The key to Twitter success is relationship building. The goal of any Twitter marketer should to be attract as many followers as possible, then build a relationship of interest and trust with their followers. Making sales comes only after a solid relationship is built.

Why Overly Commercial Tweeters Never Succeed

Have you ever noticed someone who’s just selling, selling, selling with a ton of followers? No – Because the people who have a real cloud in the Twittersphere are people who add value, not people who try to take value.

Twitter isn’t about trying to sell to people. It’s about the conversation. It’s about relationships. It’s about community. The sales will come through having a solid relationship and community, but jumping ahead of the gun will often kill your chances of success.

What Should You Post?

How and what you post on your Twitter really depends on your voice.

For example, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey will tweet about anything from what he’s eating for breakfast to the latest developments in Twitter.

On the other hand, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange only tweets factual updates to what’s going on with WikiLeaks.

Is one the “right answer” more than the other? No – It really depends on what your personality is, who your audience is and what kind of voice they expect from you.

If you manage a hedge fund, you probably shouldn’t be tweeting about your breakfast. On the other hand, if you manage a basketball team, tweeting about the latest fun thing that happened to you may be what your audience really wants in order to build a connection with you.

Find your voice. Find what your audience wants to hear. Then, be consistent with that voice.

Facilitate Conversations

Ask provoking questions. Ask for responses. Tweet about current issues and start a conversation.

Start building a community. Don’t just have a “top-down” tweeting approach, where it’s only you tweeting out to your followers.

The more you can have people participate, interact with you and one another and build a community over time, the more followers you will get and the more clout you’ll have with your followers.

Twitter isn’t a short-term success strategy. It’s a long-term strategy that helps you stay in ongoing communication with your user base, more often than email or blog posting allows. You can’t email someone three times a day without burning out your list. But you can absolutely tweet three times a day.

Use Twitter to build and strengthen your connection with your user base. When the time finally comes to ask for a sale, they’ll know you, like you, and trust you that much more. That in turn will be reflected directly on your bottom line.

How to Build a Large and High-Quality Follower Base on Twitter

Twitter can be a fantastic business-building tool. However, it can also be a waste of your time. Sometimes your followers aren’t your prospects. Other times it can be difficult to grow a large follower base. Not to worry – there are smart ways you can build a large and high-quality follower base on Twitter.

Step One: Connect with industry leaders

One of the best ways to connect with a high-quality follower base is to go right to the source. Who are the industry leaders? Who are the respected gurus in your niche? These are the people to connect with on Twitter. They have a devoted following of people who are in your same industry.

For example, if you’re in the pet training business then you may want to connect with Caesar Millan on Twitter. Chances are most of his followers would also be interested in your products or services.

Connecting with industry leaders can be tough. Most business owners know that it’s important to only follow those people who you can legitimately call friends or associates. If you’re following thousands of people, it can be difficult to connect. Go ahead and follow your industry leaders. you should Respond to their posts with intelligent and relevant comments. You may motivate them to follow you.

Step Two: Speaking of intelligent and relevant comments…

One of the best ways to build a large and high-quality follower base is to provide valuable information. you should Dedicate yourself to offer valuable content on a daily basis. Some of this content can be links to your own website or blog. However, some of it should be value for the sake of value.

When you consistently offer benefits to Twitter members, they’ll begin following you so they have access to all of your posts and information. Create a plan to offer regular installments of valuable information.

Step Three: Become an active participant

Too many business owners simply publish links and promotions. They don’t interact. That’s actually a great way to build a lousy following. If you want to build a large and dedicated following of prospects and customers, then interact with them.

Participate in conversations related to your industry. Offer assistance, advice, and information. Twitter is a social networking site – emphasize the social. Create a plan to participate on a daily basis with your fellow Tweeters. The more you interact, the bigger and better your following will be.

Building a large and high-quality following on Twitter isn’t difficult. However, it does take time, energy, dedication, and a strategic plan. Take advantage of all Twitter has to offer. Grow your following and grow your business.

