Instead of traditional client appointments or networking meetings to spread word of a business and its products or services, modern internet marketers rely on communication via social media sites. And the most popular site is the still rapidly growing social network – Twitter.
As well as using this networking site for businesses, it also enables companies to keep in touch with their current customers as well as cultivating new clients.
There is no faster way to get the word out about your business than the free opportunities provided by a social networking site like Twitter. Here we look at how to make the most of Twitter for maximum marketing benefit.
Using Twitter For Marketing Messages
Twitter has many features, one of them being that it leaves no room for empty promises. As long as a page is set up for public viewing anyone is able to browse the profile for past and present postings. Tweeters are even able to share others’ sales pitches and conversations via retweets, making each posting’s accuracy imperative for the company’s reputation.
It is argued that Twitter’s biggest weakness doubles as its greatest strength, being that each message, or tweet rather, has a 140 Twitter character limit. This forces businesses to provide clear and succinct information instead of posting messages with excessive banter and filler conversation. With short, sweet, and to the point tweets, you give readers the information you want them to know while keeping them interested and coming back to read future tweets.
Think about retweeting before you write your micro-blog post. You want to post a message that others find interesting enough to share; that is the best way to market through Twitter and obtain the deepest reach.
How To Make The Most Of Twitter While Keeping It Short
The question is how to make the most of Twitter? Convey a large amount of information in a very short space! Here are some tips…
Perhaps the best way is to post links to content on your website or blog. Write a short teaser about the content then use the bit.ly URL shortener or another URL shortening service to give you the maximum amount of space. Don’t just reference your own material; provide links to news stories and articles that will be of interest to your followers. You don’t want to be marked as a spammer because all of your posts promote your own company.
Online shorthand is an excellent tool. Most avid Tweeters already know the lingo, so posting “R U ready 4 the holidays?” is easily understood while taking up minimal space. Some find that to be a pet peeve, though so take your target audience into consideration before using texting lingo and even then, keep it to a minimum to ensure the vast majority understand you.
Focus on a single message you want to convey. Don’t jump around on topics but keep each post relevant to one particular subject. If you’ve got a lot to share, post more than one message but refrain from flooding your follower’s home page with several posts all within a short span of time.
Using Twitter for internet marketing is all about building relationships and extending reach. The challenge is obtaining these goals in 140 characters or less and many Twitter users are doing just that!
See you at the top of Google!
Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
AussieSEO.com © 2007 - 2010
Twitter is a great way of getting straight to the juicy bit of what you want to say!
A great lesson in how to be succint for sure!
Although I have twitter, and have sent 30 or so tweets, somehow I have about 100 people following. I am not really sure how to best use this so this article has been helpful to gain a bit of clarity on my intention.
Woohoo! I’m following you as I want the 40 tips on being healthy and happy, to keep myself that way and be able to share them with those who most need it.
.-= Sarah Butland´s last blog ..The Magic of Believing Review =-.
Thanks Sarah, I found these really useful. Enjoy
PS – I really like your blog!
So sweet. Glad you like it and that we connected through Sean Rasmussen! He helps us help ourselves not only through exposure, learning and earning but by connecting with such intelligent and driven people like yourself
.-= Sarah Butland´s last blog ..The Magic of Believing Review =-.
As will the webinar on Monday. Automation with SocialOomph will also help you sirt out followers etc
Hi Sean,
I see that sometimes I am guilty of excessive banter with too much filler conversation that’s not necessary. At other times I’m too brief, possibly thinking the reader will fill in the gaps.
For me Twitter’s 140 character limitation is good practice to become an expert at short, sweet and to the point tweets. Hopefully also I am providing clear succulent information. That’s what I want.
Hi Sean,
I am very interested in how to make the most of twitter in 140 characters because it seems an awfully short amount of characters to get a message across.
Also I was wandering about how relevant your timing is with your tweets because these days you can have such a broad amount followers worldwide that people may not all be online to see your tweets.
Perhaps I will find out on tomorrows webinar! : )
Hi Jeremy,
140 characters isn’t a lot but it really helps you get to the point quickly. It’s kind of like reading headlines so it makes it really easy to see what interests you.
Also, there are Twitter services like SocialOomph that you can sign up to for free. They let you schedule your tweets to be sent at anytime you choose. This way you can send them at times when other parts of the world are awake and you’re asleep.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Finding Your Passion =-.
How to make the most of twitter is a great blog. Thank you for sharing with us Sean.
I agree with many of the comments already posted. Twitter is certainly a useful and succinct way of communicating.
Sometimes it’s a trail and error…..you may need to block people who continually spam you, but luckily there are many users (like ourselves) who use it the appropriate way (sharing great comments, socialising and only occasionally adding self promoting links to “qualified” interested people.)
Regards Cathy
It can be time consuming to try and block the spammers – so I wouldn’t bother.
Using something like SocialOOOMPH allows you to automate follows etc and there are also apps that keep your following/followers in balance by unfollowing those who don’t follow you and so on.
On tactic recommended by Ewen Chia is to have say half a dozen tweets entered at one time – a mix of general comments, the odd joke, a retweet, and one promo only in the mix. He recommends sending them 3 times a day – to catch the various high times when people are checking their Twitter. But then the next day – do the same – but with new tweets.
I read Ewen Chia’s How I Made My First Million on the Internet a while ago and do not recall it mentioning the regular tweeting but may have just not paid much attention. I was confused with Twitter before, didn’t want to bother spending the time to get comfortable with it but because of Sean and his Learn and Earn competition I am seeing the value of Twitter.
I’ve joined SocialOomph and as soon as I get caught up on commenting I’m going to be scheduling some valuable tweets.
.-= Sarah Butland´s last blog ..Live- With Regis and Kelly- The Law of Attraction and Sarah =-.
Sarah, it wasn’t in that Chia book as far as I know – I got it from another of his PDFs – and as my desktop is such a mess, I can’t find it at the moment!
If you (or anyone) want a copy let me know – though with the Utlimate Twitter Guide, I am not sure if he adds more – though it’s wirth looking at I suppose.
That would be excellent but absolutely no hurry. With Sean Rasmussen’s tips and tricks, the Learn and Earn competition, the Ultimate Twitter Guide to read plus my son, my own books and my own sanity I won’t have the time right away.
I will be following Sean’s Twitter tips and going from there.
.-= Sarah Butland´s last blog ..Live- With Regis and Kelly- The Law of Attraction and Sarah =-.
@ Sarah, just let me know eher to send them when you are ready. Chia has good insights as you know – and nothing inimical to what Sean is teaching us.
this article has added “tweet more” to my to-do list! it’s important to take advantage of the social media waves and get on board. Heaps of our mates are not utilising twitter, for whatever reason, so I’ll take it on myself to be the trend-setter and with short and sweet and sussinct messages on point and to the point, we hope to see our affiliate mktg and blogs and all other ventures gaining interest! now if someone could be kind enough to explain “Bebo” to me?
Very useful post Sean. In order to keep it short and precise, sometimes it’s good to have a link back to our blog or website for more content and details. I usually have to do this because I am not very good at keeping my message short..hahha life is full of learning curves.
.-= Zac Haris´s last blog ..My Experiment With Twitter =-.