Twitter, the micro-blogging platform enables you update your status and lets your contacts know what you are up to. Twitter boasts of several million users all over the world, and the number of active users has increased by whopping 900% in the past one year.
The popularity of Twitter is steadily on the rise and businesses are increasingly turning Twitter into a money-making machine. The simple rule is – on Twitter you will have people “following” you, and you will be “following” others.
The more people that follow you on Twitter, the greater the exposure your business will get. But, you need to be smart about building the right follower base.
When you try to market using Twitter you must understand how this community works so that your Twitter Marketing efforts pay off.
Twitter allows you to import contacts from Gmail, Hotmail and your own address book. It is for you to take advantage of this huge facility.
It is of paramount importance that your profile is complete in all respects.
Make sure to fill in all the fields (both required as well as optional) and do not forget to include your website URL. You may also personalize your Twitter page to suit your company’s branding.
For your business to succeed on Twitter, you have to understand its dynamics.
Remember that Twitter is a social tool and not a classifieds site. Never spam others about your special offers. Be active in the community (tweet and post comments about others’ tweets as often as feasible). But do not tweet every 10 minutes that others feel annoyed.
Post interesting and relevant information and not trivial inanities. Try to engage in conversations. Retweet (reply to others’ tweets) as often as you can.
Never promote your company directly or try to blatantly sell your products. Make your selling efforts subtle and unobtrusive.
Carefully build your followers base. Put a link to “Follow Me on Twitter” everywhere (your email signature, forums, website, and business cards)
Every time you post on your blog, request people to follow you on Twitter. See who is following your friends and you, in turn, follow them.
Please know there are Twitter directories that are extremely resourceful to find members who are likely to follow you.