Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard the buzz over the popular social networking site called Twitter. However, like many small business owners, you may be wondering just how to utilize Twitter to help grow your business. Luckily you don’t have to be a computer expert or a marketing guru to implement Twitter into your overall marketing strategy.What is Twitter?  Twitter is a micro blogging/social networking site that is used to send brief messages (up to 140 characters) to acquaintances, family members, friends, and the general worldwide Internet community (your “followers”).News, instant updates and communication with friends and family are just a few of the more common uses of Twitter. LA Firefighters use Twitter to keep the community abreast of potential fires and other emergencies. News agencies use Twitter to provide up-to-the-minute news updates. And companies and public services are beginning to utilize Twitter more and more. Most Twitter users “Tweet” to keep family and friends up-to-date on their own current activities.Marketing Your Business with TwitterIf you own a business, Twitter can be used to publish news and updates about your specific business or products. The best way to post would be by having a clickable link to the full article or press release. Business owners should consider the overall value of the release to customers and allow them to “discover” the material via Twitter. Proper etiquette is essential to effective marketing on Twitter. Advertising and selling tends to alienate followers and will usually create bad feelings among potential consumers.Twitter is a great place to promote sales or special events. For example, Schlotzsky’s Deli uses Twitter to keep customers updated on sandwich specials and new menu items. Many companies also subscribe to Twitter Alerts (much like Google Alerts) so that they are notified when anyone is tweeting about them – whether good or bad. When promoting your business it’s important to realize that the site is designed for conversation and timely news. Use a personal and conversational tone in your posts and avoid blatant advertising.Twitter is a marvelous way to provide your brand name its own unique voice. To succeed at Twittering, you simply must reveal your specific personality and post text with a singular flair. This can make a considerable difference in your overall success and help increase your Twitter followers. Without followers, Twitter will not be a valuable marketing too for your business.When you start Twittering you’ll discover that the site is mostly conversational. Twitter represents an opportunity for you to talk to your prospects and potential customers. If this doesn’t interest you, then you should probably refrain from incorporating Twitter into your overall marketing strategy. Make acquaintances, be an acquaintance and respond to your followers. Demonstrate to your following that you would like to engage with them. This sort of attitude tells your followers that you are a trustworthy, personable individual.

Increasing your targeted following on Twitter requires a bit of patience and a well thought-out strategy. Twitter, a micro-blogging social networking site, is popular for businesses because of the no-cost, no-frills way the site is set up. Twitter is used by small companies, as well as larger companies like Starbucks, Dell and JetBlue to connect with their customers and clients, advertise new products, monitor their online brands and in general, monetize their businesses.

There are four steps to increasing your targeted Twitter following. First, follow people on Twitter who you consider to be your target audience. Second, post relevant information about your brand and news that is related to your brand. Third, never spam your followers with auto-tweets, or post the same URL over and over. Finally, follow smart people who are online marketers or who are leaders in your industry.

How to Follow the Right People on Twitter:

Before you start following people, make sure your Twitter feed has at least a few interesting posts. Most people on Twitter will not follow you back if your Twitter feed is blank. After you’ve started your micro-blog feed, start following your target audience. There are two ways you can do this. Go to Search.Twitter.com and type in keywords related to your target audience. Let’s say you are selling an iPhone application. Type in keywords like “iPhone,” “bought an iPhone,” “iPhone app,” and other related keywords. Follow these people. If you post interesting, relevant things, there is a good chance they will follow you back.

You can also find your target Twitter following by going to Twitter and clicking on the “Find People” option. Type in keywords and any relevant industries and locations to find your followers. Start following these people.

Give Your Target Audience Relevant Information:

Post interesting news and reviews about your product, but don’t forget to also post related industry news. For instance, if you sell a particular gadget, you can post news about other gadgets.

One of the most important thing about gaining a targeted following is to retweet well and retweet often. If you see a relevant post by another Twitterer, retweet them. Many times, these Twitterers will see that you have retweeted them, and will follow you. This gives you access to their followers—just click on the “Followers” tab under these people, and start following. Be generous with your retweets—it’s one of the few tried-and-true ways of gaining a following.

