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Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

4 Clever Ways to Make it Easy for Others to Promote You

Posted on by Maria Ross

2.3.15 help others promote you (blog)Whether you’re launching your website, promoting a special deal or simply sharing with the world your newest creation, one of the best ways to exponentially reach more people with the news is to partner up.

We’ve all done it: You create this gorgeous new 6 week course or value-packed free webinar and you send an email to your friends, family and colleagues asking them nicely to “Please share this!”

But too often I see everyone from entrepreneurs to authors standing in their own way when it comes to rallying others to spread the word. They put all the burden on the person they are asking. They expect them to take time out of their busy day to look up the information, come up with the copy for the post, find the email link to the sales page or – in some cases – even leave out the ACTUAL name of the thing they want promoted!

We’re all busy, folks. Your big launch is not even a blip on someone else’s radar. They have their own stuff to deal with. I mean, seriously, they have work to do, kids to raise and binge episodes of House of Cards to catch up on. Respect their time.

You have to make it as easy as possible for someone to promote you so they don’t even think twice about it. (Tweet this!)

Here are 4 clever ways to make it super easy for people to promote you:

1. Be Brief and Use Bullets: Don’t simply make them link to a page they’ll be forced to sift through. Or worse send them 9 paragraphs painfully detailing the ins and outs. Instead, give them the highlights in the email: Name of (whatever it is), dates, cost, target audience, and WHY that person’s own tribe will or should care. People are often reading this on the go, so respect that. Bulleting out the main points can help.

Example:

Hi Trish! Would you mind sharing the news of my latest coaching program with your community of working women? It’s right up their alley as they work to save money and fund their dreams!

  • 6 Weeks to Solvency: A 6 week virtual coaching program
  • 10 am to 11 am Pacific Time Wednesdays starting August x ending on September Y
  • It’s perfect for anyone in your tribe who is struggling to pay off loans or credit card debt to help them fund their future.
  • Registration and Details: xxx.com
  • Cost: $250

2. Write the Copy for Them: If you are asking someone to Tweet, post or send info in their next email newsletter, don’t just say, “Would you please promote this thing for me? Thanks!” Instead take the time to craft the actual tweets, posts or copy so they can easily cut and paste. Give them some options so they can choose the platform that works best for them. When you ask someone a favor, you have to make it a no-brainer because even if they really, truly do want to help, they’ve got stuff to do.

Please don’t forget to SHORTEN THE LINK and embed it for them! It’s crazy to make them cut and paste the link, embed it and then share it…..and add your own social media handle so they don’t have to find you and tag you.

PS: This is the part where you can link them to a promotional page that specifically has all the copy/posts ready to cut and paste. I see this with book promotions all the time. It’s useful if you are offering a lot of options yet you want to keep the email itself short and sweet. Just depends on how much you’re offering them for the promotion.

Example:

Here’s are some snappy tweets, Facebook posts or some newsletter copy you can use which I crafted for you to save you some time – but please feel free to edit and add your own flair!

Tweet: In debt? Check out this new course from my gal @twitterID to get footloose and fancy free: bit.ly/6weekssolvency

FB: We all know being in debt sucks. It’s sucks your money, energy and even health. Make this the year you stop the madness! My good pal, @JaneDoe is a money expert and wise woman who can help you get from stressed to solvent in no time. 6 Weeks to Solvency starts on August x so sign up now and grab your spot! Details: bit.ly/6weekssolvency

Newsletter Copy: (You get the idea….!)

3. Make images available: Images help our social media posts stand out so why not offer them an option to share some cool ones? Especially if they use Pinterest or Instagram. You may want to send them to a page where they can download images of various sizes to use (unless you think your images are small enough to not clog up their email server), Not sure of how to size the images for each platform? Check out this image size cheat sheet.

4. Offer an incentive that helps their brand: Why not make this opportunity one in which they can earn brownie points with their peeps? Create a special discount code just for their community or throw in a little something extra that can boost their brand as well. And PS, Depending on how exclusive you want the offer to be (i.e., not for all their Twitter fans, let’s say, but just their email subscribers), you can add this code straight into the pre-written posts– again, to make it super easy for them to share.

Example:

If you’d like to offer them some extra love, please accept this unique discount code just for your people. Just have them type the code SAVVY at checkout and they will automatically get $50 off!

Or

And let’s do something special for your community: if you’re game. I’m willing to put together a free webcast and co-host it with you (I’ll do all the work!) that we can promote exclusively to your list. This way, we can promote the course and code, but you can also talk to them about what you’ve got cooking, too!

