(find me on twitter at http://twitter.com/presentjoyoga)
I’ve gotten called a “guru” on twitter. *runs and hides*.. I’ve been referenced online as one of the top ten in the yoga community on Twitter
On Following
1. Don’t follow back everyone. Some disagree with this. But see #5.
2. Follow back yogis who tweet valuable stuff - community leaders, teachers, studios in various areas, etc. There aren’t competitors on twitter, as far as I’m concerned, although there can be dissension and disagreement amongst yogis.The studio down the street? Not sure. But Twitter is a public forum, and I believe the possible best course of action is to follow, follow away! Even RT some of their stuff, if it’s valuable quotes or their own charity endeavours (of course you don’t want to tweet their marketing stuff)… if you’re uncomfortable with this idea (um, it is a BUSINESS after all), then create a personal account that is somewhat anonymous, and follow them through there, to keep tabs on how they’re using twitter.
3. Follow back “event broadcasters” and other leaders in the toronto area.
4. Wherever possible follow back actual clients/members of the studio, to develop an online personal relationship with them.
5. Cull your followers — as much as possible remove the spam accounts. There’s a fine line and sometimes it’s hard to tell. Some people will look at a person’s follows as a measure of whether to follow back; some people will look at a person’s follower count (ie the popularity contest — even better, is the following:follower ratio. If you are followed more than you follow, you evoke a different thing than if you follow hundreds more than who follows you..). It can be different for a business (not sure how), but in general I would say that it’s better to keep your news feed to two groups: those you want to follow because they interest you, regardless of whether they follow back. For example, an account that broadcasts Buddha quotes. You may wish to RT them a lot. Second, those who interact with you. This can be difficult, but try to follow whoever sends an @reply, if they are genuinely interacting with you.
Oh, the Automation
Please don’t automate anything about twitter. Instead, use a client like TweetDeck. Manage followers manually. Some “twitter marketers” will tell you how to get thousands of followers, and often recommend certain applications (not affiliated with twitter in any way). Beware. The people who actually use twitter, especially those in the yoga/spiritual community do NOT like these techniques, and smell them from miles away.
On @replies
Don’t underestimate the value of tweeting yogic messages that are very very very simple — Breathe. Bring awareness to the feeling of gravity in your body. Or quote patanjali. But also don’t neglect interacting. Respond to what interests you. Answer someone’s question, or ask your own, and be prepared to respond to most if not all replies to you. Try to reply to ALL @replies or mentions. Some people thank every person who RTed them. People like to get mail (except bills or junk mail — equivalent of spam!), and they like to get mentions. I don’t tend to reply to every single RT but maybe I should. It comes down for me to time.
On Retweets (RTs)
The more you reference other yogis, the more they will be likely to reference you — RTing is therefore valuable in the sense that you are not only spreading information that will give other users a better picture of who YOU are, you are also “recommending” them in a very real sense, and you are letting that person you RTed know that you are following them and value their tweets. Also RT the people who RT you, IF that person is tweeting stuff of value. You want to follow them to do that.
BE PERSONAL
This is a point of interest for ANYONE who uses twitter as a business identity. What do you actually do? How do you sell? How can you make money on twitter?
OK. Breathe.
Tweet about your challenges. Tweet generically about your challenges! That’s right! People RELATE to that. Tweet about goings on, to an extent. Big events? Sure! Tweet that you’re getting married, or going on a cruise, or to India, or about how there’s a GIANT weed in your backyard that you might need to just appreciate because it’s too big and prickly to remove. Tweet about your personal choices for being ecologically minded — and do these things without tying into your business. In other words, there is a place for saying “my studio/business is eco” - but if that’s all you’re doing then you’ve just bought into “green marketing”.. which yogis and others in the know will smell as simple self-serving marketing jibber jabber.
OK What About Business?
Now, being personal is trickier if you actually have more than one person updating twitter for your business. I actually do NOT like “we”.. it kind of reeks of groupthink. Either refer to yourself in the third person — “Studio Y is excited to announce Jerry as a new addition to the team” or, simply just get one person to tweet. Or get multiple people to tweet “for” the business, but under different names. Let them engage in the yoga community as themselves. You can choose to make your business a broadcast business, and then have your “reps” RT important things. I don’t think this model would be as effective.
People have sent business my way because of twitter, but I believe this is because of my personal relationship with them. And I give things for free, I mean knowledge and stuff. Some businesses do the occasional product giveaway, if that works - it could be a free complimentary pass for one class. it could be random or could be “the best response” kind of thing. But this can be excessive. Continuous self-promotion is not effective in this community.
In other words, be a yogic entity first, and a business second. Be ethical. Avoid direct PMs or unsolicited @replies that are just sales pitches — like if you sought out users by their location and then tweeted to them “come check out our studio/my website!” - that is so close to spam, if not spam. it can depend on how it’s approached. if someone tweeted, for instance “i’m really struggling with my yoga practice” you could tweet back, “what do you think is a barrier to getting deeper into your practice?” and engage in a conversation with them. they can organically look at the fact you are a local studio by checking out your profile. or you can eventually gently say “noticed you’re in our area, we’d love for you to come in for a class on us; finding a “home” to do your yoga can raelly help with a regular practice.
Finally
What is your approach to yoga? Frame yourself not just from a branding point of view, but convey why you personally are running a yoga business, and what makes you passionate about it. the more personal the better. Use twitpic to post pictures of yourself, if you choose to have a company logo as your avatar.. keeping in mind that a company logo as avatar casts you as a business with less of a face attached to it. I’d say this is somewhat a personal preference and a business decision that is ultimately your judgment call.
And enjoy! Enjoy interacting. Support others. Support them freely! Without condition! You’ll be amazed at the energy created through that.
Feel free to add anything I’ve missed, plus opinions, in the comments. I’m interested to build on these ideas. Also, I’m not really trying to cast myself as someone who is hocking that “how to make money through yoga on twitter!” but to try and bring yoga businesses to the realization that they actually have to be part of the community first, and a business second. this is not specific to yoga, except I think the community here is far more sensitive to when it happens the other way around (business first, yoga - yamas and niyamas? second).
