Apparently nuggets are my theme this week =)  When I was a younger, my family used to visit some of the popular places in Washington state to pan for gold.  As kids, we were so excited and had so much fun…even though we would often times come up empty handed.   All we knew was that grandpa had a little tiny plastic case at his house full of some of the gold he had found in that same river…so there was always hope that we’d find some ourselves.  The trick is knowing where to look and how to properly sift through the pans.  As long as we had grandpa, we had the secrets.

Just Keep Panning…You’ll Find Gold Eventually

Twitter is a lot like panning for gold, sometimes it’s a waste of your time and other times you find a wonderful nugget that makes all the time you spent leading up to that now mean something.  The secret is the same, knowing where to look and how filter your results.  You won’t always find success on Twitter, but you don’t always find it in your email, through a radio commercial or even on your website.  They are ALL hit or miss…but the trick is to keep on panning when others have given up!

Twitter has Virtually NO Walls

Almost everything everyone posts on Twitter is public and searchable.  The secret is searching for what people would “actually say” verses what you’d “like them to say.”  Below is an example for a real estate agent looking for prospective new home buyers on Twitter.  I could go on for days for all the industries out there, but this seems to be a popular one I get a LOT of questions about.  Of course, if you want help with another example send me a note through our contact page and I’ll be happy to help.

Where to pan…

So, we’re going to pretend I’m a real estate agent and I’m looking to connect with people who need to purchase a new home.  It would be great if I could search Twitter for the phrase “I’m looking for a real estate agent to help me purchase a home in Somewhere USA. Any takers?”  Well, technically you “can” search Twitter for that…but I can almost guarantee you will come up with an empty pan.  Instead, think of the life changing events that would cause someone to look for a new home….new job, marriage, relocation, new baby, divorce, death in the family, etc.   Now those are things people talk about on Twitter.  So, for this example we’re going to narrow it down and search for people expecting a baby near me (Orlando, FL).

How to Sift…

In order to follow my example, you’ll need to have a Twitter profile.  Start by logging in. Type “I’m pregnant” into the search bar at the top of twitter and click the search icon.  Include the quotation marks…this will ensure you search for those words together.  See picture below.   Next, click on the tab that says, “tweets near you” and voila! A list of tweets appear that match your search criteria with people near you.   You can even save this search and come back to it day after day.   Once you see a tweet that looks legit, you can click on the name of the “tweeter” and an expanded profile will open up to the right side.

Turning a Nugget in to Cash…

From there it gets tricky…how you make first contact with that person is crucial.  The idea is that you reach out with something useful to that person…a link to a great website for expecting mothers, a coupon for a maternity clothing store, etc.  You will be instantly “ignored” if you reach out and say “hi…need a new home for your new family? I’m a real estate agent.”  Trust me, I’ve seen it.  From here it’s about building a relationship and staying on her radar.  You’ll be able to keep an eye on what she talks about and even who she talks to.  Eventually you’ll be able to mention you’re a real estate agent possibly get her into one of your other folds, email marketing, monthly print news letter, etc.  Even if she doesn’t end up buying a home from you, chances are you have expanded your network and are able reach out to her network.  The idea is that you rinse and repeat this process with dozens, if not hundreds of real people on Twitter and you will reach someone who is the market for what you sell.

In Conclusion…

Hopefully this helps demystify Twitter for some of you business owners out there looking to harness the Twitter beast as a prospecting tool.  Twitter is just that…it’s a beast and you need to feed it.  You will get out of Twitter what you put into it, so be prepared to pan and sift…pan and sift…pan and sift before you expect to find gold!

On a side note, you don’t have to have a Twitter profile to search Twitter.  You can go to http://seach.twitter.com and see what’s going on.  When you go there, you’ll notice it looks a lot like a Google Search home page…except it’s Twitter.  I find this to be a cleaner and easier way to search Twitter.  Keep in mind you can use this tool WITHOUT having a Twitter account.  However, you will NOT be able follow or interact with anyone you see in the search results without a Twitter profile.