Archive for February, 2010

Some Of The Best Business Practices For Twitter

Saturday, February 27th, 2010 at 10:48 am  
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If you’ve been around the social media circuit for any time, you know Twitter is the phenomenal micro-blogging platform revolutionizing the way people network and market their business. Twitter gains somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000 new users every month. The recently elected American President, Barak Obama, made Twitter a household name as the political pundits across the country marveled at the way his campaign team used the tool to reach millions of American’s with Obama’s message.

For all the people using Twitter effectively, there are also huge numbers of people who either don’t make good use of it at all or who try to overpower the platform and its users with unwanted spam. Here are three of the best business practices for using Twitter effectively:

1. Use a complete profile. Twitter gives every user a profile page. Make the most of this space by uploading an actual photograph of yourself, providing your real name in your biography and offering information about and links to your website or blog.

People look at your profile page to decide if they want to follow your updates. They may also take a look when you post a message particularly relevant to them. When they get there, make sure you give them what they need to make an informed decision about your business. It may be the only shot you get.

2. Interact. Don’t just broadcast. Twitter is a social networking tool with the operative word being social. Don’t just blast your site information or the link to your sales page every time you use Twitter. Talk to people. Ask them what they do and how you can help them or ask about their family members or interests.

Twitter is great for conversations kept open enough for everyone to join in. General talk about a specific industry, process or training is a great way to get others involved in a discussion. If you engage in banter and chat on Twitter every time you use it, you may even find it a bit tough keeping up with all the followers you gain.

3. Share your expertise. The people with the highest rankings on Twitter are the ones who aren’t afraid to give away some of their best stuff.

Share tidbits of real information related to your area of expertise. If you’re a marketer, don’t just push products. Instead offer tips on how to build your list or ways to help your affiliates. If you’re a writer, offer tips on how to write an effective headline or what to say in an email campaign. Share enough of your knowledge to let people know you’re the real deal. It’s the fastest way to draw them to your website where you can sell then sell your products.

If you consistently follow these three business practices while interacting on Twitter, you are all but guaranteed to grow your business. Twitter is really all about interaction and relationships are all about give and take and showing respect. Using good business sense and common courtesy in your Twitter affairs will gain you not only followers and clients, but respect for your business as well.


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Be Careful of the Time Warp Known as Twitter

Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 9:07 am  
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Twitter offers users a free social networking platform that works in real-time. It is micro-blogging that can be done on your PC with an Internet connection or used on your mobile device. People can be found twittering at bus stops, on the train, in their offices or at home.

If you use Twitter for business, be careful that you don’t get sucked down into the time warp.If nothing else, Twitter is one of those sites that are catching. Once you start out on it you can’t seem to stop looking at it. Even if you are not twittering your fingers off, you are reading each and every tweet that comes your way. You sign up for feeds and get alerts when other tweeters post tweets.

Twittering is quite addictive. You start out posting tweets to make business connections and connect with your customers but before long you are spending more time socializing than you are working. You’ll wonder where the time has gone, losing hours to tweets, tweaking and twalking.The business will suffer if you spend all of your time on Twitter.

As a home business owner or a small business owner, you are the only employee in some cases. Your time is precious and you could be twittering it away literally.Have a plan when using Twitter for business purposes. Restrict your communication to business matters only when you are running your business.

Save personal tweets for later in the day when you are on your own time. Separating business and personal accounts works also to that end.If you have one Twitter account that you use for business and for personal this can pose a problem. While your intention is to show your human side to clients, doing far too much socializing can have the opposite effect and turn off potential visitors and customers.

Even current customers can see you as becoming less professional by being too friendly.Also, fellow Twitter users may see you as a spammer if your posts focus more on your business and not on being social. Social networks don’t take kindly to spammers. As an online business owner, the last thing you want is to give your business a bad name in the eyes of potential customers. It is a fine line to walk especially when you only have 140 characters to use, so be careful.

Twitter is a social micro-blogging platform than can be used for business. It is addictive as a social site for personal enjoyment which can take away from the business aspects of the site. Watch out or the draw of the tweet will entice you to do more playing than working.


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5 Reasons Twitter Will Never Replace Article Marketing

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 5:38 pm  
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Twitter is the newest social networking site to gain popularity. If you want to connect to people in real-time, this is the platform to use. As a business tool, Twitter is showing its usefulness but it won’t replace article marketing as a business marketing technique.

What are we saying? Let’s look at article marketing. People come to the Internet for several reasons.

One is to find useful information on a topic. When keywords are entered into a search box, it is expected to receive results that get right to the point. If you are looking for information on how to make a soufflé then you want recipes and articles about useful tips for creating a perfect soufflé.

Articles show that you are an expert in your area. They provide current information on a variety of topics for the readers. In the resource box, you can put your website address and any other pertinent facts so someone can find you.

1. The tweets are short. They are meant to be short. But, as a marketing tool, it is not in the same realm as article marketing. You have a full 450 or more words to demonstrate your expertise. If readers find your information helpful they will go looking for more.

2. Articles are versatile. Articles can also be used with software that can churn out a number of rewrites that can be used in article directories for increased visibility. Three articles with eight paragraphs each can be mixed and matched to create an infinite number of new articles for you to use.

3. Article marketing is targeted. Using keyword optimization in your articles, you are targeting those people who will look for those keywords in their search engines. With Twitter, your tweets are not so targeted. You may get a thousand people viewing your tweets but all of those people may not be interested in your business.

4. Twitter is a social network first and foremost. There are many people that use Twitter for business, but it is mostly for enjoyment. There is business applications that can help you connect with your established customers, but most don’t use it for direct sales.

5. Articles are ranked by major search engines. People can find your work. Everyone used the major search engines but not everyone is on Twitter. As long as you use SEO techniques for your articles, they will rank high and be viewed.

Article marketing won’t be replaced by Twitter anytime soon. Articles are useful for drawing in business and driving traffic to your site. Twitter is handy to communicate with existing clients or to connect with people on a personal level or make valuable business connections.


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