My new Twitter based website

Ok....I've been following this "Twitter" thingee and looking for ways to "Monetize" it.

Came across a guy who is charging Restaurants, $100 a Week to handle their "Twittering".

He now has over 25 restaurants paying him $100/wk. Here's what he does;
He sends Twitter Messages to "Twitterers" of each restaurant, announcing that, "Get 20% off any Meal, next Tuesday, at Smith's Italian Restaurant by saying the CODE WORD..."Twit-Twit"!"

He gets "Twiter followers" for each restaurant and Twits a special discount to them....where the "Twitter Folowers" can get special discounts with the "Code Word".

If the List of Twitter Followers for a restaurant is 200....and he Twits them a special Code to get a Special Discount on a certain day...and the restaurant DOES get LOTS of Diners on that day...saying the "Secret Code....guess who gets the credit?....righto...the Twitter guy.

So...look into this! It's HOT!

Don Alm

Simply by operating in Multiple Hyperlocal, Specific marketplaces with additional service & product packages...

Don,

You, Got it... As we know, there are Tons of businesses in all shapes and sizes using Twitter...

Of course Everyone in Today's business world lacks the Time and interest Leaving a wide open Marketplace for All kinds of innovative Twitter Biz concepts... Consultants etc. Specializing in particular Services and Niche Expertise...

Pretty easy these days to Contact potential clients and have a nice little Chat with them about happily Taking their Money in exchange for Services!

If you Dig deep into the search engines you'll Find some Great full time business models offering misc. Consultant Services to businesses... One of the Easiest ways to make Money online...

A few Quick examples including some Golden nuggets that can be Re-worked into all kinds of Money making directions...
http://blog.mrtweet.net/twitter-to-g...-his-clientele
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/bu...23twitter.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/di...ws/23unde.html
http://springwise.com/food_beverage/bakertweet/
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/1...business/7792/
http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands/

A Must listen to Full of Endless opportunities if you get the Big picture of Blending the Hyperlocal, Specific market into the Online world...

Definitely listen to Jack Humphrey's excellent Interview with Zach Brooks Hyperlocal Blog “Midtown Lunch”... Awesome stuff...
http://www.fridaytrafficreport.com/h...iew-with-zach/

Phil

"Actually...many, many years ago...in a far off distance place....."

I think it was in the early 80's....one of my advertising clients asked me if I knew of a way to bring him more diners on "Tuesdays".

I told him to send a large postcard to all the "Dentists" in the phone book, telling them you are offering a Special Discount to "Dentists" on Tuesday. All they have to do is say the Code Word, "Pilot"....and their waitperson would knock $10 off their dinner bill.

Now, granted, dinner for 2 in this place was over $50. A few drinks and it was closer to $75.

But...ten bucks is ten bucks and the Card brought the dentists in.

The next week he sent cards to Doctors...then plumbers...etc.

Later...in the 90's...with another restaurant.... I did a "FishBowl" drawing for a Free Dinner. Diners dropped their business cards into the Fishbowl for the drawing.

On most of these business cards was their email address. We then sent emails to these people offering a Special Discount if their say the Code Word.

So...twittering potential diners is an extension of these methods.

"Twittering" though, is much easier and more "modern".

Don Alm

In regards to the guy finding Diners by Twittering them with a Code Word that gets them discounts at a participating restaurant.

This has got me very interested HOWEVER...HOW would I go about finding "Local Twitterers" to Twitter to? People who would be near a participating restaurant who would also have a twitter account?

Thanks,
Don Alm

[MMacGillivray]

Originally Posted by Adman

In regards to the guy finding Diners by Twittering them with a Code Word that gets them discounts at a participating restaurant.

This has got me very interested HOWEVER...HOW would I go about finding "Local Twitterers" to Twitter to? People who would be near a participating restaurant who would also have a twitter account?

Thanks,
Don Alm

Hi, Don - Twitter has a really good search function - http://twitter.com/#search?q=roseburg will give you people who have twitted about Roseburg. Some of them are talking about your city - so I guess they are the ones to follow in the first instance.

That's one way to do it

Cheers
Margaret

Originally Posted by Adman

HOW would I go about finding "Local Twitterers" to Twitter to?

You don't.

Twitter is NOT a place where you go find people and can magically send them messages. To be able to send the person a message they HAVE to Follow you. THEN, anything you Tweet will appear in their window.

Take Ankesh's twitter Account. He is Following 890 people. *I* contend this is too many people to be able to follow effectively. As such, most of their Tweets will be lost and Ankesh will not see them. If all they do is send one tweet a day that'd be 890 to read. Could you read 890 emails in a day?

So what you'd need to do is set up an account and then have people follow that account. Any message you tweet will then appear in their window - providing they aren't also following 890 or more people in which case your message will probably also get lost in a sea of garbage tweets. Garbage like "Just got to work", "having coffee now", etc.

For a company, Twitter is a great Announcement Tool. To announce... sales days, positions vacant (Virgin/Branson has done this), etc.

For instance, if you're a H-D fan, then you'd follow their Updates at http://twitter.com/harleydavidson

Ellen uses it as enticement to get people to watch her show http://twitter.com/TheEllenShow

You want restauranbt goers to follow your Tweets, then you need to approach it like L.E.M (Local Email Marketing). They need to Opt in... to follow you.

Michael Ross

[Ankesh]

Originally Posted by MichaelRoss

Take Ankesh's twitter Account. He is Following 890 people. *I* contend this is too many people to be able to follow effectively. As such, most of their Tweets will be lost and Ankesh will not see them. If all they do is send one tweet a day that'd be 890 to read. Could you read 890 emails in a day?

True. I don't read all the messages of everyone I follow.

Thats the thing about Twitter - you don't have to read all the messages.

Twitter's strength is speed. Not comprehensiveness.

Its main use (at least for me) is quick problem solving. Or quick spreading of messages.

If I had restaurants as my clients - I would still follow Linda Caroll's ideas she had shared a few years ago on Sowpub.

(Can someone dig Linda's post? I didn't find it via google search...)

And base everything on emails. Or maybe SMS / mobile. But probably not on Twitter.

If you do use Twitter for coupons... you need to aim for at least 10,000 followers from one area. Companies like Dell have managed to earn a lot of business from Twitter using this coupon model. But a local restaurant may not be able to make the numbers. Unless its a chain maybe...

If you are Trying to use Twitter as a Marketing Tool, then your message will get Lost in the sea of jibble to those who follow Many people.

Michael Ross

Michael,

Actually that's Not totally correct...

As per the following, there are a variety of methods available to do it...
http://www.google.com/search?q=findi...ient=firefox-a

Phil

What's not totally correct... finding local people or tweeting to them even if they aren't following you?

Michael Ross