Using Twitter To Gain Publicity

Are you actively using http://www.twitter.com to build your business?

If you're not, you're probably making a huge mistake.

Twitter, in case you're not aware, is a service where people post up to 140 character updates on topics of interest to them. Those updates go out to the people who have chosen to "follow" them.

In essence, Twitter is a place where you build an audience of people who have similar interests to yours, then communicate quickly and efficiently with them.

It's taking the world by storm, growing at phenomenal rates, and more importantly, becoming a key communications element in the lives of many.

I have to admit, when I first looked at Twitter, I didn't get it. I saw a bunch of people there cheerfully announcing that they were going to eat lunch, that they were having a great day, and that they had just broken up with their boyfriends. There was no way I was going to join any service that helped me to more efficiently waste time, even if it didn't cost me anything.

But my attitude, and the world of Twitter has now totally changed.

I now see Twitter as a way to build a huge audience of people who know and trust me. Plus, it gives me the ability to watch what's being said about me and the products that I sell, and to quickly and easily build conversations with people who have questions or issues around those products.

Literally, it's a place to build a following and to proactively build and manage the conversations in which I'm involved.

And, it works with the media too. I've had a number of media contacts who have initially contacted me, started discussions, and even fact checked using Twitter.

Here are some tips to effectively use Twitter to build your business.

1. Decide what areas you want to be seen as an expert on in Twitter, then post primarily (solely?) about those topics

2. Regularly post thoughts, opinions, facts, and links to articles written by others on those topics.

Here are some sample posts that I've made in the last several days as an example of how this can be done.

43% of everyone online has a social media profile. 71% of those have 2+ http://budurl.com/rfq3

Idea: take laptop to lunch offsite. Buy lunch for a complete stranger if they will show you how they would buy something from your site.

Advertisers beware: judge rules "visitors" does NOT="unique visitors." Must specifically contract for uniques. http://budurl.com/lzbk

Traffic to free ad supported online games spiking. What can you give away for free to drive traffic in this economy? http://budurl.com/c9rs

Notice that 3 of those 4 posts link to articles NOT written by me. That's key. If you have to create all of the sage commentary that you offer up to your followers, you'll quickly become overwhelmed and will abandon your Twitter strategy. Besides, you're not the only expert/commentator out there, be a resource!

3. Don't fall into the trap of talking about stuff that people don't care about. Sharing details about your personal life and activities limits your audience.

4. Be interesting, scintillating is even better!

5. Search for and follow the top leaders in your areas of interest. You'll see what they're posting about, and it will start to build your audience.

6. Post regularly, at least daily. Hey, it's only 140 characters! You can do this! Start today, even if you only have 5 people following you.

7. Regularly invite people already associated with you to follow you on Twitter. Put it in your newsletter, on your website, on your blog, on your business cards, in your email footer, etc.

8. Fill out your Twitter profile to let people know who you are and what you do. They oftentimes will use the content of your profile to determine whether they should follow you or not.

Do this now:
Go to http://www.twitter.com and sign up for an account there.

The, go to http://twitter.com/don_crowther where you'll see my recent posts. You'll also see a button there (below my picture) to follow me. Click it. I'll follow you back, which will give you an audience of at least 1!

In future issues, I'll teach you secrets of using Twitter effectively to build an audience, get more publicity, and land more on your bottom line!

I look forward to seeing your sage comments me on Twitter!

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Tags: twitter social media social networking microblogging