If you’re still on the fence as to if you should be using Twitter or are wondering if you’re getting the most you can from the service here are 5 practical ways that I’ve used Twitter to grow my business in the past week.

As I’ve mentioned before, Twitter is the #1 source of traffic to my site after the search engines and here are a few methods that I’m using:

1) Promote New Content On My Website

2) Connect With People I’m Doing Business With

3) Congratulate A Client Who Is Having A Birthday

4) Make New Connections With Potential Partners

5) Thank People Who Mention And Promote My Business

As you can see, it doesn’t take much to connect with people through Twitter and let them know that you’re paying attention and that you care. Twitter can be a great way to quickly build new connections and maintain the ones you currently have.

What are some of the ways that you’re using Twitter? Please give specific examples by commenting below – I would love to hear from you!

(Photo Credit: ~Ilse) In my last Twitter University post I talked about how you can monitor your brand on Twitter (How To Monitor Your Brand On Twitter – Twitter University). Today I wanted to share with you the one tool that saves countless hours of time, helps me connect with my customers, and lets me do it all within Outlook – my default email program. The best part is, it’s free!

There are countless Twitter applications that are popping that all promise to make us more efficient and help us leverage Twitter to a greater extent. One of my favorite tools is an application called TwInbox. TwInbox is a free Outlook plugin that allows you to manage your Twitter account through Outlook as well as gives you many customization options to do a lot of really cool, time saving modifications.

Outlook: The Ultimate Twitter Client

When I first got onto Twitter I went to people’s accounts to see what they were up to. After quickly realizing that it was taking up too much of my time I downloaded several Twitter clients and stuck with TweetDeck for a while but it sucked up a lot of my computer’s memory and I hated having yet another application that I had to load every day and keep open on my desktop.

I use Microsoft Outlook as my default mail and calendar program. It’s always open on my computer and I don’t know what I would do without it. When I first learned about TwInbox I was ecstatic – finally a way to have all my online communications together in the same program! No more flipping between applications and tying up computer memory!

Here is a little bit about how TwInbox works. Once you install it you’ll see a new toolbar at the top of your Outlook that looks like this:

From here you can create a new Tweet, ReTweet a post that you liked, and send direct and @ messages all from within Outlook. You can also choose to receive your Twitter @replies and direct messages to an Outlook folder. It comes in just as your regular email does and you can use the same Outlook reply features to respond to your followers. For example, if you click on a tweet and then hit ‘Reply’ it will send the author a direct message. If you click ‘Reply To All’ it will send them an @ message.

Having the Twitter integration into Outlook allows me to keep all my communications within one program and makes it easy to follow and keep in touch with my customers and people I find interesting. This integration alone has a ton of value and is definitely worth doing but here is what makes TwInbox really cool…

Advanced Twitter Integration

Once I started auto-following people who follow me I was bombarded with promotional tweets that were of no interest to me. I thought to myself: “If only there were a way to see the posts from these users that didn’t have links!”… well TwInbox gives you a feature to do just that – it’s called Searches and Groups.

Here is a screenshot of what it looks like and how I use it:

Since you can’t see the full line that I’ve highlighted, here is a part of what it reads: -http -@jaykubassek -@stagingdiva -@JohnOda -@Diannecrampton from:jaykubassek OR stagingdiva OR JohnOda OR Diannecrampton

These are the Twitter accounts of four of my authors / customers. I’ve specified in this rule that I want to follow the author accounts but I don’t want any links (-http) and I don’t want to read any @ messages from other people to them. This way I only get the Twitter posts that they write which are non-promotional and talks about what they are really up to. My only complaint with TwInbox right now is that you can only put a certain number of characters on each rule you create so you have to create multiple rules for a similar purpose (hint hint @TechHit).

Am I Missing Some Valuable Posts?

The question that always comes up when I show people this method is “Am I missing valuable posts that have links in them from my customers?” The answer is invariably, yes. However, it depends on what your goal is with Twitter. For me, I want to stay connected to my customers, congratulate them when they have a big win, wish them luck when they are off on a conference, send them best wishes if they are off on vacation, etc. These are all events that people Tweet about without typically including a link – you basically get the “good” Tweets without all the promotional links. Sure you will miss some valuable posts, but it’s worth it considering all the junk that you’re cutting out.

