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Feeling Out-Twittered?

Written by: Greg Gaskill

Article Overview: The secret is to keep it simple.

Feeling Out-Twittered?

The Twitter phenomenon sweeping the nation is gripping the information starved social networks in a constant stream of updates, up to the moment 140 character micro blogs that capture a slice of news and pass it along to followers. This is great for business owners looking for a new way to connect with their market, to give information to their customers and even become instant selling tools, but how do you make your Twit stand out among all the others in a barrage of updates?

First go back to the basics. You must be remarkable, either in product, service or information that you choose to pass along. When you Twitter your followers, you want them to know that anything you pass along is going to be valuable or informative or entertaining, hopefully while informing. As a business owner, you never want to post a boring Twitter post, you never want to be inane or worse, completely forgettable. Your post needs to be worth passing along. It needs to be noteworthy, so that when a post comes from you, your followers read it.

That's a ton of information to pack into one 140 character sentence, isn't it? Relax, Twitter is a great tool to stay in touch with your customer base, and it just involves some careful planning. Don't info-dump on your followers. While you may have a lot of information to impart, if you can crunch it down to one simple sentence, then you need to revisit what you want to say. It's been phrased as a unique selling proposition when you apply the formula to the business (Why are you in business?) but you can use the same formula for your post- boil it down to a simple sentence that makes them want more, and produces an action. The action is usually a click through or visit to your blog where you can expound on your idea at length.

If you don't have the time to write original content for your business blog, you could spend time combing the Internet for articles of value for your clients. Again, find the USP for your audience, and tweet them with it. You can use your blog as a portal, so that your customers get used to visiting your site first, before you link them to another article at another site. This task does not have to be time consuming. You should be reading about your clients, customers and market to keep up to date, and when you run across something interesting, Tweet it.

The next thing you can do is create an RSS feed for your largest clients so that when they're mentioned in the news, you can tweet your followers to check out the article. How appreciative do you think your client would be that you're promoting them to your list? This builds depth to the relationship and can create additional sales opportunities by putting you on the forefront of your clients mind. A business owner can also direct message people they follow on Twitter who have provided information they find valuable. Making that kind of connection can lead to powerful joint venture partnerships, mentor opportunities, or additional clients based on being mentioned in their future tweets. As a business owner you know how valuable feedback can be, and you're searching for clients to have a conversation with, so as you follow people on Twitter, you should be the kind of follower you wish to have.

Twitter is just a few years old and is evolving. Keep a log of your Tweets as a reference throughout the year, and use it to adjust your marketing calendar. If you notice something occurs over a certain quarter, make plans for that quarter the following year and be prepared. The key to successful Tweeting is to follow a set plan, be an invaluable resource to your followers and don't abuse the right to communicate with them.

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