Confused About Twitter? Just Be An Information Resource

Years before the internet, Harvey Mackay, the author of the legendary book, How to Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, conducted his business networking by clipping and mailing interesting news articles.

If he found an interesting article on, for example, how to hire and train better sales people, he would clip it, photocopy a few dozen copies, and mail them out to people he knew who might have an interest in this topic.

He hardly ever read a newspaper or business magazine without a pair of scissors in his hands. He clipped and sent articles on how to improve almost every aspect of business life. He also mailed articles on how to improve one’s personal life, how to achieve goals, how to become a better communicator, and on and on.

The topics he chose were varied, but they all offered solutions to people who wanted to improve some aspect of their business or personal life.

As I said, this was before the internet leapt forth from Al Gore’s fertile brain, so all this clipping and mailing took a lot of work. But the rewards were profound.

Mackay built a large network of people who liked him and wanted to do business with him. And this network enabled him to build a fortune as the owner of an envelope company and the author of several best-selling books.

Fast forward to our day in which we have the internet and Twitter.

A lot of people confess to me that they have not a clue about how to use Twitter to attract new business. And when they do, I bring up Harvey Mackay and his article clippings. Twitter enables you to pass along helpful, problem-solving information that you think might enhance your followers’ business and personal lives.

In a simple format of 140 characters, the best tweets consist of only two things:

A headline, to attract interest and promise a benefit; and
A link pointing to quality information that solves problems, relieves pain, or helps reach a goal.

It really is no different from clipping interesting articles and putting them in the mail – except that Twitter makes it quicker, easier and a lot less expensive.

Don’t get bogged down with how to cash in with immediate sales using Twitter. Instead, use it as a networking tool that enables you to build relationships by gathering and delivering helpful information.

As an added benefit, doing this will build your reputation as a resource for solutions to certain problems. You become the expert because you are the one who gives out information.

Twitter really isn’t hard, but it can deliver awesome results for your business.

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