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.
