The best way to make money with Twitter

If you are using Twitter, you probably know that it offers a great potential of social communication between businesses, customers, partners, friends and colleagues. People communicate and exchange ideas for the benefit of knowledge, but also for promoting their own websites, businesses and services. Having developed into a huge cyberspace market in less than five years, Twitter is a fascinating and cool way to stay in touch, but also to gain business exposure with the use of 140-character messages, known as tweets. In effect, tweets are blurbs, presented in real time on a micro-blogging platform, seen and read by all followers of a particular Twitter account. With its ease to follow, blog and tweet, Twitter has become a qualified tool of online marketing and an excellent accessory of social networking.

Apart from enabling you to instantly promote your business providing a broad range of branding opportunities and advanced marketing tools, Twitter can offer you some great key monetization opportunities.

Twitter can make you money if you know how to use it. If you think about your unique skills and talents, you will definitely come up with ways that you can promote them online. For instance, if you are a freelance writer, you can create a writing website and start marketing your writing services to Twitter users who are looking for such services. If you own an accounting business, you can look for Twitter users who can use your services.

To build your online business and get clientele using Twitter you need to build up your network by acquiring new contacts and keeping them updated with your business information. If you this on a daily basis, your contacts will become loyal customers and will refer you to new people. In that way, sooner than what you expect, you will acquire a huge followers’ base consisting of people who are interested in any new posting related to your products, services, deals, proposals and offers. Actually, what you do is direct advertisement of your business to diverse target audiences out of a large number of Twitter users. Functioning like niche marketing, direct advertisement attracts users who have similar interests and choose to become followers of your business.

Affiliate marketing is another option, highly successful and greatly preferred as a way to make money with Twitter. In general terms, affiliate marketing is based on referral business in which a website that refers business to a main website gets paid with a percentage commission. Referrals are directed to the main website through link codes. You can use your affiliate links to promote your business on Twitter. Besides, your customers may ask for suggestions to choose the best web host. By recommending to them your affiliate links you can earn some quick cash.

If you are not the type of business person who prefers direct advertisement because it blindly suggests a product or a service to customers, you can go with paid reviews to promote your business. Paid reviews suggest particular products or services and are directed by your satisfied and loyal customers who tweet about your products or services so that other users get informed about your business. You may also use sponsored advertisement, which allows all tweets to get a predefined prefix so that followers can spot them as advertisements and follow them. Finally, you can use auto advertisements that enable your business to tweet advertisements when users are idle. This can generate cash in ad intervals, when users are inactive.

You may not be the type of business person who can start an online business. Again, you can use Twitter by becoming an online advertiser for other businesses. In this case, your job will be to find customers on Twitter like you would do for your own business and you get paid for advertising the business’s products or services.

All in all, Twitter is a great way to make money. Although it is mainly a social networking website, not fully utilizing its enormous monetizing and promoting options might be a huge mistake. With its increasing popularity, it is certain that if you seriously engage in any type of business you feel comfortable with, you will soon derive lots of benefits. Just keep in mind that Twitter opportunities should be used within limits. Too much exposure, too much advertisement, and too many tweets can ultimately turn your business from a valuable contact into a profit-making addict, thus possibly decreasing your followers, credibility and profitability.

How to successfully manage your Twitter followers

Twitter is all about having followers and follow people. For Twitter users who have several thousands of followers and follow several thousand, it is critical to be able to have Twitter applications that can help them manage their Twitter stream. Obviously, it is impossible to give the same amount of attention to all followers.

A really cool desktop application that segments followers into distinct groups is TWEETDECK. TweetDeck has a simple and straightforward interface that is easy to use and understand. With TweetDeck a Twitter user can create groups of family, friends, colleagues etc. and manage instant conversations and direct messages with them. TweetDeck has the ability to tweet directly from its interface to share photos and web links, to follow topics in real-time and to manage multiple Twitter accounts. Besides, TweetDeck has multiple URL shortening services and the good news is that developers keep on updating it on a regular basis.

Similarly to TweetDeck, SEESMIC DESKTOP allows a user to create user lists (groups) and manage multiple accounts. Seesmic Desktop provides multiple URL shortening services, has unlimited ability on the number of accounts that can be managed and it fully integrates with Facebook. Besides, it provides the normal ability to manage conversations and instant messages by tweeting and re-tweeting messages. Design-wise, Seesmic Desktop has a simple interface, yet extremely elegant and intuitive, with built-in delicate designs and colors.

SPLITWEET is a web-based application designed to manage multiple Twitter accounts and brand monitor. Splitweet can be used to view a streamline of tweets from all accounts, to post tweets to multiple accounts and to follow brand mentions. Although Splitweet is positioned as an instrument for brands, it does not really deliver on that promise. Splitweet is mostly suitable for individual users. Companies should better use EasyTweets, or HootSuite.