Save Your Time, Maximize Your ROI

One of the biggest complaints that people have with Twitter is that it takes up too much time and they don’t see the return on investment. Thanks to TwInbox I am able to check my @ messages, see what my key customers are up to, and respond to them to keep my name in their mind – I can do this all within 15 minutes per day. Considering that Twitter is consistently in the top five traffic sources to my website every month, I would think that’s a pretty good return on investment.

* Please note that I am in no way affiliated with TwInbox and don’t make any money from them. I just happen to love their tool and wanted to share it with you so that you too may benefit from it. Learn more at: http://www.techhit.com/TwInbox/twitter_plugin_outlook.html

Have you ever used TwInbox? What do you do to improve your efficiency and maximize your Twitter ROI? Please comment below – I would love to hear from you!

I was shocked at what I discovered. People were talking about my company on Twitter and I didn’t even realize it!

“Remember that when someone tweets about your business they are letting their entire list of followers know about their experience. If you’re not at least monitoring the conversation you run the risk of not supporting your champions and also letting your critics make negative claims about your business that go unchallenged. ”

One particular example was a woman who had tweeted that she was considering joining EvanCarmichael.com as an author and wanted to know if it was worth the time investment. I quickly signed up a Twitter account, replied to her and before I knew it she signed up an account! Had I not been on Twitter I would have missed the opportunity to connect with this customer.

Ever since that first interaction I’ve been monitoring what people say about my company. Usually it’s people saying how they enjoy it and it’s a great resource for entrepreneurs. I typically then write back thanking the person for their comment and acknowledging them.

Here is a recent example that came in today:

I have no idea who MonsterMillion is but he/she took time out of the day to promote my site to the thousands of people who are MonsterMillion followers and I wanted to let him/her know that I appreciate it. These type of comments come in every day and I usually reply to each one with a short tweet to let them know that I value their kind words. So far nothing negative has come in yet but if / when it does I’ll know about it and will be able to respond.

How to Monitor Your Brand on Twitter

Here is how you can quickly and easily keep track of what people are saying about your and your business.

1) Go to Twitter Search (http://search.twitter.com/) and put in your name. You can repeat the process later for your company name and, if you’re a real keener, put in your key customer names and congratulate them when they get positive Twitter mentions.

You’ll then see the results in a format like this:

2) Subscribe to the Feed. At the top right of the page you may notice the link that says “Feed for this query” – if you click on it you’ll be able to see the RSS feed for all the Twitter posts that contain your name. If you currently have a RSS reader then it’s a great way to be instantly notified whenever you get mentioned in a Twitter post.

3) Check Your Feed Regularly. I check my RSS feed on a daily basis (I use Google Reader) so it’s easy for me to quickly find out which new conversations have started up around my name and my company. You want to check in on a regular basis to quickly acknowledge people who are helping to promote you for free and to help out any users who are having questions or problems with your business.

Remember that when someone tweets about your business they are letting their entire list of followers know about their experience. It’s all in the public domain and if you’re not at least monitoring the conversation you run the risk of not supporting your champions and also letting your critics make negative claims about your business that go unchallenged. Twitter results are also starting to pop up in the search engines which gives you all the more reason to get involved and protect your online brand.

I hope I have at least convinced you to monitor your brand on Twitter. You’ll soon find yourself getting more and more involved as you connect directly with your customers.

Do you monitor your brand on Twitter? What experiences have you had?

Earn Customers For Life On Twitter

Step 1: Connect - Ask your customers if they are on Twitter and let them know you want to follow them. First off they will be flattered that their supplier is interested in hearing from them. Most companies don’t even take this basic step to reach out. You can incorporate a simple message into your conversations and on your website, emails and invoices that you want to connect with them.

Step 2: Pay Attention – Pay attention to what your customers are writing on Twitter. Sometimes they will post relevant business information that can give you clues about their habits and preferences. Other times they will post personal information that will help you get to know them better. Don’t just follow and ignore them – watch out for what they are saying. It will give you great insights as to the kinds of people your customers are.

