Are you using Twitter as an online marketing tool yet?

Are you a business owner who does online marketing?  Whether you sell a product, or offer professional services, internet marketing is a must in this digital age.  To find clients and generate a sale, you must first drive traffic to your website or blog.  One effective way to do so, and FREE, is to use the social networking tool, called Twitter.

Understand what Twitter is

Before highlighting the benefits of marketing your business with Twitter, understand what Twitter is.  It’s a social networking website that also acts as a micro-blog.  After signing up for a Twitter account, you develop a list of contacts.  These are individuals you want to follow or receive updates from.  Many will return the favor, becoming followers of your updates.  There are no limits on how many messages you can send; however, there is a 140 character limit.  Updates, otherwise known as Tweets, are sent through instant messaging, mobile web applications, RSS feeds, Twitter website and the many Twitter tools available today.

Twitter in a nut shell

When you use Twitter as a marketing tool for your business, you want to go to Search.Twitter.com and look for tweets that are applicable to your website, blog, product or service.  Occasionally send updates to your friends. Highlight your new blog post, by giving a short summary and provide a link.  Summarize a product/service you are selling, or provide a discount code.  You can also reply to members that you follow. This is Twitter in a nut shell.

6 Benefits of Marketing your Business with Twitter:

1.   Generate interest in your business

In addition to generating traffic to your website or blog, you can also generate interest.  First, create catchy Tweets.  For example, do you sell a new eco-friendly product?  If so, don’t just instruct people to buy your product, but ask for their feedback.  Ask how it can help the environment.  Then, ask your followers to forward information on your product to their contacts.  When you have a catchy message and product or service, it is easy to generate interest on Twitter.

2.   Make a sale

Regardless of whether you sell a product or a service, a sale will generate income.  By increasing visitors to your website, you increase your chances of making a sale.  Go a step farther by making contacts that are within your targeted market.  For example, do you sell children’s clothes?  If so, your target market is parents.  Perform a search on Search.Twitter.com to find posts that focus on parenting.  You can offer a response that leads to your website, increasing your chances of making a sale.

3.   Obtain feedback

A great way to subtly increase traffic to your website or blog is to ask for feedback.  By providing a link, you will not only get website traffic, but you will also get what you asked for, feedback.  For example, do you sell great products, but are your prices too high?  Twitter members will let you know.

4.   You can update customers

When connecting with customers, invite them to opt-in for your newsletters.  Or, give your customers the opt-in for Twitter updates.  You can share promotional codes, new product releases, and so forth.

5.   Use Twitter to hire help

Whether you want to hire a full-time employee or outsource a project or two, you can use Twitter to find qualified individuals to do the work.

6.   Build relationships with future customers or business partners

Most importantly, use Twitter as a means of connecting with prospects, customers and possible business partners. Treat Twitter connections like you would network with other people at a social or professional networking event. Allow people to get to know you and offer help before offering your products and services.

For more practical help on using Twitter as a social networking tool to grow your business, try out our social media starter project kit!