Monday, August 31, 2009

Using twitter for your business

Twitter is a social media site. The idea behind social media is to develop relationships with others, so that trust is built. Using a social media approach to marketing steers away from "in your face" advertising and relies upon revealing your business, as you would to a friend, by interacting and exchanging ideas and information.

There is a protocol on Twitter and you can learn a lot by joining, laying back and watching, and then gradually starting conversations. You can pick out who you wish to "follow" so that you can learn more about the person and his/her business. There are plenty of links, videos, and podcasts to visit (posted by members) which will give you even more info.

Read others posts and blogs to see how they interact with other members. Watch how they present their ideas and events and build interest in their particular businesses. This is really a slow process. It does not happen overnight, but it can have a big payoff.

This social media craze is all new to me. I have a business and I have to do my own marketing, but I am not an expert. My expertize is as a writer and an innkeeper (one-woman operation). It’s a small operation, so I can’t afford to pay for marketing. I rely on research, reading, and the internet for ideas.

I joined Twitter, a popular social media site, a couple of months ago when I began building my blogs. I frequently multi-task and, since I was also interested in learning about social media, I figured I would do/learn everything at the same time. I love learning new stuff!

I have asked many questions on Twitter, to which I never got an answer. Occasionally someone will respond. However, where I feel I get the most value out of it is by reading other chats and comments by other members, some of whom are experts in marketing and social media and other related fields. I’ve gone to the links they suggest, to their blogs and to their sites. I think focusing on utilizing the tremendous amount of info that is put out on Twitter and not on whether or not one get’s a response reaps the most benefits. Check out the following videos about twitter:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6961929