The bottom line: when you ask for promotional help, you have to make it as easy as possible for the person to say yes and take immediate action.

Ready to share your brilliant work? Get your FREE action guide, 4 Clever Ways to Make it Easy for Others to Promote You by clicking the button below.  🙂

GET YOUR GUIDE NOW!

Image Credit: Ben Grey via Flickr

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Should you silence the critics? 4 tips to filter criticism

Posted on by Maria Ross

1.27.15 treat critics (blog)Criticism sucks. No getting around it. Regardless of how good your intentions or how crazy the critic, it never ceases to be a punch to the gut.

Here’s the thing: Good intentions can’t protect you from criticism. (Tweet this!)

As you may know, I survived a near-fatal brain aneurysm rupture and wrote a book about it to be a voice for brain injury survivors, as well as help anyone bounce back from crisis. I stripped the most vulnerable and scariest time in my life naked to help others.

Even with hundreds of heartwarming reviews and private emails from people who told me how my book inspired and informed them, it’s the outlying nasty comments that stick with me:

Behold this one, where the reader completely misunderstood my intentions: It might have been a good story, but…the constant bragging about herself got old. I made it right to the point where she was talking about her beautiful hair and how people were either jealous or downright hated her for it and deleted it off of my device.

Or this puzzling one which I don’t even get: I am happy for your recovery, but it was not because you had your college education which you seem to think makes you superior.

Or this one criticizing my writing (yes, I did hire an editor!): She needs to ask for an editor, several items are touched upon at least twice, it becomes annoying and it makes you feel like a terrible person when you are not rooting for her but begging for the end

Or this one where I strangely felt the need to apologize for not being close enough to death for her: Interesting story well told, but not terribly exciting or suspenseful.

And one that made me (and my husband) laugh out loud:

It’s her husband who deserves all the credit for pulling their lives back together.

Check out this past post, which is oh so relevant to how you can respond to criticism in your work or life. And this one for why you absolutely need to take a deep breath and ask for feedback, even if it might be negative.

But here’s my question to you: Should you silence the critics?

No. But treat criticism like a pot of pasta you are draining for dinner. Release the water and keep the good stuff!

Here are 4 ways to filter criticism when it strikes:

Take what’s valid and leave what’s not: I agree with some of the feedback saying the writing rambled a bit. And it was useful to learn what some people would have preferred to hear more about or how they would have liked it structured. This is something I’m constantly working on and, even with an editor, this can always be improved for my next book.

Focus on the good feedback: Who loved it? Who did it inspire, change, transform? Those people are your tribe. Don’t diminish the impact your work DID have.

Recognize they have their own lens: The strange comment about me thinking I’m better than anyone because I went to college (mentioned in the book to point out how confusing and complex medical information can be for anyone, even those with a college degree) is perhaps rooted in this woman’s deep bitterness about never going or maybe someone very arrogant held it over her head at one point in her life. I can’t change that perspective no matter what I do.

Let go: The “red hair” story was part of a larger lesson in identity: brain injury can rob people of many unimportant physical, emotional or cognitive traits that used to define them. The point was lost on this reader. And that’s okay. What am I going to do: find everyone who ever read my book and make sure they understood exactly what I was trying to say?! That seems a tremendous waste of energy better devoted to new creations and inspirations. (PS: I have to applaud Goodreads for making a note next to low ratings that asks the author to take a breath and not respond to the comment in anger!).

And I’ll say it again: Good intentions can’t protect you from criticism. (Tweet this!) Learn how to take what works and ditch the rest!

Image Credit: www.audio-luci-store.it via Flickr

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

How to Use a Press Release

Posted on by Maria Ross

1.20.15 press release (blog)

Ah, the poor press release. It’s been abused, distorted, asked to work miracles and is one of the biggest marketing and brand awareness misconceptions I’ve ever encountered in my 20+ year career.

Most business owners (and frankly, large company CEO’s) just don’t understand what a press release can – and cannot – do for your business and how to use it most effectively. Some people think everything they do is newsworthy; others treat it like a sales page or pump one out every week. Still others think you can produce one press release and – BAM! You’re on the cover of Fast Company.

Never fear. Help is on the way….

Use a press release the RIGHT way if you actually want press! (Tweet this!)