EASYTWEETS is a great tool for marketers as it offers support for the management of multiple accounts and allows a user to post to multiple accounts, to get SMS alerts, and to have Google Analytics data on links.

HOOTSUITE is positioned as a marketing tool with neat platform that allows a user to manage multiple accounts and to view the link stats within the dashboard view of tweets when using the URL shortening services.

Two other popular web-based applications are TWITTBOT and TWEET3.

TWITTBOT allows multiple users to publish on a single Twitter account and a single user to post to multiple Twitter accounts. In that way, the service aggregates tweets from different sources and allows for a great control over who posts on a Twitter account. The owner of the account many follow as many people as he/she likes, but has complete control over who is posting on his/her account.

TWEET3 supports grouping and management of multiple accounts, integrates with Facebook, and provides a dashboard view where the user can customize color settings, add pictures, and follow other users. Besides, Tweet3 tracks the performance of stats in the analytics tab.

The above list of applications is not final, nor comprehensive. It is almost impossible to keep track with all the Twitter applications, especially with the speed that they build up. The more people use Twitter both for personal and professional reasons, the more applications need to be developed to match their needs. Ultimately, it’s a matter of personal choice to find which applications suit a Twitter user.

How to increase your business exposure with Twitter

The role of social media has become increasingly significant over the last years. Some time ago, My Space was about to become ‘the next big thing’. Today, Twitter is the social media website where your business can gain new customers, future sales and increased profitability. Although it is relatively new in the market, Twitter has really altered the meaning of communication enabling both personal and business relations. By gaining massive popularity, Twitter has become an excellent tool to promote your business and gain greater business exposure.

Twitter delivers the message instantly to millions of consumers and prospect customers. This enables the effective promotion of your business at a lightning speed. With the single use of a microblogging service that requires only 140 characters, the advancements of your business can be communicated in real-time to all your customers. Besides, considering that Twitter is a huge online community of nearly 14 million registered users, who are estimated to reach 50 million by the end of 2009 it comes as no surprise to eagerly wanting to build a network of followers who can read your marketing tweets.

If you keep your customers updated about your business developments on a daily basis, they will become loyal and will refer you to new people. In that way, sooner than expected, you will create a large clientele consisting of followers who will be interested in any new tweet related to your products, services, deals, proposals and offers. Actually, this is a direct advertisement of your business to diverse target audiences out of a huge number of Twitter users. Functioning like niche marketing, direct advertisement focuses on users with similar interests who choose to become followers of your business.

Twitter offers a broad range of branding opportunities and advanced marketing tools. If you have a Twitter account, you can put forward announcements about your products and services, new product launches, new business proposals, special offers and so on. The more information is added in your Twitter business account, the better promotion your business gets. Moreover, you can offer your Twitter customers sale and special discounts. In that way, you engage more followers in your account. Over time, these followers become customers, and ultimately, they turn into your business advocates by being satisfied and loyal. Besides, Twitter can be used as a place for customers to write their reviews and increase the credibility of your business.

You can even include a short mission statement in your business description so that you help your consumers making up their mind before you even launch your products or services. For instance, if you are a freelance writer, you can simply highlight relevant worlds to your short online Twitter bio so that people who are interested in writing services can find you in the online searches. The point is to market your business in a way that your customers trust that you have the solution to their problem.

Twitter offers a wide range of applications that can really add value to your business. ObjectiveMarketer is an integrated campaign management application that can increase brand awareness and identity, enhance customer support and service, improve product design and testing, and ultimately, increase customer acquisition and retention. By measuring and mapping audience response, ObjectiveMarketer optimizes corporate messages and makes social media strategic partners of your business by providing detailed analytics based on geographic location and other demographics factors. Another useful Twitter application is Tweettronics. Marketers, PR people, and customers who are loyal to your brand can provide real time, extensive brand and product reviews and engage in Twitter conversations. At the same time, you can monitor customer feedback and build productive customer relationships by developing appropriate branding strategies. Besides, other Twitter apps such twitRobot can increase your product sales through the use of recurring tweets in specific product and links; TwitExplorer allows you to better manage your customers and find new followers; and TweetActive provides real time twitter stream following trending topics.

Conclusively, Twitter can be an extremely useful tool for building business relationships. By offering the tools to anticipate any business problem that arises, it makes it easier for your business to take proactive measures and add value to your business practices. Customers get instantly notified and appreciate your efforts. Over time, their appreciation translates into customer satisfaction and loyalty. Finally, Twitter offers the unique opportunity to interact with a brand new cluster of people, diverse and multidimensional. This can offer your business a great competitive advantage in terms of expanding your network and gaining business exposure in attaining different business perspectives.

How to find people to follow on Twitter

Twitter is a relatively new social networking website that has fundamentally changed the way people communicate and exchange information. However, without people to follow Twitter has practically no value. Depending on your interests, industry preferences, market orientation or any other factor that drives your searching criteria, you may find people to follow; easily and quickly.

