I posted this in the etsy forums, which can be seen
here if you'd like to add something to it as well.
It seems like there is a lot of debate on whether or not using twitter will actually bring sales versus views so I decided to share my experiences and hear other's experiences.
Now I can say Yes I have gotten sales from twitter!! Today I made 2 sales in my
lilacpopphotography.etsy.com shop that were directly from twitter. Someone posted that they were looking for an anniversary present for their parents and wondered if anyone had any ideas. I've been selling quite a few of my personalized photos of vintage cash register keys that are arranged as dates and she bought not only one of those but another photo from my shop as well! Woohoo. Here it is if you are curious!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23673045And Yes there is a point to twitter! I know a lot of people that are considering signing up or already have wonder what in the world is the point and what is all the hubbub (yes, I said hubbub!) about? I felt the exact same way at first. I am now totally addicted, as most people are that have been on there a while. Because it's FUN to connect with people all over the globe. It's sort of the same thing as people buying gossip magazines. You feel like you are in the know and it's sort of exciting. And the best part is you may even make some new friends on there. (I'm not talking about friends that I would tell my most intimate details to or even ever meet but just friends that are fun to chat with once in a while.)
I started on twitter about 2 months ago and I already have over 1,400 followers and counting. I figured out some cool tricks to getting "cool" people to follow you too.
1. Have an interesting tagline! No one wants to follow someone who sounds boring. If you are starting on twitter as more of a business, say something interesting about what you make instead of something personal-but be careful not to sound too "spammy" either.
2. Start following people that are already popular. Following someone else who only has 25 followers isn't going to get you very many people following you back.
3. This one is sort of funny to me. I look up celebrities and start following them BUT I also look at who they are following--NOT who is following them. Celebrities are more choosy with who they are going to follow. You may end up following a true friend of that celebrity who may actually end up following you back. It also makes other people wonder if you are part of that inner circle! It really is silly but it gets you a pretty big following fast and a cross market at the same time. Music and movie people like to buy art and handmade items too.
4. Use the twitter tools that people are always tweeting about once you get established. You can register yourself on many different sites, which will make you more searchable. Everyone on twitter gets ranked and you can look that up. There are so many twitter apps out there-just click on them once people you follow start posting them and see what happens. It's sort of fun too.
5. Basically just follow tons of people and tons of people will start following you back!I would love to follow you on twitter!
Please post your twitter link on here too. Mine is
http://twitter.com/lilacpopHas anyone else had any sales because of twitter?
Wrench Clock perfect Fathers Day Gift $88
Daddy's Sippy Cup Father's Day Mug Only $12!
Classic Camera Silver Cufflinks -FREE GIFT BAG- Retro Man Guys Dad Fun Gift 80's Dork Boy Groom Groomsmen Fathers day $19.99
My day job is a real estate photographer. I am very lucky that I live near some really affluent areas in Michigan. Remember the huge house in Out of Sight? It was filmed in Bloomfield Hills. I
handycam on a motorized tripod and it went around in a circle. I had to fed-ex those big tapes back and forth to Canada and they usually took about a week to even get online and most people didn't have computers that were able to view them! Then the company I was shooting for got taken over by IPIX and we switched technology and started shooting stills that were then stitched and overlapped. The IPIX cameras were equipped with a fish-eye lens and we took only 3 shots of each room, which gave a full 360 view. However they really distorted the image and the shots had to be taken perfectly. If you even looked at the tripod wrong (let alone bump into it like I do all the time!) you had to reshoot it. Then that company was taken over by Homestore...then Virtual Imaging Corp and that last company went bankrupt last October with this terrible economy. 
So I am now completely self employed and shooting tours all over the place in the metro Detroit area. I love it! The only drawback is that I want to redecorate my own house on a daily basis. So, I figured I would share some photos of my most recent houses. I've been shooting houses that are at least 1 million if not closer to 3 million.
Etsy Day Cup Comforter Pair - Special Pricing $10
Anenome Jug - Original mixed media work on canvas $175
Salty Mariner Organic Shaving Soap
The Connections- Screen Print
Fred
Home Fries - custom map necklace