22-Step Cheat Sheet to Profit from Twitter

The following is a guest post originally written over three years ago. I think it’s still relevant in 2012 (with a few exceptions, as noted).

Marlon Sander’s 22-Step Cheat Sheet to Profiting from Twitter

I want to share with you how to obtain joint ventures, meet people you can produce products with, get people to promote your products and jump start your business — all without forking over even a dime.

And you can do all of this starting 20 minutes from now — even if you don’t know anyone to start, even if you don’t have any sort of list to begin with, even if you’re a newbie, even if you’re a Mac user, even if you can’t attend seminars, even if …. You get the idea.

By using Twitter, you will:

• Meet people who have lists and can promote your product.
• Meet people who have the know how to move your business forward.
• Connect with people like you, so you don’t have that feeling you’re in this all alone.
• Avoid the bickering, arguing junk that goes on in forums. Twitter is a totally different and refreshing experience.

I’ve officially been on Twitter hard core for a few weeks now. I still have lots to learn. But let me share the amazing things I HAVE discovered about it that can benefit you greatly and almost immediately.

• You’ll meet and connect with wonderful people. I’ve met some really neat people I normally would never have connected with.
• You’ll get to discuss things with people you might not know about them in other venues.
• You can interact with a lot of people quickly.
• Your Twitter list builds virally.

People will retweet things you say. This virally spreads your info through other people’s networks.

Now, here are my best tips on getting the most out of Twitter.

1. Sign up at Twitter.com. That’s step one, of course. It’ll take you about 30 seconds.

2. Download Tweetdeck. It’s a freebie download for pc’s and Macs from Tweetdeck.com. Tweetdeck will make your tweeting an unbelievable experience. Or use SocialOomph.com, a great alternative!

3. Keep the negative junk off Twitter. Don’t use Twitter to try to get that refund or resolve disputes. The purpose is marketing. Use it to bring positive energy and meet people.

4. Follow people who are in your niche. Go to Twitter.com. Click on “find people.” Type in names of people who write blogs in your niche, who have affiliate products and who are influencers. Click the “follow” link under their photo. This will let you see their tweets with other people.

5. Make friends. Do NOT go onto Twitter pitching people. Make friends. Be a sociable person.

6. Learn the art of the RT. RT stands for retweet. There’s a little icon that says RT. When you retweet someone’s messsage, you’re passing it on so the people on your list can see it. This is the ultimate form of sharing. You give before you get. Even if you only have 10 people on your list, use the RT. But watch how others do it first. Don’t just jump in.

7. Observe for a week. Spend a week or so just watching others and learning what happens on Twitter before you jump in head over heels.

8. Anything you say can be retweeted. It’s crazy. People RT things you wouldn’t think they would. So be aware that anything you say can be spread. So be very cautious about saying anything negative about anyone.

9. Share your positive energy. I said this before. But I’m going to repeat. Positive energy attracts other positive people.

10. Give first. Do not ask people to promote you or your product. Give first. Offer to promote them! How? Be creative. Think of something. Anything. Even if it’s just republishing their article on your blog. Or retweeting them. Let me repeat — give first. Offer to promote others first. By the law of reciprocity many will give back to you. The #1 mistake people make is to ask before they give.

11. If someone really annoys you, you can go to twitter.com, find their name and on the right side is a link where you can block them.

12. Search for affiliate programs in your niche market. Find the names of the product creators and look them up on Twitter. People who have products with affiliate programs also have lists. Make friends with them. Do something to promote their product and tell them about it. That will get a response in most cases.

13. Offer viral ebooks and reports on Twitter. Instead of blatantly promoting your product, it’s better to offer a little report or ebook with a decent chance of others retweeting it. Use Twitter to pull rather than to push.

14. Share. When you run across a cool website or resource tweet it to your list.

15. Direct messages to specific people using the @sign. Do not send a lot of messages without the @ symbol. You want to send most of your messages to individuals using the @ symbol.

16. Go out of your way to promote others to your Twitter list. They’ll reciprocate some time in some way.

17. Pass along great blog posts. When you find a good blog post on someone’s blog, pass it along to your Twitter list. This endears you to the blog owner. Even if they aren’t on your Twitter list, there’s a decent chance word will spread back to them.

18. Learn to Twitter on your cellphone. Yes, you can do that too.

19. Make friends with influencers. Understand that in the big picture your goal is to find people who have lists and can promote your products. Then make friends with them. That’s your ultimate objective. But you don’t get there by ramming your product down people’s throats. You get there by being an attractive personality that others gravitate to.

20. Be profound. It helps if you pass along cool resources and on occasion say things that are profound or retweetable.

21. Inspire others to go for it and pursue what they know they should pursue but don’t have the courage to do it. Be a cheerleader for people’s highest and best interests.

22. Use Twitter strategically to meet and network with list owners. Do not end up twittering away time you really should be using to create products or do other promotions.

Use Twitter. Don’t let it use you.

Please pass this cheat sheet along to others.

About the Author

Marlon Sanders is the author of The Amazing Formula That Sells Products Like Crazy.