At a growth rate of 40% per month, Twitter has arrived as a major player on the social media scene. Companies like Dell and Woot.com are using it to help sell $millions leveraging thousands of customers tuned into their “tweets”.

More business oriented than Facebook, Twitter provides a way to build a following, nurture relationships with those followers, and potentially land new customers. One of the more prolific Twitter users, Guy Kawasaki of All-Top fame, has called Twitter.com “a weapon”, and for good reason. Used correctly, it can be the most powerful tool in your marketing arsenal.

One aspect which makes Twitter marketing so powerful is that you can easily find niche markets by locating the leaders or authorities of an industry and following their followers, which could be in the thousands. Many of those will follow you in return, especially if your content is relevant to their interests. For example, use Twitter’s find people tool to find “software” and you will find large lists of folks interested in software.

The bad news is, like Facebook and others, it takes time to run a solid Twitter marketing strategy. Following the followers of authorities you find will take hours and is often outsourced to virtual assistants. Continue Reading »