How to Connect Your Twitter Account to Facebook

If you’re like many business owners you have both a Facebook and a Twitter account. It makes good sense because both can be a powerful marketing and business growth tools. However, if you’re also like many business owners, your time is precious. You’re always on the lookout for ways to make your life and your actions more efficient and effective. Good news on the social media front, you can connect your Twitter and Facebook accounts so one post to either, takes care of both.

Here’s how to connect your Twitter Account to Facebook.

Facebook Application

Simply visit http://www.facebook.com/twitter/ and connect your Facebook accounts to your Twitter profile. All you have to do is enter your Twitter username and password and click “Allow”. They make the connection. Now when you post on your Facebook page, it’ll show up on Twitter. If you don’t want every single post on Facebook to head over to Twitter, you can use an application like the Selective Twitter Status application or  TweetSync which only posts #hashtag posts or keyword posts based on your predetermined criteria.

Twitter Clients

The other option to share posts between Twitter and Facebook is to use a Twitter client/dashboard application like Tweetdeck or Social Too. These services often give you the option of sharing posts simply by checking a box in your settings.

The Third Option

Which you can of course combine with the previous two options, is to use Ping.fm, http://ping.fm/. This service is free and it updates everything all at once. This includes Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Buzz, Bebo, and a ton more. In fact, they say if you don’t see your network to let them know and they’ll get their developers on it to add it.

To use ping, visit the link above and register. Then click on Twitter. You’ll receive a screen that says something like, “Link Ping.fm to Twitter”. You’ll allow the connection and then be redirected back to Ping to add more accounts.

You can then use HootSuite to post your “Tweets” which will then be sent to your other social networking sites. You can also link your Facebook pages with Ping.fm.

When you’re looking to connect your Twitter posts to Facebook, there are actually a number of options. The most straightforward and simplest is to utilize TweetDeck. Sign up, link your account to your social media profiles and you’re ready to go. It’s easy and it saves a ton of time.

Make Money With Twitter

Twitter is a phenomenon. It seems almost everyone has a Twitter account. From singles to celebrities, Twitter reaches millions around the world every day. Twitter boasts:

* 105,779,710 registered users

* 600 million searches per day

* 300,000 new users per day

* 180 million unique visitors per month

 

This presents an opportunity to profit. Here are few ways of making money using Twitter.

Affiliate Marketing

You can become an affiliate marketer for an industry, product, or service you’re passionate about. You can post messages, promotions, and links to the websites of companies you are affiliated with. Each product or service you sell will be given a commission amount. You’ll embed the link into your post using something like TinyURL. If you have a large following on Twitter, your affiliate marketing efforts can turn into a nice profit.

Advertising Profits

If you have a large following on Twitter you can advertise for others. You can sign up to represent specific advertisers or create an agreement with a company to publish their ads in your Twitter profile. This can work much like affiliate marketing, or you may receive a blanket payment per advertisement you publish. Each direct advertiser has its own system or agreement.

This is an area that everyone can really look into. For instance, when one of your followers is asking for suggestions to choose a web host, you can always suggest to him the best one from your experience but at the same time use your affiliate link. This can earn you some quick cash.

Reviews

You can publish reviews for products or services. You’re paid for the review by the company. The review would be published on your website or blog. You would then link to the review from Twitter. This could also work well to make affiliate commissions. People would read your review, click on the link to the company, make a purchase and you earn a commission.

If you own your own business you can:

* Announce special promotions – send Twitter followers special promotion codes, discounts and coupons. This will motivate them to visit your site and make a purchase. You earn money!

* Grow your lead list with contests and giveaways.

* Instead of sending your Twitter followers to another website using your affiliate link, send them to your own sales page.

Twitter offers you a number of options to grow your bottom line. Whether you’re a business owner or not, you can make money and turn your time on Twitter into profits.