“If you really want to make a splash and earn a customer for life think outside the box as to how you can take your Twitter conversation offline. Why not send a congratulations card to that customer who just got the big media feature?”

Step 3: Let Them Know You Care – If you’ve followed steps 1 and 2 you’re already way ahead of your competition. Now it’s time to turn up the heat. Once you’ve started following and paying attention to your customers, interact with them by replying to what they post. Congratulate them if they made a big sale or were featured in the media. Offer best wishes if they share personal information about details going on in their lives. The point is to be there and show them you care.

Step 4: Go Above And Beyond – Now, if you really want to make a splash and earn a customer for life think outside the box as to how you can take your Twitter conversation offline. Why not send a congratulations card to that customer who just got the big media feature? Yes, you heard me – snail mail! There are even tools like SendOutCards where you can attach delicious brownies or retail gift certificates along with your card. It doesn’t cost much to do but the extra effort will earn you some serious “brownie” points with your customers.

To bring it all together I thought I would share a real life example from Mike McDerment who is the CEO of FreshBooks, a Toronto based billing company with over 800,000 customers. FreshBooks makes a habit of following its customers, paying attention to them and acting on what they are saying. Here is an example: FreshBooks customer chelpixie posted to her Twitter account “if you ask a girl out, don’t stand her up. Not appreciated.” to which the FreshBooks team noticed and replied “we would never stand you up”. They followed up by sending her an arrangement of flowers. Who would ever expect that kind of personal attention from a billing supplier?

By paying attention to their customers and acting on their feedback FreshBooks not only earned a customer for life but also has received significant media coverage for their efforts. By following the four simple steps laid out in this blog post you too can stand our with your clients and keep your company top of mind before your competition does.

How are you using Twitter to maintain relationships with your customers?

On EvanCarmichael.com, Twitter has recently become the number four source of traffic. It’s Google, then Yahoo!, then AOL, and then Twitter. Twitter sends more traffic to my site than Ask, Bing / MSN, Wikipedia, Digg, and Facebook. What’s also interesting is that Twitter visitors view 40% more pages and spend 73% more time on my site than visitors from Google. I don’t have any numbers on how well the traffic converts, which is typically a problem for social media referrals, but the growth in the Twitter numbers is impressive nonetheless.

I also wanted to share with the results that other bloggers are experiencing. Let’s start with one of the most popular blogs in the world, TechCrunch. TechCrunch recently released their traffic numbers (For TechCrunch, Twitter = Traffic (A Statistical Breakdown)) and Twitter is the number two referring website after Google. Twitter accounts for 9.7% of TechCrunch traffic, up from 1.8% six months ago, out of millions of visitors. According to TechCrunch writer Erick Schonfeld:

“Some people use it to share their daily thoughts and observation. But it is increasingly becoming clear that one of the most common ways people use Twitter is as a social information filter and link distributor. Twitter is not just about micro-media. The most powerful Tweets are those which point elsewhere. Or to put it another way, the shortened link may just be the most powerful type of micro-media there is. Those retweeted links are turning Twitter into a social broadcast media that rivals any other on the Web. “

Another popular blogger who has been on Twitter is Jeremy Shoemaker, a.k.a. ShoeMoney. Shoemaker has been on Twitter for almost one year and it is also the second largest referral of traffic after Google (For Those Who Still Don’t Get Twitter). Twitter sends him over 25,000 visitors every month and, similar to results on my website, Twitter visitors look at more pages and spend more time on his site than Google visitors. According to Shoemaker:

“You would probably be surprised to learn that less then 5% of the twitter traffic came from my tweets. Just engaging in the twittosphere has been amazingly rewarding. But if you still “don’t get it” its cool. Less competition.”

Chris Brogan, a community and social media blogger, recently shared how he has managed to double the traffic to his website using Twitter (How I Use Twitter to Promote My Blog). According to Brogan:

“Since I started using Twitter, I have more than doubled my blog traffic over the last several months, and I can tell you how. I ask my following in Twitter for love three times: once when I post the blog, again if it takes off well in the comments section, and sometimes a third time if I want to really amp the traffic via StumbleUpon. I mix these requests in liberally with all the various ways I help others using Twitter, and so it doesn’t come off like I’m perpetually pitching my own stuff. My current monthly rate of pitching others vs. promoting my own site is 75 / 25 in other people’s favor. That sounds fair, right?”

