I avoided Twitter, made fun of it, and repeated stories I’d heard of people I know losing friends because of “tweeting”; They could no longer share a car ride, enjoy a meal, or even a simple conversation because his friend was so obsessed with the latest tweet.

When Twitter first became popular, I shared this sentiment:

“What could be more annoying and less useful than a site where thousands of people are given 140 characters to shout about what they’re doing at every moment of the day? The amazing thing is that enough people think this nonsense stream of ephemeral (“I’m eating a tangerine,” “I’m waiting for a plane,” “I want a Big Mac”) is interesting enough to serve as the basis for a viable advertising platform.”

But after fellow marketers I respect reintroduced me to Twitter as a tool to complement their current strategies, I realized and soon began to see the “follower” advantages. I got hooked.

This is what I learned. Created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter is a free online service that allows you to broadcast short messages (140 character limit) to your friends or “followers.” You can also specify your own list of people you want to follow. Many think of Twitter not so much as a social network, but as an information network. It tells people what is happening in the issues that interest them as it is happening in the world.

Twitter is an invaluable tool for any social marketing strategy and is one of the hottest new trends on the internet today. Not sure if it’s for you? Even the founder of Microsoft and the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, has a Twitter account. You can start following him at @BillGates. Oprah tweets, celebrity Ashton Kutcher even surpassed CNN’s breaking news and was the first Twitter account with a million followers.

Still, with its incredible popularity and growth, many in the marketing world continue to debate whether Twitter is a complete time vacuum or a marketing tool you can’t live without. I think its value is based on how you intend to use it.

Personally, I’m not one to chat with friends via text or glue to current media events via my cell phone. I still like the phone and of course emails. But I have found that Twitter is an important part of my overall social marketing strategy.

Everyone uses Twitter differently. So what’s the problem; How should you use Twitter in your marketing strategy? For over a year, many have claimed that Twitter is the #1 traffic generator for their blog. I see spikes in traffic when linking my posts to Twitter.

Twitter is an opt-in world, so if you don’t find someone’s tweets interesting, just unfollow that person. Originally, I used Twitter to build followers who shared a common interest in the new articles I was posting on my internet marketing blog. Later, I found that not only was I using it as another outlet for exposure, but also as a seller it was useful for following market leaders, competitors, bloggers, speakers, and authors in my niche. It became a great way to follow people you found interesting and wanted to follow up with. Twitter is like an online news release, but only from the people whose news matters to you.

Please note that while we are business focused and promotion is the number one priority, Twitter is all about give and take. If you only use it to promote your stuff, you will be locked out of translation forever. Twitter is not about pushing content or your agenda, it is about give and take.

Follow / Follow / Unfollow

Many take the “Anyone who doesn’t follow me, I won’t follow” approach.

Follow – Twitter is similar to your RSS. Who you follow is basically who, or what information, you subscribe to. Remember that it is an opt-in system. If you’re using Twitter for marketing purposes, you’ll want to follow market leaders and news sources in your niche. Don’t worry if they follow you back. Really. The goal of following is to receive the news and updates you prefer. Period.

I use a “Tweet Adder” to build my base of contacts or “followers” who I think may be interested in my content. I unfollow people who have not accepted my invitation to follow me after three days. I do this to keep my ratio fairly even. The people I follow based solely on their content, I don’t care if they follow me or not.

As I mentioned earlier, I look for people who might have an interest in what I’m doing. Twitter tools such as “Tweet Adder” give you the ability to not only follow specific people, but also to follow people who are interested in specific topics. Tweet Adder offers specialized search tools that I use to build my follower list. These tools allow me to capture people tweeting about my specific topics and keywords. Keep in mind that when you create a listing, use keywords similar to what you would use on a capture page, including your competitor’s name.

Following: I don’t spend a lot of time checking who is following me. In fact, I turned off email notifications because I found it useless and I didn’t need more spam to remove every day. Your focus should be on building a very specific following, not who follows you. Unless you notice you’re attracting the “wrong people,” in which case, rethink your search words.

You want to think of “building your following” as “building your list of potential customers.”

Unfollow – Some people will unfollow anyone who unfollows or unfollows them.

You should unfollow anyone you no longer want to follow. It’s not rude, if that person is constantly off the topic of what attracted you to them in the first place, you should let them off the hook! As I said before, the followers that I request to join me using the adding software, I unfollow after a few days if they don’t accept my request. This is a completely different group than the people I choose to follow based on their content that I was drawn to.

These are just a few ways to use Twitter. As you integrate this tool into your social marketing strategy, you’ll learn more tactics to maximize Twitter World.

Twitter marketing strategy

Make sure you have a Twitter marketing strategy. Keep it simple and tweet consistently. If you don’t have a specific goal or strategy, Twitter will surely become a “time vacuum” for you.

Initially, I was just using Twitter as a way to increase exposure for my other strategies. Then I realized that I could also build a following of like-minded people who would find value in my information. Every time I announce on Facebook that I’ve posted new content on my blog, a tweet is automatically sent to my followers using a plugin I installed. Then everyone who follows me can see my new post, and even better, if they like what they see, they can re-tweet and share the information with all their followers. You can see how this can maximize your exposure! Here’s an important tip, be sure to keep your tweet to 120 characters or less for easy retweeting. As tweets are retweeted, they acquire characters.

“Make sure you’re always providing fresh content that has value. You want your followers to be loyal and interested in what you’re sharing. That’s why you need to define your target market and offers, and create a strong market match. “.

Keep an eye on your followers and their mindset. Find out why they want to follow you and make sure your updates, topics, products, website or blog continue to provide that attraction. If they specifically followed you for those reasons and you don’t comply, then you are letting them down. And we know that means a “click to unfollow” is coming.

Building a Twitter following should be viewed the same way as building a list of potential customers. You definitely want to deliver quality over quantity with your Twitter marketing strategy. The more focused your topic and your readers are, the more productive you will be and the higher your conversion and click-through rates will be.

Marketing is not spam. Sharing resources and links is not spam. As long as you respect your followers and continue to give them the “real value” information they want, you’re providing a service. Don’t spam. Just remember to ask yourself this question about your social marketing strategy: “Why do people follow me and I deliver what they want?”

Your Twitter marketing goal should be to tweet useful information that is of specific interest to your followers. Twitter is a place where you can be nicer and even more intimate, but you want to maintain your professionalism and integrity at all times.

Remember that Attraction Marketing is the “Key” and you want to build Relationships.

ENGAGE your followers.

In addition to staying up to date on news, information, and conversations in your niche, and growing your audience and traffic, Twitter is a great way to engage your target market in productive relationship-building conversations.

Here are some ideas I’ve seen work incredibly well for my social marketing strategy:

Host a contest on Twitter. For example, search for “Twitter Contest” in Google.

Encourage your followers to ‘tweet’ you questions, favorite links, resources and tips or personal experiences on your topic. Using your content blog is a great way to create new and interesting posts. Use Twitter to really engage your target market in conversations about your industry. What do they need, what do they love, what really frustrates them?

Collect feedback and share it in a post. Once published, thank your followers and give them the link to see the results. Not only will you build connections with your prospects, they’ll appreciate your genuine interest, and you’ll gain valuable insights that will help you tailor your Twitter marketing strategy to better serve them.