Advanced Twitter marketing strategies all revolve around getting more targeted visitors to Internet marketing websites and affiliate links. While search engines are still probably the most powerful way to drive traffic, that only holds true for those people who achieve a first-page listing in Google, Yahoo or Bing – for the rest, response is limited or non-existent.
Over the last two years the social networking sites, collectively referred to as the Web 2.0 sites, have been gaining massive audiences and are now amongst the biggest portals online – and that mass audience has created tremendous opportunities for online marketers to grab a lot of free exposure for their sites, blogs, salespages and affiliate links.
Of these Web 2.0 sites, Twitter is rapidly approaching critical mass, sweeping it’s ‘competition’ aside in it’s wake. Both the instant gratification from your messages being seen instantly and the ego boost provided by garnering a large number of followers makes the site emotionally addicting to it’s users, who are spending more and more time there each day. People from every walk of life participate on Twitter, from kids discussing the latest hot boy bands to major offline news departments using the service to get instant feedback from their TV viewers. Where else can you get a message to Lance Armstrong, Demi Moore, Shaq O’Neill and MC Hammer within seconds? And often hear back just as quickly, for that matter?
This is a huge opportunity for work-at-home businesses and online marketers to develop a following and establish a reputation in whichever niche they operate in, and in fact in as many niches as they choose to target. With millions upon millions of users, Twitter can provide a mass audience geared toward any niche, activity or endeavor. So how do you use the service as a major source of targeted traffic? Here are some advanced Twitter Marketing tips to follow…
Start with a Twitter search for your primary keyword. This will being up a (probably long) list of messages, called Tweets, that people have sent using that keyword. Read through them, and choose to follow as many of these people as appear to be in your target market. Repeat the search now with your other keywords, again following the users whose tweets appear to indicate an interest in the solutions you provide. Don’t just follow everybody – you don’t want to be trying to build relationships with those not interested in your business activities. Use your discretion to keep the group tightly focused – you’ll pick up a lot of the secondary people to follow through your interactions in the normal use of the site as time goes on.
As you follow people, a number of them will follow you back. Start sending your own messages, or tweets, but be intelligent about it. You want to act the same way on Twitter as you would in an offline business – be polite, be friendly, engage in conversations, but keep it professional. You wouldn’t discuss subjects like religion or politics with customers in your retail outlet, so heed the same advice on Twitter – why risk turning off people who could be valuable long-term customers with a discussion or viewpoint not relevant to your business?
Watch for people you follow asking questions you can answer, asking for information your sites can provide, or looking for the solutions your products or services provide. Also, in each session you spend on Twitter, remember to send out an invitation to visit your latest blog posting, announce your newest or best-selling product, and/or post an informative tweet that includes your affiliate link. Most people have no objection to you pointing them towards helpful resources in the areas they have an interest, and your Twitter followers are no different.
These tips will get your targeted traffic flowing in from Twitter, and in Part Two you’ll get more targeted traffic tips to use on Twitter from Doug Champigny, creator of the Advanced Twitter Marketing System.
Technorati Tags: building traffic, targeted traffic, traffic from Twitter, advanced twitter marketing, marketing on twitter
