Leveraging the Power of Web 2.0 to Increase your Sales and Conversion Rates
Part II of III
Macro Marketing through Micro Blogging
Pinnacle of Popularity
What do Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul, John Edwards, CNN, BBC, NASA and Del Computers all have in common? Yes they all aspire for leadership of one sort or another but that isn't the right answer. They all use the Internet's hottest Web 2.0 platform to win friends and influence people. It is called Twitter.
What is Twitter
Twitter is a micro blogging web site which goes down about eight times a day. Yet people can't get enough of it and continue to sign up by the thousands daily. It is called a micro blog simply because you can't post a message more than 140 characters long on it. In this lies the web site's hidden success mantra. Those who use Twitter either to promote their online businesses or to learn about competition know that it all ends at the 140 th milestone . Readers are assured that whatever needs to be conveyed will be conveyed in short, terse, journalistic prose as Earnest Hemingway would put it. There is no limit to how many messages or “tweets” as the Twitter types like to call them you can post. You have the option to either restrict your Tweet to a select few or everyone.
Reaching Out and Touching Someone with Twitter
Like your web site or your regular corporate blog, your Twitter page needs to be promoted through your e-mail signature, letter head, business card and most importantly in whatever you post on other sites. Those who read your Twitter page are"following" you. You can post your Tweets using IM, a desktop program such as Twhirl, an SMS or any Internet enabled mobile device such as a PDA or a mobile phone. Your followers can even configure their accounts to receive your Tweets through RSS feeds and their dedicated Twitter page. The options seem endless. It all started out with Tweeters telling each other what they had for dinner. Today, Tweeting is serious business and can be rather bottom-line friendly.
The Business Challenge
The likelihood of your prospects following you on Twitter as opposed to your web site or blog is significantly higher as long as you can convince them to access your Twitter page. This is because of the really short message length. No one has the time any more to read a doctoral dissertation. You have to be careful though. If every Tweet you send out to your followers is an advertising message, your followers will begin to drop off like flies. Therefore, it is a good idea to send out wise and pithy statements such as a Business Thought of the Day and point to a link in your Tweet for more information about your business. You can use http://tinyurl.com to shrink the length of the link to abide by the 140 character restriction. The key is to keep your followers interested in what you have to say. By frequently chiming into the conversation on your Twitter page, you can keep the momentum going. If you happen to be one of those lucky few who can find the time to post regularly to their corporate blog, use Twitter to announce a new blog post. Since Google and some of the other search engines are known to actively index Twitter pages, using relevant keywords pertaining to your business is sure to generate additional traffic to your web site. Depending on which part of the world you live in, you can use Twitter's Mobile Marketing interface to sign up more followers and send out text messages. The service is free and is extremely well structured.
So the next time you see "Follow me on Twitter…" go ahead, follow and be followed. It is good for your business and your online presence.
URL: http://twitter.com
Platform: Micro blogging
Date launched: July 13, 2006
SMS/Text Message coverage: USA , Canada , India , UK
Owned by: Obvious LLc
Current membership: 2,200,000 and growing every hour
Sold to Google for: Not Yet! Is inevitable
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