Leveraging Twitter Leveraging Twitter to Grow Your Businessto Grow Your Business

www.aspire-empower.com

What is Twitter?What is Twitter?In a recent article, Forbes columnist Daniel Adler

asks about Twitter:

“Silly time waster? Sure. Powerful business tool? You bet.”

A few others have called it…‘word-of-mouth marketing on steroids’

‘massive time drain’‘battle to achieve online status and massage

your own ego’

And yet, even more say that it is a….‘brilliant channel for breaking news, asking

questions, and attaining one step of separation from public

figures and industry experts you admire.’

What is Twitter? What is Twitter? A mini-blogging platform that you can use to

send messages of 140 characters or less to family, friends, or just the general Web community at large.

A communications channel with no match in its capacity for real-time, person-to-person broadcasting.

Twitter provides an immediate pulse on news and events, and what people are talking about, often before any news outlet.

Twitter broadens our reach to a wider community — and lets us learn from them, too.

Twitter is a water cooler, of sorts.

Why should I use Twitter?Why should I use Twitter?Provides free publicity and expands on the "word-

of-mouth" principles of marketing.Make connections through networking, develop

leads, and close deals.Have conversations with clients, not at clients.Build trust with your prospects, the more they

interact with you (say on Twitter) the more they will think you are trustworthy.

Gain exposure for your business, product, or serviceGenerate leads by exposing others to your business,

and generate interest in what it is you sell. Build authority; as you become a trusted friend to

your community you will undoubtedly build authority.

How should I use Twitter?How should I use Twitter? Work Out Why You Want to Use It Before

You Use It! Do you want to….

o elevate your credibility among your peers?o find new customers?o build you up/promote your blog in your niche?o build up your network in a niche? o research a company? o find a job?

Bottom-line: demonstrate your unique brand, tips / links / commentary on that brand, and (almost) always remain on point.

If you are having trouble with this, search for industry experts (folks who do what you do, but better) and read their tweets….

How should I use Twitter?How should I use Twitter? Start tweeting before you start

following (not the other way around) Your tweets are your best

advertisement for people to follow you – if you don’t have any (or many) what reason do people have to follow you?

When I get a new follower, I first look at their profile to see who they are, and what they are tweeting about; if it is of interest, I’ll follow back. If not, I don’t!

How should I use Twitter?How should I use Twitter? Start following others Great way to discover new

information/resources, etc. in your industry

You will be exposed to more users who (you feel) tweet relevant/interesting content, and…as you get noticed, you’ll get followed back.

This process is a bit of an experiment and involves following people and then seeing if their tweets ‘resonate’ with you.

How should I use Twitter?How should I use Twitter? Re-tweet, interact and immerse, tweet

early, tweet often, ask questions, join conversations.

Comment on smart posts from friends Say “thanks!” when others share good

info. Re-tweet what your colleagues and others

whom you admire have to say! Give shout outs to folks on Friday (#FF) Link to relevant and unique content, your

own blog posts or other interesting facts and figures.

Just immerse yourself in the whole Twitter thing and you will figure it out!

How should I use Twitter?How should I use Twitter? Combine Twitter with a blog for extra

exposure The combination is very powerful and can

(and should) be used to build your reputation, create a unique voice, elevate your status in the community, find freelance work and demonstrate that you are on the cutting-edge

Twitter is so “viral” that it can and should be used to drive traffic to your blog on a regular basis

Even if you don’t have your ‘own’ blog, you can share articles, e-zines, and other blog comments that you have shared.

What can a Small Business What can a Small Business Owner Accomplish with Owner Accomplish with Twitter?Twitter?

Brick and mortar business? ◦ Connect with your local clientele by using

TwitterMap.com or TwitterLocal.net, which show Twitter updates in geographic region.

Looking to hire employees? ◦ Send out a Tweet with what you're looking for.

Followers who aren't necessarily in your geographic location might still know someone who is, and they'll retweet the message for you.

Build buzz for a future event?◦ Let everyone know. One person in your area with

lots of followers has the potential to reach thousands of people!

Building links to a small business Web site? ◦ Follow people who can help you out, engage in

the community and when they call for help/suggestions, offer yours.

Top Twitter AbbreviationsTop Twitter Abbreviations DM = DIRECT MESSAGE --- The only way on Twitter to

send a private 140 character message directly to that user

#FF = Follow Friday --- Every friday you can use #followfriday to suggest people to follow

# (HASHTAG SYMBOL) --- When someone puts a Hashtag in front of a word, they are putting a marker in place for @hashtags to file and note it. It's an easy way to say "This is the topic of conversation to which I am referring"

RT = Re-Tweet --- This is the Twitter version of "fwd" on email. example: RT @CNN Obama signs Stem cell bill into law. It means "Hey, @MKraft said this cool thing, and I wanted to share it with you all" when you RT someone, they can see that you are disseminating their words. It's a good way to build community and followers

@USERNAME ---This is how people are reply to folks on Twitter.