Check Search.Twitter.com often. Search for your brand name, for example. Are there happy customers? Follow them and thank them. Do you find angry, disgruntled customers? Follow them, retweet them, and ask them how you can fix the situation. There have been countless examples of people reaching customer service reps on Twitter, and then telling the Internet all about the great service that came from a company they had just recently been bad-mouthing.

Never Spam Your Twitter Followers:

If you spam your followers, they will unfollow you quickly. Spammy posts include: Posting the same URLs over and over again; only posting product descriptions of your own products; having a Twitter handle that looks like this: MyAwesomeProduct1000 instead of something like this: NameofMyProduct; and asking insincere questions. For example, if you sell cars, it would be insincere to post a question like: What is the best car on the road? Twitter users are very savvy and jaded consumers. They know when a brand is being disingenuous.

Follow Smart People to Gain a Smart Following:

There are a lot of online marketers who have used Twitter to help their clients monetize their businesses. Twitter marketing gurus like Guy Kawasaki, Dave Peck and Chris Brogan should be on your Twitter list. You might also want to do a search for corporations who are on Twitter because they are the trailblazers and may offer you a great deal of advice in getting a targeted following.

Consider following your competition to see what kind of tactics they are using to increase their own targeted Twitter following. Smart online marketers monitor their competition on social networks to see what they’re doing right and doing it better. It’s also easier to see when your competition has failed and how you can avoid that. If your competition rarely posts to Twitter and never responds to negative posts, you can quickly fill the gap for your audience.

Patience is Required When Using Twitter to Monetize:

Businesses who take to Twitter to market their brand or products should be aware that using Twitter is a long-term strategy. Gaining access to your targeted following will not happen overnight, but if you use the proper Twitter strategies, it will happen. Be very careful with your Twitter following. Don’t sell to them like you would sell to the Average Joe online. Twitterers can sniff out a sales pitch and unfollow the guilty party in the blink of an eye.

When you have gained your targeted Twitter followers, market to them gently. Instead of sending out tweets that say, “Buy this cool product now,” consider writing a more subtle tweet like this: “Do you need a product that does XYX? This one does.” Instead of posting “New product has just launched,” consider starting a corporate blog, and then post something like this to Twitter: “New blog post: Why we’re so excited” and then end the Twitter post with the URL to your blog.

Always reply to any tweets that people send you. Don’t ignore your Twitter following. If your Twitter following gets too large for you to handle, consider outsourcing some of the work or having your Virtual Assistant take on some of the hours needed to tweet or retweet. However, never have someone tweet for you as if they are you. Twitter is a relationship-building tool, and YOU need to be the one building that relationship. You can always have someone tweet questions to start a conversation, share links to articles or other interesting information, or finding new people to follow, but you should be the one responding and interacting in discussions … not delegating it out to someone else. Be authentic!

Twitter is not a one-way marketing tool. It’s an integrated, holistic approach to marketing. That means staying transparent, interacting with the Twitter community and staying interesting. The quickest way to kill off your Twitter following is to be boring.

