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Step 1
The benefits go beyond marketing online. You can also learn from the top social media marketers on the web by following them. You don't have to wait for anyone to add you as a friend. You can just start following anyone you want and learning from their tweets, which will help you keep your social networking strategy on the cutting edge.
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Step 2
Join Twitter, the most widely used microblogging site. It's an easy addition to your social networking strategy and is likely to have a large payoff. Upload a photo or image that represents you or your business and fill out at least a little profile information so that people can get a sense of who you are and will want to follow you.
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Step 3
Do a search for keywords that relate to your business and start following people in your niche. Hopefully they will follow you back.
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Step 4
Follow anyone back who follows you. If you don't follow them back, you won't receive their tweets, which may be feedback on your business or requests for assistance. It is also good for public relations, since some people will be offended if they follow you and you don't follow them back.
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Step 5
Make frequent but non-spammy updates to keep people interested. Be honest about the fact that you are marketing online. Users won't be offended by that as long as it's not spammy, but they will be turned off by dishonesty about your business interests. Send tweets about what you're reading and other sites you like. Also tweet things about yourself from time to time. People like to know who they're doing business with.
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Step 6
Tweet out requests for user-generated content, such as answers to other users' questions, opinions or reviews. This will both drive traffic to your web site and add content to it, both of which will improve your site's ranking with the search engines.
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Step 7
Add "Please RT" to your most important tweets to encourage your followers to retweet your messages. This will allow your tweets to reach a larger audience.
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Step 8
Avoid overrepresenting yourself, no matter how interesting or useful your tweets may be. A little bit of well-placed marketing online can go a long way, so err on the side of caution when planning your social networking strategy.
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Step 9
Do frequent searches (at least several times a day) on your company name, and respond immediately to any negative comments or complaints you find. Also respond immediately to any press, good or bad, your company gets.
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Step 10
Put a link to your Twitter account on your web site's contact page, and invite users to send you tweets instead of emails. This will give you more material for your tweets, and chances are that if one person has a problem or question, many other customers or potential customers will be interested in the answer as well.
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Step 11
Follow the people on Twitter who are knowledgeable about web 2.0 technology. Look for social media marketers and other well-connected users, like mashable, Richard Rosenblatt and Tim O'Reilly. Also look at people from other fields who have been successful online, such as Lance Armstrong, to see what they're doing. You can see what they're reading, who they're talking to, what they're talking about, and which conferences they're attending. This will help you keep your use of web 2.0 technology on the leading edge.
Comments
sonni57 said
on 3/31/2009 Using Twitter as a Networking strategy sounds like a good business move.
ethoslogos said
on 3/22/2009 Great tips on using Twitter in your social networking strategy. Savvy businesses will benefit from following your advice. 5*