5 Steps to Getting Started With Twitter

To open the links contained in this post in a new window or tab, right click on the link with your mouse and choose either " Open Link in New Tab" or "Open Link in New Window". Or you can just click the middle scroll button of your mouse to open the link in a new tab.


Well, I finally did it! I took the plunge and decided to see for myself what all the twitter was about Twitter.

And you know what?

I'm hooked!

Within just a few hours of opening my Twitter account, we had added 26 new readers to our newsletter. It's now been one week since I became a Twitteraholic and I've got 58 Twitter followers.

Ok, so that may not seem like a lot compared to someone like @scobeleizer who has over 25,000 followers, but that's 58 "contacts" that I didn't have before. And several of them are well-known marketers that I most likely would never have had the chance to connect with, had it not been for Twitter. (notice I said "marketers", not gurus)

Yes, you're going to read opinions and comments that Twitter is Stupid like those found at Court's Internet Marketing School, but that's because they either don't understand it, or, they're just repeating whatever their favorite "guru" says about it, which is most often the case with naysayers.

"Time is valuable, and twitter is a pure waste of it."

"many say that twitter make you connect better with your close friend..how come? it just a one way communication."

"I have been saying, since the inception to Twitter, that it is stupid. But now, not only is it stupid, but it can’t figure out how to make any money."

Of course not being able to let ignorance spread unchecked, I had to add my own 2 cents to the Twitter is Stupid post. Here it is.

"First I’d like to correct the assumption that Twitter is “just a one way communication”.

Not only can you post an immediate reply to someone’s “Tweet”, as Twitter messages are called, you can also send messages directly to the email box of those that are on your Follow (friends) list.

If you don’t want to receive “Tweets” from someone who only talks about what they had for dinner or what cute antics their cat is up to, Twitter enables you to block those people.

And for those that think Twitter can’t possibly be used as marketing tool, I suggest you go to http://www.tweetvolume.com/ and enter your keywords or phrases, it will then tell you how many times that keyword or keyword phrase has been used on Twitter. Not only can this be helpful in connecting with others in your niche market, it can also connect you with potential customers.

Example: I just typed the word “diet” into the TweetVolume keyword search box. The results showed that word as being used on Twitter 6860 times.

I then went to Google’s Twitter Search, entered the keyword diet, and recieved 10 pages of results that contain the Twitter usernames of those interested in diets. Now are you “getting it”?

Yes, Google has a search engine especially for Twitter. I guess they don’t think it’s as stupid as the majority of people who have posted comments here seem to think it is.

http://tinyurl.com/2eqxad

I must admit that when I first took a look at Twitter, I couldn’t see how it could possibly help me build my business, but I decided to give it a shot anyway. Within a few hours after opening my Twitter account, I had figured out how it works plus added 26 subscribers to my newsletter’s mailing list, strictly from Twitter.

As with any marketing tool you use to communicate, providing relevant participation is the key to making the best use of Twitter.

Sharon Bray-McPherson
@SharonMcP

Of course after being in internet marketing for 9 years I know that there are some people who will refuse to believe facts, even if the Pope himself were offering them, but if you're one of those open-minded marketers who will at least give something a chance before putting a pox on it, especially if it's FREE, the video below is for you.

It's the first episode of Twitter Marketing 101 from Miguel Alverez' Marketing Factor blog, which btw, happens to be the best looking blog I've seen online.

After you've viewed the video, be sure to leave a comment WITH a link to your Twitter Profile Page.

And oh yeah, if you know of a cool app, tool or service for Twitter, feel free to share it in my new FriendFeed room, Twitter Apps.

[iamsbm]
Sharon Bray-McPherson
Follow Me On Twitter

Jan Tallent & Sharon Bray-McPherson
JanRon Publishing Digital Products

You can include a link to your website in your comment and it WILL be followed.