What's the big deal about Twitter?

If you don't sign up for twitter soon, I guarantee you, you will regret it. I've known about micro-blogging for quite a long time now (about nine months), and to my detriment have been slow to act on utilizing the power that it has to generate massive amounts of traffic and quality sales. Like you, I didn't understand how the concept of telling people "what I'm doing now" could, in any way, benefit me as a marketer, or even more importantly, strengthen my bottom line.

What I failed to recognize was that much like other sites like Facebook and MySpace, a sizable presence on twitter can create instant credibility and position you as a leading authority in your niche. When people go to your twitter page, if it's set up correctly, they will read your biography (and perhaps any other tidbits about yourself that you've embedded in the background design), look at your followers, quickly determine if your services could be advantageous to them, and out of pure curiosity, they will often click on the link to visit your website.

When you think about twitter, don't think of it as much as a marketing tool but rather (like myspace) as a huge party that you are throwing. Sure everybody at the party has a "business card" with your contact info included (i.e. your profile design and biz url) , but the party is more about networking and establishing relationships. Just like if you hosted a "kick butt" social gathering in the real world, if everyone felt great about the experience, they would be inclined to get that "who in the heck is this guy complex". That is what will generate the traffic to your business, and it will be the best kind because your prospect will have already been subjected to massive amounts of social proof and therefore be highly targeted and pre-qualified. They will also feel like you're a real person, with a real business, who can be contacted and corresponded with, and not some random marketing machine ran by goodness knows who.

Think about it as an extension of reality television. If you can make your life interesting, perhaps perceived to be that of a celebrity or famous personality's, then people will ultimately want to be a part of the world that you have created.

Take my advice my friend, join twitter before it becomes like myspace and it's too late, if nothing else but to experiment with it and determine if it's right for your particular style of marketing. I'm pretty sure, however, that at the end of the day, you won't be regretful. Just look at marketers like Maria Andros who recently pulled off a huge six-figure launch using twitter as her main source of traffic (notwithstanding a few choice JV mailings, in all fairness). If there wasn't something to it, twitter would have been abandoned by the marketing community a long time ago.

Cheers,

JP

Hilarious video!

...and perhaps mymusicticket

That's because not everyone who uses Twitter uses it for those purposes.

I've only been on Twitter for a few weeks, but one of the most amazing things to me about it is that the people I'm following can share stuff with me that I otherwise would normally not know existed. It's a tool for sharing ideas, products, and services. It's a hub of communication that's cool, easy to use, and easy to get comfortable with.

I'm not addicted to Twitter (you can tell that by the frequency of my tweets), but I do check it daily for the very reasons I specified above. I think it's wonderful.

Hilarious video - love it

You can use Twitter for 10-15 minutes per day and still build relationships and bring traffic

Twitter isn't going anywhere...where else can I communicate with GaryVee, ChrisGx3, Chris Brogan, my clients, my prospects, and my friends all in one place?

Twitter might become something else in the evolution of technology, but it isn't going to disappear as a fad.

Hell, I can see hardware being created for Twitter, like a mini-twitter laptop you sit next to your PC...yes I'm serious.

Twitter is great for branding, building relationships, funneling people to Facebook, etc.

Egh. Twitter.

So, I'm trying to get in the twitter mix and am real new, so I have quite a few questions.
1. Does anyone have any advice on twitter tools :confused:? I've heard Hummingbird is good. I'm just waiting on my next check to come so i can buy it with my discount code. But what else is out there that will get me into the 4-600 dollar a day range that I know people are making?
2. Everyone says that twitter is all about targeted traffic. What do most of you guys drive your traffic too? CPA Offers? Opt-in lists? Products? Do any of you guys use http://twtad.com (No referral link, just a link for your perusal)?
3. Has anyone seen the twitter traffic machine by Bill Crosby at http://twittertrafficmachine.com? It looks AMAZING :p, but once again, I don't want to spend the money on something that isn't worth the price of admission.

Any advice from this great forum would be GREATLY appreciated !