Is Twitter Worth The Effort??

[Raul991]

I haven`t really tried twitter for marketing before, just would like to know some guidelines and success-stories to follow

[Adam Carn]

Twitter can be worth it. It's great for connecting with people and building relationships. This can be especially beneficial for your business and building a brand. Once you get followers try and engage with them often. I've found people on Twitter to be more active users than Facebook. They can easily be tweeted and respond quickly, many times instantly.

So get on Twitter and get the ball rolling.

Adam

[Andyhenry]

Don't bother.... Unless you have time to devote to building relationships on it, it'll cost you more in time and effort than you're likely to see returned.

If you have lots of time, then search the forum for twitter as we've discussed it before.

[Raul991]

So Twitter is worth it, but time-consuming business as i understand?!

[clever7]

Twitter will help you get known. You can post at least one link per day, without wasting your time. You can also set a few messages with links to your articles or products using tweet later or any similar service.

This is free traffic to your sites. I’m not talking about sales, though. If you want to sell using Twitter, then you have to spend time there, look for people that really care about your products, etc. I use it only in order to promote my business, without staying too much there.

Why shouldn’t you take advantage of this free traffic method? Posting one or two links per day won’t keep you so busy, and you may get some traffic, besides exposure.

[mlevenhagen]

I've picked up a few JVs..

Subscribers..

Converted business and members.. giving heads up to promos I'm doing or just talking about my biz has turned followers into customers/members.

Bit of customer service takes place from time to time.. another place people find me; or know they can reach me.

Learned a bunch.. follow people in your niche and interests and you'll share great stuff. And in some of my niches I use it to watch for topics to blog about etc. (my IM account isn't my only..)

Drive traffic to articles, blog posts and offers..

Made some good friends; strengthened friendships.. reconnected with people I had lost touch with.

That's over a year tweeting.. not all in one week though.

[mpruben]

There are a lot of ebooks going around that promise you thousands of dollars from Twitter marketing. In a nutshell, they tell you to follow thousands and hope that some follow you back. You then spam them with constant marketing messages about how they can make money from Twitter marketing...

This type of marketing is a complete waste of time and has made Twitter a real pain to use.

As other have said it's great for keeping in contact with a select group of people, a bit like a mini mailing list.

[Raul991]

So it is wise to choose closely who you follow and build relationships...

[Andyhenry]

Ignore those ebooks telling you you'll make thousands.

Twitter is a good way to build relationships and increase your brand awareness - if you have a brand.

There are a lot of spammers on Twitter and if you don't build your list manually, you'll end up struggling to communicate with real people.

If you're just starting out - either plan to be interactive or don't bother.

You could spam the hell out of it using completely automated tools and maybe you'd make a sale eventually, but it's value is not in using it that way.

Like Matt, I've had a lot of benefits and made a bunch of money and got friends and business partners from using Twitter - but none of that was automated, so I can't in good conscience advise you to start with automation.

By all means use a little automation to make sure your best information gets proper coverage, but just be prepared to actually spend some time on Twitter interacting with people if you expect to make any money.

Andy

[Raul991]

Well appreciated information!!!

[Jillian Slack]

It can take less than a minute to post something to Twitter.

Add a little more time if you post a photo with it.

If you use it for spamming your followers, you'll probably just piss everyone off and defeat the whole purpose.

But if you plan it well, it can certainly help build those relationships.

Just like with article marketing and blogging (providing quality content), you should provide quality content in your tweets.

Sure, you only have 140 characters for that quality content, but it can be done.

[wkathome]

I saw a posting earlier on another blog about social networking, including twitter. They suggested the 80/20 rule be used. Only mention your business 20 percent of the time, the other 80%, just be social. Post about your day and what's happening in your life.
The consensus was, if you keep hammering your followers with ad after ad, they will unfriend you in a heart beat.

[Dana_W]

I get most of my press release writing clients from Twitter, but it does take time to build up a targeted following, and you need to go online and interact there for a few minutes, several times a day.

I personally have found the returns on my time enormously rewarding. I haven't tried to sell many products on Twitter though, and I think it would be even harder to sell affiliate products.

Basically, Twitter is great for relationship building, promoting yourself, making connections with potential JV partners and others in your industry, and finding new clients.

I have not found it to be great for affiliate marketing or even selling my own products; I do okay there with my own products but I do much better with WSOs.

[HeyAdMan]

I am fairly new at online marketing so take what I have to say with a grain of salt if you take it at all.

The best use of Twitter so far that I have seen as it relates to marketing ... is to create an e-book, video, webinar etc on Twitter and sell it because it IS such a hot Buzz Word right now. And use Twitter to promote it ... LOL.

Actually it can be great to get your product, name, branding etc out there and I don't see it taking any more time than setting up autoresponder messages.

