Twitter is the newest social media start-up that is taking the world by storm. It will become a cornerstone of the internet and, therefore, become as important as email and other social networking sites for branding, marketing, and building relationships with prospects and joint venture partners.
The main difference between Twitter and other social media sites (such as LinkedIn, FaceBook, My Space, and blogs) is that these other sites are set up to build one-to-one networking links between people, and they encourage their users to post as much content as they want. Networking on Twitter is more like one-to-many (between users and their followers) and content is limited to small text messages.
A good way to think of Twitter is that it combines the one-to-many aspect of email with the immediacy of instant messaging. A Twitter user is basically sending 140 character (or less) instant messages to all the people who follow him or her.
The message size restriction means that Twitter is ideally suited to building relationships and branding – rather than hard selling. Twitter users are forced to be creative in how they write and craft their messages, so that they can still fully communicate their ideas in 140 characters or less.
This “microblogging” also fosters more usage, because people are drawn to Twitter’s simplicity, and are less likely to get writer’s block and procrastinate.
Twitter is relatively new, and internet marketers and businesses are just starting to grasp its potential.
One powerful way to begin using Twitter is to integrate it with your existing internet sites. Twitter is a completely open platform – posts are available as an RSS feed.
On your Twitter home page, you should upload your picture, write a short bio, and link to your blog, webpage, or other landing site. This will drive prospects from Twitter onto your websites.
From your blogs and web pages, you should display your Twitter user name and your most recent Twitter posts (“tweets”) through third-party widgets. This will drive prospects in the other direction – onto Twitter so that you can keep in touch with them.
Finally, treat your Twitter user name just like your website or email address. It should be in all your email and forum signatures, and should be on your business cards.
Because Twitter is so brand new, there are not a lot of educational resources out there. The Twitter Traffic Machine video and course is one good and inexpensive way to learn more about Twitter and marketing / brand building.