A Twittlbit About Twitter and Marketing

Whenever I ask a Business acquaintance if they have a twitter account, the #1 response I get is “YES BUT!” Followed by a guilty smile and usually an “I don’t twitter “ or “I don’t have time”. I was one of those people in my early stages of social media who found Twitter a big waste of time. But now I am a tworn again tweeter! I love the fact that I am 1 tweet away of possibly making the most important tweet in my life. You never know how your thoughtful 140 characters may hit a chord with someone who retweets it through the cyber galactic network that delivers it the blackberry of someone who could change your world forever. Not only that but, how cool is it when celebrity and world figures send their witty twit thoughts directly to my den,
Seriously, the truth is Twitter is an anomaly whose true value has not been fully realized yet. The more I learn about its ability to find and reach people whom share my interests and or interested in reading what I share, the more I see the value in this revolutionary social experiment. 125 million people are currently on twitter and are checking there accounts on a regular basis and to make it easier they are Using # (Hash) tags to let everyone know what they are interested in. HELLO!!!! In 1995 Company’s spent huge advertising dollars in the hopes reaching people, Finding out their interest, and hopefully spark their attention, and now it’s at my fingertips for FREE.
I find most people just don’t know how to use Twitter as a business-marketing tool. It’s not about soliciting people about your product or services. Which is a huge mistake I see many make. It’s about suggesting something to them that will be of benefit and be valuable to them. An article, or a website, or blog, a coupon, or maybe just a bit of learned wisdom. You are guiding them to be solicited. So it’s where you guide them that can make the payoff. If your smart that website or blog will be yours and that inspirational wisdom? Consider it your cyber handshake or smile. However, like any social interaction not everything should be about you. Suggest other areas where they can find enrichment. That will make their following you a worthwhile investment for them. Hopefully it will make them want to retweet your tweet. This is the ultimate compliment and the key to growing your followers. You may find that your follower has added you to a LIST, which simply means they are grouping you with others for sorting purposes. Unless that list is called “scumbags’ don’t fret. A list is simply a way to categorize whom your following. Typically this will be by topics or by shared interests. Lets say you’re a shop owner and you are following several of your supplier/vendors along with your aunt Karen. Creating a list title called VENDORS and attaching them to it will allow you sift through all your incoming tweets and just look at what your vendors or saying and skip your aunt Karen’s "bad hair day" post. It’s a must as you follow more people on Twitter.
This brings up an important thing to remember. On Twitter you can be a business and an individual, so make sure you separate the 2. Make a business account and a personal account and keep them separate. Just like you wouldn’t wear your favorite holy jeans to the office, you don’t want to tweet to your professional followers “your having Ice cream in your pajamas”. And it's doubtful your close friends and Aunt Karen are interested in the latest break through in coated copper wire.
Whatever your personal feelings about Twitter, its important to recognize that it is inevitable that it will soon be one of the most important business marketing innovations of our lifetime, so the sooner you embrace it and harness it the twetter.