How to Use Twitter in Online Marketing

Social networking is a huge part of online marketing today, with Facebook being the leader and Twitter being the newest addition to the world of social communication that also has online marketing advantages. Both Facebook and Twitter have gained popularity due to their unique features that allow people to provide constant updates to their friends and followers regarding their personal life and business projects.

This not only makes them useful ways of staying in contact with friends and family, but extremely compelling online marketing tools for business owners, particularly small business owners who are now making Twitter an essential element of their online marketing plans.

Online stores and other companies whose profits are based on products and services in particular have a lot to gain from Twitter’s huge network of potential customers – so long as they use the powerful social networking site in the right way. Here are four tips to help you turn Twitter into a top online marketing tool for your business:

1. Pick the right username: One of the first and most important steps in making Twitter work for you as an online marketing technique is to select the correct Twitter username to begin with. Your Twitter username is a significant feature of your account and must be related to the business or product that your account will be promoting.

There are several ways to approach this. If you are a sole trader, your own name may be the most appropriate choice for your Twitter username, with your products and services falling under the umbrella of your name as a recognisable brand.

The second most popular approach to twitter usernames in online marketing is to establish a different account for each specific product with a username that identifies the product. For example, if one of your products was a floor polisher, you would establish a Twitter account for that with a related username, and then another for your second product, that may be a vacuum.

2. Create an identity: Once you have chosen an appropriate username, your second step in using Twitter effectively for online marketing is to create an identity for your Twitter account, or multiple Twitter accounts, depending on which approach you have taken.

Because Twitter updates, or “tweets” as they are termed, are text-based, you will need to concentrate on evoking a unique and authentic voice for your product or brand. Twitter also allows for the customisation of profiles to add personality to your page. Customisations can include additional information regarding your business, unique backgrounds, or including your corporate logo and statistics that you may wish to share with the world.

3. Gather a following: Although Twitter is a very popular site for social networking, with hundreds of millions of members contacting and communicating with friends and family in a simple and quick manner, your business profile won’t necessarily have the same luck – immediately.

For your Twitter account to be a valuable online marketing tool, you will need to have a lot of followers, which is something that simply having an account does not in any way guarantee. To gather followers and get your online marketing strategy rolling, begin by responding to other Twitter members, Tweets on topics related to your business and make a knowledgeable contribution to the discussion. In this way, you will attract a group of interested and relevant followers that are within the appropriate demographic for your company.

4. Take the time to learn: Once you get started, using Twitter as an online marketing tool will seem like a simple and effective approach, but in order to keep up with the pack, you’ll need to constantly revise your tactics and develop new methods of attracting and maintaining a following.

To make sure that your Twitter profile is an effective part of your online marketing campaign, you will need to constantly stay ahead of your competition by observing the profiles of competitors and others in your industry to understand how they operate their Twitter pages and build up their following. By taking the time to observe and learn from other Twitter profiles, you will be able to pick up tips and learn strategies to forge a plan for how your own business will dominate the Twitter-sphere!