June 19, 2009

Marshfield, WI – If you've heard of Twitter, but have not seen the need to take your business seriously, let me urge you to take a second look more carefully.

But before you dive in blindly, let me introduce a global phenomenon of technology that individuals and small companies, probably like yours, are already taking in surprising numbers.

Why?

They recognize that marketing and communications, like everything else in the business these days, has evolved. Dramatically.

And micro-blogging platforms like Twitter are essential to this development.

So meet Twitter, not a person but a free platform for social and professional networks that enables individuals and companies ( "tweeters") to send 140 character messages ( "tweets") who wants to receive ( "followers") several times a day.

There is good reason by which probably sounds like the smartest of waste valuable time that you could conceive. The reason is that it can be a complete waste of time.

But only if they do not realize that the twitter.com website itself makes a terrible first impression and is not useful by itself.

However, used with the right of third party applications as TweetDeck.com (which is free), your Twitter account can be one of the best marketing investments you can make.

But not just my word for it. Analysts are beginning to take notice.

None other than Michelle McGiboney The Nielsen Company is recently opined, Twitter "… Offers a variety of ways for advertisers to reach their customers, and is a tool that companies have to learn to use their best advantage." So learn to use it to benefit your company.

However, its growing popularity among all age groups is, I think, that might attract skeptics at least give it a try. Many are already doing just that.

The data recently published by the Internet company Google Analytics Compete.com, the claims of unique visitors to Twitter increased a whopping 1,043%, year after year, from 1,725,977 users in May 2008 to 19,728,619 in May 2009. "

That's a bit of a rush to say the least, and a peak whose origin may surprise you. While it is true that the age bracket between 18-25 years was signed in large quantities, according to compete, the intensity of use pales in comparison to the age group most loyal Twitters' of – are you ready? – 35-49 years of age who, incidentally, also includes approximately 40% of the audience of the site as of February this year.

Although not all age groups adopted Twitter with the same enthusiasm, Twitter broad penetration within the U.S. has been impressive with many stake his place on the world stage for the conversation that Twitter offers. From the President Obama in the White House (which Twitter username is @ barackobama) Christa's Bistro & Deli (@ christasat126), closer to home, chances are someone can expect that at least is now Tweeting on Twitter.

The prospect of a large and diverse U.S. Audience is ideal for large enterprises and government, but to small businesses on Main Street in search of finding customers, usually the right audience is as important as a large one. Being a small business own only about fifty people, I suspect that Twitter is very aware of it. So we are aware that small business owners have found ingenious ways Nail of hyper-local dimension of the network.

A well known example is CoffeeGroundz Café (@ coffeegroundz) a small coffee house in Houston its website coffeegroundz.net is worth checking out. They claim to be one of the first companies to have adopted a To-Go to use Twitter. Now not only do customers pick-up orders, some customers placed orders coffee from the comfort of your seat in the cafe. Operations Manager CoffeeGroundz JR Cohen, has also successfully hosted Tweetups charity (social gatherings promoted via Twitter) to raise funds for worthy causes.

Another case study comes through Namecheap (@ namecheap) an Internet company that intends to rely heavily on word of mouth marketing, a similar strategy, at least in that sense, for many businesses on Main Street. Specialist Namecheap marketing, Michelle Greer , Has used trivia contests every hour on the hour (which used the application TweetLater.com free to schedule tweets) with the first answers to win a single year of domain registration. As a result of a dramatic increase of followers on Twitter, Namecheap traffic increased by 30% when it ran a promotion this year. Growth and shares a strong following Twitter has become so central to their sales growth were willing to pay more than $ 15,000 in prizes during his most recent trivia contest, which ended yesterday.

There are countless other examples of how are you, where small businesses who need to find new ways to connect with customers in an economy in crisis was discovered Twitter just what the doctor ordered.

To be sure, Twitter is not a panacea to cure all ailments that the main street, but is definitely worth the price worth giving a fair chance.

Before doing so, however, remember what I mentioned above and what the Time magazine writer Steven Johnson points out ironically well: Twitter "makes a terrible first impression … [but] it turns out to have unsuspected depth."

Copyright © 2009 VMR Communications, LLC

About the Author:

New York native Hugh Macken is an internet and virtual assistant analyst with Marshfield, WI-based VMR Communications, LLC. He welcomes your comments at hugh@i.am or on Twitter at @hughmacken.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Twittering your Way to Sales Growth

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