Greg Maxson, freelance technical illustrator and co-author of The Complete Technical Illustrator, recently wrote to share his experiences using Twitter as a marketing tool:
I saw Twitter as a sales tool with an immediate and pointed delivery, to be aimed at current and prospective clients. Free, direct, and uncluttered advertising to an audience with a common interest.
Using Twitter he reconnected with Popular Science magazine, a client he worked with regularly between 1994 and 2001. He had tried with hard-copy promos, emails and even voicemails with little response. Then he started following @PopSciGuy, art director Matthew Cokeley:
Each morning Matt would Tweet, “Morning tweeps! Let’s get to work!” After following PopSciGuy on Twitter for a few weeks, I decided to make a bold move. While having lunch at a local restaurant, I replied to one of these morning salutations with “Matt, put me to work in the next issue!”
Now, I certainly wouldn’t recommend this approach to everyone! But my gut told me that this direct, outside-the-norm tactic might just garner a favorable response from the A.D. of a leading science and technology magazine. This approach was destined to go either of two ways: bold, yet smart or, the dumbest move ever.
…and it worked—within two hours, Matthew got in touch with a project for Greg.
For those of you on the fence about it, this is what Twitter is for; Connecting with people with shared interests & goals, in a casual, personable way.
To get you started, you should follow Greg @gregdraws, the hilarious Matthew Cokeley @PopSciGuy, me @jamesprovost, the TechnicalIllustrators.org feed @technicilly and everyone on the the Technical Illustrators list!
James,
Thanks for the write-up here. The way in which my re-connect with PopSci went down was fantastic and fun. It’s refreshing to work with A.D.’s who don’t take themselves too seriously.
Looking forward to connecting with others via Twitter as well.
-GM
It seems like you guys have this social media stuff down. What are your opinions of Facebook as a business tool in light of the privacy and copyright concerns out there.
Facebook doesn’t feel like the right place for me. Maybe if I made prints or products that were warmer & fuzzier, something people took into their homes, it’d feel appropriate…
I agree with James regarding Facebook. IMO Facebook seems more like a class reunion setting, while Twitter has a business convention feel. So shortly after joining both, I decided to reserve Facebook for social connections and use Twitter for brief bursts of business info.
-GM
That’s pretty much how I see it too. The design community is much more interesting and business oriented than facebook.