Nicole Francois is a marketing communication expert and runs MarketWell, an agency focused on health-related business.   She and I collaborate often and I love her practical, tough-love approach to getting press exposure. She even served as publicist for my memoir, Rebooting My Brain. Nicole majored in Journalism, produced news for major television networks and cut her teeth on press releases.  While the bulk of Nicole’s career has been focused on marketing, Nicole pulls from her six years of journalistic experience almost everyday.

I asked Nicole to weigh in on the ever-popular press release and how it really works for your business.

RS: OK, give us the straight scoop: what is a press release and how is it actually used or seen by the media?

NF: A press release can be many different things.  That stated it should always be a fact-based, and fact-focused document that is written in terms the media understands.  That means typically not leading with a quote from your CEO (unless he just media bombed at a women in tech conference, but I digress) but instead, start with a compelling ‘lead’ with the important components like: Who? What? When? Why? Where? How?  At least three of these questions should be answered in your first two sentences — and those sentences should be concise and easy to read. And if you expect to be taken seriously you must use AP-Style guidelines.

The media uses press releases to gather information.  About 90% of the releases I received as a journalist were trashed (and PR people considered me a nice / warm contact). If there is interest, however, the media will consider how it might use the information.  If the media decides to pursue the information put forth in the release you or your media contact will likely hear from them — that’s when we ask follow up questions to vet the ‘news’ in the release and find out if the information fits our angles.  Then, the reporter/media host/editor usually has some options:

  • Follow up immediately and cover the story
  • Take the story idea to the editorial meeting where a bunch of journalists weight in on its value and a decision for coverage is rendered
  • Shrink the story into a quick write-up or reader (for broadcast)
  • Turn it down
  • Or – rarely – enlarge the story with the information offered because it’s so rich it deserves a lot of journalistic research and developed story-telling.  These coveted stories are held for big editions, or ratings period broadcast.

What journalists hate most of all is the advertising -release.  This, in our eyes, lowers your credibility and in journalism, credibility is everything.  So if you hammer a news department with faux-news, wannabe ad releases you, your business, and all of your clients are pretty much dirt.

While follow-up is important, we also hate publicist-types who keep trying once we’ve given a firm ‘no’.  We know if you’ve undermined us and you might even get away with it once or twice, but keep it up and you’ll be a target for vengeance.

RS: What won’t a press release do for you or your business?

NF: It won’t get you a free ad, it won’t get your domain or phone number automatically listed.  It will definitely not make you famous, unless it’s for all the wrong reasons.  It won’t get you a million new customers.  It won’t earn you media attention just because it’s a press release.  It might help your SEO standing — but be very careful with this side of press releases.  It will most likely make your mama proud.

RS: What should a business owner do before sending that next press release?

NF: Ask these 3 questions first and ensure the answer is “yes” before you hit SEND:

  • Is this information timely and relevant to the community-at-large?
  • Have I emphasized facts that are important to the targeted media’s audience?
  • Are their visual opportunities for coverage that I have pointed out in this release?

Image Credit: Surreal Name Given via Flickr

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

All you really have is your story

Posted on by Maria Ross

1.13.15 tell your story well (blog)

Most of us have not invented anything new.

We are not doing something customers or clients can’t get elsewhere. We are not discovering a new element or identifying a new species or creating a way for humans to live on Mars. (Some of you may be working on this, but most of us are not).

But what you do and how you do it is utterly unique. Because you are the one doing it.

We know this to be true of art. But even in that case, chances are you’re not creating a medium that has never been used before, right? If you paint, there are other paintings. If you take photos, there are other photographers. It’s all about the artist’s perspective and what they create that makes us choose one over the other.

This is true in your business, too. You are an artist.

You put your own spin, motivations and values on the work. Working with you is unlike working with any other human being. The experience can never, ever be replicated, even if two people work from the exact same playbook.

All you have in this noisy world to stand out and attract the right people is your story. What is the meaning and mission behind your work? What is the main benefit your clients or customers will achieve? How will they feel when it’s over? How will it impact them days, months and years down the road?

That is your story and that is what you need to talk about. That is what people sign up for. It is what makes them choose you over the hundreds of other doing or selling exactly what you sell.

All you have is your story. Know what it is. Tell it well. (Tweet this!)

 

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

5 Books to Ignite Your Business and Brand in the New Year

Posted on by Maria Ross

1.6.15 ignite your business (blog)

You have big plans for the New Year. I just know it! You want to build your business, increase your brand awareness, streamline your marketing efforts and, essentially, get your irresistible message out there – with style and grace, naturally.

