Using Microblogging For Marketing Success

The social marketing tool, Twitter is one of the latest and greatest Web 2.0 tools out there. People who join this social networking microblogging tool often become so addicted that they use it constantly. They have it on their computer as well as on their cell phone and they spend hours on it having discussions and "tweeting" with others. This makes the tool ideal for those who want to sell something online. Internet marketers love social media tools for the potential new clients they can bring.

But there are myths associated with this tool that those who want to use it for internet marketing need to know. Here are three popular misconceptions about using Twitter to sell your ware.

Myth #1: Everyone who follows you will click your link.

Myth #2: The More People You Follow, the Better

Myth #3: Controversy Is Good

Myth # 1. Not everyone will follow you. You can target people by looking up people with specific keywords but you have to appear to be interesting in order to get followed. If your username or bio look too spammy, people won't be interested.

People often look at the quality of someone's tweets before they do follow them so keep that in mind and if you've been using Twitter for a while look at the last ten tweets you have posted and consider whether you appear follow-worthy to potential followers or not.

Myth#2: You might think that following a large number of users is a wise decision but when you look at your profile and see that you have a handful of followers but are following hundreds or thousands of other Twitter users, you won't look very appealing. Striving for a balance of having more people follow you than you are following makes you look Twitter worthy to potential followers.

Myth #3: Controversy might get you a bunch of people visiting your regular blog because people often want to see a good flame war but on Twitter, it gets old real fast. If you start getting too opinionated or too political, people will tire of your tweets really fast. Those who pump out too many social bookmarking requests or don't appear to be willing to participate but want people following them instead will appear to be a selfish twitterer. You also don't want to be too brash on this tool or you'll see your follower numbers quickly dwindle.

Twitter is a great tool to get noticed. If you're interesting, people will re-tweet your tweets and follow your requests for a Stumble or Digg. If you integrate it with other social bookmarking tools it can also make it more interesting for your followers as well.

The thing with Twitter is that you want to be followed and so you need to be follow-worthy. Be interesting, provide value and reciprocate. Be funny, witty, charming and you can even be sarcastic or silly once in a while but strive for a balance that makes you interesting enough to keep following. Just like a friend's antics can get old real fast in the real world, a Twitter friend can get tiring as well if they do too much of one thing and not enough of just being interesting or entertaining.

For marketers who strike the right balance on this tool, they can get more buyers, sell more widgets, learn more interesting tips in their industry and maximise their social marketing experience so that it does benefit them but those that try to cheat the system or exploit it won't have much effect for long.