Friday, May 6, 2011

Amy's Old School To Tweet or Not To Tweet? That is the Question!


Little Bird of Happiness 

By: General Whimsy 2



There is a large group of Etsians  on Twitter for business and personal reasons. I have been asked a variety of questions about Twitter, all of which I have at one time posed to RetroTrend who filled me in on a a number of tips and now I will give this information to you.

First off, what is Twitter?
It is a social media outlet that lets you "tweet" messages of 140 characters to your followers that tells them what you are up to now. Many of our fellow Etsians use this as an opportunity to tweet what they have just listed in their shop, what just sold, photos of something that is soon to come, treasuries they have created or are in,  as well as chat with other vintage lovers. 

Why is Twitter Beneficial?
Twitter is FREE and  has the potential to reach thousands of people with your tweets thus sending people to your shop and increasing business. 

1974 Vintage Color By Numbers 

By: Ismoyo


Where to Start
Personalization
Begin by personalizing your Twitter profile. I created a twitter account with Amy'sOldSchool as my name and used my Etsy avatar for my image. Using the same name as your shop and your shops avatar will help streamline your image and make you more recognizable. In your profile tell a bit about what you do, your passion, your shop and include a link to your Etsy shop. 

Followers
These are the people who will receive your tweets in their Twitter Timeline. To gain followers you follow other people with similar interests. Start by following the followers of the  Vintage Market Team. As you follow people they in turn will follow you! Include a twitter link in your shop description, blog and Facebook page. 

Momma Bird and Her Two Babies 

By: Jen's Closet


What is a HashTag? 
This is the symbol that used to be called a pound sign (#). Why this changed I have no idea! A hastag is something you place before a word such as #vintage in order to search for that topic. To have your item show up when people search certain topics you include hashtags with key words in your thread. This does count against your 140 characters but it will help your tweet be seen by others who aren't your followers. Do not put a space between the hastag and the keyword. Good ones to use are:

#vintage
#vmteam - for people searching the team tweets
#etsybot - this is a search tool that will retweet your Etsy related tweets
#madmen - for items that are from the early 60's that you might see on the show
#Mod
# and then a year such as 1960 or 1980
#books
#jewelry
#fashion

Basically any word that would be a descriptive tag on Etsy could be used with a hastag. 

What does @ mean? 
This is the symbol used before a name of another Twitter user to send a message directly to them. Again, you do not put a space between the symbol and the name such as; @AmysOldSchool Twitter will also provide a drop down auto fill list as you begin to type a name. 

This is enough to get your started! But I am by no means an expert so, if you have more great tips or questions please include them in a comment below! 

I know it feels intimidating at first, at least that is how I felt! But, it is actually a lot of fun to see what people are up to throughout the day! So, if you haven't already, give it a try! Happy Tweeting! 




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