Dear Friend,
I am feeling revitalised and well rested after our break on the beach. The good news is I managed to improve my fitness while I was away by constantly running from shady spot to shady spot (my white skin burns very easily).
While away I really enjoyed spending time with my family, my wife and also with just me. I know that may sound weird but it was great to have time to spend on my fitness, reading and reflecting on the year that was and the year that will be. In the coming weeks I will be sharing with you some of my thoughts and also my plans for the year, before I do that though I have something very special to share with you today.
While in Fiji I was lucky enough to participate in a local cultural experience called the Kava Ceremony. Now most people who've been to Fiji before have participated or viewed this particular ceremony, but in case you haven't yet here is a quick 1 minute video of a Kava Ceremony:
Among the Fiji islanders the ceremony above is called the "Tourist Kava Ceremony" while that in itself was a humbling cultural experience I was also lucky enough to be part of a family's personal Kava Ceremony. On one of the nights in Fiji, members of a local tribe had come across to the island to sing Christmas carols for the resort guests. Later, we were wandering the resort and just happened to come across a local islander family.
One of the members of the family had been playing volleyball with us all week, so she and a lady known only as "Aunty" invited us to join the ceremony. It is very humbling as a stranger to be invited into what is a traditional ceremony, something that outsiders are not normally allowed to be part of. I can only hope that I can be as lucky in my future travels, to participate in other authentic ceremonies like these.
Before I leave you to read my success tip below I'd like to share with you a quote that a friend sent me which I feel is perfect for kicking off the new year:
"Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks." -- Matthew 7:7-8
Warm regards,
Shaun Stenning
Shaun Stenning - Head Coach - Internet Marketing Coaching
Success Tip
How Can Twitter
Increase My Sales?
Ok so maybe you don't know what Twitter is and that's fine, I'll explain that to you in just a moment, but the real question you want to ask is how can I make money from it? I don't want to sound money hungry but ultimately if it isn't making you money then it's losing you money and costing you time. More about that in a moment, firstly, what is Twitter?
Twitter by definition is a micro-blogging platform.
Have you ever had a thought that you wanted to get out there but it just wasn't long enough or important to write an article about?
Have you ever read an article you wanted to share with friends, clients or family without having to email it to each person individually?
Twitter is a web-based application that allows you to write about what you are doing, thinking, reading, writing, really you can write about anything as long as it is under 140 characters. For me, twitter is not only about sharing information, it is also a tool for learning and keeping up with the news. One of the major advantages of twitter is the fact that you can follow people, or in reverse have people follow you. To follow a person means that every time they do an update, you can automatically read it in your twitter account
For example I follow about 50 of the most influencial internet marketers and they are doing updates all day about news, products, services, information and research. This means instead of having to go out to look for this information every day it is getting delivered into my twitter account. Not only that but it's in real time, I don't have to wait to hear the news, in most cases I get it first on twitter!
Let me give you a real-life example...
There is a twitter account called www.twitter.com/baggygreen which gives you ball by ball updates on the Aussie cricket. Without turning on the radio, watching TV or downloading any software I can get a ball by ball account of the cricket. Now that's technology.
Now you have an idea of what twitter is, the question is where does this fit in with your current business and how can you make money from it?
Before I answer, I would like to provide the following disclaimer, if you are not selling, if you are not doing any marketing, if you don't have a website, twitter is not for you. But if you are doing all of this then here are a few ideas:
Customer Retention – One of the major parts of any marketing plan is your customer retention process. A key aspect of that process should be contact with your customers, twitter allows you to stay connected with ease. Instead of writing a long winded newsletter, blog post or email you can write a short 140 character note. This is the major way I use twitter. Here are a few quick tips on how to use twitter for customer retention:
- @ Reply to a client after your latest call with them
- Feed your twitter account into your website/blog to give the appearance of an active site
- Share snippets of information and news to create the teacher/student relationship
Customer Acquisition – There are many ways that twitter can be used to gain customers and increase sales, today I just want to talk about building a twitter database. There are two key strategies to building a list with twitter:
- Follow Me Follow You – This is a much debated list building strategy where you go out and follow hundreds if not thousands of people in your industry. For example, I could go out and follow 1000 internet marketers. Then in return a percentage of these people will follow you. Now my personal opinion on this is that I only follow people that I want to learn from and if they don't follow me back no problem.
- Trends and Trending – One of the more advanced parts of twitter is that it can show you keywords that are trending and you can also create a trending keyword. A trending keyword is one that is being typed into twitter updates a lot, which means people are interested in hearing about. If you include these trending keywords in your twitter update, people can pick up on that and follow you.
Now those are just the basics of twitter, more advanced strategies will be coming over the next few months.
This Week's Action Step: Visit Twitter, create an account, visit my twitter page and hit the 'Follow' button under my name
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