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Is Twitter Worth My Time?

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twitter-birdTwitter has been going from strength to strength in the past few months.

Millions of people are registered and tweeting every day, and the traffic of information is huge. Twitter’s recent developments such as keyword tweets and location-based posts are increasing its appeal in social networking.

Does it have any potential from a business point of view? Is Twitter a worthy part of your blogging kit?

One definite plus in Twitter’s favor is the mass interest it can generate in what you have to say.

Twitter enables commenting on a post, on a potentially massive scale.

The people that follow you can see everything you tweet, and if they like it can pass the tweet, or just the subject, on to their followers. Their followers pass it on, and viral marketing begins.

How else is it possible to get that kind of attention, for what you are trying to say?

Businesses are setting up Twitter accounts to sell their products and services, and as small business owners we can tap in to the Twitter phenomenon to support our marketing strategy.

I know of wine sellers, florists, restaurants and many, many more high street locations that use Twitter to create interest in what they have to offer.

It’s also a great platform for online businesses, and is available to everyone.

Where else online can the small business owner talk to the giants of their industry, or even the heads of the company?

It’s possible to talk to a range of people who know what you are trying to achieve and have an idea of what you are talking about, and get feedback.

A well-known writer, comedy performer and stalwart of the electric car industry, Robert Llewellyn, recently ran a session with many people from newspapers and television companies in the UK to demonstrate to them the value of Twitter.

While the demonstration was going on, he asked his Twitter followers to give him questions to ask the audience and also got those followers to answer any questions which people in the room had.

He was demonstrating to delegates that the information that was submitted was instantaneous, and illustrating just how much interest could be generated from a 140 characters.

So, how do you get the best out of it?

Like anything else you post, your Tweet has to be informative and interesting, and relate to your area of expertise.

Tweets have to be concise and punchy, as you have to articulate your status update within 140 characters.

What better way to get straight to the point, in the minimal time?

Your Tweets need to be constructive and attention-grabbing. You need to be professional about your work but interesting at the same time. This may sound like a tall order, but with practice it can be achieved.

Some of the biggest names in industry and the celebrity world use Twitter to promote both themselves and their businesses. Many writers use Twitter to promote their work and even sharpen up their writing skills at the same time.

Let people know you have posted a new page on your blog by attaching a link to it in your Tweet. You can attach web pages, photos, blogs or even videos to your Twitter posts, so it can be a great way of showing people what you are trying to do.

Try posting your latest podcast, so word can start spreading of your current projects.

Twitter can be one of a host of useful tools in your blogging portfolio. Used effectively, it can make all the difference to the traffic you get to your site.

You can follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/andrewrondeau

How do you use Twitter?

Please share your views in the comments below. Thanks.

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28 Responses to Is Twitter Worth My Time?

  1. Steve September 16, 2010 at 4:54 pm #

    Great post on the potential power of twitter. Being able to get to the point and be interesting in a very few words is a skill, but if people can master it twitter really can be a way to send out mini islands of content rather than simply JUST l;inks to your latest posts

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:37 pm #

      Steve,

      You are right and as I said to Ryan…it can be hard within the 140 chars.

      Perhaps newspaper / magazine headlines would help?

      Andrew

  2. Ryan Biddulph September 16, 2010 at 2:59 pm #

    Hi Andrew,

    I like your mention of concise and punchy tweets; that’s how I use twitter. Think “Impact” without being too forceful.

    Since twitter is the Wild West of social media shoot quick, fast and accurate tweets to let your voice be heard.

    Thanks for sharing your insight.

    Ryan Biddulph

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:36 pm #

      Ryan,

      I just find concise and punchy hard to do…sometimes. Makes you think!

      Andrew

  3. Jason September 17, 2010 at 1:21 am #

    Twitter has been very helpful to me in meeting new people with the same interests as me, it’s also a good channel to share things that I came across the web, well that’s what I mostly do at the moment, just to build up a “credible” reputation as a source of good readings 🙂

    with its future, I think they have lots of potentials, though not sure if people will really be up with the changes they are planning to implement. they are great the way they are now, too much change may as well change people’s hearts.

    Regards,
    Jason

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:38 pm #

      Jason,

      It will be fun to watch…where they take it. Some sort of premiun facilites spring to mind.

      Andrew

  4. Patricia September 17, 2010 at 2:57 am #

    I love Twitter and interact with heaps of other tweeters. When I retweet I now add a comment so the person knows I appreciate their post. I have received lots of helpful advice, great posts and followers just by being active on Twitter. Another great post that should convince those who are doubters of how positive it can be to tweet.
    Patricia Perth Australia

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:39 pm #

      Patricia,

      Being successful on-line really means you have to build relationships and that takes time…and Twitter is a great way to do that.

