By Polina Raygorodskaya

With only 140 characters, twitter seems to be a one-trick pony. What can you really do with that? Plenty,
as it turns out. It takes strategy and some time but Twitter can generate buzz for your line…but more
importantly, it can generate revenue. Here are 5 ways to do that:

Give Them a Reason to Tweet

Whether you ship internationally or sell through a storefront, a happy customer will naturally want to share their positive shopping experience with friends. Make it easy by adding social media links to product tags. For example, include a promotion with instructions for customers to tweet about how much they like their purchase and offer 10% through a promo code when they do so. In order to ensure that these promote your account to a customer’s followers, make sure that the instructions include words ahead of your twitter name, rather that immediately including @brand, so that everyone that your customer follows sees the tweet, rather than just you!

incorrect: @dressshopland I love my dress!
correct: I love my dress from @dressshopland

Express Urgency

Once your flock has been encouraged to follow you, keep your tweets meaningful and, if you are promoting a sale, adding a bit of a time limit, like a 24-hour, Twitter only sale, can be a great way to drive activity and sales. Let your customers that follow you know that they need to act now or they will miss out. You can also build a simple Twitter application that requires customers to send out a tweet in order to get a unique link for a coupon download or coupon code.

Spread Goodwill

One of the best ways to develop relationships on Twitter and amass a following eager to connect with you and share your tweets (and products!) with others, is to be a resource. Check your feed for people asking questions and give provide the answer! Commiserate with a follower who is on her third espresso to no avail, recommend a great place to get flowers to a bride-to-be (and follow up with some suggested bridesmaid gifts!).

In addition to engaging with people around a variety of topics, search Twitter for any mentions of your brand and respond to both positive and negative experiences. For those who legitimately have a problem with your customer sales department or how their package arrived, respond quickly, kindly and with a solution. The added benefit of problem-solving through Twitter is that your response may also be seen by current and potential customers. The key is to make disgruntled customers feel heard by addressing their concerns and reaching out. No one expects you to be a perfect company, but they do expect action to be taken when a mistake is made.

Surprise and Delight

Engage your followers in surprising ways. Randomly address a specific follower or several followers and
give them a valid-today-only coupon code just out of sheer generosity. Include tweets in your next email newsletter or write a blog post about your most engaged followers. You become worth following as a
brand when you are engage in surprising ways.

Location, Location, Location

Putting on a fashion show or hosting a trunk show in a new city? Tell your followers about it! Twitter can and should assist your line in encouraging physical, in-person interaction between your line and your customers. Immersion and interaction is key to transitioning a casual customer to a rabid fan, and social media can also be a means to get the word out about offline activities. In order to drive attendance, consider a social-media only gift bag, or giving away fashion show tickets to your followers (and giving them the VIP treatment when they show up!).

About Polina

Polina Raygorodskaya is an acclaimed analyst and public relations specialist for the fashion industry. As president of Polina Fashion LLC, she has addressed the marketing and public relations needs of countless up and coming designers. For more information, please visit www.polinafashion.com or email info@polinafashion.com.