As of April 2010, 17 million people (equal to the combined populations of the United States's Connecticut, Oregon, Kentucky, Kansas, and Oklahoma) use Twitter, according to a market research survey by Edison Research.
Twitter is about brand recognition and engaging in conversations. This social media microblogging service brings together businesses and individuals that want to be heard and to hear - and Twitter lists, Twitter chats, hashtags, and recurring events like Follow Friday let networkers do just that in a business friendly environment.
Twitter lists are a user feature that enables every user to create lists with custom names, such as "organizing consultants" or "Retweeters" to group the people they follow on Twitter. Businesses benefit from being listed and creating lists, because they're a flattering method to name recognition and can be followed by other users.
Twitter chats are hosted, themed events, by other Twitter users, such as author Melinda Emerson's Small Business Chat, that are held at regular time intervals and allow Twitter users to meet experts and discuss topics of interest. Business owners can share their expertise, network, and meet valuable service providers.
Hashtags are organized ways to group Twitter posts, also known as tweets, that with the pound sign "#" enable a clickable index of all the tweets containing this kind of information. This is a great way for customers to find you and for you to find customers, and participating with hashtags in a helpful thing to do on Twitter to keep the constant flow of every Twitter user organized and accessible for those who seek certain kinds of tweets.
Follow Friday is a frequently participated in event by almost everyone on Twitter. Twitter friends are made by "follows" and every Friday, users urge their followers to follow certain people on Twitter. They are usually accompanied by reasons why, and being called out in someone's Follow Friday means recognition by entirely new groups of people and often leads to more followers. Participating yourself also adds credibility to you as a Twitter user.
For a business owner, the benefits of Twitter are so numerous they are hardly quantifiable. However, three major benefits bear mentioning and highlighting.
First and foremost, Twitter provides a way for you to attract new clients to your business. Clients can be gained from networking on Twitter.
Second, Twitter is a great way to not only promote, but also to manage your business brand. You can influence how your target market views you by building and maintaining a Twitter presence.
Third, Twitter can lighten your marketing budgeting, lessening the amount of money you must invest to market your business and gain new clients. Twitter is a completely free service that is easy to use. Devoted marketing time to Twitter means that you're saving money you'd otherwise be spending to reap the same benefits of brand management and new client recruitment.
Your business can definitely benefit from Twitter - why not be one of the 300,000, according to Twitter as of April 2010, that signs up daily to improve their businesses and improve their lives?
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