Twitter has created a unique social media platform that allows individuals, as well as businesses, to post updates in a quick, concise fashion from anywhere in the world. From the teenager at her favorite rock concert to CNN’s breaking news alerts, Twitter now dominates the world of “quick summary” information. In this world of “information saturation”, Twitter’s 140 character message limit requires “tweets” to cut through the fluff and get right to the point. Readers like this, as evidenced by Twitter’s explosive growth in such a short time.
As a marketer, Twitter allows you or your business to laser target a niche. It’s also quite possible you may actually create a “Twitter Persona” that’s far more interesting that you actually are! Why? Because with Twitter you don’t have to come up with a ton of useful content – short bursts of quality information and entertainment is sufficient to build and retain a following on Twitter.
Once you have created a following on Twitter, the platform allows you to stay in frequent contact with your “list” without burning them out. This alone makes Twitter one of the most, if not the most, powerful social media tool for marketers. Because Twitter messages are short and to the point, you can easily tweet up to 4 times a day and cultivate a relationship with your followers much quicker. Compare Twitter to more traditional marketing methods such as email lists, telemarketing, television commercials, etc. If you emailed your list 4 times a day how long do you think it would take for everyone to unsubscribe? If you called prospective customers 4 times a day how long do you think it would take for them to stop picking up the phone … or worse? If you ran the same television commercial 4 times a day how long do you think it would take for viewers to tune out or change the channel? Those methods of marketing are effective in moderation, but they are forced. Your Twitter followers are voluntarily choosing to stay in communication with you because they want to hear what you have to say. And when people want to hear what you have to say, chances are they will eventually buy from you.
It is vital to understand, however, that Twitter is NOT A SALES PLATFORM. This is where many people get it wrong. If you go on to any Social Network and immediately start pitching your product, business or service you will lose your following and your friends quickly. You must establish credibility and cultivate a relationship with your followers before you pitch. But once you have built up credibility and mastered the art of the Twitter conversation you can easily “sell” as often as once a day, and your followers will never know what hit them. The key is discerning when you have reached that point in your relationship with your followers. Hope this will help all beginners out there who are trying to build their online presence. Here is an example of my twitter account just to give you an idea.
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