Twitter is a micro-blogging platform which allows you to publish short messages up to 140 characters in length through different mediums like IM, cell phones, and the Web.
It has a social element, as it allows users to befriend
and monitor each other's messages or updates. So what you
have is a publishing tool that can be either public or
private, social or business.
Twitter gives you a window to a multitude of opinions,
events, news, ideas, and feedback. You can easily follow
thousands of users and listen in and enter into
conversations conducted among multiple users at any
point. Apart from its use as an information resource and
publicity tool, Twitter is also a communication platform
for individuals and their personal social networks.
On the other hand, Twitter can be actively used as a tool
to push out messages that capitalize on the attention
you're receiving from other users. Yes, I'm talking about
self-promotion and marketing. This involves active user
engagement to inform potential customers.
Twitter and Marketing: A General Overview
There have been a many articles on how Twitter can be used
for marketing purposes and I think most of them can be
condensed to the simple aim of tracking and directing
attention. Twitter allows you to monitor how influencers
think or feel and you can also get into their attention
zone via active networking.
For businesses, Twitter is another channel which connects
current and potential customers with your product or
brand. It allows deep infiltration into the lifestyles of
interested participants, which helps to build brand
loyalty.
In its most obvious form, Twitter can be seen as a traffic
generation tool. The placement of links within profiles
and conversations can direct visitors to specific websites
and is especially powerful if you pitch to early adopters
and influencers.
As there isn't an option to advertise within Twitter
(unlike Facebook), Twitter marketing is a task that
involves two-way audience engagement; on the part of the
marketer or business owner and the target group. This is a
good thing because it keeps things active and encourages
the business owner to maintain a
fresh website.
17 Ways to Use Twitter
I started using Twitter actively and gradually developed an avid interest. I think Twitter is a manageable process that can be adopted for all types of lifestyles, busy or inactive. You’ll just need to integrate it within your normal workflow. It’s addictive but once you understand how to use it, it’ll be a very effective tool indeed.
Having read a great deal of other articles on Twitter, I decided a do a quick summary of all the ways you can use Twitter for both your professional or personal life. Some of these methods go beyond the use of Twitter as a
lifestreaming device:-
Personal Branding. Twitter is a social media platform you can use to build your personal brand. It has the primary benefit of developing a casual persona and establishes you as a social personality that is connected and approachable. As Twitter adoption increases, new users will be drawn towards well established Twitter personas.
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Get Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.
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Hire People. Need a good logo designer, marketer, or programmer? Send out a message asking for recommendations. This is a very quick and easy way to hire freelancers or even companies based on familiar recommendations.
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Direct traffic. Twitter can be used to get traffic to your websites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news, even on a site like Twitter.
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Read News. Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles and can be a source of scoops and alternative news. You can also subscribe to Twitter feeds for specific websites/conferences, which allows you to receive and view content quickly. This is very useful for active social news participants.
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Make New Friends. Like any other social network, Twitter has a built-in function for you to befriend and track the messages of other users. This is an easy way for you connect with people outside of your usual circle. Make an effort to add active users you find interesting. A Twitter acquaintance can be developed into a long lasting friendship.
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Network for benefits. Twitter can be used as a socializing platform for you to interact with other like-minded people, especially those in the same industry. It can be used to establish consistent and deeper relationships for future benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.
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Use it as a ToDo list. Use Twitter to record down what you need to do while you are away from the computer. Mark the tweet as a favorite to file it for referencing. Another alternative is to use an Online task management service that is synced with Twitter.
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Business Management. Twitter can be used as a company intranet that connects employees to one another. Workers can liaise with each other when working on group projects. Particularly useful when certain workers go out often in the field. Updates could be set to private for security reasons.
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Notify Your Customers. Set up a Twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.
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Take Notes. Twitter provides you with an easy way to record important ideas or concepts you want to explore further. Include links relevant to ideas you want to explore. Note taking can also be done offline via mobile applications.
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Event Updates. Businesses can use Twitter as a means to inform event participants and latest event happenings. This is a hassle-free way of disseminating information, especially when you don’t have the means to set up a direct mobile link between you and the audience
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Find Prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on Twitter Search and then follow users. Tweet about topics parallel to your product and close prospects away from public channels by using direct messages or offline communications. Discretion and skill is needed in this area.
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Provide Live coverage. Twitter’s message size limit prevents detailed coverage of events but it can allow you to provide real-time commentary which may help to spark further discussion or interest on the event as other Twitter users spread the message. Very useful for citizen journalism.
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Time Management and Analysis. Twitter can simply be used to keep a detailed record of what you are doing every daily. This might be boring for others but this type of usage is useful when you want to analyze how you spend and manage your time.
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Set Up Meetings. Twitter can help you organize impromptu meet-ups. For example, you can twitter a message while at a cafe, event or art gallery and arrange to meet fellow users at a specific spot. It’s an informal and casual way of arranging a meeting.
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Acquire Votes. Send a link to your stories you’ve submitted in other social news sites like Digg. Sometimes your followers will vote up the stories because they agree with it. This allows you to acquire more support for your efforts on other social media websites.
I suspect I’ll be writing a little more about Twitter in the future including a roundup and summary of some of the articles I found really useful (there were quite a few).
Please follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/deGeerBox
