Twitter MarketingRanked as one of the 10 most visited Websites in the world, Twitter has approximately 190 million users. This social network allows users to give status updates and hold conversations in 140 characters or less. A number of marketers are catching on to Twitter, attempting to market their businesses and profit from this very popular social network. Although there are no money making advantages built into the Website, there are still money making possibilities with Twitter marketing.If you own a product or offer a service and want to capitalize on Twitter marketing, you must first learn the proper approach. As with any social network, incorrect usage will cause you to be blocked and ignored, and it will result in a huge waste of time. The number one rule for making money with Twitter is to remember to use it for exactly what it is-- a social network. Twitter is not designed to be an advertisement board for businesses. When using a social network, it is vital to your business that you avoid constant promotion of your services. Instead, you should practice what is called the “90/10 rule.” This rule gives you a guideline for how often you should Tweet about your business. When Tweeting throughout the day, 90 percent of your Tweets should be conversational. The other 10 percent can be about your business. When used properly, Twitter builds relationships and loyalty to you, not just your product. In addition to the 90/10 rule, it is important that you avoid the “hard sell.” Hard selling on a social network immediately turns users off. They avoid hard sell approaches like the plague. "Connecting" is what Twitter is all about, so this approach is perfect for Twitter marketing. Also be careful with automated Twitter feeds, especially automated direct messaging. Twitter feeds have their benefits. I feed my new Web pages to Twitter, and I see immediate traffic each time. But if your Followers see too many of them in aggregate (from all of their Followers), they will not respond well to yours. I do not use automated direct messaging with any of my five Websites. I am convinced that at best most automated messaging is ignored, at worst they can lose Followers. Even if you don’t have a business or an affiliate marketing page or Website, you can still make money with Twitter. There are a number of options, such as selling collectibles or other unique and unusual products. Be creative and design your own money making route. One such entrepreneurial idea was used by the company Atebits. Loren Brichter realized that by making Twitter more accessible and easy for members to use, her company could make money. Brichter used her idea to create an iPhone application, Tweetie. Another example is the company SkinnyCorp. They own an online T-shirt company called Threadless. This company allows amateur artists to design their own T-shirts and place them in a competition. The public votes for their favorite T-shirt designs. The winning artist gets their design featured on a Threadless T-shirt, along with $2,000. This idea blended perfectly into the Twitter theme. Twitter users are now allowed to submit their favorite Tweets and vote on them. The winning Tweet is turned into a T-shirt, and each one is then sold for $18. This company used Twitter as a platform, gave users a way to become a part of the business, and in turn, made money. |
