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Don't know a twit from a tweet? Do you think Twitter is stupid and a waste of time? On the other hand, are you wondering why all the TV and Radio stations always mentioning their Twitter accounts? If you don't understand twitter, then this article is for you! In this article, I will discuss many of the primary benefits that Twitter has to offer any business. I will explain why you want to consider using Twitter to help grow your business. On top of this, I will provide links to other articles helping with techniques, tools, pitfalls to avoid and shortcuts you can take to become a successful Twitter marketer.
As the director of Social Media, I often hear people say things like “I don't tweet." “ I don't get the whole twitter thing." I must confess that seven years ago, I did not get it either. However, my ability to keep an open mind and a willingness to learn helped me discover several benefits unique to twitter; benefits, that for the most part, other social networks don't share.
During my seven-year journey of enlightenment, I quickly discovered that twitter allowed for the fastest growth of any social network. Tweets are search engine-friendly. That’s right; they show up in Google Search, where many other social posts do not. Add to this the fact that it allowed for push messages (messages that lead readers to a specific URL), and its innate ability to allow you to search for a highly targeted audience, convinced me that there was more to Twitter than just tweets. I soon also discovered that it allows a person to see what is trending (what most people were talking about). That really impressed me. I then learned that it also allows me to search the content of tweets to target peoples' interest based on what they were saying. That final straw got me hooked.
Let's look at each of these special abilities to see how they can help any business. Social networking can take up a lot of time. Researching your target audience, following the people you have targeted, writing and posting content (tweets), finding useful content etc. However, one important fact that often escapes many businesses using social media. If you want your messages to be heard, it has to go out to many people (in this case, twitter followers). Remember for every 100 people following you only 10 will see your message right away. Of those 10, only one may act on that message. To see significant results you need a large group of followers to be able to measure the effectiveness of your message. Now, let's look at these unique Twitter benefits.
#1. You can grow a Twitter account faster than any other social network
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| Twitter 6x6 (Photo credit: Steve Woolf) |
In my opinion, Twitter is the easiest to grow of all social networks. Twitter has a corporate culture that is reciprocal. That is, people will follow you back if they believe you have similar interest or have something useful to offer. In many cases these are absolute strangers who are following you and reciprocating in order for you to follow them. This is in stark contrast to Facebook which is a much more closed garden where you have to be approved to become connected. On Twitter you can follow someone without them following you back. It's all about following what people are saying and not necessarily joining a group of friends.
#2. Tweets are Search Engine Friendly
Until the recent release of Facebook's Graph Search, it was very hard to search what a person was talking about. On twitter you can not only search what your followers are saying, but you can search all 500+ million users' tweets for what they are saying. These tweets are also searchable in Google Search. Most of the content posted on Facebook or LinkedIn is not available in Google search. Google+ is the only other large social network to have this feature.
#3. Tweets can contain push messages without offending the reader
This means that tweets can become back links to your web properties if they are written in a way that provides useful information followed by a link to your desired landing URL.
Here is an example: "Great article, worth reading - How to Make #Google your Best Friend http://goo.gl/mXIMw | Visit us @ http://goo.gl/05fxv Pass it on”
This tweet is only 131 characters long, yet it provides useful information and a link that we want our readers (followers) to check out. This tweet is fully searchable by 500+ million Twitter
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| Hashtag gigante (Photo credit: edans) |
followers, plus this listing will be added to searchable content in Google organic Search for the keywords in the article (i.e. How to Make Google your Best Friend). Being listed in Google Search, is a big plus. Also notice that this tweet leaves room to retweet it. It also asks that others pass it on! In my example above, I demonstrate how a tweet can provide a push message directing the reader to visit a secondary site after they have checked out the useful information from the first link. It also requests that it be passed on. This increases the chances of it being shared by 30%. The last item worth noting is the hash tag (# in front of the word Google). This special character signifies this word as a key word! I know that you can have multiple links in other social network posts and some are now adding hash tag capabilities, but none works as well as they do on Twitter.
#4 . You have the ability to search twitter users in a meaningful way
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| twitter logo map 09 (Photo credit: The Next Web) |
Once you’re a twitter member you can use twitter search functions to peruse all subscribers and what they are saying 19 ways from Sunday. This search function can be carried out by any keyword you think of, including but not limited to; name, location, subject, occupation, industry, tag line etc… This search covers anything that is listed in the twitter subscriber's profile.
#5. You can see what's trending
On top of this you can also search tweets for specific key words or phrases. Many large web organizations use the tweet database to look for trending interests. Companies like Google, Yahoo and many other news services actually provide tools to follow these trends. Understanding reader trends can also help you provide more meaningful and targeted content for your followers and readers. To create keyword tweets, use the special hash tag character (# symbol) to show that your keyword is significant. Properly formatting your tweets can help create trends, a very powerful event, from a marketer's perspective.
#6. You can use psychographic information to target your audience and followers
In the past being able to know an audience’s demographic information (age, location, income etc.), was a tremendous benefit for any advertiser. Social networking as advanced this technology by allowing you the subscriber to search twitters subscribers psychographic information (personal likes, affiliations, hobbies, interest, favorite shows, books, artist etc.) This high level of targeting is achievable because twitter allows you to search not only what people list in their profile but also what they are saying. This is extremely powerful and focused way to search for a targeted audience. I know that most large social networks allow you to search the psychographic profiles of users. However, Twitter was the first large social network to offer the ability to search what subscribers were saying. It wasn't until Google+ joined the social networking ranks that another large social network offered this possibility. This provides you the ability to target any psychographic information a subscriber has posted. Also, don’t forget that every tweet is added to the Google Organic Search database.
