Be a Microblogger with Twitter

With microblogging, you communicate with other users of the microblogging platform via very short messages using your computer or a mobile device. Microblogs can be published online or distributed to a private group of subscribers such as through as an instant message on their desktop or text message on their phone. They can also be submitted by email and can contain other digital information such as audio or images.

There are some important differences between a microblog and a traditional blog, with the primary one being the strict text length applied to microblog posts. However, just like blogs, microblogs may contain images or video. Whereas blogs allow basically unlimited content, microblogs require you to be extremely succinct.

The undisputed king of microblogging is Twitter. Twitter is the name most people use when referring to microblogging in general. There are other microblogging options, but Twitter gives you access to the most potential customers.

Microblogging is an excellent way to distribute short, frequent bursts of information. It's a great way to share new products or events coming up. In addition to disseminating such information about your company, it's also a great communication tool for business partners or clients. One of the most important reasons for one to use microblogging is to generate exposure to his website or business, particularly through the insertion of relevant links. One additional benefit of a microblog is that the content can be streamed to your web site or main blog.

You may be thinking "Great! I can make lots of little blog posts. Big deal. Will it help my business?" Well, let's see…would it be of any benefit to you to be able to provide information, along with your brand and marketing message, to thousands of potential customers or referral sources? Most of you should be saying "Absolutely!" Some might argue that microblogging is of limited use to those selling products rather than services, but I disagree.

For instance, I have a client in the wood flooring business. I set up a Twitter account for this client and configured it to update itself periodically. The preconfigured Twitter posts are a combination of direct sales messages as well as information messages about wood flooring. After spending a couple of hours configuring the account, I let it loose and have done little to it since.

The account how has a few dozen followers who are all somehow related to the wood flooring industry (generally people in a position to make flooring recommendations). Now, a few dozen followers won't blow the doors off, but it's a real good start. And as I spend a few minutes each week following other Twitter uses from his account, over time his list of followers (people interested in the subject of wood flooring) will continue to grow, with no more work on my part.

The secret to this kind of Twitter automation is a service called Tweet Later, which you can learn more about in this article's resource box.
Tweet Later is the ultimate platform for managing your Twitter accounts. It automates three important parts of the Twitter process: making posts, following those who follow you, and sending direct messages to new followers. There is a free version with more limited functionality, but the full professional version offers a one week free trial with no credit card needed! Just visit http://www.trytweetlater.com. Check out http://twitterforbusiness.blogspot.com for more Twitter marketing strategies.