Yes, I finally decided to start tweeting by joining www.twitter.com. And yes, I was already using other social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, StumbleUpon, Digg, and a few others, but I never really used Twitter much. But, I kept hearing about how great Twitter was from others, and never figured it was of much use to me. Twitter? Tweets? Isn’t that just another online chat medium with a catchy name? Well, if you aren’t using Twitter then you’re probably wondering the same thing, so let’s nail down what Twitter really is – here is a definition:
Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to communicate your thoughts in 140 characters or less.
So, no it is not another instant messenger. People don’t have to be online for you to post messages to them, and you can see what they have posted before. And, posts are viewable by all those that follow the tweets (posts) of that person. So, the definition above makes sense: it is a micro-blogging platform, where each person’s Twitter account profile could be considered the equivalent of their blog site.
So, how does this help us in online marketing?
Well, within Twitter there are two types of users: those that you follow (following), and those that follow you (followers). By follow, we mean that you can read the posts of the other person – and those posts appear auto-magically in your Twitter home page. The trick is to get as many (and as many of the right type) of followers (those that add you to their Twitter account to see your posts) as possible. This way, whenever you post something (hopefully useful), all those that follow you will see it – and if they find it useful or interesting then they may take your advice, think you are a great guy, or follow you to your Website or other information that you share.
So, Twitter is not only a tool to share information, it is also another way to build your social network, and to connect with many people online. However, before you go crazy with Twitter, here are some tips to keep you on the right track:
- Post quality tweets, or people will not follow you. In 140 characters or less, make your post worthy of being read so people look forward to more, and thus are more likely to take your advice or information seriously.
- Be polite. It is polite to follow someone who is following you. But, in order to avoid following 1000’s of tweeters, take time to check out the Websites of your followers to see if they are the right people for you to follow. Strive to have lots of followers: the more followers you have, the more clout you have online.
- Be interesting and entertaining and followers may follow you back to your main Website, Facebook, Digg, or other places you want to send them.
You may also want to check out some Twitter tools. for example, if you use WordPress there are plugins that allow you to post your Tweets on your Blog, or going the other way send a tweet to let everyone following you on Twitter that you have just made another post on your blog. Make use of these tools. I’ve also started to use the Witty Twitter client on Windows XP instead of the Twitter Website. Other good ones are: Digsby and Twhirl. There are Twitter clients for almost any platform, such as Mac, Linux, iPhone, Windows Mobile, so you can tweet to your content from almost any computer or portable device from anywhere with an Internet connection. Check out a more complete list of clients at http://twitter.com/downloads.
My Twitter foray has been quite exciting so far: in a very short period of time, I have managed to acquire over 130 followers. If this keeps up, I may have a few thousand followers very soon. Not bad!
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Nice results…social media is definitely a good way to get credibility and eventually traffic back to your site…cheers