Almost one in five small businesses are now tweeting regularly, according to research released recently by O2, the mobile phone provider. (“Small Businesses are Catching Twitter Bug,” Richard Tyler, The Telegraph, 16 March 2009) Although the larger, multinational firms were the first to jump on the Twitter bandwagon, increasing numbers of small to medium sized businesses are catching up. In many ways Twitter is an even more useful tool for the mom-and-pop operators than for the big businesses with deep financial pockets and large advertising budgets. Twitter is free, simple and easy to use and is the newest, most useful tool for small businesses looking to increase sales and profits. Cost savings Small businesses that use Twitter save on marketing and recruitment costs. A substantial amount has been saved by firms who use Twitter instead of traditional marketing methods, an impressive cost reduction from the small business perspective. (“UK Small Businesses Flock to Twitter,” News Desk, smallbizpod.co.uk, 17 March 2009) Small businesses often have little, if any, advertising budget. Having a Twitter account is much cheaper than maintaining a web page or an email distribution list.  For smaller enterprises, the immediate intimacy of tweets suit their business philosophy and approach better than impersonal, sweeping advertising campaigns. Spread the wordA Crème Brulee cart operating in San Francisco grew by word of mouth via Twitter and within a few months the proprietor had quit his day job to keep up with demand. (“Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media,” Claire Cain Miller, New York Times, 23 July 2009) Such a success story illustrates that direct marketing, especially the word of mouth kind of Twitter, is a powerful tool for small businesses looking to expand their customer base. Business owners can also tweet about discounts or new, just-in products, reeling in new customers and enticing regular ones. Relationship management Twitter is useful for small businesses wanting to keep in touch with suppliers. The micro blogging tool allows small businesses to connect to other small companies, promoting a sense of community that goes beyond traditional geographical borders. An antique store in Texas connects with customers in New Jersey and orders supplies from out of town – all transactions were made through Twitter-based relationships. (“Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media”) Twitter enables businesses to increase the range of contacts, whether with suppliers, potential customers or support services like accounting and consulting firms. Feedback loop Small businesses rarely conduct market surveys as these are too expensive and time consuming for the average small to medium enterprise. But what about grass root surveys? Twitter allows the small business to monitor what people are saying about their business and their products. You can ask for active feedback and criticism, respond to questions and deal with any disgruntled tweets through Twitter. Listening to what’s happening on the ground can also help small businesses decide on a strategic direction. Keep your enemies closerCompetition is fierce for the small to medium enterprise. Twitter lets small businesses monitor their competition. What new initiatives are on the horizon and what can you do to keep ahead? If your competitors are not on Twitter, you can search for tweets that mention them so you can see what others are saying about them. Competitive intelligence is a good reason for small businesses to use Twitter and stay a step ahead of the crowd. Differentiation Being able to build a presence can make or break a small business. How do you differentiate your shop or enterprise from everyone else’s? Twitter allows a dash of creativity, humor and humanity in marketing your business. Tweets are personable and twitter accounts can be as funny or outstanding as you want them to be – the better for your customers to remember you by. A car dealer in Albany, New York, has the attention grabbing twitter profile “iamhuge”, a silly and memorable profile name that fits in with the business’s general marketing pitch and attracts curious customers to his website, Twitter account and dealership. (“Being HUGE on Twitter: A Small Business Case Study,” Rebecca Kelley, website: 10er20.com/blog, 4 August 2009)In summary Twitter is not just for the big guys. Small businesses are signing up for Twitter accounts in droves. There are a lot of benefits of using Twitter to the small business, including cutting marketing costs and keeping tabs on competitors.

Twitter now has competition from one of the biggest technologically innovative countries in the world—India. Competition takes the form of Sms GupShup.

Twitter now has competition from one of the biggest technologically innovative countries in the world—India. Competition takes the form of Sms GupShup.

Although Twitter is quite popular in the U.S., this version seems to have similarities as well as differences. It is free to sign up with sMs GupShup, but its primary difference from Twitter is that it targets mobile users, sending messages directly to your mobile. Many people prefer Sms GupShup because mobile use is the primary method of communication rather than the pc these days.

This site seems to cater to groups as a target audience. Each user can have multiple groups which helps differentiate between family, friends, and colleagues. You can create a group free of charge, or you can join an already existing group. Unlike Twitter, GupShup seems to be the go-between for messages. To send a message to your group, you send a Sms to GupShup and they forward it to members of that group. You can receive messages from members from anywhere in the world.

GupShup has amassed several million more members than Twitter. The user interface is easier to navigate and the look and feel have more of a community appearance. Users have the ability to send picture messages through the gallery. This feature is popular for mobile users since it enables users to communicate more personally by adding a picture. Users can share funny messages or groups with friends by forwarding them to their mobile phones. A person does not have to be a member of the site to receive messages from them. The GupShup member just sends the message or group to their friends’ e-mail or Facebook accounts if they do not wish to receive messages via their mobile.

Sms GupShup empowers its members by cutting out team moderation. Instead of moderators controlling the nature of the messages, community members have the option of flagging a message that they find offensive. A team member then views the flagged message and takes appropriate action.

