Mount Dora man is role model for using Twitter marketing

Get in on the fun in Mount Dora (Photo courtesy of
WhatToDoInMtDora.com)

Brian Young opened his Tremain Street Cottages in the small, central Florida town of Mount Dora, and used Twitter to grow his business, and his town's tourism.  He's now helping you do the same.  (Visit part one, Mount Dora man proves Twitter is powerful marketing tool.)

What if your town isn't promoting itself?

As a writer of travel and travel marketing, I get to talk to and hear from a lot of folks all over the country.  Recently I heard a colleague talking about being in a similar situation to Brian's; small town with little promotion for travelers.  What could she do?

In this case, the person was a travel writer, and was trying to figure out how to draw people to her travel column, as well as to her community.

I immediately thought of Brian.  This man took his passion for his business and his town, and using Twitter, has created a "cottage industry".

I asked Brian to offer some tips on promoting your business on Twitter.  And perhaps you're in a similar situation: needing to promote your town. 

Find people in your niche

"The quickest way for somebody who is only using Twitter and none of the utilities that are available, the quickest way to find followers, or people to follow, is to do a search for a term related to your business.  For instance, in my town it's real simple, I just sort it out with the search term Mount Dora to find out what was happening or who might be Tweeting about Mount Dora.  Well, come to find there were a number of people doing that.  So, I got most of these people, probably 70%, to follow me.  You Tweet, they see it, they Re-Tweet it, and it just becomes viral."

Brian Young of WhatToDoInMtDora.com has created a multi-
faceted welcome to Mount Dora (Photo courtesy of
WhatToDoInMtDora.com)

"And the next thing you can do is to find related terms like, another one I searched for was Florida vacations.  Huge search term.  I'm still using that one, and I probably get 30 followers a day just for Florida vacations."

Marketing your business means getting involved

Brian reminds folks that they need to get involved, and to get into a routine, to make participation consistent, and worthwhile.  You need to be dedicated to finding followers who are your potential clients.

"I would tell any business, get involved, find out how to find the correct followers and get on a routine, a daily routine.  I do it every morning over coffee and I purge the ones I don't use and I just keep finding new ones that will fit my niche, and if you continually do that on a regular basis, it will benefit your business.  I've absolutely proven it."

We learned in our first article, Mount Dora man proves Twitter is powerful marketing tool, that Brian has had success.  With effort, a plan, and a little know-how, he has brought to his community an understanding of how Twitter can bring in business, and has proven with his own business, that people do use Twitter to find travel options.

Do you need passion to promote your business?

Maybe not.  But I would think the next question you should ask yourself if you don't have a passion for what you're doing; why are you doing it?

Mount Dora is warm and welcome combination of home and
tourist destination (Photo courtesy of WhatToDoInMtDora.com)

Brian has passion.

"If there's something I'm passionate about, I can't stop talking about it, can't stop pushing it, it's just part of my nature."

Yet passion needs a voice, and while Brian gives it that voice it also needs people to hear it.  Twitter gave him that.

"And what I think I'm passionate about, I can't stop talking about it, can't stop pushing it, it's just part of my nature."

Yet passion needs a voice, and while Brian gives it that voice, it also needs people to hear it.  Twitter gave him that.

"And what I think I've stumbled on here, I've always been innovative in everything I've done, this technology ad all of these ideas, it's really all about human interest and human interaction, which for somebody who has the kind of passion I have, and be able to give a lot of people an understanding of these concepts, I think it's a perfect mix of things."

It can be a perfect mix of things for you as well.  To marry your business, vision, passion and social media marketing (Twitter, Facebook), allows you to draw in customers in a whole new way; where relationship, interaction, and the person are all of value, and the bottom-line is better for having made the journey.