After getting my hands a little dirtier I've come to find that it is critical to have a plan for your twitter. From the start you want to identify and evaluate the pros and cons of having too many followers, too few of followers, who your followers are, and where they're located.
I would start by imagining a list of my 5 ideal twitter followers (5 is just a suggestion) that can benefit my business. Flesh out the details, look for common themes throughout them so you know what kind of characteristics to do searches for.
With an idea in your head of your ideal 5 and a list of characteristics you can sign up for use www.twellow.com which is like a searchable twitter directory where you can follow people you would like to follow you back.
Josh is right, putting together a concentrated list can be just as much work as building one anywhere else, but having this list can help because your tweet stream from people you follow will give you a less fettered view of relevant tweets.
If you look at Wendy Patton's twitter account you can tell she autofollows and has quite a staggering number of followers. However, if you look at her list of followers her list is made up of the most random twitterers you could think of. So she maybe able to rank higher on directories and look like an authority based on twitter accounts, but one thing you can be sure of is that she isn't using twitter for her real estate deals with such an account.
It's kind of a tricky deal. I find that if a significant portion of your marketing is geared online then twitter is a good supplement and can be great as some people have taken full blown advantage of it and that's where a lot of the hype comes from.
On the other hand if you don't have sites and an internet presence to point people to, then it loses its effectiveness.
So bottom line if you are formulating an online marketing campaign then it is certainly worth seeing if you can incorporate it into your strategy. One bit of advice though is that like craigslist, back page, and anything else social networking consistency is king and you should find a way to integrate it into your daily routine.
I have Twitter account for my business, and I get more traffic from it, I think it's a big help. Just always makes sure that your twitter is updated with many interesting stuff so that other users will keep coming back to you.
Wouldn't you need a somewhat large amount of people following you on twitter in order for it to be effective? Twitter is something I haven't explored as much but I'm sure there has to be some more creative ways to use it for marketing purposes.
Paul -
You nailed it. To build a large, focused list on Twitter is just as much work as building one anywhere else. That said, once you've got that list, it can certainly be effective.
I've yet to see more than a handful of people on Twitter whose list is that - focused. Most people just add as many people as possible, without care that they share a common interest. Building followers in the thousands, each of who share some interest is very challenging -- I can say from personal experience, as I'm currently doing that with our @BiggerPockets account -- only following people in the real estate/investing field.
Good info. I have to look into Twitter a little bit more seriously. I have always resisted it as purely social network tool but it seems to have some business benefit.
Georges Franco
RevitaLending, LLC
Hard Money for Real Estate Investors
Rehab / Cash Out Refinancing / New Construction
(Lending Areas: DC - Virginia - Maryland)
After getting my hands a little dirtier I've come to find that it is critical to have a plan for your twitter. From the start you want to identify and evaluate the pros and cons of having too many followers, too few of followers, who your followers are, and where they're located.
I would start by imagining a list of my 5 ideal twitter followers (5 is just a suggestion) that can benefit my business. Flesh out the details, look for common themes throughout them so you know what kind of characteristics to do searches for.
With an idea in your head of your ideal 5 and a list of characteristics you can sign up for use www.twellow.com which is like a searchable twitter directory where you can follow people you would like to follow you back.
Josh is right, putting together a concentrated list can be just as much work as building one anywhere else, but having this list can help because your tweet stream from people you follow will give you a less fettered view of relevant tweets.
If you look at Wendy Patton's twitter account you can tell she autofollows and has quite a staggering number of followers. However, if you look at her list of followers her list is made up of the most random twitterers you could think of. So she maybe able to rank higher on directories and look like an authority based on twitter accounts, but one thing you can be sure of is that she isn't using twitter for her real estate deals with such an account.