Selling products to your friends is sometimes referred to as pimping - the inference is that it is a bad thing (and if they don’t need what you’re selling, then this is right).
I’m part of a fairly small circle of friends on Twitter - there’s a couple of dozen people that I know well enough to consider Twitter friends and allow access to my feed.
Still - it is acceptable to send a tweet (Twitter message) announcing a new blog posting. You could almost call this Twitterpimping. I think that it is OK - I bought a bass and amp from Nathanael today because of a Twitter post.
If the post (or whatever other ad) sounds interesting, chances are that your friends will follow the URL to find out more.
As far as getting real traffic goes (as opposed to inbound links from Flog on Facebook) this is a fairly successful strategy, especially when you’re starting out. Friends make good readers.
Try it.
And I’m very grateful for you taking my bass and practice amp off my hands - I’ll be down to 2 basses for a while until my Fender Jazz S1 turns up in a few weeks from America - very excited about that!
Twitterpimping is ok to some extent - I mean, Jaiku does it automatically if you set up the feed. So does Facebook. But then there are some people who do it a little too much - have a look at @bentrem on Twitter (someone I follow, so I’m not bagging them - but I know they’re a good example of chronic twitterpimping).
But I have two requests of friends who post links on Twitter - and that’s mainly due to everything being converted to TinyURL or equiv. Please flag if it’s Safe For Work and what it’s about! A tweet that simply consists of a TinyURL link with a 6 character alphanumeric ID string doesn’t give me much incentive to click it, especially at work.
Hi Nathanael,
and happy I am to be buying it at that price
I think that there are some people who overdo it - in the same way that there are some people who overdo adding their own blog posts to Digg and coRank.
I agree entirely about NSFW - it should always be marked as such because of the blended work/life world we live in - and I have friends that I don’t open emails from at work for just this reason (as you never know exactly what they’ll send you).
Best regards, Andrew
I have not twittered, but I do add some of my important blog posts to the forums I belong to. I choose mostly the articles that relate to readers I have talked to. It is okay to an extent, but over doing it can make people upset.
Hi Blondie Writes,
I think that you’ve hit the nail on the head - do it, don’t overdo it.
Best regards, Andrew