Twitter: Can’t Go a Week Without It
Some people are really sick and tired of hearing about Twitter, and it’s true… Twitter has become the new fad for online enthusiasts, marketers and non-marketers alike.
But if you’re a marketer, have you thought about this?
It’s like having a sub-list. I mean, you can’t email these people, but you can tweet your followers anytime you want. So, if you’re like me, you write a blog post and BOOM! goes directly to Twitter. That way, I’m connecting with my followers on a bigger scale than a mere 140 characters, right? When people like my post, they sign up for my list or at least, subscribe to my feed. But you can’t just send blog posts. You need to interact.
That’s not to say that you should post marketing stuff to Twitter. That’s out, pretty much. I mean, if you tweet every day, folks might be OK with you dropping an AWeber message into Twitter every now and then, especially if you’re giving something away. But direct marketing is out, frowned upon, and if you do it very much, you’ll lose tons of followers. So, you’ll be defeating your own purpose.
Twitter is more like a guerrilla marketing tactic.
But then, making friends with people is the key to all marketing isn’t it? Who trusts you more than a friend?
If you want to get more friends on Twitter, be sure to participate in a quasi-nouveau tradition called #followfriday. The # tag will allows folks to go to TwitterSearch and find all the tweets that have #followfriday. Tags can be created for any purpose.
So, pick a few cool people from your list and tweet away, like this:
#followfriday @BrianEdmondson @tellman @kylebattis @michaelpurvis
And so on up to 140 characters. People on your list see that you like the folks in the #followfriday tweet and if they like you, they’ll check out your pals, too, and probably follow them, as well. It’s fun and very cool. And if you’re consistent with your #followfriday’s, you’ll be in lists that other folks send out, too.
Only one caveat about #followfriday… Only do it on Fridays. Otherwise, you have to find another # like #woofwednesday or something else. 
Come follow me at http://Twitter.com/PatMarcello and let’s get acquainted. Put #OVBlogger into your post and let’s see how many people we can get in that #!
victor rodriguez
March 28th, 2009 at 5:59 am #
I do not currently have a twitter account, but with all the buzz I have heard, and as a blogger myself, I will be checking out the twitter world.
Marcelle
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:49 am #
I have recently joined Twitter to send links to my blog articles. I found it a good way to advertise your blog but now I have some doubts if people actually see articles or just follow you so you do the same. I think it may become too much into marketing. I didn’t know about the #followfriday, thanks a lot for the information. Keep up the good work.
Pat Marcello
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:18 pm #
Not everyone that follows you will read every Tweet. But many of them will… more than if you didn’t do it, right? And think about having an army of tens of thousands of followers, like Carrie Wilkerson, for example. She’s built her business almost exclusively on Twitter (and guess who told her to join?).
– Pat