Yes, there are definitely people on Twitter wasting their (and your) time. But there are also people looking for help and guidance. Some of those people are potential customers or clients for your business - maybe a whole lot of them. You can step in and be a hero to these people †to selflessly shine light on their problem. You could end up with a new customer, or maybe just a fan who will tell others about your generosity. As you use Twitter and begin following more and more people, it gets increasingly more difficult to actually know what's going on with them. Here are a few strategies for getting better control of the situation and putting yourself in position to provide real help and value to others. The first thing you need to do is use some logic in who you follow. Look for people who have the kind of situation that you deal with. Let's say, for instance, that you own a plumbing business in New York City. You could use Twitter to search for anyone in your geographic market who might have need for your services; this could include contractors, building maintenance workers, or office managers. Over time, you will get a feel for which ones might actually be good contacts and which ones either don't actively tweet or are just babblers. You want to end up with a group of people who can truly help you, and who you can truly help. It is highly likely you will lose many followers during this process. Most of the people you follow will follow you back. Likewise, many people will unfollow you when you stop following them. But it's better to focus your time on users who are relevant and helpful. Your account needs to be updated even if you are not at your computer, whether this is done with software or mobilly. You can use automation to make your posts for you. Use a program like Tweet Later to schedule posts in advance. You can look for such applications by logging into your Twitter account. Applying this concept to our hypothetical plumbing example above, our business man could program a batch of messages related to plumbing that would be scheduled on a spread out, recurring basis. New followers will see this guy posting all this useful information, even though he may not be doing a thing. If you see an opportunity to offer good advice to someone you follow, address that person directly in a tweet. There is nothing wrong with inserting yourself into a conversation. Also try not to sound like too much of a salesman. You want to provide help without expecting anything in return (even though in the back of your mind that is exactly what you expect). Does spending your time on Twitter provide a better investment than traditional marketing? It is difficult to say. Every situation is different, and every person is different. But the right approach combined with the right tools will increase your odds of making good use of Twitter as a marketing platform.
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