USANA Social Media Tip #1: To Tweet or Not to Tweet

Working on the social media team here at USANA has to be one of the greatest jobs of all time. Not only do I get to talk about and work with some of the websites and applications that I love best, but I also get the chance to help people figure out how to use them effectively. And where else is it appropriate to say that you play on Facebook and Twitter for a living?

We decided it would be great to share a social media tip twice a month or so to help you not only understand how some of the biggest platforms in social media work, but also how you can use these tools to help gain leads and even grow your business.

Twitter and USANA
To kick off this new What's Up, USANA feature, I thought I would address the one question I probably get asked more than any other: How can I use Twitter to help build my business?

While communicating in 140 characters or less may seem pointless to some, I want to really focus on how Twitter can be used to monitor various conversations and more importantly how to take part in these conversations as they happen.

In my opinion, the true power behind Twitter is the ability to see what everyone is talking about on any given subject the minute it's being discussed.

Say, for instance, you choose to build your business with RESET. Go to search.twitter.com and do a keyword search on something related to RESET. I did a search for "lose weight" and here are a couple of the results that came up.

I don't know who @rosaaliamendoza is, but she feels she needs to lose some weight. I didn't have to ask her if she was interested in weight loss or even a product to help her lose weight. She volunteered to tell the world this and by default, she shared this information with me.

This is a prime opportunity for someone to start a genuine conversation with her about how a low glycemic diet utilizing RESET may be what she is looking for.

Conversing vs. Selling
I think it's important to note that not every entry that comes up in a keyword search on Twitter is an opportunity to add an Associate or Preferred Customer to your downline. It is merely an opportunity for you to sift through the results and find the appropriate connection to make.

Here are a few important tips to remember when using the search function on Twitter.

• Be creative with your search keywords. Try "low glycemic," "weight loss" or "carbohydrate" to see what people are saying about each of those as they relate to the RESET line.
• Remember to use keywords you think someone may be tweeting about.
• Don't be afraid to use common misspellings of words like "loose weight." Remember, you're searching for what others are tweeting about and the exact way they would spell it.
  
• Building relationships on any social media platform is about being genuine and not sales-y. Instead of tweeting or replying to someone on Twitter with: "Check out my website to get great diet products," try saying something like, "@rosaaliamendoza I understand your frustration. Have you ever tried a low glycemic diet before?" This makes you sound sincere and it allows you to start a conversation without sounding like you're trying to sell something.
  

Awesome. Now, how do you get started? Here are the basic steps to get started on Twitter.

1. Get an account — You can't communicate with people if you don't have a Twitter account.
2. Follow as many people as you like — But limit it to people who are giving you information you are interested in.
3. Send tweets about what you are interested in — Put those 140 characters to work and let the world know that you just had the best workout or that you are sad the Utah Jazz are not doing so well this season. It's up to you to determine what you want to tweet about.
4. Use search.twitter.com often to monitor the conversations that are relevant to you and your business.

Start Tweeting
That's it. You are now set to become a true professional at using Twitter. Also, if you feel you need more in-depth information on how to use Twitter, Facebook, or Blogger, check out USANA's Social Media 101 training videos. These are a great starter course on how to use social media to help build your USANA business.

By the way, here is another screen shot from another keyword I just looked up, "insomnia" (click the image to the right enlarge it). Seems as if many of these people could use a little Pure Rest.

Happy tweeting!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Twitter and social media in general. In addition, if you have any great social media tips to share, send them my way and perhaps they will make it into one of these blog posts.