We already know that social media is great for connecting with other busy moms but many moms are discovering that it’s also a great way to save money. Twitter has become my primary source to find great deals in my local area and to discover new frugal bloggers who can help me to save money.
Use Twitter to Find Discounts
Follow your favorite brands to be the first to hear about new coupons that are available and great promotions or giveaways that are easy on your budget. Connecting with companies you love has the added perk of saving you time if you have a customer service related issue.
Following local frugal bloggers on Twitter is a great way to find out about current coupons, free samples, sales, and free local entertainment. Search for your city in Twitter to find local bloggers or search for #deal #freebies or #coupon to hunt down nationwide savings.
Deal a day sites, such as Groupon, often post their daily deals on their Twitter account. To simplify things, you can create you own list with all your favorite deal sites so you can scan through the deals in one place each day.
Don’t want to spend hours searching Twitter for deals? No problem. Cheap Tweet and Coupon Tweet are 2 great sites that search for money saving tweets and coupons for you and puts them in one place. You can search by store or category to narrow things down even more.
Use Twitter to Save Money on Travel
With the economy struggling, many companies are turning to social media to reach out directly to their customers. The travel industry has been hit harder than most so work it to your benefit by allowing companies to compete for your business. If you are planning a trip, try throwing a tweet out stating that you are looking for great hotel deals in the area and see who responds. Any companies who is effectively using Twitter to find new customers will be looking for keywords that are likely in your post and will probably jump in and let you know what they can offer.
Karen Emanuelson turned to Twitter to help her prepare for a family trip to Las Vegas. She created a Twitter list that included top Vegas hotels, media, and restaurants to help her keep track of great deals in the area as she was planning her vacation. She says:
Anyone using Twitter can follow my list or create their own. My family found a great hotel deal at Excaliber and several shows from the list I created. Other great lists to save money may be found on Listorious.com.
Use Twitter to Find Giveaways
Giveaways are a great way to save money by winning prizes that you can use for household needs, birthday gifts, or to satisfy your urge to splurge. We try and feature some of our top blog giveaways each week for Winning Wednesday but there are so many giveaways out there that there’s no way to show them all. Search for the hashtag #Giveaway or #Contest on Twitter to see current giveaway posts and find Twitter giveaway events.
Twitter parties frequently offer giveaway prizes for participating and since the prizes are usually drawn during the party they are a great source of instant gratification for busy moms who may be out of patience by the end of the day.
Use Twitter for Free Advertising
Many work at home moms (and big businesses) are discovering that Twitter is an amazingly effective free marketing tool. Creating a Twitter account for your business and building up your following can give you a great way to stay in touch with your existing clients and connect with new ones. One key point to remember when using Twitter for advertising – no one likes it when you talk about yourself ALL the time. Be sure and provide information that is useful to your target market from other sites as well as your own and develop a relationship with your followers by participating in the conversation.
Bloggers can use Twitter to share new posts, promote blog giveaways, and find new followers without spending a dime on advertising.
Use Twitter to Manage your Money
Failing to manage your money well can be a major money waster. Believe it or not, Twitter can even help you manage your money better. One of my biggest problems when it comes to managing my money is keeping track of where it goes. I haven’t used a checkbook in years so writing down what I spend as I write a check is no longer an option but digital money management programs often feel too distant and don’t make me feel very accountable for what I spend. I like being forced to acknowledge what I’m spending by manually entering it into something but I rarely remember to do it once I get home. Tweet What You Spend allows you to send a SMS to your Twitter account when you spend money and stores it in a private backend that provides additional management options. If you want to go social with your spending you can add splurges to the “Wall of Shame” for everyone to see.
Fuel Frog is a similar concept, but for keeping track of your gas mileage. Each time you fill up you can quickly send a SMS to Twitter and the information will be stored in a backend graph for you to look over later. If you see a decrease in your fuel mileage you know that it may be time to look into scheduling some routine car maintenance to improve your car’s performance.
If you are struggling with your savings goals, Smarty Pig is a free online savings account that allows you to set savings goals and share them with your Twitter followers. Friends and family can help you reach your goal faster by contributing to your savings fund by searching for your email address or using the Smarty Pig widget. Once you have reached your goal, you can either have it transfered to your bank, put on a Smarty Pig MasterCard debit card or redeem it for a retail debit card and receive up to a 12% cash bonus.
How do you use Twitter to save money?
Related posts:
About Rachel
14 Days Left 
7 Days Left 
Last Day! 
