Essential Twitter Marketing Rules

Establish Your Twitter Presence Now, Then Follow Aaron’s Rules.

Article Synopsis, Review and Recommendations: 7 Essential Marketing Rules for Twitter by Aaron Zitzer
Aaron Zitzer points out on “Twitter you can engage with almost anyone” and cites Twitter as a compelling tool for business. I agree. However, the painstaking, overly cautious set of rules Aaron gives, might cause some business owners to dismiss Twitter as something they neither have the time, nor resources to utilize. I highly recommend each of Aaron’s rules. However, time is of the essence in establishing a Twitter presence, especially for branding. There may be another business using your name, and there is also the common practice of hijacking brand names.(Some enterprising individuals take great pleasure in sending false tweets from business brand names, or will simply set up a brand name on Twitter, then demand payment to hand over the reins.) While Aaron correctly points out the wrong approach can a create a PR nightmare for a business, being overly cautious can also back fire, or be a waste of time and resources, 
 I recommend the following three rules in order of importance.

1. Look Alive- Having a complete profile helps people find you. (See Aaron’s point 4 below.)
   
2. Feed your Twitter-  Put out an initial message (Tweet), Don’t be a stalker, or peeping Tom.. Twitter accounts following a ton of people, but sitting mum are suspect. A good initial Tweet is a question that conveys a bit about your branding. Then, use a variety of online tools to feed your other online activity to your Twitter account. A blog feed would be my top priority, as it draws people to your site through links to your articles, and helps define your voice.
   
3. Grow Your Flock. – (See Aaron’s point 5) Tweets issued without Followers, can be a waste of time and resources, as few people hear what you are saying.

After completing this checklist, then use Aaron’s rules. They are extremely helpful and important.
I look forward to reading the FREE expanded version of Aaron’s article, complete with active links referred to in the author’s bio at the end of the article.
Aaron Zitzer’s 7 Essential Marketing Rules for Twitter (Condensed from HERE)

1. Plan : What do you want to accomplish? What are your goals, and how will you know that you’re successful or going the right direction? Spewing sales pitches can backfire, and create a PR nightmare for a business. Marketing is about: understanding market needs, analyzing competition, identifying the positioning ‘sweet spot’, building awareness and credibility, developing and supporting a community of loyal customers and more.
   
2. Listen: What are the hot topics, most popular links from tweets, or most popular users? Which tweets get re-tweeted most? What are your industry users or target audience tweeting about?
   
3. Find Your Voice Make sure your voice is appropriate for your objectives. Document the characteristics of your chosen voice, and why they are important – this is especially useful if you will have more than one person tweeting for your organization or if you plan to hire ghost writers.
   
4. Look Alive: Create a rich profile page, with a  profile photo.Complete the profile information, and include a URL – consider a specific landing page on your website.Use a good quality, properly formatted photo if you can. Promote your Twitter account on your website, in email signatures, direct mail pieces, business cards, etc. Tweeting regularly? Display your Tweets on your website or blog.
   
5. Grow Your Flock: Ask your existing customers and partners to follow you.  Follow companies and individuals within your industry and/or region. Some will follow you in return. Follow users with certain characteristics, for example people who follow others, will often follow you back. can actually help you attract followers. Converse with others.  “Follow many but don’t auto-follow everyone” is probably the best approach.
   
6. Engage Genuinely Use search.twitter.com or another Twitter search method to see who is talking about you, your brand or a keyword related to your industry.Then, engage when you have something informative to say.( Tip: Search “to:yourname”  to find any tweets including your user name.)

6a Optimize your Twitter time and avoid potential Twitter landmines:

• Increase efficiency using tools such as Tweetdeck and Twhirl
  
• Understand and use direct messages (DM) (private), replies (public) and re-tweets (RT) correctly.
  
• You don’t have to read every tweet or reply to every DM, but don’t ignore them all either.
  
• Increase the amount you can say by using URL shortening tools like TinyURL, tr.im and others.
  
• Build your place in the community, by replying to others’ tweets, and re-tweeting others’ posts.

7. Track Your Results Decide which Key Performance Indicators will show you are accomplishing your goals. Your KPIs will help you figure out what tools you need.

Example

Goal: Get visitors to your website purchasing a product, Web analytics tools from Yahoo, Google and others can compare how many purchasers on your site are coming  from Twitter,  Track your KPIs on a regular basis, and use them to make adjustments to your strategy as needed.
Conclusion:
Twitter is changing the way people communicate, and search for information. Twitter can be used for fast, effective,inexpensive research; customer support; public relations; lead generation and more – but your efforts will almost certainly backfire if you don’t follow the explicit and unspoken policies in this vibrant, rapidly growing community.
Whether you are self-employed, a small business owner, a multi-national corporation or a government agency – a high-tech company, a manufacturer or a coffee shop, Twitter provides huge opportunities and risks.
Zitzer A. 2011,January, 26. 7 Essential Marketing Tools for Twitter. January 26 2011, from learnaboutus.com