Users can reply to group posts via their mobile phones and Sms GupShup sends the reply to the owner of that group. Sms GupShup is only available to Indian phone numbers. However, users can still access GupShup from their pc. Although the user is not charged for the messages sent with GupShup, they are charged for the data transfer. Overall, this is a very innovative site for those living in India. If you have business contacts in India and could not send messages to your contact, then it would benefit internet users outside India. Perhaps Twitter will take some of its features and implement them but until then, Sms GupShup is vastly superior for those living in India.

For more information on social networking, visit http://www.micro-blog.mobi and http://www.microbloggingservices.com.

Twitter has been called micro-blogging, or blogging for ordinary people. Basically they have provided a way for people who don’t want a full fledged blog to post about their daily happenings.
The downside to Twitter is the amount of people who sign up and make a post, but then never return. Currently these abandoned accounts are never deleted, so it’s up to you to update your follower and following lists keeping them clear of these abandoned accounts.
Finding Followers:
Besides being able to add your friends and email contacts to Twitter, they also provide a handy search box to help you find people to follow.
One of the best ways to get followers is to follow others first,. There is one check you must do before adding someone to your list, the most recent post date. Just adding thousands of people to your twitter list will not bring you followers. Twitter received a lot of buzz and attracted a lot of tire kickers, but if you aren’t paying attention then you could easily end up with the majority of your list being people who haven’t logged on to Twitter for a months, and they won’t be coming back to check out your profile anytime soon.
So step one to a clutter-free Twitter is to follow the right people. I will search for a particular term, and flip through the list, signing up to follow only people who have posted in the last 7 days. Also I will not follow anyone on their first post, I want to make sure they will be coming back on a regular basis.
Culling The List:
As your lists grow, you will want to check your following list and un-check those who have not posted for a while. I like to use a 30 day rule. Every time I log on to Twitter, I check 5 to 10 people in my list, and stop following the ones who have not made a post in the last 30 days. Many people don’t post every day, or even every week, but chances are if they have not posted in the last month, they probably won’t be posting again.
Following Followers:
Step 3 is returning the favor. Whenever you log in, check your follower list to make sure you are returning the favor to everyone that is following you. Unless they are just spamming the Twitter system with affiliate links posted every couple of minutes, there is no reason not to give back.
Posting With Links:
When writing a post with a link, whether to your site, an affiliate link, or just something cool you found, there is no need to place a full URL. Just using the www.sitename.com format will automatically make a clickable link.
While affiliate links are okay, try to post valuable content as well. Just putting up a bunch of obvious affiliate links will lose your following.

When it comes to increasing your blog reader base and driving more traffic to your posts, there are few platforms more effective than Twitter. Twitter is an excellent tool for connecting with your readers and building a rapport. All businesses should use Twitter as a part of their marketing and branding strategy. For bloggers, knowing how to use Twitter effectively can lead to unbeatable exposure. Here are 5 steps any blogger can take to get his posts to go viral on Twitter.
1. Increase Your Followers
Obviously it’s going to be challenging to get your tweeted posts seen by a lot of people if there are only 20 people following you. Your first strategy should be to increase the number of people that are following you. The easiest way to do this is to follow lots of new people. Newbies tend to follow you right back. You can also look up the target keywords in your niche and follow the people who are talking about those keywords on Twitter. It’s particularly helpful to find the users who have a big following in your niche and then try to get them to follow you because they are the ones that will help your content go viral. Avoid following too many people who don’t follow you back because this can make your account look spammy and give you a bad image. Make sure the number of followers you have and the number of people you follow are about the same or at least not drastically different.
2. Become an Expert in Your Niche
Be consistent with your tweets. Regularly link to interesting articles that you think would be of interest to your followers and provide them with value every time. By regularly linking to informative articles in your niche, your followers will begin to look to you as a great source of information. This is an effective way to build your brand and it will pave the way for you to tweet your own posts. Your followers will be expecting valuable content since you have already positioned yourself as an expert in your niche.
3. Promote Your Blog
Don’t expect people to find your Twitter page and click on your link. Make the most of Twitter by tweeting your own posts! Treat your tweets as if they were your headline. Make them attention-grabbing and interesting so more people click through. Try posting the same tweet twice at different times of day to make sure you reach all your readers who didn’t see your first tweet. When you post a tweet multiple times, make sure to delete the first tweet so you don’t look like a spammer.
4. Write Interesting Articles for Your Blog
This might sound obvious but sometimes the more obsessed people get with promoting their blog and social networking, the less they pay attention to writing posts of good quality on a consistent basis. When you are just writing to fill up your blog, it shows. Make sure your posts are very informative, well-written, and that they provide unique information your readers won’t be able to find elsewhere.
5. Make It Easy for Your Followers to Re-Tweet Your Articles
After you’ve done all of the above, you have to leave it to your followers to do the rest. To make it easier for your followers to repost your tweets, add a “tweet this” link at the bottom of your tweets. How do you do it? Simply go to http://addthis.com/ and place the bookmarking plugin in your html.
If you aren’t already using Twitter, you’re missing an immense opportunity to give your website/blog good exposure. If you’re looking for a strategy to increase subscribers, traffic to your site, and a loyal reader base, Twitter is an indispensable tool that should play a prominent role in your master plan.

