How To Find The Right Twitter Influencers To Grow Your Business

While having a large number of followers may look impressive, if you want your Twitter for business efforts to have an impact on your bottom line, you need to focus on quality over quantity. Now that you know why it's so important to target the right Twitter users, let's take a look at several different ways to connect with the right people:

The 3 Groups That Matter
Individuals who fall into your customer demographic are the first group you want to target. If you haven't taken the time to define the traits that one of your potential customers may possess, put that task at the top of your to-do list.

One commonly overlooked aspect of Twitter training for business is there are actually two other groups worth targeting. The first are industry influencers. Not only can the tastemakers of your industry send you qualified traffic, but having their endorsement can help close sales.

Amplifiers are the other group worth your time. Although there may be some overlap between influencers and amplifiers, not every influencer is active enough to be considered an amplifier. Since these users can be a little tricky to identify, the easiest way to pinpoint them is to visit Topsy. You can paste the URL of a popular post within your industry into this tool, and then you can see which Twitter users were most active in sharing it.

A Twitter Marketing Strategy That Works
Since a big part of Twitter training for business is identifying a strategy that works, we're going to give you an actionable plan that you can start putting into practice today. Followerwonk and Buffer are the two free tools you'll need in order to execute this strategy. Followerwonk provides lot of insights into Twitter users and data, while Buffer is a Twitter management tool designed specifically for content.
Twitter profile optimization is the first step towards making beneficial connections. Adding a profile and including relevant keywords in your bio will maximize your profile's visibility. Next, use Twitter hashtags and @ mentions to get on users' radars.

As you start using Twitter more, you'll want to share a mix of content from your own blog, as well as others. In addition to sharing content, be sure to actively engage with other users. Finally, as you get more comfortable with Twitter and all of the features this platform has to offer, you can utilize advanced tactics like creating Twitter lists.

This is the syndicated copy of an original article posted at WebStrategyPlus.

CEO of Web Strategy Plus a full service digital agency & a passionate Internet Marketer with 15+ years of successful online business development experience. We help businesses by providing web services such as website design & redesign, social media design, social media management, website logo design, SEO and more!

By Michelle Hummel

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_Hummel

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8955014

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How To Use Twitter to Build Your Brand

Launched in March of 2006, Twitter is a social media success story. On average, users now post more than 500 million tweets daily. Moreover, the use of hashtags (#) allows the grouping of similarly-themed tweets, meaning you can easily find and follow topics of interest.

Bottom line: Twitter is a powerful tool for media professionals looking to keep up with topical news, monitor a topic, research a topic, or network with others. If you think Twitter is irrelevant or full of talkers, think again. By utilising a few simple tools, you can reap valuable information with relatively little effort or cost.

And the more you know, the better prepared you are to make informed decisions.

What can you measure with Twitter?

You can't manage something you can't (or don't) measure. Twitter allows you a close look at a surprising number of important metrics, thereby giving you pertinent statistics and insight for strategic planning.

For instance, here are three important metrics you can easily determine about your Twitter account:

• Follower Count: While not a stand-alone indicator of either popularity or interaction (follower count is easily skewed, just buy a few thousand), follower count does provide insight, especially when you look deeper to WHO is doing the following. No special tool is needed to determine this metric. Every Twitter profile reveals the total number of tweets, the number of followers, and how many others are being followed.
• Follower Growth: This one takes some tracking over time. You can do that manually; simply record starting numbers on a spreadsheet and record the change at intervals. You can also find tools (paid and free) that provide growth tracking. Online services come and go, so it is always best to perform a current search for them. Check Twitaholic for an interesting look at a simple and revealing read out.
• Reach: When you tweet, are you shouting down an empty pipe or are others really listening and reacting? Reach tells you how many others your messages are (potentially) touching. Want to know how much buzz a television special generated last night? Are you wondering how well a certain hashtag is doing? Try TweetReach on for size.

These three are but a beginning. Think about the metrics important to you. Chances are the tool to determine them is already developed and waiting.REMEMBER: Twitter data is almost entirely transparent. You can look deeply at the metrics for your own account and you can scrutinise the accounts of others.

Set up a listening post

Some Twitter services are free. Some are paid. Most offer both a lite (free) and intensive (paid) version. The possibilities are constantly in flux, with new tools and services popping up (and going away) on a regular basis.

By setting up a listening post, you can monitor any person, any company, or any topic being discussed on Twitter (which covers a whole lot of ground).

Here are a few of the best-known providers:

• Hootsuite: One cool tool. Hootsuite is a command station for managing your own account, following other accounts, keeping up with the activity being generated around terms and hashtags — it is a full service monitoring tool. And you can not only listen to what is happening, but send out tweets (or schedule tweets to be sent later) directly from the dashboard. Even the free version is powerful. Hootsuite gets the Writer's Choice nod.
• Topsy: If you've yet to be overly impressed by a social media research tool, this one might turn the tide. Social search, social analytics, social trends — Topsy churns out a user-friendly ton of data. Definitely take a look at Topsy.
• SocialOomph: This service is similar to Hootsuite. Compare both to consider which would provide the best match for you and your needs. While the free version is not as robust as the one offered by Hootsuite, the premium model is stacked with research possibilities.

One more observation of importance: Twitter is especially powerful for finding out about mobile users. The 140-character limit for tweets matches the normal activity of text-messaging aficionados perfectly. The Compete 2012 study confirmed that one-fifth of all mobile Twitter use is on tablets — a growing segment as the industry evolves — with the majority being either Android or Apple tablets.

Why does type of device matter?

Mobile users tend to be more active, more engaged with brands, and more engaged with content. Once considered only a young person's favourite device, mobile has exploded. Even Grandma is carrying a smartphone — and she is using it.

By monitoring the Twitter terms, people, or topics that matter to you and engaging those who care about the same topics in conversation, you'll find out more, do more, earn more and have more fun.

Written by TeamSMF

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