Since Twitter hatched onto the social media scene in 2006, it has flown to the top of the social marketing food chain. Recently, however, network marketers have been cracking the golden Twitter egg - saying it is a waste of time now that automated chirping of your Tweets will get you a one way ticket out of the nest.
Ok, I am done with the puns - for now.
Is Twitter a waste of time for marketing? Yes - if you are doing it wrong.
The sad truth is that 98% of business owners, entrepreneurs, marketers are using Twitter incorrectly! They create a Twitter page, start following a bunch of people, pay a service to get them followers, and start chirping away about this deal or that deal, this great item, or a great bargain. They soon find they are Tweeting to an empty audience. Their follower list is full of nothing but spam bots or people trying to accomplish the same thing they are - making money on Twitter.
Twitter is not for making money.
Twitter is a social networking tool designed to help you meet and share with new people. Your goal is to get a flock of Twitter readers to follow you - real people - who share common interests or goals. Once you have real people following you, you can drop a Tweet about your website, blog or opportunity. Only if you have a flock of friends will anyone listen. A flock of bots, MLMers, network marketers or business people will just tweet right back with their own sales pitch.
How do you get real people to follow you on Twitter? One very simple rule: Be Yourself.
Not your business, not your opportunity, not your sales pitch. Be you. Tweet about yourself, your life, your likes and dislikes. Find people with common interests but who are not constantly tweeting about their own products with no substance in between.
How do you start? A good place to start is twibes.com. This lets you search for Twitter users with common interests. For me, I searched for crafters, moms, wahmers, scrapbookers, candle makers, local gift shops. Get creative. Once you join a few twibes, start tweeting to those twibes (no, I can't say that 3 times fast).
Don't start off with a sales tweet or some corney canned quote - contribute a real thought or substance to the group. Why did you join their twibe? What are you looking for? Do you have something to contribute to your twibe? Don't just take from your twibe - you have to contribute to it. Start doing it and you will start gaining real followers.
Its slower than buying your followers or just randomly following everyone you see and hope they listen to your tweets. It will give you quality over quantity, though, and will build you a solid grounding in the Twitter social media community.
Corinne Brueckner
http://www.gourmetcandlesforless.com