Microblogging has become one of the biggest trends in both social networking and making money online. The website Twitter is one of the biggest and most widely used micro blogging sites on the internet, and can be a powerful marketing tool if used properly.
Here’s the key: Using Twitter to make money online is all about driving traffic to places where people will take an action that will put cash in your pockets. Micro blogging gives you a chance to target your audience and build a very personal relationship with them while still using massive leverage.
Because of this, the traffic that you generate using Twitter is some of the best web traffic that you can have visiting your site. This is because if someone visits your site due to something that you mention on Twitter, then you aren’t a ‘total stranger’ to the person.
This means that you have a higher degree of trust with them, and higher trust always = more sales. Also, it can have a viral effect if you are giving people links to content, tools, or information that they enjoy. Imagine passing a link onto people who will repost the link for 100′s of their followers to check out… The possibilities are endless.
One of the most effective tricks of using Twitter to make money online is to use Twitter to drive people to articles that you’ve posted on your blog(s). Blogs are very dynamic and allow you to constantly add new and relevant content on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. This keeps you fresh and allows you to keep people coming back to your site over and over again…
If you offer people good content on your blog, then they are likely to tell others and return themselves. However getting people to your blog originally can be tricky.
This is where micro blogging really shines because the number one thing that you need to know to make money online (for your own ‘brick and mortar business’, affiliate marketing, or something else) is how to get the right people to visit your site. Twitter and other micro blogging sites will help you to supercharge your targeted traffic faster than nearly any other form of free marketing.
Here’s how it works:
Twitter can help you generate traffic by allowing you to let all of your followers know that you’ve posted something new and letting you link to it. A good tip while doing this is to post the article name as a question that will arouse curiosity. One example might be, “Are you using the #1 trick to making money online with Twitter? (insert your link here)”.
This tip can also be used when using other people’s articles through your blog. Simply tell people that you ran across a great article and link to your blog. Then have a blog entry that summarizes the article or promotes it briefly while linking to the original post.
This will get people to your blog and often they will read other posts, ads, reviews, etc. before clicking through to the main article you are referencing.
This is just one of many ways to use Twitter to make money online by driving traffic to your blog. Use it as an idea and get creative in your own way because the possibilities are endless!

Ranked as one of the 50 most popular websites globally* Twitter is not just a site but a global phenomenon. With Twitter, social networking has gone on to the next level of connecting people to ideas to people.  Twitter is now being touted as the next best thing to have happened to the online marketing industry.

Brings transparency in the business process

Content that is generated by users and viewed by other users have the potential to generate heavy traffic for online marketing sites. Online business networking tools use various ways to market business solutions, but Twitter as a micro blogging service makes the business of online marketing more user friendly and lends a great degree of transparency to the entire process.

User friendly and easily comprehensible

Twitter allows its users to use only 140 characters per entry and has literally taken the maxim “keep it short” to a new level of success. ‘Tweets’ as the updates on Twitter are called are short messages that can be updated frequently. These messages are updated in real time, are almost like chatting online and can make for a great customer query adressal system.