You also don’t need to be a top blogger to get results from Twitter. A great example is Daily SEO Blog, a website run by Mani Karthik, a self-proclaimed “Internet Enthusiast.” Karthik currently gets 25% of his traffic from Twitter and again, Twitter is the number two source of referring traffic, after Google (How much traffic can Twitter give ?). According to Karthik:

“For those of you still not convinced about what Twitter can give to your website, think again. Most of the sites, Twitter is already giving 1/3rd – 1/4th of its total traffic – those who have embraced the power of Twitter that is. DSB gets a nice 1/4th of its traffic from Twitter too, that is indeed a nice thing. What’s important is that 99% of the traffic is from other people’s tweets. So if you haven’t yet embraced Twitter, try it out this time around.”

My top nine reasons for why entrepreneurs should be on Twitter were:

1. It’s where your customers are
2. It’s where your customers will be
3. Twitter can drive targeted traffic to your website
4. People are talking about you
5. Connect with people you want to get in front of
6. Add credibility to your business
7. Stay on top of trends in your industry
8. Rank higher in search engines
9. Leverage the work you’re already doing

Hopefully today’s post has given you solid evidence for how Twitter can drive targeted traffic to your website and helps bring home some of the benefits of getting involved.

How are you using Twitter for your business? What kind of traffic results are you seeing?

I meet and hear from entrepreneurs every day as a part of my business and one of the most frequent questions that I keep getting is “Why should I be on Twitter?” There are many sceptics out there who believe that Twitter is not worth it and is only for people with too much time on their hands. Used intelligently however, Twitter can be a powerful way to grow your business so long as you know what you’re doing and why.

“As a marketer you always want to be where your customers are. If your customers are using Twitter and you’re not a part of the conversation then your competitors will scoop the market from under you.”

Twitter is a tool, and just like any other tool, you have to know how to use it. If you’re still on the “Should I use Twitter?” fence, here are 9 reasons why you should consider opening an account and get involved.

1 – It’s where your customers are

As a marketer you always want to be where your customers are. Think about using Twitter as another networking opportunity. If you were invited to a wine and cheese party with a room full of your potential customers, would you want to attend? Your approach on Twitter should be similar to what you would do at a networking event – join the conversation. You wouldn’t go into a room full of strangers with a hard sales approach trying to close them on the spot. You need to learn about who you’re talking to, understand their needs, and see if there is a potential fit with what you can offer. If your customers are using Twitter and you’re not a part of the conversation then your competitors will scoop the market from under you.

2 – It’s where your customers will be

One of my favorite quotes is by the famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky who when asked to explain his success said “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” If your customers aren’t already on Twitter, they will be and as a business owner you can’t risk losing out on capturing this market. Twitter is already one of the most popular websites in the world and it is not showing any signs of slowing down. Think about it as having a website for your business. The businesses who got in early captured most of the customers and many of them still rank #1 for their important keywords in the search engines. If you are just setting up a website for your business today then you are far behind the game. Don’t fall behind the online marketing game by missing out on Twitter and where your customers will be.

“People are more responsive to Twitter messages than email (provided you are providing value, of course), so it can be a great way to get in front of customers and other important decision makers who can impact your business.”

3 – Twitter can drive targeted traffic to your website

Twitter has recently entered the top 10 sources of visitors to my website which is impressive given that I’ve been doing other methods for years and Twitter has already surpassed them. Twitter doesn’t drive anywhere close to the traffic that Google and the other search engines produce and the visitors don’t convert nearly as well as search engine visitors but the increase in the number of people on my site is noticeable. Twitter already drives more people than any other non-search engine partner of my business. Twitter also is sending more visitors to my website than Facebook, Wikipedia, LinkedIn, and StumbleUpon combined. Again, my search engine traffic far outweighs Twitter results and it converts to business much more easily. If I had a choice it’s a hands down decision to focus in on SEO instead of Twitter but why not do both if they are generating results?