The first thing you can do as soon as you open your own Twitter account is to check on the people that Twitter suggests. On the up, right side of the menu, there is a tab ‘Find People’. When you click on this tab, there are four options. One option is ‘Find on Twitter’ where you can search for people who already have a Twitter account and you know them; they are friends, family, colleagues and so on. Second option is ‘Find on other networks’ where you can add your email and password from Gmail, Yahoo or AOL and find people from your address book who already use Twitter. Third option is ‘Suggested Users’. Normally, according to your one line bio, but also based on some users’ popularity, Twitter suggests users you may want to follow and who may have similar professions, interests, jobs. Alternatively, they may be celebrities, global news organizations, global forums, economic and financial institutions and many others. The fourth option is to ‘Invite by email’ anyone you want to have in your network.

Besides, there are sites that can help you find people to follow. Tweelow is a cool site, pronounced as ‘The Twitter Yellow Pages’ that classifies the search by category. Moreover, for each person there is information about the number of followers he/she has. This is helpful because when people have many followers, it automatically means that they have interesting content. Although Tweelow is a valuable tool, it will take a lot of time to navigate to all categories and find the people you want to follow.

Just Tweet It is a directory where you can sign up and add your name so that people with similar interests can follow you or you can follow them. Just Tweet it offers the FeaturedUsers application where you can enter your Twitter username and get more Twitter followers. Here is how it works: by purchasing impressions in FeaturedUsers, your Twitter profile appears immediately in the FeaturedUsers.com network with a banner that shows your short one line bio and your picture. The first time, you are granted free impressions. Then, you can buy 1,000, 3,090 & 10,000 banner impressions with $10, $30 and $100 respectively. The more impressions you buy, the more often your profile appears on FeaturedUsers.com network.

Twubble can help you expand your Twitter network by scanning the list of people you follow to see who they follow. When you press the ‘Find some friends’ button a pop up box appears, and there you should enter your Twitter username and password. Then, Twubble comes up with a list of Twitter users you may feel like following.

In general, if you check on the followers/follow ratio you can tell if a person is likely to follow you or not. People who have many followers but they don’t follow many people, are less likely to follow you. Keep in mind that Twitter is a place to create mutual relationships and therefore, mutual opportunities should be offered and taken.

A guide to Twitter for musicians

Creativity is an inherent element of music and being a musician automatically implies you are a creative person with sensitivity and imagination. You basically make a living out of your creativity. So, it is high time you used your talent not only in writing notes and music, but also in promoting yourself in Twitter, one of the best social networking websites that can offer you great exposure.

A good start is your username. Use your band name, your brand name, whatever you think it is catchy and easy to google. Most importantly, choose something you feel OK with because you username is your soul reflected on a social networking account. You do not market a cleaning service. You market your creativity and spirit. I guess you wouldn’t feel comfortable using Google AdWords for whatever word comes first in your mind. It would be like selling your soul to the devil for a few bucks.

Twitter has no value without people to follow. To attract people, you have to create an appealing profile so that you make them wanting to visit your account. Basically, what you do is to think of your Twitter account as a public website page where visitors see your photo, your background info, what you offer, and who you are. Ultimately, they decide if they want to click on the ‘follow’ button or not. So, apart from a catchy username, make sure you use a nice profile picture and write a few things about yourself. Again, choose a picture you feel comfortable with. Whether it is a solo picture or a band picture, make sure it conveys the feel of your music, the spirit of your accords, the essence of your inspiration. Also, make sure you link your Twitter account with your personal web page.

After setting up your Twitter account, the most important thing is to maintain it active. Make sure you update you status on a daily basis or even twice a day. Search for other musicians on Twitter. Find people you can identify with by searching for keywords related to music. It can be the kind of music you play, a song, an instrument, lyrics, other musicians, singers; anything related to music. See their profiles and start following interesting people with whom you can exchange valuable knowledge and whose personalities give good vibes. Build up a network and tweet about interesting things. Let your imagination convey what you feel and transfer your spirit into a Twitter blurb. People are fascinated to read tweets and retweet back. If you are not active, sooner or later, you will not have followers anymore. And then, apart from yourself, for whom will you be creative?

Although Twitter is primarily text based, you can also share links to other material such as audio links, video links and photos. What many musicians do is broadcasting a live video stream from their cell phone using Flixwagon technology. This entices your fans in following all your steps and embedding your activities in their own web pages. Besides, you can give your fans a little sneak peek of your backstage warming up, sound check and maybe a quick interview. You can do that using Twitpic application.

To my view, all you need to do is be authentic. Music has the enormous power to intermingle sounds in a blatantly cathartic way. And you, as a musician, you have to be able to use this power with all your soul, personality and genuineness to become successful on Twitter.