Posts Tagged ‘Game’

Twitter is more than idle chit-chat. It’s not just a big instant messenger and there’s some valuable stuff happening below the surface. Sure, the way some people use the service trivializes its significance. That’s undeniable. There are others, however, that are figuring out that Twitter can be a serious tool.

Just in case you haven’t been converted to the pro-Twitter side yet, here are three more reasons to take the social networking service seriously.

First, it creates a splendid opportunity to monitor and evaluate what your customers and prospects are really talking about. Can you say “free market research”?

Second, it gives you another outlet to extend your reach. It’s a low hassle way to supplement your website an blogging endeavors to reach another audience.

Third, it gives you the opportunity to create a social network that has a strong interest in what you’re doing and then allows you to approach those people with marketing messages. Not so shabby, huh?

Twitter may not be the game-changer some people want to pretend that it is, but it certainly isn’t the triviality others pretend it is. There are good reasons to take Twitter seriously.

Those of us who’ve been around the block a few times can get a little gun-shy about hopping on the latest “big thing”.  We’ve seen popular trends and sites that the world gushed over go cold and dead more than once.  We’ve seen the “game changers” quickly transform into a standard-issue piece of the process.

That’s probably why some of us have been reluctant to get going with a plan to leverage the power of Twitter to improve our marketing.  We’re just suspicious and cynical enough to wonder if this is just another fad.

There’s no way to say definitively that Twitter is going to be a big piece of the Internet landscape in five years.  There’s no way to say what’s going to be happening with the web in five years.  Anyone who claims to know is feeding you a line.

It is, however, safe to say that Twitter is going to keep growing through 2009 and that it’s unlikely to collapse any time soon.  This is one of those trends that hasn’t yet reached its peak and even if that peak hits soon, the fall-off will take awhile to really set in.

Here’s the good news.  Unlike those other situations where it was necessary to act at the beginning of the trend to make money, there’s still plenty of marketing room in Twitter.  It’s not virgin territory, but all things considered, not many marketers have really tapped into its potential yet.

Don’t be cynical or suspicious this time around.  This one’s the real deal.  It’s going to stick for awhile and the moneymaking potential is strong.

There are different ways to get Twitter followers. You can follow everyone and their house pets yourself, hoping that enough of them will reciprocate to boost your follower total through the stratosphere.
You can make a concerted effort to promote your Twitter URL at every turn, hoping to find new followers from the population that visits your website or blog.

There is another way to do it, however. The third route, by the way, is the one that works the best.

If you Tweet quality, you’ll get followers. Good followers. The kind who want to listen to what you say and who are willing to follow your advice.

When you’re Tweeting the “good stuff”, people notice. They re-Tweet you. They recommend you. They respond to you. And every time one those things happens, more people become aware of you and the fact that you’re doing something special on Twitter.

Want to get a nice big collection of rabid followers who can actually produce results? Start bringing your “A” game to the Twittersphere. When you’re dropping great Tweets, people will find you. There’s a magnetic thing about quality that makes it happen. Every time.