[bbfn2001]

Just started using twitter myself this week and already have 14 people following my threads.

[discrat]

Its a waste of time IMO !!

[AndyBlackSEO]

To be honest I haven't spent any time on Twitter. I have an account but would rather focus my time on developing my products and ideas and a building my list. There is only so much one can do in the crazy world of marketing.

I do know there is a new membership site being launched shortly called Twitter Gone Mad. It's going to be run by a fellow warrior. I know that he has quite a lot of Twitter knowledge and thousands of followers and is offering one on one coaching. That might be worth a look. Apart from that I know very little about Twitter. I guess it works for some and doesn't for others.

[bhopkins]

It depends on what you are using it for. Its a good tool to build relationships, but you have to use one fo the tools to send out your tweets for you and then send them out cosntantly. If you createa bunch of tweets and then schedule them then it can help when you want to promote.

Of course you can't promote with every tweet you make or you will only get followers that are also trying to promote something ever tweet.

[mlevenhagen]

Originally Posted by discrat

Its a waste of time IMO !!

Did you want to expand on that? lol... Why do you think it's a waste of time? What have you done with it?

[Kelvin Nikkel]

Interesting thread!

Thanks for the plug Andy!
As Andy mentioned above, Twitter Gone Mad will be launching in 8 days!

After reading all of this thread, I will have to say that I agree with most of you. But not all.

Those of you who say it is a waste of time, I tend to disagree.
Those of you who say you can't make money with Twitter, I tend to disagree.
Those of you who say it's no good for affiliate marketing, I tend to disagree.

I have been working closely with Twitter for the past six months, and have developed a method for generating in excess of 1000 laser targeted followers within a week, sold my own products, sold affiliate products, and developed many a relationship with my followers, and all this within 20 to 40 minutes per day MAX.

So if you're interested in finding out how I do it, drop me a PM or drop by the site.

Kel

[Mr Marketer]

I think it all depends on

1. What you promote
2. How much time you have/want to commit to it

I've used twitter as a means of promotion & while it CAN work, I just don't have the time for it.

[cragar]

I have tried twitter and found it to be totally useless and annoying as so many people have automated their tweets.Very dissapointed here

It depends... I have 600+ followers but I use "NO AUTOMATIVE" means to get those followers. I post tips and stuff with no links in them all the time so I do not "Market" to them that much.

I just recently tossed an ad in there for my internet marketing forum and had like 20 people on my forum in 2 minutes. Course the ad was giving away 2 domain names, website and product so that may have something to do with it ...

I tossed another another ad just linking to a forum post and had about 12 in a few minutes. So as you can see there is a difference.

I imagine if I had 6,000+ followers I would have got several hundreds in 2 minutes..

James

[linkedinlincoln]

I personally don't use twitter at all. Ever. I don't even have an account for "personal" non-business use. I think it's a giant waste of my infinitely more precious time. I could be watching tv for instance...

But a pretty good friend of mine makes money using it as a spammer. I guess he uses some software he had custom built that auto creates accounts and follows people based on keyword. Then he spams them with links to random affiliate offers.

Plus I guess he makes a little spamming the twitter trends feed by just adding the trend words to the end of his spam tweets. He says it's easy, but I don't have the patience for it. Seems like nasty work to me.

-Kathy

[Kevin Riley]

For me, Twitter works best for networking. However, I also get some sales when I Tweet an offer on Twitter, but I wouldn't make it a big part of my marketing. Looking at it, I can see where it does have lots of potential for brand building and long-term marketing.

[kendrickyi]

Use twitter to build your street cred. At the end of the day if your followers are comfortable with you, they'd be more willing to click on a link you post, rather than if they think you're just a spammer or a gung ho internet marketer. twitter is a free traffic generation method. I don't spend my whole day on twitter, but I don't think twitter is a waste of time either.

P.S. One thing i hate about twitter:
I get many new followers daily and some of them are bots so I have to delete them manually. Others are not exactly my targeted audience so I also have to delete them manually.

[stumblerum]

I got 4 inquiries and one sale out of twitter in the first week of using it.

So yeah, it was well worth the hour or so I put into it!

[Paul Ho]

To me, Twitter is sort of like a Support Traffic Provider. Not my main source but a nice cherry on top.

[Vincent Cheng]

I would have to agree, Twitter is a support Traffic channel... most probably need to be coupled with Facebook.

[mediamogul]

I use and love twitter. I have built a solid following in my niche. This has transcended to great traffic, sales, and google ranks. Its a great way to get your message out, help build your lists etc.

I love it so much I have been helping my friends with it. They talked me into doing video tutorials. I then decided to turn it into a membership site which i will be launching soon. I basically take you through my entire process of what I did to achieve success.

