Over the past few weeks, we’ve highlighted some tips and tricks for polishing your elevator and email pitch. If a pitch is designed to deliver a succinct presentation of your product or service, then it may be that the 140 character limitation of Twitter makes it a great venue for a pitch.
Stowe Boyd is often credited with the idea of pitching via Twitter. He proposed the “Twitpitch” in order to help him schedule meetings with startups at the Web 2.0 Expo in 2008.
Twitter has grown in use and acceptance since Boyd’s idea for the Twitpitch, and the microblogging service can be a valuable site for entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas. But with the increasing level of chatter there, you need to make sure your pitch stands out. So if you do decide to use Twitter to pitch your ideas, here are a few things to keep in mind:
1: Pitch Publicly. If you target your message using the @ reply function, your conversations will only be seen by mutual followers and could be missed by others who might be interested in your idea. And if you use the direct message function, your tweet just ends up as an email would, without all the care and presentation of a full-blown email pitch. Of course, a public tweet runs the risk of being lost in the shuffle. And one of the drawbacks to pitching via Twitter is that, unlike the elevator or email pitches, you can’t really craft your pitch to suit your audience. If you want to have a bit more precision in your pitch, consider including a hashtag to link it with other conversations on the topic. (This is particularly useful when you plan to be onsite for an event, such as the Web 2.0 Expo.)
2. Complete your Twitter profile. Make sure your profile contains compelling and pertinent information about you and your company. Be sure to include your URL.
3. Include a URL in your tweet. If your tweet is a pitch, drive traffic to a webpage or blog post with more information about you, your company and your service. Consider linking to a page with a more elaborate pitch, not just merely to your home page. Whether you’re using a URL shortener (such as bit.ly) or not, it’s good to identify the type of link – a link to a blog post or a video, for example – so people know what to expect when they click.
3. Don’t use Twitter solely to pitch. There needs to be a compelling reason to follow you on Twitter and to pay attention to your tweets. If you only tweet self-promotional links and blurbs, chances are you aren’t going to maintain followers.
4. Don’t spam. While Twitter can be a great way to spread the message about your business, don’t repeatedly blast your followers with the same PR information.
5. Follow up. Twitter provides a real-time way to both monitor and participate in conversations. Do make sure that you aren’t just using Twitter to broadcast messages, but that you are actively engaging your followers as well.
There are numerous announcements you can pitch via Twitter: news, events, product launches, and employment opportunities, for example. But remember, as with the elevator pitch, it’s important to sell yourself, not just your products.