Whether you are a business owner, or have a book, cause, or project to get off the ground, here are five plucky and practical books I recommend to amplify your message and ignite your efforts this year. (Tweet this!)

Propel: Five Ways to Amp Up Your Marketing and Accelerate Business

Whitney Keyes is a consultant, international speaker and professor who offers smart, simple and super fast marketing strategies for organizations big and small. Plus, she’s a trusted colleague and I’ve seen her work her magic first-hand. This book breaks down a marketing and sales plan into something doable, practical and – dare I say – fun to execute.

I’m at a Networking Event—Now What??? A Guide to Getting the Most Out of Any Networking Event

This book will make you love and appreciate the art of networking. Seriously. Whether you’re an introvert, or simply and extrovert who hates business card-swapping and idle small talk, Sandy Jones-Kaminski is a networking maven and shows you how to network the right way so its fun and fruitful. One hint: It starts with generosity and curiosity – not forceful sales pitching. Sandy shares helpful conversation starters, online connection do’s and don’ts and ways you can get more out of that next conference or event – other than parking yourself by the pastry table.

The 11 Laws of Likability: Relationship Networking…Because People Do Business with People They Like

Michelle Tillis Lederman is an executive coach and corporate trainer who has boiled her years of experience with large corporations down to 11 simple principles for making sales, forming partnerships and managing teams. This book is a perfect read for entrepreneurs, business leaders and job seekers alike if you’re trying to get out there and promote your message or mission.

The Digital Mystique: How the Culture of Connectivity Can Empower Your Life – Online and Off

Sarah Granger is an online guru, technology master and digital marketing consultant who has worked with clients ranging from political campaigns to corporations. This book is a great primer on how to seize digital opportunities to make both your personal and professional life richer. Her tips and case studies cover important guidelines on everything from making online connections with possible clients and partners met to privacy to encouraging your kids to behave responsibly online. Sarah offers a positive spin on the digital revolution and how it can help us connect, create and collaborate when used appropriately.

Branding Basics for Small Business (2nd Edition): How to Create an Irresistible Brand on Any Budget

Sorry, couldn’t resist adding my book, especially since I’ve added more robust content in this 2nd edition on networking, social media and content marketing, in addition to new case studies and interviews with marketing experts such as Jay Baer, Ann Handley and Mike Michalowicz. The book outlines a simple ten-step questioning process to clarify your brand strategy, focus on your ideal audience and make thousands of marketing decisions with more ease and confidence. The goal is to help you attract more of the right customers and save valuable time and money by avoiding “random acts of marketing.” Doesn’t that sound good?!

Which books do you recommend to boost your business or brand? Please tweet me @redslice and let me know.

Image Credit Ulmann Patrik vis Flickr

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

3 insanely great ways to thank your customers + clients

Posted on by Maria Ross

11.25.14GiveThanks (blog)

Thank you.

Thank you for reading this blog, being a part of this community and creating something wonderful in the world with your business, art or cause.

It’s Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. and it’s time to be thankful. We should, of course, be thankful for our fans every day of the year but it never hurts to take a special day out to show your gratitude.

How can you thank them? Well, we covered some ideas in a past post.

And today, here are 3 more insanely great ways to thank your customers. (Tweet this)

  1. Give on their behalf: Every year, instead of useless gifts that will just see the inside of a trash can, I send my clients an email with information on 3-5 charities near and dear to my heart and let them choose which one they’d like me to donate to on their behalf. They feel good, I feel good, the charity wins – and no fruitcake goes to waste.
  2. Invent some whimsy: Every year, my writing partner Sarah Von Bargen partners with another colleague to produce a super fun calendar. Last year’s calendar showcased cats “acting out “ scenes from classic literature. It’s hilarious, thoughtful and showcases her wit and killer writing style (which is her bread and butter)
  3. Write a love note: When was the last time you got a handwritten note? Yeah, I thought so. If your client or customer list is manageable enough, why not send them a thoughtful handwritten card about what you love about working with them? It’s a good excuse to buy some pretty stationery. Not sure what to say? This will help.

Photo Credit: Nate Grigg via Flickr

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Who is the hero of your brand?

Posted on by Maria Ross

How to be the Hero of Your Brand

You can always tell “ego brands.” They are the heroes of their own story, it’s all about them and they could care less about the value, satisfaction or delight of their customers or clients.

C’mon: I KNOW you’re thinking of an example right now!

Great brands like Apple, Starbucks (yes, despite my break up with them), Disney, Nike, Tom’s Shoes, Virgin America, Zappos all make the customer the hero. It’s about their needs, their experience, what the brand says about them as a person.