Yes I do use it with Facebook too and its a good complement. I find Twitter more useful. There are also some great tools to take it to the next level. And I dont mean for spamming

If you are not on Twitter, you are leaving money and traffic on the table. And thats an evil sin

Cheers, Dave
@themediamoul

[Raul991]

Thanks for all the valuable information! To sum it up, as i understand, putting some work into it, it can be very valuable...

[dsmpublishing]

Hi guys

i find at first it can be more time consuming than later on. Setting up your account getting it off the ground, finding followers etc. But once you have been on twitter a month the results can be amazing.

An hour a day is a reasonable time to spend on it to get great results and the sales are amazing. Because you have built relationships with people they will use twitter to recommend you to others and will stay subscribed to your mailing list.

If i wanted to i could run my business just on twitter though i wont because i hate the idea of having all your eggs in one basket.

kind regards


sam
X

[eidoan]

I have a little over 2,000 followers on my Forex account and I get about 5 click-throughs every time I post a link. Not sure how typical my results are. Most came from the following to get followers method, so relatively low quality. I've heard it can be highly profitable if you really work on getting good quality followers and constantly post interesting tweets.

[Vincent Cheng]

I agree that Twitter is worth it, and it is hard work and genuine conversations which will make people come to you and convert to sales and credibility.

The ultimate thing is, time proven good old sincere and value giving conversation and tweets will get you noticed and gain genuine followers!

Cheers to all!

[kendrickyi]

social networks are hot right now. you can promote yourself not just from twitter but also from facebook and myspace too, although twitter (in my opinion) isthe most effective among the 3. web 2.0 is a powerful tool, and it's free too.

[markbrown0316]

Twitter is very effective in promoting yourself.
I suggest that you start to fill out the form and sign in.
Follow the related people so that you can get more information.
Happy tweeting!!!!

[marioilking]

Not worth the trouble unless you have a huge contact list (or followers)

[netwiz]

twitter when used in tandem with other social networks proves to be a very effective marketing tool.
is you see the the replies above 8 out of 10 feel that if used effectively, can direct traffic to the site and/or blog posts, articles and press releases.
the remaining two probably may not think much about it but probably have a twitter profile anyways.
twitter has become plagued with a lot of spammers but then again thats an inevitable fallout of any new social media.
the key is to present yourself in such a manner that sets you apart from other marketers, which doesnt seem any different from the other platforms that one may use to market themselves.
and as for waste of time, i dont see any other strategy that doesnt require at least some time and effort, after all its a poor peddler who doesnt knock on rickety doors!

[Kelvin Nikkel]

Originally Posted by marioilking

Not worth the trouble unless you have a huge contact list (or followers)

That's funny. I have many accounts. Some with over 20k followers and some with only 5,000 followers. On average, it is the smaller ones that have produced more sales for me.

[Rod Cortez]

I have friends that use Twitter very effectively. Even so, I have chosen to stop using it. I prefer to build my own network of contacts on my own websites. I think Twitter is a fad and that there are far more effective ways to reach your audience. I'm not saying Twitter doesn't work or isn't worth it, that's something you have to discover for yourself and if it fits your business model. I've just decided to reach people using other mediums.

Rod

[achivement84]

Hey,

Yes it`s effective tool can drive back high traffic to your site or blogs.

Here`s some tips around how you to benefit from it to increase the traffics:-

TIP #1
Exert effort at customizing your Twitter profile by providing it with your picture. A lot of people don’t like to send tweets to faceless twitterers. Include in the profile your blog URL and description. Most of twitterers check profile before they decide to follow you or not.
TIP #2
Generate interest and strong and positive impression by treating your tweets as your article headline. You should also avoid making your background look like some sort of an advertisement as it will definitely turn people off.
TIP #3
Monitor everything that is happening within your blog field and exert effort to be perceived as an expert twitterer on a subject related to your blog. Link to quality resources and people will surely look at you as an authority on whatever interest you are espousing in your blog.