Rules to Live by When Following Twitter
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| Twitter Layout 01/2009 (Photo credit: Andy Ciordia) |
#1. It's all about them. Trying to make it about you won't work unless you’re a celebrity! People don't join Twitter or any other social network except to fulfill something they want. This usually means their personal interests, their desired information, and their specific tastes in entertainment or groups they want to connect to. They did not join to see or hear about your advertisements. If you want people to follow you, be interested in them, be engaging and provide value added useful content.
#2. Use your grandmother's rules of etiquette to monitor your behavior. Be proactive (be first to help others) be nice, be thankful, be helpful and be courteous. Be specific; ask for what you want but never demand anything! Avoid being short, mean or vulgar. This is a very public and unforgiving forum. It's extremely hard to take things back!
#3. Be professional. Understand that people are learning who you are by what you say and how you're saying it. Double check your grammar and spelling. Avoid slang, acronyms, cursing, salacious and derogatory language.
#4. Provide useful information to a focus targeted audience. Trying to please everyone or to get everybody to follow you is a waste of time. Target people with mutual interests and constantly provide value added content to win their loyalty.
#5. Post your information on a regular schedule. Do this preferable once a day at the same time each day . Every audience and interest group has a limit to how many posts they are willing to read each day. If your information is deemed useful, then you can post more often than once a day. Pick a regular time and block out a couple of hours minimum a week to research and make your posts. Make it a fixed calendar item.
#6. Use tools and techniques' to leverage your time and efforts. Use tools
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| Driver tools (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
that are approved by twitter. Using unapproved tools can cost you or get you suspended. This includes hash tags, URL shorteners, user management tools (like "JustUnfollow.com") and aggregating software like Hootsuite and Tweet Deck. These tools will allow you to schedule posts in the future, post to multiple social networks and respond to your followers more effectively. Also don't be afraid to post the same content to other social networks. This is part of creating leverage. You may have to provide some additional format changes but most of your work is already done, so take advantage of the time you have saved.
In the past, I have written extensively about the rules for using Twitter and other social networks. The rules listed here will apply not only to twitter but to all social networks as well. I have also written about how to use tools and techniques to leverage your efforts. These articles include information on how to avoid pitfalls to keep from losing followers. The links listed after this paragraph take you to other more in depth articles that provide a more comprehensive understanding of what you can do and how to carry out specific functions. Together these articles will help you master the use of Twitter and expand your ability to reap the rewards of social networking.
Links to other articles and secrets:
- Six Cardinal Rules for Success in Social Media Marketing
- Six Simple Yet Powerful Rules That Help You Build Your Twitter Flock
- Five Powerful Techniques That Attract Twitter Followers
- Three Internet Marketing Techniques That Use Leverage To Produce Great Results
- Four Principles That Use Leverage to Market Your Business and Produce Powerful Results
- Six Clear Reasons why you should be using Social Media to build your Credibility
- Trick or Tweet, The vulnerabilities inherent to Twitter and all Social Networks
- The Twelve Secrets of Social Media Success
- Seven Secrets of Social Media Magnets
- Making Social Media Work for Your Business
- What's the best Social Media site for a Small Business
- Seven Valuable Benefits Social Networks Provide and Social Media Marketers Covet
- Social Equity, Businesses use it, here’s how to get some
- Social Media and Keeping Up with the Joneses (The Competition!)
- How to win friends and influence people in the 21st Century
- How to Win Friends and Influence People in the 21st Century - Take Two
- Success Secret for Social Media Connecting
- Three Common Mistakes Business People Make When Using Social Media
That's my opinion, I look forward to reading yours'.
If you found this article useful, share it with your friends, families and co-works. If you have a comment related to this article, leave it in the comment sections below. If you would like a free copy of our book, "Internet Marketing Tips for the 21st Century", fill out the form below.
If you found this article useful, share it with your friends, families and co-works. If you have a comment related to this article, leave it in the comment sections below. If you would like a free copy of our book, "Internet Marketing Tips for the 21st Century", fill out the form below.
Hector Cisneros is the COO and director of Social Media Marketing at Working the Web to Win, an award-winning Internet marketing company based in Jacksonville, Florida. He is also co-host of the weekly Internet radio show, "Working the Web To Win" on BlogTalkRadio.com, whic, a writer, an entrepreneur for more than 30 years, a veteran of BNI for 19 years and was a BNI director for over five years. He is still an active BNI member and follows its philosophy of "Givers Gain." He is the owner of several businesses in Jacksonville, Florida. He actively coaches business owners in the fine art of online advertising, business networking and word-of-mouth marketing. He is president of Website Know How, Inc., a holding company for his business ventures that include: online advertising, word-of-mouth marketing, real estate holdings, non-profit training/support, book publishing, health and wellness product sales and adventure sports. Hector's new book, "60 Seconds to Success," teaches business owners how to get the most from word of mouth marketing by using great 60-second introductions. To learn more about Hector Cisneros, social media, online marketing or word-of-mouth marketing, visit the Networker's Apprentice workshop or his book's website: http://www.60SecondsToSuccess.com.
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Who knew Twitter was so sophisticated. Like many people I only had a rudimentary understanding of what makes Twitter special. Thanks Hector.
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ReplyDeleteI must admit I used to think Twitter was a waste of time. Now I understand the value it can bring to a business presence on the internet.
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