Duncan Bannatyne: “MDs should sell on Twitter”

Dragons’ Den star Duncan Bannatyne says MDs and owners of companies should use Twitter to actively sell their products.

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Speaking to Marketing Week, Bannatyne, who currently has almost 300,000 Twitter followers, says he regularly tweets offers for his portfolio of hotels and spas as well as promoting his books.

He adds: “I sell so much on Twitter. As an owner of a company you have got to do it – the value of it is ridiculous.”

However, he says directors must continue to interact with followers as well as advertising products in order to maintain an online “personality”.

He adds: “I sometimes get feedback from one or two [people] saying ’you’re spamming all the time, I’m going to unfollow you’, but at the same time I’m making sales. Two out of 300,000 followers is not a bad ratio.”

He says marketing across his business portfolio varies in terms of discipline but adds that the sector is “evolving”.

“The internet is massive for us in terms of advertising and if I could do things [such as geo-targeting] to get new customers that would be great – I would definitely consider that,” he adds.

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