Find Your Facebook, Youtube, and TWITTER?! How can we keep up?
It’s true, social media is a big commitment, but the results are remarkable for social florists! Staying in close touch with your customer base is essential in our very visual business. Adding social media to your routine makes it much easier and faster to get things done. A smartphone is a good idea to add to your mix because it allows you to be social anywhere, anytime!
Twitter is a useful tool for your business, and I’m going to show you the easy ways to making it work for you!
Twitter + Facebook = Harmony
First DO THIS, make Twitter easy, make it automatic!
You update your Facebook often, why not have those feed into your Twitter? When you update a status, add photos or share a link, it will automatically send these updates to your Twitter followers — it’s that easy! This way, you have a presence on Twitter, but are not spending any more time than normal.
How to link Facebook to Twitter? Simply go to www.facebook.com/twitter and click “Link to Twitter” beside your shop’s Page and follow the instructions. You must have a Twitter account first!
If you do want to participate in the Twitter community, here are some basic things you should know:
The Twitter Lingo
@MyFlowerShop – If your Twitter name is MyFlowerShop, other twitter users can link to you by using @MyFlowerShop in their tweet message, this is called a mention. Other users can say, “Just got flowers from @MyFlowerShop They smell so good!” This links to your shop’s Twitter profile. You could also mention others in your post, “We just got our new line of @accentdecor in, stop by to check it out!”
#Hashtag, Wha? – You may have seen them, Twitter is full of them. This is a #hashtag. Any word with a pound (#) sign infront. When you add a hashtag in your tweet, it turns that link into a clickable search. These are most commonly used at events.
Say you are at the event, Chicago Art Walk. You might tweet, “I am having a great time at the #chicagoartwalk” this turns the hashtag into a link. When you click this link you go to a page that shows everyone’s tweets about the Chicago Art Walk. Let’s say your shop is doing a corsage bar at the Chicago Art Walk. Your tweet might look something like, “@MyFlowerShop is currently at the incredible #chicagoartwalk next to Kinkos handing out free flowers!”
Hashtags are also great for contests and promotions! Have a contest where your followers say their favorite flower and tag it #favflower. Now you can easily find all of the entries by clicking that hashtag.
Many big events have their own hashtags, find out what it is and get connecting! For instance, when we were at AIFD Southern Conference last year, the hashtag used was #AIFDSC and those at home could follow along with everyone tweeting at the event.
What is RT? RT stands for retweet, which is kind of like forwarding in email. If someone on Twitter says something interesting you think your fans might like, simply hit the retweet button that shows up below.
Difference between RT and Reply – A reply starts off with the name of the person you are replying to, “@sallyjoetwittergirl I love your blog post!” This goes to her as a mention. It also does not show up in feeds to your friends, only on your profile.
A RT or retweet is retweeting the original tweet to your followers. “RT @FSN Check these Tips on Flower Care!” If you want to reply AND publish to all of your fans, simply RT and add your message before the RT. Be careful, there is only 140 characters before your message gets cut off! “Great Tips! RT @FSN Check out these Tips on Flower Care”
Twitter Search Is Your Friend
Twitter search gives you the ability to see in real time what people are talking about.
- Find New Town Events – Search for your town and see what they’re talking about. You might see an event you might not have otherwise. There are lots of small groups that use Twitter who don’t always use the local paper, especially in the younger crowd.
- Search New Trends – Unfortunately, Twitter has a lot of automated feeds, so you might have to weed through results on broader topics, but you might search for Prom Trends, Wedding Bouquet Trends, etc and see what people are talking about. You might be directed towards blogs and articles you’ve never heard about.
A great thing about Twitter search is being able to SAVE! Save topics that give you the best results, such as your city name. Now, you can quickly reference Twitter for anything being said about your town, or any other search you might be interested in.
See your saved searches right from your home page!
There are a lot more ways to using Twitter than just what is mentioned in this post, but this is to get you started. Perhaps we will do an advanced Twitter post if this one goes over well. If you are interested in using Twitter more, you might want to check out the desktop app for Tweetdeck. It is a tool to gather all of your Twitter feeds and searches all in one place and give you alerts for specific topics. It also allows you to share pictures and shorten links to fit in your 140 character message. Tweetdeck is not for a casual Twitter user, but it can help you stay organized if you plan to use it more.
Don’t forget to connect with FSN on Twitter! Also check out @AIFDHqtrs – AIFD Twitter, @SAFdelivers – SAF Twitter, and don’t forget to check your state’s florist association‘s website to see if they have a Twitter to follow.
If you have ANY questions submit them in the comments below and I’ll answer them ASAP!
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