Using social media for marketing is good, but having a marketing tool with a strong viral nature like Twitter is awesome indeed. Since micro-blogging has reinvented the way marketing strategies are now implemented in businesses big and small, many have turned to Twitter for marketing solutions. It is more of a tool of [...]]]>

Using social media for marketing is good, but having a marketing tool with a strong viral nature like Twitter is awesome indeed. Since micro-blogging has reinvented the way marketing strategies are now implemented in businesses big and small, many have turned to Twitter for marketing solutions. It is more of a tool of engagement rather than a mass media tool. Its viral nature is evident in its ‘re-broadcast’ feature, more popularly known as ‘re-tweeting’. You can re-broadcast information from others to your followers simply at the click of the mouse. This will allow you to gain more exposure to your target market.

The cost of Pay Per Click or PPC advertising has increased over the last couple of years, while Twitter offers a wider and inexpensive platform to reach out to a larger audience. As far as viral marketing goes, there are a number of tools to help you get started on your marketing quest with Twitter. For starters, you need to open a Twitter account and create a following. The idea is to gather friends and get them to influence others too. You need to send your message or ‘tweet’ within 140 characters so you do it within that limit. If you don’t post something of value to other tweeters, chances are you won’t gather a following at all. A good suggestion would be to find tweets from other tweeters and retweet them. You can send your own message with Please Rtweet for other followers to follow suit.

Followers won’t retweet just for the sake of it. They would want you to reciprocate in the same way, or else they won’t retweet for you. That is the whole purpose of viral marketing anyway. Your tweets need to contain unique and interesting content so you ought to find what people like before you start tweeting. One of the secrets of viral marketing is interaction. When you interact with your followers, you build up a relationship with them. Get involved in conversations and make sure you address any customer complaints. Once you do this, you will notice your retweets growing rapidly.

Using tools such as Twubble, Tweetdeck, Who Should I Follow? and TwitterLocal will help you get started. Twubble is a tool that helps you to develop your Twitter friends. The tool locates followers that are common to your friends but whom you are not following. With TwitterLocal, you can locate people based on various geographical locations and follow their posts. Who Should I Follow? is a great tool to use as a novice. It recommends whom you should follow. Tweetdeck keeps you updated on what’s happening, and you can follow people you need to listen too. It helps you connect with your contacts on other social media sites including Facebook as well.

Once you are well entrenched, you may be ready for some ‘marketing mix’. Some Twitter users have thousands of followers who obviously have a greater exposure in the market. You can join in their network to expand your mailing list too. The other option is to sign up with viral marketing websites that are designed for increasing your Twitter followers.

Twitter has developed into more than just an instant messaging service. Being a social networking site, it has become an ideal customer service tool. As communications is a key feature, marketing products and services via twitter could be the secret to a marketer’s success. With viral marketing being the buzzword in marketing circles, [...]]]>

Twitter has developed into more than just an instant messaging service. Being a social networking site, it has become an ideal customer service tool. As communications is a key feature, marketing products and services via twitter could be the secret to a marketer’s success. With viral marketing being the buzzword in marketing circles, Twitter can be exploited to its full potential as a viral marketing tool. The very viral nature of Twitter makes it an ideal tool to use.

The benefits

An increasing number of businesses have turned to Twitter for marketing support. Large corporations like Intel, and Amazon also send tweets to engage with other users and monitor conversations about their products. The notion of getting, and staying involved, with clients can be better fulfilled by using twitter. Promoting deals and discounts can be easily achieved in a couple of tweets. Since tweeters are allowed to re-tweet, your network can grow phenomenally in a couple of tweets so each time you need to put out some ‘breaking’ news about your product or service, you can be sure it will reach a large following. Responding to queries and monitoring requests is easily accomplished with Twitter. Customers appreciate early responses to their issues and this helps in relationship building and is a great way to lend credibility to your brand.

Starting to twit

Many have not been sold on the idea of Twitter being used as a marketing tool. However, over time, you will realize that it has some value, not only for marketing but PR as well. For a start, sign up and create a profile. Once you are through with this, get down to writing some updates about your product or service. You need to do that within 140 characters. You don’t need to be Tennyson or a Wordsworth, just be clear and brief. A link to your message will get tweeters interested in your product. If your link has a long URL, it won’t leave much space for your message. The best thing is to use www.tinyURL.com to shorten the link. This works well with Twitter.

Make friends and create a following

Making friends on Twitter will help you gather a large following.  You will come across a Twitter box on blogs, Facebook profiles, and a host of other sites. Click on the box to view the profile of the user and then click on the ‘Follow’ button. This will add you to his list of followers, who in turn will reciprocate and follow you back. What a great way to increase your network!

PR at work

What people say about you, your company, or brand is important. Twitterers, i.e. people that tweet, will definitely tweet about your company or product. It is easy to monitor their conversations even if you aren’t a follower yet. Twitter’s search engine will help you to bring up a list of conversations about your product or service.  You can start following all the people talking about you and start to follow them too.

To conclude, it is all a matter of testing the waters with Twitter. Several successful Twitterers use it for marketing themselves, their products, or services. The potential is huge and is definitely worth a shot. Many people say, ‘Twitter is what you make of it’. So go ahead and make a marketing success out of it.