My grandparents used to say, “Nothing in life is free.”

If you were raised to believe in this notion, then you might cast a skeptical eye on any offer that stands before you with a $0 on the price tag.

But in business, offering something to your clients or prospects for free can work toward your advantage by better promoting your products and services and possibly gaining a new or repeat customer in the long run.

We’re used to seeing freebies: food samples at grocery stores, product samples or special coupons mixed in with the Sunday paper, a buy one get one free entree at a restaurant. But many businesses often are hesitant to give away anything for free for fear of lessening the perceived value of their products and services.

However, in the increasingly-competitive clamor for people’s attention online, it might be worth it to offer something to your clients or prospects for free, especially if the cost to you is minimal. Here are some ideas on how offering a freebie can be worthwhile for your business:

Product Samples If your product really is worth its salt, giving out free samples not only gives people a taste of what you have to offer, but also demonstrates the confidence you have in your products—your belief that if someone tries them, they’re bound to make a follow-up purchase. People often buy into that confidence: they want to buy something others think is good and of a high value.

Free Trials Often people shy away from trials when they’re asked to give out a credit card number to activate it. Within the past year, I was offered free trials (no credit card required!) for Website Magazine, Social Oomph and Mail Chimp. I had nothing to lose, so I went for it. As it turns out, I am now a HUGE fan of all three: I subscribed to the professional level of Website Mag, the professional level of Social Oomph, and will soon upgrade to a paying service for Mail Chimp. After trying all three, I now feel that I can’t live without any them. I’m hooked! Three examples of three companies that believe in their products so much so that they’re willing to give people like me a little ‘taste’ for nothing in return. Very little risk, very big payoff.

Information If you cannot offer a free trial or a product sample, at the very least give visitors to your site something useful to come away with. If someone gleans useful information from your site, they might bookmark it and return to it to learn more at a later date, or even (hopefully) come back to make a purchase. You will be seen as an expert if a visitor can come to your site and learn something that they can implement immediately. Offer visitors tips, information relating to your products or services, or expert advice—free of charge, of course. You can offer this information in the form of a downloadable ‘white paper,’ guide or manual, or by simply displaying the information on your web site. At TweeParties, we offer visitors a peek at our Twitter Party Calendar that lists all parties we can find on Twitter. We also offer tips and guides on how to attend parties, as well as this blog for tips on Twitter, social media and marketing. We even offer visitors an incentive to sign up for our weekly newsletter, offering them the freshest party information available and special offers.

As long as the cost to you is minimal, a free offer can be a great way to entice people to take notice of your company, and hopefully, make a connection with your products and services—one that they will come to find that they cannot live without.

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Tags: advice, business, free trials, freebie, marketing strategy, special offers, tips

I love Twitter parties. I guess there would be no point in starting a company specializing in planning them if I didn’t. However, if you rewind to the first one that I ever attended, my launch onto the Twitter social scene was far from favorable.

My first party reminded me of my eighth grade graduation dance. Back then, after I had put on my lacey peach dress, sprayed my 80’s bangs, and applied my pink eyeshadow, I proceeded to be held up by a wall for two hours while I observed a herd of awkward preteens attempt to break dance. I was a wallflower back then, and years later, to my surprise, I was a wallflower at a Twitter party. It doesn’t get much geekier than that, now does it?

If a transcript were available, it would probably look something like this:

@erin Hi, I’m Erin! Happy to be here!

Refresh screen. No replies.

There must be something wrong with my browser. Or Twitter. Or my ISP.

Refresh again. Still no replies.

@erin Um okay, I guess I arrived fashionably late to this Twitter party. And I wouldn’t call reindeer pajama pants fashionable. LOL!

Crickets.

All right, so there weren’t crickets, because as we all know, Twitter doesn’t yet have sound, but it felt like they were there, chirping while I tweeted. In reality, everyone was chattering with everyone else—at what seemed like a very rapid pace, I might add—and having a great time. And I was, well—watching my tweets languish, unread, unnoticed, unloved—while the rest of the party rocked on like a finger-flying guitar solo.

But the topic that night interested me: wine. I learned a few things about different favorites among users. Despite not partaking in a two-way conversation and instead watching other people’s tweets fly across my monitor like 90 mph fastballs, found it interesting enough to attend another one. And fortunately, after reading some tips online about how to improve my experience, I did.

Because at the next party, I had responses from those who had most likely seen my tweets during the first event, but didn’t get the chance to reply. Now they recognized my ID and avatar, and replied to me. Through the use of a new Twitter aggregator program (I now used Tweet Grid or Tweet Deck) I could better see tweets from the party hosts and follow along better. It took another party to really get the hang of it, but once I did, I found them to be a fun and rewarding experience (literally, when I snagged a prize!). For me, Twitter parties weren’t love at first site (er, I mean sight), but with a little experience and advice, I was on my way to the dance floor!

To recap, some advice for Twitter party newbies:

• Give it more than one chance. If at first your tweets don’t succeed, try, try again. Don’t let lack of replies on your first party to discourage you. Keep going, and chances are you’ll make some very good like-minded friends.
• Just relax. Twitter parties can be fast-paced. Select a tweet you find of interest to reply to and start a conversation with just one or two other users. Just like any real party you attend, you can’t be part of every conversation in every corner of the room all at once.
• Be yourself. Don’t feel you have to try to entertain people, crack jokes, be witty, or ask phenomenal questions to stand out. Just be who you are naturally. Like they say, “If you tweet it, the replies will come.” Give it time and have fun!
• Get educated. Visit our “Etiquette and Tips” page on TweeParties. There we have other helpful hints, including recommended software to help make following parties easier. We will continue to update our Tips page, as well as this blog, to give you more information and pointers, as well as software updates to make your party experience even better!

If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment here or contact us at [email protected]. We’re here to help! That’s the thing about the Twitter community: for the most part we’re a caring, helpful bunch. And at TweeParties, that spirit of community carries over to our services. Just don’t ask us how to moonwalk.

Tags: aggregators, tips, TweeParties services, tweets, Twitter parties