It’s about delighting the heroes of their story: their customers. (Tweet this!)

Good story structure always has a protagonist facing an antagonist to achieve his or her ultimate goal. Without the conflict, there is no good story. Who wants to read about Cinderella being this perfectly happy young girl who went to a ball and married her prince?

Yawn.

But throw in some mean stepsisters, a deadline of midnight and her unhappy life standing between her and her prince and – BAM – you get a riveting classic.

Your customer is the hero, the protagonist. Their pain points and unmet needs are all the conflicts they face. And your brand is the handsome prince. But never forget that the story is called Cinderella – not The Handsome Prince. It was never really about the prince. The story is about her.

How do you make your customers or clients the heroes of their own story? How do you solve their problems, remove the conflict and utterly delight and surprise them?

This post was inspired by a video I recently saw from Scotland’s Celtic football club – my husband’s favorite team from back home. This young boy is one of the team’s biggest fans and they have adopted him as their own, often having him in the team huddle (click here for the video plus full backstory). This moment will leave you in speechless tears of joy. The brand could have just celebrated its own win that day. But the team chose to share it with their biggest fan. This – THIS – is how you make your customers – your fans – the real heroes of the story.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

4 truths to building your online brand

Posted on by Alison Monday

What does it really take to build a successful brand online? What matters when you seek more engagement, better search rankings or more buzz? Here’s s sneak peek for you from my upcoming webinar with Nick Kellet, co-founder of Listly, happening on Nov 11, 2014. Enjoy!

[listly id=”Tht” layout=”full” show_header=”true” show_author=”true” show_sharing=”true” show_tools=”true” per_page=”25″]

Like what you see here? Please join us for this FREE WEBINAR to discover even more truths and learn 3 ways to supercharge your brand online: Embrace Imperfection on November 11, 2014 at 10 am Pacific Time. Details and sign up can be found here – but hurry! Spots are limited.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

3 Foolproof Networking Tips to Survive the Holidays

Posted on by Maria Ross

11.3 networking tips (blog)

Trick or treaters, pumpkin spice lattes and chilly weather usually signify one thing (the chilly weather part for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere anyway): the holidays are right around the corner.

And with that…the dreaded holiday networking mixer circuit.

While you know you should be doing more networking to boost your brand awareness and grow your business, it’s sort of like knowing you SHOULD be having more kale smoothies – but the thought makes you want to vomit.

But no need to dread, my friend. Here to share 3 tips to survive the holiday networking chaos is my friend and frequent Red Slice collaborator (some of you have read her guest posts here before), networking expert and author Sandy Jones-Kaminski of Bella Domain Media.

Holiday networking is not all eggnog, idle chit chat and cheesy sweaters. It CAN benefit your brand, too (Tweet this!)

  1. Don’t take networking too seriously. It can and should be fun. Connect with the intention of helping others rather than simply expecting to find the elusive perfect client or biz partner. Relax, take the pressure off yourself and focus on what you can bring to the party or offer in the form of ideas, knowledge or resources (websites, apps, connections, etc).
  2. Improve your outlook and your fortune will change. If you have a negative outlook on networking, you’re probably sabotaging your chances at connecting with the “right” people. Put all the negative or disappointing encounters behind you and focus on “what’s possible.”
  3. Take a proactive approach and get off the couch or out from behind your screen and get out there! You eventually have to meet people to know if you’ll really connect with them, and the more people you meet, the more likely you are to find the “right” people for you or your business.

 

 

What sanity-saving tips do you have for surviving the holiday networking season? Please share your thoughts below so we can all breathe easier!

Image credit USACE Europe via Flickr

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

7 Strategies To Nurture Your Budding Twitter Account

Posted on by Maria Ross

10.24.14 Grow-your-twitter-account (blog)

I’m a huge Twitter fan. I love the convenience and conciseness of it, plus I find it a personal challenge to get my point across in 140 characters or less. You might be on Twitter but are not sure how to get a handle on what can often seem like the Wild Wild West. Enjoy today’s guest post from Logan Strain as he serves up 7 juicy tips for nurturing your Twitter account with a little TLC.

With over a quarter billion active users, Twitter is one of the most powerful social networks you can use to build your company’s brand and drive traffic to your site. But with all the tweets and new accounts being created every day, how do you gain a foothold in this very noisy space? It can be intimidating starting with zero tweets and zero followers when other accounts in your niche might already have hundreds of thousands of followers.

