5 Simple Ways To Use Twitter For Marketing

A friend of mine tweets a lot. She tweets first thing in the morning, just before heading for work, as soon as she's back home, just before she goes to sleep, and at anytime in between that! And no, she just doesn't tweet to share about personal thoughts and activities...she uses Twitter for marketing her business.

What is Twitter? I do not know anyone who has never heard of Twitter, but assuming that you are one of those not-so-tech-savvy persons, Twitter is a tool for "micro-blogging", where you post very short updates, status, comments or thoughts. Every single word of your tweet count since it's only limited to 140 character per tweet.

Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging tool, has become the most widely used and powerful marketing instrument today. Most business uses Twitter for marketing, and why not? It has become an essential tool in building your network, establishing connections, engaging in worthy conversations and making friends. All of these things are important in building relationship and marketing, and if you're not yet convince on this micro-blogging phenomenon, now is the time to consider and use Twitter for marketing.

Here are the 5 ways you can utilize Twitter for marketing:

1. Promote blog articles, webinars, interesting news and more. Share valuable information through your tweets. You not only promote your name and business - you get to share to hundreds of people, who could retweet your post to their own network!

2. Provide live updates. You can use Twitter to announce last minute changes and events that are happening as it happens especially if you're attending a conference, seminar or trade show.

3. Announce specials, deals or sales. If you have some exciting promotional activities, Twitter is an excellent way of getting the message across to your target market. Keep in mind that Twitter should not be used as a pitch tool. This should be a place for sharing information and knowledge, so don't do any aggressive marketing as it creates a negative impression and may turn off visitors.

4. Eavesdrop and get valuable feedback. You can also check what people are saying about any person, topic or company. Twitter has a search engine that lets you do just this. Or, you can use the hash tag #symbol.

5. Keep in touch, give or exchange information with fellow bloggers/media. Bloggers abound on Twitter. Follow those who motivate you, and find others who have valuable information to share too. Be friends, and take advantage of the power of the retweet button to spread great information!

If you look at Twitter from a personal brand building and networking standpoint, you will realize that you should NOT look at micro-blogging as individual posts, as you may think they can be useless. Instead, think of the general impressions and value that can be created by using Twitter for marketing over time.

Each tweet of 140 characters or less is a source of idea that can spark new thoughts, or it can result to a sale or the building up of your business reputation. Every word in a tweet counts, and every time someone retweets your message or post is publicity for you. Although you may not get a sale from Twitter, but using it for marketing can help build your brand and put you in front of thousands of people.

Twitter is a great tool for publicity, promotions and for marketing, and not just for pointing to interesting information you've found online. It's great for building credibility and influence, so use it, and use it well.