Twitter Marketing: Insider Tip

April 9, 2009

Chances are that you’ve heard about the potential of using Twitter to develop your brand. It works wonders if you use it correctly. You can also find clients using Twitter. The trick (if you really want to call it that) is to find people in their moment of need.

Twitter is, by it’s nature, instantaneous. When you send out a tweet, any views that it gets start out immediately and quickly fades. After several minutes to an hour, few will see your tweet. Plus, the whole idea of Twitter is to post what you’re doing or thinking RIGHT THEN.

When it comes to marketing, everything is contingent on placing the right offer (or message) to the right audience at the right time. That audience needs to have a NEED.

As a user of Twitter, you can couple these together. You find people posting in their time of need and you reply to them almost instantly. People want quick solutions. If you are the first to provide an answer or solution, they will almost definitely check you out. Why? Because you provided them a solution right in their time of need. When it comes to marketing, it doesn’t get any more targeted than that.

So, how do you do this? Using Twitter Search.

Run searches for your market keywords. To try to filter out messages that are irrelevant and don’t mean the person has a need, use some phrases that people would say when looking for a solution. For example, I have a search running using the keywords:

“anybody know blog”

Why does this work? Because if people are looking for something, they might start with “Does anybody know…….?”.

Similarly, you could run searches for “anyone know” or “how do I”. Again, they’re looking for answers.

The way I do this is to set up a search column in TweetDeck. I see the searches come in real-time. I can reply to them immediately (if I feel like it, of course).

If they are asking these questions of your market, then that makes them part of your target audience. Follow them. They just might follow you back – especially since you were being so helpful.

A word of caution: DON’T do this to just tweet them your sales offer. Even if it is relevant. Remember, Twitter is about being social. So, just go out and be helpful. If you are consistent with that, they’ll come to think of you as a go-to person for that market and you can make money from them eventually.

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  • First to market, lion's share. I like the tip here, too -- it's all about figuring out how to make a site or system work for you, and then reaping the benefits (if you so desire) when they come to you.
  • Great thoughts. As a new part-time blogger, I haven't even considered Twitter yet simply because I didn't see the leverage in it. A good strategy is just what I need to make twittering worth my time. thanks.
  • I think Twitter is going to be the next big breakout area, at least for those looking to make a quick buck, we've seen so many social and semi social sites have tools created only to see them become ineffective in a short period of time. I would expect Twitter to follow this same pattern, that doesn't mean it doesn't have marketing value if done correctly but you just know it's going to be abused.
  • That's a good tip. I have multiple searches open on TweetDeck and they are a great source of information too.
  • this is a geat post. I use twitter for myself as well as for other businesses that I help with their marketing needs. If you as a business are there to answer questions at the moment the consumer needs it you have an advantage... they are willing to hear what you are going to say and not block you as another advertiser. BUT if at this time you start talking like a robot selling a sales pitch the consumer will catch that and just ignore you. Twitter is to network with people, if you sometimes offer a free tip or answering a question, the next time you announce your discount or blog post they will listen because they see you as an approachable person and not just a business. They WILL come to you.
  • Twitter search is one of the most underestimated tools online...by my estimation. It's awesome!
  • One statement thats twitter worthy is " The Key to Twitter is to Converse, not Commerce"
  • Finally... someone who gets it!

    I've read tons of information about how to market with twitter, and most blogs/books/courses talk about getting a mass following to be successful using Twitter. They're wrong.

    Using twitter search (I use seesmic desktop for it), you can stay on top of the conversation in real-time... and make a lot more valuable contacts and thus, more business. And the best part is that this works even if you don't have thousands of followers in your list.

    One final tip I'd like to add is that marketers should spend at least 10-15 minutes learning how to work the "Twitter search operators". When I did that, my searches became much more refined and targeted... it makes a world of difference! =)

    Cheers!
    Miguel Alvarez
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