a little simple, but it does come in handy when I’m in a rush and want to scan a few headlines before running off somewhere.
Bob – Excellent look at how I could have made it better. I thought about how the posts on ActiveRain may have deleted the potential of what I was trying to accomplish. As I admit all the time, I do have trouble with brevity. I am still working on my conversion skills. I wouldn’t say it’s my strongest suit yet. I will be though, especially when I get to see someone else’s viewpoint as I do in your comment. Thanks for making me think a little more about it.
It isnt about brevity. Long copy converts really well.
Wish you could do this again. It would be fun to do one post as a I mentioned above and another using long copy.
Twitter spam machines suck. I have been noticing more and more adult ads moving into Twitter too, and I was hoping that would take longer for them to sully up the news streams. My favorite thing about twitter is that you can watch what is happening in the world through the people, not through the tainted news.
-Tyler
Matt,
Thanks,
Rob
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Well at the end of the day you somehow ended up with free passes to the event, so you did win, even if you weren’t first place, you got what you were hoping for.
I gave you two or three retweets. I think your fellow Realtor bloggers who understand why you wanted to win would support you but it’s the silent masses who read this stuff and never comment that I would wonder about. I wonder if it helped or hurt with your real estate clients who follow you on Twitter.
Anyway are you glad that you did it and would you do it again?
Rules? I think the “rules” are more like shades of grey.
Do this, except….
Don’t do this, except…
This works for this, but not for that….
I think experimentation and creativity; when, how, what is wise….it’s called progress.
I was happy to support you and I didn’t perceive any spamming or inappropriate pimping.
Cheers.
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Congrats Matt! So glad you won and are going to BlogWorld. At some point, I will get to meet you a one of these shindigs.
Best!
Hi Matt,
you make some excellent points. I like, “Having a definitive reason behind what I was doing made it easier for people to swallow.”
People like to be a part of something and you made this interesting and even fun to cheer for you to win. This was “social” and it was a way for your friends to participate. Yes, it could have been done “better” or different but, in the end, it was what it needed to be. Effective.
Some people get way too carried away with thinking there always has to be a right way and a wrong way to use Twitter ( or Facebook or ?? )
I am looking forward to seeing you in Las Vegas!
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Bob – I’ll have to look for a new contest to try and match the two up and see how they perform.
Tyler – No one likes spam – no matter where it comes from. I guess the question is when are we spam?
Dan – The great thing about it was that my local community joined in and supported me. I met quite a few new people too (both local and real estate-based), who are no following me and talking to me – all thanks to the contest. I was really pleased with the local response.
Ken – I think the key to whether or not it was viewed as spamming had a lot to do with relationships. People who knew me were accepting of the non-stop nature of my attempt, because they wanted to see me win. If there’s one thing I can say I have acquired since arriving on “the scene,” it is a lot of support from agents who want to see me succeed.
Paula – Yes, we do need to meet! As someone who gave me a spark not too long ago, I can’t wait to meet you for a little face time talking. Perhaps we can solve all the world’s problems in one go?
Nick – I do think it became “social” which is why it worked. My social “sphere of influence” (to put it in old school terms) wanted me to win almost as much as I wanted to win. Everyone likes to be in on a winning game plan. Look forward to meeting you as well.