No account becomes a valuable social media asset overnight. If you are taking the very first step towards establishing a presence on Twitter, here’s some advice to help you kick start your efforts.

1) Use Tweetdeck

Using the web or mobile client might be fine if you’re a casual tweeter, but pros like you need to use something more powerful like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. Tweetdeck is fantastic because it’s a tool created by Twitter to help power users get the most out of their social network. You can schedule tweets, keep track of multiple feeds simultaneously, and manage multiple accounts. You can log in on the web, or (if you’re a Chrome user), you can use the handy Chrome app.

2) Follow (A Lot)

You can’t get if you don’t give. So if you want a flood of followers and you don’t have a strong brand name yet? You better start following people. While you shouldn’t be completely indiscriminate, clicking “Follow” every single time it pops up on your screen, it’s a good idea to start off with a ton of followed accounts. Some of the most successful tweeters literally follow tens of thousands of accounts.

Find all the biggest brands, thought leaders, and other personalities in your space and follow them all. Then check out who those big names are following, then follow lots of them too. When someone follows you, favorites a tweet, or retweets you, reward them with a follow. When you are actively following people, tweeters take notice, and you start earning followers in return.

3) Retweet And Favorite (A Lot)

Retweeting (posting other people’s tweets on your own timeline) and favoriting (marking tweets as your personal faves), are also part of giving. Retweeting is an easy way to add content to your feed with just a single click, but it also acts a compliment. It says “This tweet is so good, I want to share it with my followers too.” That’s a good way to endear yourself to bigger Twitter accounts and their followers.

Favoriting isn’t as strong, since it doesn’t add the content to your feed, but it still gives a hat tip to the tweeter. Feel free to favorite as fast as your mouse can click (or finger can tap) since it increases the number of times people see your name but costs you nothing.

4) Schedule Tweets A Week In Advance

In order to save time and be consistent, setup about a week’s worth of tweets in advance. This not only saves you time by doing all of your tweeting at once, it ensures that you schedule tweets for maximum impact.

What should you tweet about? You can:

When you should tweet?

Some studies suggest that the best time to tweet is between 9AM and 3PM, since that’s when people are most likely to check their feeds. Once you really start to build your following, however, you can more easily find when your best tweeting time will be with the online tool Brand Mentions. This is another free service that can tell you when your feed sees the most activity. Armed with this knowledge, you can schedule your most valuable tweets during the periods that you see the most engagement.

5) Be Hashtag Smart

Of course, you can’t simply tweet to nobody when you’re starting out. Twitter is like joining a giant cocktail party, and adding hashtags is how you join the conversation. People set up special feeds and alerts for their favorite hashtags, and can see when anybody (whether it’s a budding Twitter account or one with a million followers) is making a contribution. So it’s essential to add relevant hashtags to every single tweet you make.

But how do you find relevant hashtags? There are two main ways: either by checking out what kind of hashtags similar twitter accounts are using, or by using some simple and free online tools. One of the best ones is the related hashtags tool from Hastigify.me. Simply enter any hashtag, and you can find ones closely associated with it.

For example, if you are building a Twitter account for a hair care product, you can just check the hashtag #haircare. From there, you’ll see that people who use that hashtag also use #naturalhair, #beauty, and #bbloggers (the hashtag that connects beauty bloggers.) Now you’ll have several more hashtags you can add to your posts, and more ways you can be discovered.

6) Private Message People Who Follow You

If someone follows you, they’re probably following a lot of people. So how do you make an impression? Besides consistently offering interesting content, you could also simply send a private message through Twitter to your new follower thanking them. Since so few accounts do this you’ll stick out a bit more when they see you pop up in their feed, which increases the chances that they’ll engage with your content.

7) Connect Your Twitter Account To Your Other Properties

No social media account is an island. Provide a link to your Twitter account on your blog, your email signature, and even your other social media accounts. You want to give people as many opportunities as possible to discover your account.

Tweet Smart

That might sound like a lot of work in order get your brand’s account up and running. But the truth is that you don’t have to be a Twitter addict in order to build up an account and start gaining attention and traffic from this massive social network. Just 10-20 minutes every working day is enough to take you to zero followers to someone who is part of the conversation. Like anything in life, all it takes is a little persistence.

About the Author: Logan Strain is a writer for Crimewire, father, and podcast addict. When he’s not browsing reddit, playing with his daughter, or binge-watching Netflix, he’s creating viral web content.