Webupon

Twitter is the newest powerful communication tool of the Internet. Through simple messages of 140 characters or less, online citizens share interests, make friends and exchange ideas and links. With thousands of new Twitter members joining daily, there is a serious opportunity to reach the masses using this tool. Here are ten guidelines that will make you an effective marketer on Twitter.

1. Do not flood your channel with advertisement tweets. No one wants to see a sales pitch from the same advertiser every three minutes. This behavior will lose you many followers.
2. Mix it up. Even if you space your ads out by an hour or more, eventually your followers will pick up on the fact that you only tweet sales pitches. Fill the spaces between your ads with personal anecdotes, witty quotes or interesting non-commercial links.
3. Be personable. No one wants to keep in touch with “Generic Corporate Guy.” Many of the most admired corporate Twitterers are liked because they reveal their human side on Twitter, trading quips and tweeting about mundane parts of their day.
4. Be entertaining! As television advertisers have found, people are willing to listen to promotions if you will entertain them. Make your ad tweets quirky, intriguing or funny.
5. Make connections. Given a choice between doing business with a company that has no idea who they are or with a company that knows them on a first name basis, most people will choose the company that they feel connected to. When a follower asks questions about your product or visits your site, take the time to send a brief personal thank-you note.
6. Never send out automated Direct Messages (DMs)! Some marketers have set up automated responses that are triggered whenever a new person follows their account. Nothing says “I don”t care’ faster than a DM spam. If you use this you will instantly lose respect points with your new follower.
7. Seek out and follow people who share your interests. By using the Twitter keyword search, you can find your demographic and increase the chances that they will have an interest in your product. For example, if you are selling fishing tackle online, try searching for tweets that contain the word “fishing.”
8. Make all connections two-way. When a fellow member does you the honor of following you, be sure to follow them back. Keep in mind that others have something to say as well. Twitter is very much about mutual friendship and assistance.
9. Retweet and recommend others! When you take a moment to promote another person, it shows that you are unselfish and a good Twitter citizen. Retweeting also builds goodwill with the person that you have promoted.
10. Seek valuable followers. If you have 100,000 followers and 95,000 of them are spam-bots or fake accounts, you are not accomplishing your goal. Quality is more important than quantity here. Learn to identify and encourage the true followers on your list.