Twitter is a website that lets you post very short messages, and is frequented by good-for-nothings and kids who waste all their time..

That’s the general impression of many marketers who shy away from Twitter marketing and who can’t deal with the idea of condensing their messages down to 140 characters. They find this highly challenging, as they’re used to writing long stories.

The reason many stay away from Twitter Marketing is that a bad tweet can cost you your reputation as well as readers.

Using Twitter is an art form that’s totally unlike anything else. The short length of the messages means the approach has to be completely different. The messages need to be powerful to make sure you don’t gain the reputation of a whizzing twit.

Let’s Put Twitter In Perspective

Twitter is a short message communication tool that allows you to send messages called “tweets” to your followers. Tweets are limited to 140 characters and you can add an image to your tweets, which greatly increases its benefits.

On Twitter, you follow people and others follow you. You’ll be able to read, respond to and share the tweets of any of your followers with other followers. This sharing of tweets is called “retweet.”

The benefit you gain from tweets is the ability to link to any web property: blog post, web page, lead-capture page, PDF, video or even a photograph.

Okay, here there are two different lines of thought. There are people who think it’s beneficial to post links very often, whereas others think it’s spammy. I mean, there’s a chance you’ll lose your followers if people think you’re spamming them. Moderation is the key here when you are Twitter Marketing.

However, if you tweet links of some breaking news that you think your followers would be interested in or the latest trends in your niche, you can gain a good reputation.

Now, that’s simple enough, isn’t it?

Twitter Marketing Strategy

Thousands of companies and individuals have embraced Twitter Marketing and have gained immensely from it. They know how to make money from using the benefits offered by Twitter.

Your Twitter Marketing strategy begins with creating an impressive profile. A Twitter profile can be the harbinger of good news for you as a marketer.

#1 Twitter Profile

The foundation of your Twitter experience is your Twitter profile. This is where you let the Twitter community know about your business. Your account username is your brand, as it appears next to all of your tweets, and is how others will identify you on Twitter. Choose it wisely.

You can choose your personal name or your business name. To make life easier for mobile users, don’t use any punctuation. If your business name is not available, put some thought into choosing a name that represents your brand very clearly.

Twitter allows two different images per account. Take advantage of both to tell your story. Your Twitter profile photo appears next to all tweets and the profile header is a larger background photo.

Many small businesses use a personal picture for the profile photo and their business name for the account, making the business account more personalized.

You can also customize the background on your Twitter account. Use something that matches your business.

If you look at President Obama’s Twitter account above, you’ll see the small profile photo and the background image.

You must fill in all the details in your Twitter profile completely. All the business details have to be entered. Share your website or blog for the Twitter community to find you.

For the Bio, you only get 160 characters, so show them the benefits you offer. Overall, make your Twitter profile very interesting, inviting, professional and personalized.

As an addition, you can also get a Social Oomph account and it will add a link to your Twitter profile that gives you a longer social twitter profile which opens in another window.

#2 Build A Following

With the huge flocks of tweeting birds online, you have no dearth of them waiting to follow you and to be followed.

Following others related to your niche will help you gain followers. Posting sensible and useful tweets also gets you lots of followers. These Twitter Marketing basics are fairly self explanatory

Let me share a little secret with you. Do you have a “share this” button on your website or blog? Or is it languishing somewhere at the bottom of the page where people aren’t going to take the trouble to scroll down?

When people visit your website and they see something interesting, they would definitely be interested in sharing it with others. Having a “Tweet Me” button on your blog helps immensely to enhance your Twitter Marketing efforts.

Another trick? Add it to the customer/leads emails too. Tell them to share it with their friends on Twitter.

Make your social media buttons like Twitter and Facebook prominent on the site. You’ll soon see an increase in the number of Twitter followers.

Building an audience or followers is the first step to successful Twitter Marketing. But be selective about who you follow. While numbers matter, the quality of followers matters more. Twitter also has strict rules about who you follow, and they don’t think twice before suspending accounts. So pay attention to who you follow. I’ve heard stories of network marketers with 80,000+ followers having their account suspended with no notice, so make sure you select carefully.

The potential for a huge audience can be demonstrated by Justin Bieber. According to TwitterCounter, Justin Beiber has the maximum followers on Twitter.

#3 Build A Community

Twitter Marketing means involving everyone. Get on Twitter and just chat it up with people. Respond to people asking questions related to your business. Make sure you try and cover as much as possible. If you have a great post on your blog that actually answers their questions, tell them, hey, there’s this post over here or tell them they can send an email to you and they’ll be able to get more information or find a solution to their problem. Be responsive, be interested and always provide value. These are the corner stones of successful Twitter Marketing.

Here Are Some Cool Twitter Marketing Tools:

1. Buffer: A great web application that schedules your tweets and sends them throughout the day. You can easily add articles, pictures and videos to your Buffer and share them to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and your App.Net accounts. You can also get detailed analytics on every post to every network so you can see how many likes, shares and re-tweets you get. This is a great Twitter marketing tool.

2. CloudFlood: We’ve discussed in earlier posts, the importance of giving away freebies to site visitors. CloudFlood maximizes the number of people who tweet about any page you’d send them to. You have to create a free product that you want to give away on your website; an eBook, an MP3 or something else. Then create a button on the CloudFlood site, link it to your freebie and a page on your website to promote. Then place the button next to the freebie on your site.

Your website visitors are asked to Tweet or share the link in order to get the freebie. They’ll do it because people love freebies.

For more tips, check out my earlier article Social Faux Pas You Don’t Want To Make When Twitter Marketing

Like any other social media platform, Twitter Marketing is all about involving people. Find people who like to retweet and who like sending information out. You want such people to follow you and be engaged with you. Jump into conversations just to be part of a community. Tell everyone associated with your business to follow you on twitter and to get involved with the community.

Do it right and you’ll see a stream of visitors land on your site, and you have your hot and highly targeted leads.

It would be great to hear about your Twitter Marketing strategies. How is your Twitter Marketing strategy working for you?