PUT VALUE TO YOUR TWEETS
TIP #4
You should work hard to make each tweet interesting and worth reading to your target audience. Put your best foot, or rather, tweet forward and surely your followers will decide to click on and check out your profile and your blog.
TIP #5
Make your tweets an attention grabber by writing things which are interesting to the community. Be on the look out for hot topics and be ready to post the article in your blog. Members of the twitter community will be truly interested with you and what you have to say. They will soon drop by your site or blog once you have announced to the community what you have written.
TIP #6
Interesting people are great followers of other interesting people. In the twitter community you have to follow people whom you think are interesting. However, don’t follow people only because everyone else is following them.
BE A FRIENDLY TWITTERER AND EXPRESS IT
TIP #7
You should be helpful, useful and friendly member of the community. Be gracious and thank people when they follow you on twitter with a direct message. You should utilize your expertise to help fellow twitters find solutions to their requests and questions. Your intention is to gain acceptance and trust of the Twitter community and to become an authority in the area you are perceived to operate on.
TIP #8
Do not oversell your blog and your blog articles. Being a hard sell will not bring good to you, your profile and your blog. You may have gotten somebody to follow you, but if you don’t provide value to them, they can just easily unfollow you.
TIP #9
You should restrain yourself from tweeting to much as many twitterers might make your followers unfollow you. Three tweets a day would just work out fine. You can use TweetStats to learn more and analyze your tweets. However, if you can not put a cap on your tweets, it is essential that use Qwitter to get updates when someone stops following you. That way, you can learn on the reasons why people unfollow you.
BE A LEARNED TWITTERER AND PRACTISE IT
TIP #10
You can use TweetBurner in order to shorten the URLs you intend to include in your tweets. Most tweets are based on a 140 characters. This will save you valuable space for your message. You can also track the number of clicks your tweets get through the TweetBurner. It is also an effective tool to analyze which tweet structures attract your followers and what headlines work best. TweetBurner can also tell you at what time of the day your tweets get more clicks.
TIP #11
Try experimenting by repeating the same tweet twice a day with a 10-12 hour gap between similar tweets. Some regular twitterers have noticed that repeated tweets attract attention as many new people are logged on since your original tweet 10 hours earlier.
MAKE OTHER TWITTERERS FIND AND LOOK FOR YOU
TIP #12
You must work hard to get your Twitter link out to where people can find you. This means adding it to your e-mail signature file, in forum post, on your site, on your blog sidebar, in article resource boxes, and so on. People will only follow you if they find you credible. By doing this tip, it certainly adds up to your credibility score.
TIP #13
Do not try to follow everybody that follows you. Be selective of who you follow and work within your established niche, interests and hobbies. Avoid chasing the numbers to obtain the most twitter followers which most of us think is important. Twitter is not a race of numbers; it is about quality.
TIP #14
An effective way to get people to follow you is to start following them first. A number of twitterers have their accounts setup to follow all the followers, so when you follow them they will automatically follow you back. This is done within the context that you are able to develop a concrete brand and image for your twitter profile and your blog.
TIP #15
Go beyond the Twittosphete. It is the best way to build a following. Don’t forget to add a Twitter RSS feed to your Web page or Blog.

Regards...

[Robb43]

I like Twitter because it gives you the ability to communicate with the big time marketers and see what there are talking about. That alone is worth it to me. Plus you can keep in touch with just about any mobile phones these days.

[Joseph Park]

I've just started using it and I haven't had any result yet.
But so far, I'm following over 10,000 and got about 5000 followers
on 10 different niches.

I'll update you guys on how I'm doing.

[captivereef]

depends how you use it. My brother sells airsoft guns and uses it to announce sales, new product arrivals and coupons and stuff. He gets a good response from it.

[Simon Stanley]

I really believe twitter is best used, not only to drive traffic - but to build relationships with those involved within the same niche.

This relationship could lead to ad swaps or product JV's.

It is also great to create a "buzz" around product launches, especially with the retweet feature.

Just my opinion anyway!

[Popstar]

What's the opportunity cost of spending your time on twitter?

Traffic and followers don't really mean much unless they make you money. So I'd suggest that you think about whether you could take the time you'd spend on twitter and use it to make more money... consistently... some other way.

If you can, then you may want to skip twitter and do whatever makes the most money consistently. In most cases, twitter seems a little too hit-or-miss to me.

Debbie

[Traffic-Bug]

WIth twitter, you are spending lot of time and effort, with corresponding very little possibility to get anything in return. May be it might help satisfy your ego when you see followers, otherwise its just a way of propagating news and information - a leaking line of data.

[mattlaclear]

Twitter is worth the effort big time. But to do it right takes plenty of time and plenty of work. The people who just follow random people and tweet links to their affiliate links all day long can't be making any money. It's a great tool for researching your target audience too. Which is mostly what I am trying to accomplish with my own account.

[um1001]

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

There are a lot of spammers on Twitter and if you don't build your list manually, you'll end up struggling to communicate with real people.

This really hits the nail on the head.

Even though probably 90% of my (admittedly small) follower list are robots, spammers, or tire-kickers - when I send something out I get a solid 10% looking at what I tell them to (I click-track it) ... Plus I've seen some hot trends and read a few decent articles. As long as you don't spend a ton of time on it, I think Twitter can work for you.

Here's my hot tip for the day: Focus on Youtube instead. It can bring a ton of traffic very rapidly.

[Chris Pambos]

Hi,

Twitter and social media marketing can be worth it if you know what you're doing. An added bonus is that it doesn't require a lot of time to invest, what I mean by this is that you can market via social media in time chunks of 5 minutes for example like two to three times daily and you're off to the races.

Once again, this is assuming you've been trained on how to market via social media the correct way and effectively.

Regards,

Chris Pambos