Twitpic and plug ins are Twitter services whereby the user can upload and share images and also post text and HTML links. Twitter is a very comprehensible service and takes very little time to master.

Twitter as a value add

Every brand that promotes its products and services online is always on the lookout for a tool that is user friendly and extremely effective in generating user interest. Twitter can be used by online marketing websites to keep their customers posted regarding latest packages on offer, and news regarding product launches. Twitter acts as a great value addition to your business online because it gives a voice to your business. Your business speaks to its potential customers and a new level of trust is generated.

As Twitter is set to become an all-pervasive trend, online marketing is set to redefine ways businesses sell solutions.

Marketing your business solution with micro blogging processes like Twitter is not only the latest but also the smartest thing to do.

Know more about micro-blogging marketing. Connect to http://socialmedia-optimization.com/

So how does Twitter work? – Well you create a free account and invite people to follow your updates.  They see your “Tweets” in their timeline and their followers can now follow you etc. etc.  So as you can see its pretty viral and your follower base can grow quickly. 

For internet marketers like us Twitter is a precious tool.  Once you learn to utilize its power, Twitter creates a raving fan base that you can convert into customers. 

The key phrase here is “Once you learn to utilize its power!”  

You see, like with anything else there is a right way and a wrong way to use Twitter.  Just as easily as you can build raving fans you can also rub people the wrong way and enter a downward spiral that creates the opposite effect!  

I have good friends that has always been my source for traffic tips and social media advice.  When it comes to utilizing free traffic methods to get tons of people to your sites these friends are valuable resource man and when it comes to building a HUGE subscriber base fast Twitter is your tool. 

When you put the two of them together you get DYNAMITE!  Get your Twitter Treasure Chest ebook today.  Learn valuable tips and techniques on how to set up your main page.  Learn how to set up photos and customize your homepage for business or personal use and much more. 

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service which can be synchronized to your other social network platform like facebook, plaxo, and myspace. Moreover, you can use your cell phone to send tweets and keep up with what others are tweeting about.

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages.

It’s amazing how fast people change their opinions of social media sites.  I can remember back to the summer of 2008 when my business friends of mine dismissed Twitter as a waste of time.  As time goes on the micro-blogging site is only continuing to grow on me, and now the challenge exists in allocated my time and efforts between tweeting and blogging.  The following is a response to questions I field from numerous marketers and attempts to compare the two based on four parameters.

Effort

Many marketers are realizing that tweeting requires more effort than expected, due to the large number of tweets for those with significant followers.  Blogging necessitates effort in a different way, since each post is much longer yet fewer of them exist.  However, allocating your efforts evenly between the two will likely yield more immediate activity and response from your readers on Twitter.

Money

Comparing the monetization is probably a bit pre-mature.  Twitter is still quite new and thus trying to formulate a workable model for monetization.  Blogs’ more established framework lends itself to Google Adsense given a strong and consistent follower base.  Alternatively, Twitter doesn’t give users that capability.  So having a hundreds of thousands of people reading your tweets will not directly pay you anything.  View Twitter as merely an avenue to your money-generating sites online.

Results

Twitter garners more appeal to me as an online marketer, and personally it appeals to my instant gratification propensity in the way it can yield immediate results.  It’s a matter of a mouse-click to get your informative, news-worthy, humorous or bizarre thoughts to the world.  By contrast, a well scripted blog post could take days to attract the same number of eyes.

Time

The irony with Twitter lies in the time consumption users experience.  Unlike blogs, which can require more time in per-post writing, Twitter originally began with the hopes of limiting the time required to communicate with online social circles.   Despite this, Twitter users can decide their degree of involvement regardless of their following site.  Personally I try to limit my own Twitter use to an hour a day, which includes new tweets, responding to messages, and managing my followers/unfollowers.

So which is more productive?  Instead of jumping to hard and fast conclusions, I’d recommend social media junkies to use both and to achieve an inter-connected balance between the two.  The undeniable truth prevails: offering good quality content yields the highest productively.