Twitter twitter twitter… Some folks hate it; some are addicted to it. Some wonder how much sense it makes to even use it.
Hopefully, this article can help to put the website in proper perspective for Internet marketers.
For its 140-character limit per post, twittering is also called micro-blogging. Apart from this limit and the inability to add pictures, it is very much an open platform. The challenge is what content to add to create the biggest possible impact within the limits. Since you can’t say everything like in a typical blog post, it doesn’t mean you chop up a blog post into several Twitter entries. That’s…irrelevant.
I think first of all, you got to have a big picture of what insights you want to drive into the minds of your readers or followers. Writing entries like “I just woke up and brush my teeth” or “I’m getting ready my new PDF report by next Friday” doesn’t mean anything until they figure in a larger picture. For this picture to materialize, the twitterer must have 2 consistencies:
1) The frequency of twittering.
2) The focus of the messages.
But let’s start with defining the big picture. If the picture is “The lifestyle of a millionaire Internet marketer”, then the entry “I woke up and brush my teeth at 7.30 am” will be a very intriguing post to start with because everyone else would love to copy what a millionaire would do, right? Your frequent entries will give an overall insight into a general pattern or rhythm of all your actions so people can deduce for themselves what they should do.
Likewise, if you are in the midst of preparing a product launch, twittering is one very effective way to build up anticipation. Your series of entries provides a running commentary for an event and this gets your followers excited on their toes in real time.
Thus, I guess this is what Twitter is all about: to extrapolate and project eventful moments out of what could have been an ordinary life. The act of twittering is also not capable of falsehood because you have to get to the point within 140 characters plus the fact that you’ve to maintain consistencies. When you adopt a strong twittering discipline, you can establish a rock-solid presence that demands the attention of the faithful, and will not fade into the Twitosphere.
Other articles on Twitter:
1) 26 Reasons Why I Love Twitter
2) Your Guide To Micro-Blogging And Twitter
3) How To Use Twitter—Tips For Bloggers
4) How To Use Twitter To Generate Traffic
Political issues always come thick, fast and hot, so for your sampling I link you to JohnMcCain2008 which I happened to bump into. Search around for other Internet marketers’ Twitter pages and see what you can learn from them.
At the end of the day, I still know of at least one brand-name marketer who only posts affiliate links. ☺ If this is to your liking, I suggest you set up 2 accounts to separate your product recommendations from your real meaty/informative stuff.
Twitter is not the only micro-blogging platform around, though it has the lion’s share of the market. Also check out Jaiku, Pownce and Tumblr.
Things get really interesting from here. Programmers and webmasters are releasing plugins and strategies to cater for every possible crossposting needs: WordPress to Pownce, Pownce to WordPress, WordPress to Twitter, Twitter to Tumblr etc. Almost all crossposting instances go one-way so you have to search diligently for the right plugin that suits your preference. Here’s a great starting point: Post to Pownce, Twitter, Jaiku and Tumblr at The Same Time. Also read “How to crosspost from Twitter to Jaiku”.
Jaiku and Pownce currently pose a bit of a challenge. You can only access Jaiku with an invite code so I’m bidding my time right now. I found 2 plugins—WP2Pownce and Pownce Post—that crosspost from your WordPress blog to Pownce but I can’t get them to work. One possible ‘error’ lies with the PHP version your web host runs on. If you have better luck with Jaiku and Pownce, please leave me a message here and I’ll be glad to learn from you.