4 – People are talking about you

This is the main reason that pushed me into Twitter. I went to Twitter Search, typed in my name, and found that people had already posted entries about my business. Most of them were very positive and I was genuinely surprised to see that the conversation was already taking place about my business without me having prompted it. More importantly, the conversation was happening and, until that point, I didn’t even realize it. You can never control a conversation in any social media setting but you can at least get involved to help get your message out as you want it. An easy way to get started is to do a search for your name / business name and then subscribe to the RSS feed. This way whenever somebody talks about your business, or any other important keyword you want to track, you can get updated through your RSS reader.

5 – Connect with people you want to get in front of

If there are companies or prospects that you are trying to get in front of, Twitter can be an excellent medium to help make the connection. Getting someone’s email address or direct phone number can be difficult and you don’t want to appear as a spammer. Why not look to see if the person you’re trying to get in front of is on Twitter? You’ll be able to learn more about what they are interested in, what issues they are concerned about, and what is going on in their businesses. You can comment on their posts, offer insightful information, and begin to build a bond with them. People are more responsive to Twitter messages than email (provided you are providing value, of course), so it can be a great way to get in front of customers and other important decision makers who can impact your business.

6 – Add credibility to your business

Twitter can be a great way to boost the credibility of your business. Like it or not, the number of followers that you have count as votes in the minds of many people – the more followers you have, the more important and credible you must be. The best way to start building your followers is to begin posting! The more time you have to build your base, the easier it will be. Once your base is established it’s easier to get people to pay attention to you. For example, I’ll often let my customers or partners know that I’ll Tweet about them because I appreciate their business. The result invariably is a warm “Thank you!” and it’s a great way to add another touch point to my business relationships. The media is another great way to leverage your followers. The more followers you have, the more of an authority you seem to be and the more likely you can get the media to pay attention to what you have to say.

“Twitter can also be an excellent tool to help you leverage some of the work that you’ve already been doing to build your business. If you have a blog then you can set up the RSS feed to automatically post to your Twitter account.”

7 – Stay on top of trends in your industry

In point #4 I talked about staying on top of what people are saying about you through Twitter Search. You can also use the same tool to know what’s being said about your industry, competitors, and customers. It can be a wonderful market research tool but beware of the “Garbage in, garbage out” principal. If you don’t make use of the right keywords to track then you won’t get meaningful results. Another great way to stay on top of trends is to follow thought leaders in your industry and other people who you respect. Don’t follow the people who feel inclined to share every detail about their personal lives and Tweet about brushing their teeth and going for sushi. Follow only the people who are adding valuable information that can have a meaningful impact on you and your business. Just like the blogging world there are some blogs worth following and most that are not.

8 – Rank higher in search engines

While individual Twitter posts do not generally rank that well because they have so few characters, the username that you choose for your account has a very good chance of ranking on the first page of Google. Because of all the inbound links that Twitter has, Google is rewarding the site with extremely high rankings. My Twitter account, for example, ranks just after my own site for my name. If you’re targeting competitive keywords make your keywords the names / username for your Twitter account to help you dominate the first page of search results. Think about that .com domain name that you wanted to buy but was already taken when you started your site. You could soon lose the ability to get the Twitter account of your choice and rank well for it if your competitors get in before you.

9 – Leverage the work you’re already doing

Finally, Twitter can also be an excellent tool to help you leverage some of the work that you’ve already been doing to build your business. For example, if you have a blog then you can set up the RSS feed to automatically post to your Twitter account through services like TweetLater. Every time you post to your blog it will automatically create a new entry in your Twitter account to help expand your reach. Another simple way to leverage your existing content is to add the TweetMeme button on all your pages. This essentially makes it easier for anyone viewing your pages to post about it to their Twitter accounts if they think that it is of value. After you set it up you don’t have to put in any additional time and you can generate increased traffic from work you’ve already done.

Are you convinced yet? I would recommend starting small and not overwhelming yourself. See what people are talking about, register your own account, and begin posting. Set a posting schedule that works for you and don’t get caught up in it past the point of it being a valuable tool for your business.