DC Technologies

Let’s face it, without the right Twitter tools, Twitter can get overwhelming. Following people, being followed by people, DM’s and all that Twitter stuff can just get time consuming and that Twitter interface doesn’t help too much either.  Then, to try to use Twitter for business and to find new customers just seems impossible.
The fact is that Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media sites, but without Twitter Tools (or “Twools”?) it becomes a big chat room for most people.

I know, I know…get to the point! How do you use Twitter for business!

Twitter Tools For New Customers

There are currently about 6 million registered Twitter users (emarketer, April ‘09), but how do you find those users who might be looking for what you are selling??   I found a handy little Twitter tool called Twellow. It allows you to find targeted tweeters by searching by category, keywords and even by location. You could  find twitter users that are near you who are in your target market by searching for words they’ve used in their tweets.  If your target market can be the entire nation then  go beyond your local area and search all over the US and expose your business nationwide.
For example, if you are a Realtor and search for the words “condo in South Beach”, you might find people who want to move to Miami or want to buy a condo as a second home!  See the power?
Follow my lead:

1. Your search was for “condo in South Beach”
2. Somebody just tweeted: “Anyone know of a nice beach front condo in South Beach?”
3. See your search term in that Tweet? So Twellow would display this person and his/her tweet in your search results
4. You Follow that person right from Twellow
5. Send them a DM (direct message) and bam! you potentially got yourself a lead!
6. You could do this for any set of words like Auto Mechanic or whatever your target market might be looking for.

Using Twitter for Business can be a powerful tool in your marketing tool chest and with Twitter Tools like  Twellow you can turn Twitter into a lead generating machine, but avoid spamming followers with promotional direct messages not specifically written for them.  Now on to some Twitter for Business facts.

Twitter For Business Facts:

Dell Corp., which recently acknowledged that it had made $3 million in sales in two years over Twitter, primarily by posting coupon numbers for discounts of 10 percent or more on Dell Outlet items. See the potential? If you build your Twitter following, you can potentially reach a very large number of people simply by tweeting or sending Direct Messages.

Things To Remember About Twitter

As you find new people to in your target market to follow, some might not follow you back and Twitter limits the number of people who you can follow to a percentage of those who are following you.  Therefore, it’s good to sometimes do some spring cleaning and unfollow those who have not followed you, but give them some time to follow you because some people are not always on Twitter. How are you supposed to know who’s not following you? Great Question!
Read my post on Twitter Tools to find out about another great Twitter Tool which allows you to see who you’re following and who’s following you back (or not) in a cool graphical format!