How Twitter Can Help Your Online Marketing Efforts

Hello All,

I am sure if any of you watch any TV now-a-days, there is definitely a new online phenomenon going on that everyone is crazy about.. Twitter.com. Twitter is a simple online tool that allows anyone to publish a post in 140 characters or less. It gives you the ability to create your very own online network by either "following" other members, or allowing them to "follow" you. There are some people who have a following of thousands of people, most notably celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, who won a competition against CNN in attaining one million followers!

Twitter is fascinating to a lot of people, especially working professionals and baby boomers who do not use popular social media networks like MySpace or Facebook that have a much younger, college orrientated audience. Its simple to use and effective. Twitter is also is mirrored with a mobile application which allows you to view, post, and reply to your followers from your smart phones. Cell phone updates account for over 70% of Twitter activity, therefore making it a very powerful and unique application that attracts people "on the go", especially working professionals.

Now, as a business owner, figuring out how such a new and popular online application can help marketing efforts can, at first glance, seem very tricky. How can you convey a strong marketing message with only 140 characters or less? And, more importantly, what tactic is useful in doing so?

Depending on your marketing campaign online, Twitter can either become a burden or a gold mine. It all varies on what your goal is. If you are trying to gain a marketing base, Twitter can be your answer. Rather than spend hundreds of dollars buying opt-in email lists, with the risk of becoming a spammer, Twitter can give you a vast audience who are guaranteed to see any marketing message you convey.

Twitter now allows the ability to post pictures, hyper links, and even media links that are very useful and can spread a viral message almost instantly. For example, with the recent movie release of 'Bruno', studio execs credited Twitter on its almost 40% audience decline the day after the movie was released! Many people "tweeted" bad reviews about the movie, consequently costing the producers of the movie millions of dollars. As you can see, Twitter can become both a blessing and a nightmare, varying very much on what you market and what your product performance is.

For companies that offer services, Twitter can become a useful informational tool that can let people know of new promotions, areas of business, or of recent company news. Usually, people on Twitter follow others whom their friends are following, so such a trend can become useful if you have current or new customers following.

One of the biggest problems with businesses and Twitter is that they do not have the time nor know how to add new followers. Obviously assuming that you have to go out and find people to follow you, most whom you never met, can seem like a very tiresome burden. But, as I said before, Twitter has the ability of becoming the ultimate viral message. If you add one person, chances are their friends will follow. So, becoming active, answering direct questions regarding your posts, and checking back regularly with new postings will almost surely help grow your audience at a steady pace.

Twitter may not work for you, and you may not have the time to Tweet all the time. But, if you currently employ a social media marketing campaign, using Twitter as a TOOL to promote all your Social Media efforts can work wonders, improve your audience, and give you a great Viral tool that can save you tons of money!

How to submit your viral marketing message to your social networks

Intro:

Your social networks are linked to an audience that is open to hearing your message. Your social accounts belong to groups, forums, and message boards that are ready and able to send your message instantly to all recipients, anytime.

Viral Marketing through Social Media is a lot more effective than email marketing. Emails are not guaranteed to be opened, or read. More importantly, the email is not guaranteed to be sent to inbox’s more than 50% of the time. With Social Media, you are assured that your message will reach your audience, so it is your goal to make and structure your message to be as effective as possible.

Tips:
1. Keep your message less than 200 characters (about 4 sentences)

2. Do not use the words “free”, “sale”, “limited time”, or “buy”

3. The best way to get your audience to respond is to offer a tip, advice, blog article, or information. A direct pitch or call to buy will more than likely get someone to turn away, as many companies do this and thus, the viewer will categorize you with the spammers who sell every day.

How to create and send a viral campaign:

Create a marketing message to your audience
a. The most critical component of your viral campaign is your outgoing message. What do you want to say? Who is your customer? What information are you using to bring them back to your “landing page” (page you are going to link them back to on your website).

Log into your relevant account groups
a. All of your accounts in your social media network have an audience based on groups. For example, LinkedIn will have various groups you are a member of that are from different background and interests. Targeting groups individually, or in smaller groups, will get you a better response than simply sending out the same message to all.

Ask for feedback on your message if possible
a. Are you sending out a link to your latest blog? Offer feedback from the client. A good example is: “How to lose 10 pounds in 10 days. New blog article I wrote, please read it and let me know what you all think!”

As you can see, the message is centered on the new blog article. Thus, the article is your selling point. As viewers link back to your article link and read it, your blog article thus becomes your selling point and will attract potential customers. Thus, again, your message and landing page are key.

Setup your landing page and make it work for your viewers so it can sell for you.
a. As you can see in previous steps, the main function of your message is to bring viewers over to your website. Your landing page, the page they will first see and link to, is thus your selling tool once the marketing message does it job. Be sure it is a page that coincides with your marketing message. For example, do not talk about a new article and then link the viewer to your shopping cart.

It must correlate and include the reason the viewer came to your website in the first place. The article, review, or page that you use is thus the cornerstone of your viral campaign. You have already achieved the call to action, coming to your page, now you must close the viewer into an action. Usually a good tool to include in the landing page is a registration form, comment box, sign-up sheet, or contact number.

Pick an appropriate time to launch your campaign.
a. Picking and choosing when to launch your viral campaigns is very important, yet hard to first predict. The best times to do so are usually in the mornings and evenings, when online user activity is at its peak (8a-10a, 5p-8p).

Do not send out too many messages to your audience
a. If your campaign is either successful or unsuccessful, you will be eager to send out a new campaign. Be very cautious in doing so. You do not want to tune out viewers, or get flagged by the social network community as a spammer. One message a week is ideal.

Use your Blog

a. Your Blog is your best tool in order to both build an audience and gain more traffic to your website. Blog Articles are very powerful in that it can captivate a viewer into buying or subscribing to your product or service.
Benefits of your Social Networks

Targeted Customers:

We are reaching out to people that we know already have interest in our product. Instead of casting a wide net we are being specific, giving us a better return on our time.

High Friend Conversion Rate:

You will get at least 30% of people you reach to our profile/bog and can lead to adding you as “friends”. The benefit of this is long haul marketing, as you can put out bulletins, send messages, and directly market to them with announcements or new products.

Creates brand awareness:

For the people who aren’t familiar with the company they can be introduced to you through these social networking sites.

Continued Promotional Value:

The good thing about marketing on social networks is that it isn’t a one time push. It is a sustainable way to continually market to these customers.