How Twitter Has Changed Over The Years And Why It Still Works

If you haven’t used Twitter for online marketing purposes, you may be missing out on some serious market share. With everyone so focused on Facebook, many people don’t realize that Twitter is not far behind the social giant in popularity and scope. If Facebook can gain your business more exposure and sales, Twitter can do the same, only it might do it better. Let’s take a look at Twitter, how the social platform has changed over the years and how to use it today to take your online marketing efforts to new heights.

What Is Twitter?

In case you don’t know, Twitter is considered a micro-blogging platform. You are only allowed 140 characters per post and links must be shortened with a link shortener, but you can ‘tweet’ as often as you want to get your message across. You can follow other Twitter users and other Twitter users can follow you. By accumulating a long list of targeted followers, that are hopefully comprised of your prospects and customers, you can keep those individuals informed, updated and on-the-hook in real time.

Every time you tweet something, that message shows up in your followers’ news feed. The more you tweet, the more likely your audience is to see your tweets. Don’t wait too long, however. The moment you tweet something, that message is likely to become buried in a sea of other tweets rather quickly. The Twitter feed is constantly flowing, but that’s also what’s so great about Twitter. You can also keep up-to-date with the latest happenings in your niche if you manage to follow the right people.

So you see how Twitter can be an invaluable marketing tool. You have the power to blast out a message to your followers any time you want to, and you can even direct message the followers you really have something to say to. If you want to find JV partners or affiliate marketers for your latest product, direct message via Twitter is a great way to go.

The Beginnings

When Twitter first came online, many people were confused as to how to use the blogging platform. Of course the marketing gurus saw its implications almost right away. As comedians began to use the platform to promote their shows, as actors used it to connect with their fans and as friends and family used it to connect and keep everyone informed, many forward thinking marketers knew they were sitting on a gold mine.

Since practically forever, marketers have been looking for a way to deliver short, timely messages to their audiences. Sure, there’s email marketing, but email marketing involves sending emails to someone’s inbox that might be filled up with dozens of other messages. And your message will only be received if the person likes your subject line enough to actually open your email.

With Twitter, a person would only need to glance at their screen or down at their phone to receive your latest Tweet, and that’s why Twitter marketing has worked so well over the years.

If you can manage to deliver timely, valuable tweets to your audience, you will get noticed. Then, make sure your profile is dressed up to receive those Twitter users who begin to notice you.

Dressing Up Your Twitter Profile

Your audience should be able to tell your Twitter profile from all others just by looking at it. Twitter gives you incredible versatility as far as profile customization is concerned. A custom background and photo will easily set you apart from competitors. You should also take care to optimize your profile for the search engines, since Twitter is indexed by Google and the others.

This is one aspect where Facebook can’t touch Twitter. With the ability to index your profile and relevant tweets, you should be able to see why Twitter belongs in your online marketer’s toolbox. When someone searches for your chosen keywords, you want every listing on that search user’s results page to be about you. If you optimize your Twitter profile, your profile and possibly some of your most important tweets will show up in the results along with your website, blog, Google Places page and anything else you have published online. This is one area where Facebook wishes it were on Google’s good side.

Back to your Twitter profile. When you entice people to visit your profile using your valuable tweets, you need to make sure your profile is just as enticing. Dress it up for your crowd. If they’re looking for answers to their latest problems, tell them where to go and let them know what they’ll find when they get there.

Once your profile is set up, you need to make sure you only send out valuable tweets that your audience will enjoy.

Twitter Today

The truth is, Twitter has not changed much since it first hit the web. People still use it for all sorts of reasons and membership continues to climb into the millions. The platform has begun to develop new programs for businesses. Business pages allow for special functionality and customization to help you reach your target base even more efficiently.

Is Twitter useful today? You bet it is. In fact, Twitter just announced that there will be several infrastructure changes which will result in faster tweets and reduced page loading times. This is the best time to get on Twitter, as the site seems to be improving every day.

Know The Lingo

Make sure, if you are going to market on Twitter, that you spend some time getting to know your audience on Twitter. You may find that they’re different than your audience on Facebook or some other social network. Use the handy Twitter search feature and find some conversations in your niche. Pay attention to the language your audience uses. Look for hash tags (#) that indicate Twitter trends. And pay special attention to the tweets that are re-tweeted. What is in those tweets that make those individuals feel compelled to spread that message around? Answer that question and you’ll do just fine as a Twitter marketer.

Twitter is here to stay and the platform will likely be around for some time. With the ability to instantly reach your audience in real-time at their computers or on their smartphones, it just makes sense to include Twitter in your Internet marketing portfolio.