Twitter: Is it a time waster?

No.

Well thats’ all from me…

ohhhhkaaayy, I’l explain:

Twitter, the 140 character post social network, it takes what bored us on facebook, (the constant drivel of useless messages) and turns it into a delightful distraction, that can, if used correctly, actually help us do what we do… and do it better!

Twitter has 2 main aspects which draw me in as a user, and many as a marketer ;)

1. Building a professional network.

• Wouldn’t it be easier to be a jedi master at something if you had 5000 advisers?
• Twitter can put that kind of power at your finger tips.
• See more about building your followers read Increase Your Twitter Followers – 7 Ways To Get And 3 Ways To Keep and 3 Ways To Get Targeted Twitter Followers (For Free!)
• Find interesting people to follow at wefollow.com.

2. As a stream of useful/entertaining information.

• Follow like minded individuals and you will find they post about stuff your interested in..
• So you end up with a stream of personalised relevant information.. If you aren’t interested in someone’s posts then just un-follow them.
• Also to get the answer or find the app you are looking for just ask your advisers, I mean tweet your followers, they will be more than happy to share their opinions and advice.

As a Marketer there are so many uses for twitter:

If you have a built a following and want to market with twitter, WITHOUT BEING A SPAMMER! then read on.. (for spam advice go to www.1227.com)

1. Market research.

• If I blog for a living then I can post a message asking people whether they would be interested in a certain blog topic..
• The responses to questions like this can save us tons of time and money when it comes to  actually doing work!

2. Promotion.

• If your product is of value to your network of followers then it is a great place to post a link to it (eg “just posted my blog on more followers!”).
• If you are not adding value to your network they will quickly un-follow you. This can be good and bad. Good as it will define your network more if you are talking about stuff that is interesting/relevant to you and your business, but if you are wasting time or spamming then you just have a smaller following..

3. Networking (dating) – yes, actually meeting new people!

• But seriously you can meet actual people who can help build your business in the future, maybe your next designer, consultant, wife etc..

4. The opportunities for information mining applications is awesome, but it’s early days for that.

For more information on building a useful twitter following check out my following post.

See you on twitter.

-teeskie