      Andrew

  5. Larry Rivera September 17, 2010 at 12:29 pm #

    Hi Andrew, great blog you have here. One of the cool things I like about Twitter is that you can quickly start influencing a lot of people quickly.

    Honestly I didn’t have much success using Twitter until after my following hit about 4000 people.

    Thanks for sharing.

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:40 pm #

      Thanks for the kind words, Larry and thanks for dropping by and commenting.

      Getting up to the thousands of followers is a must.

      Andrew

  6. Jasmine September 17, 2010 at 4:32 pm #

    I believe Twitter is good and worth the time. But problem is until now I have not got the time to sit down and open a Twitter account! Haha… gonna do it someday! soon…

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:43 pm #

      Jasmine,

      What is stopping you?

      Andrew

  7. Maria (WriterGig) September 17, 2010 at 7:41 pm #

    I’m curious who actually reads tweets? It seems so many go on just to blast out a few tweets and then they’re done.

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:44 pm #

      Maria

      The millions who are addicted to Twitter!

      Andrew

  8. Fred September 17, 2010 at 2:02 pm #

    I kie the way you can use Twitter to get visitors to your Facebook Fan pages. Since it can all be automated with a self-updating blog and a self-updating Twiiter account. I haven´t found another useful way of using Twiiter yet.

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:41 pm #

      Fred

      Automation does help but not fully automatic.

      Andrew

  9. Debbie September 17, 2010 at 3:26 pm #

    Yes, I like twitter. My only problem is every time I figure it out they change something about it and then I have to stop and figure things out again. I was having trouble figure out how to follow people that were following me. Today I figured out if you RT them then you can follow them. Maybe it is just me, is anyone else having problems?
    Debbie

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:43 pm #

      Debbie,

      Are they changing it that often?

      I know they change it and you just have to take a little while to come to terms with the new ways…but it is the same with many things.

      Andrew

      • Debbie September 19, 2010 at 4:48 pm #

        I am learning that. I don’t let it throw me like it use too. I just try to figure out the change and go with it. I look at this way it is keeping me on my toes. Changes is good, things don’t get boring that way. lol
        Debbie

  10. Stephanie Suesan Smith September 18, 2010 at 2:25 pm #

    I struggle with Twitter. I understand its’ value, and have gotten some good leads from it, but the noise to signal ratio is so high that it can be hard to pull the gems out of the muck. I am not a “chatter” by nature, so it is hard to “shoot the breeze” with people to build relationships. I would rather write an article. However, I am determined to learn it and Facebook because they are important.

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:46 pm #

      Hi Stephanie

      Great to see you here!

      You have a awesome blog that is going places!

      Perhaps just spend 15 mins a day on Twitter and Facebook and ‘talk’. Share some of the things you are doing.

      Andrew

  11. Dennis Edell September 18, 2010 at 4:23 pm #

    Until I get my own stuff built back up, I use twitter mostly for re-tweeting others. 🙂

    • Andrew September 19, 2010 at 2:47 pm #

      Dennis,

      And me…trying to get into more conversations, though.

      Andrew

  12. Henway September 22, 2010 at 10:37 pm #

    I use Twitter primarily to network with other people in my industry before I ask if I could guest blog post for them.. I find once you connect for a short while, and build trust they’ll let you write a guest post for their blog.

    I also use it for fun, social purposes as well. But I try not to waste a lot of time in it… I make sure I have conversations, and not just brag or make it all about me. Most people I notice just use Twitter for 1 way conversations w/o replying to others

    • Andrew September 25, 2010 at 4:19 pm #

      For me, the trick with Twitter is not to ‘waste’ too much time there!

      Andrew

  13. Alan Mater September 28, 2010 at 10:05 pm #

    Great insights, Andrew. I try not to “waste” time when on Twitter, but spend my time wisely and use it as efficiently as possible. I believe Twitter is a very valuable tool for any type of business, as you pointed out so well with your example of Robert Llewellyn. Making use of the tools and making it as easy as possible for people to share your content via Twitter can only enhance your results.

    • Andrew September 29, 2010 at 7:56 am #

      Alan,

      The knack is spending the time wisely. I often find myself wasting time and almost have to force myself to leave!

      Andrew

      • Alan Mater September 29, 2010 at 2:36 pm #

        LOL… I can see how easy it can be to get so wrapped up in it. I don’t spend more than 5 minutes a day on Twitter, if that. 😉

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