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In my last post a few days ago I told you how Twitter made me a marketer. I talked about the time when I registered for Twitter without any idea of how to use it and how over the years Twitter turned into our most important marketing channel, and I turned into a marketing pro.

The question is: Why did it have to be Twitter – or did it? Could I have done the same with Facebook or any other social network? Is my story bound to the niche I was active in (content marketing)? Could others tread the same path I did – and why should they?

Of course, we tried a lot of different things and social networks before we found our way to success with Twitter. And for many these other options may well be the ones that give the better results. Still Twitter is the one social network that we strongly recommend for everyone who is looking for social media marketing success.

Here are five Twitter facts that make Twitter one of the most powerful social networks for marketing:

1. Why Twitter is a great starting point for Social Media?

There are several reasons why we recommend Twitter as a starting point for Social media marketing. This recommendation does not depend on your niche or the budget you have at your disposal.

For success on Twitter,

• You do not need to be famous.
• You do not need a huge following before you can start seeing results.
• You do not need any marketing budget regarding money for advertising.

Also, Twitter has in the past not changed their policy and processes so drastically that people lost all their marketing success from one day to the other. Even after so many years in the market and with so many new social networks moving into the market, Twitter is still one of the most important social networks for marketers. And rightly so.

2. Who can use Twitter?

I have heard it many times from entrepreneurs or even social media managers that Twitter is not for them. And that is a huge mistake, born out of total lack of understanding how Twitter works.

On the other hand, I have heard startup investors and marketers claim that if you are not on Twitter, you do not exist.

As always the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I have seen marketers vastly successful on Facebook or with email marketing who are rather small on Twitter. So if you have found your marketing niche somewhere else, be happy with it. In Social Media Marketing it will usually give you much better results if you focus on getting one or two marketing channels right instead of trying to ride all horses at the same time and falling off.

If you have not found your path to success with social media marketing and are looking for a place to start, here are some good reasons to start with Twitter:

1. For every niche you could think of you will find an audience on Twitter.
2. Success on Twitter is within the grasp of everyone – you just have to know the processes.

Once you know the necessary processes for success on Twitter, you can build your audience and start utilizing Twitter. And even more: Once your audience starts growing on Twitter, you can even cross-promote to other networks and use your Twitter following to grow an audience on other social networks.

3. What is the benefit of being active on Twitter?

As simple as the question sounds as complicated is the answer. Twitter is a very flexible social network. There are many goals you can pursue with activity on Twitter. You should adjust your activity according to what you want to achieve.

Here are some examples of what you can gain from activity on Twitter:

• Generate Traffic to your website or blog
• Connect to influencers
• Connect to potential customers
• Start conversations or take part in conversations
• Build brand recognition
• Find information
• Help your sales

If you are looking for something else, there is a good chance that Twitter can help you with that, too.

4. How to use Twitter?

The key to success on Twitter is to provide value to your target group on your Twitter account and to make sure your target audience notices that your account exists.

The key to success lies in what you tweet. Twitter and content are a perfect match. Even if you do not (yet) have so much own content, you can curate a lot of valuable information and thus provide value on your Twitter account.

But that is not enough. There are millions of Twitter accounts out there that do exactly that: They spend hours on end on finding valuable information and tweeting it. And they still struggle to attract an audience and to find any success, because they fail to get their account in front of their audience.

If no one knows your Twitter account exists you can provide all the value you want, you will still be talking to yourself on Twitter. You need to get your account in front of your audience, and there are several ways to successfully do that:

• Get your account in front of an existing audience, for instance, with guest posting and mentioning your Twitter handle in your author bio
• Follow accounts from your target audience – some of them will follow back
• Like (formerly known as favorite) tweets from people from your target audience – some will notice you and a few may follow you
• Engage in conversations within your niche – make sure your answers provide value and are interesting
• Utilize Twitter lists and add people from your target group to lists – some will notice you and follow you
• Include your Twitter handle where you already have an audience, i.e. your blog
• …

Before you do any of the above make sure your account is worth to be followed: Add an avatar picture and fill out your bio, tweet valuable information and respond to people talking to you on Twitter.

You need to reach a critical mass of followers on Twitter. If you manage to do that Twitter will become a lot of fun to use.

5. Why Twitter forgives Mistakes?

Twitter is a great place to learn marketing: The average tweet has a lifespan of 8 minutes – and you are allowed to tweet often and even share the same link again after a while. Did you make some stupid tweets yesterday? Send some better tweets today.

I am not telling you that you should not put some thought into your tweets and avoid being offensive and spammy. But if you shared a link your audience did not care for? Share something more interesting in your next tweet. Your tweet text did not attract any reaction? Tweet the same link again with a different tweet text. Your targeting was not good in the past, and your audience does not care about your niche? Optimize for the future, the unresponsive followers are not going to hurt your reach as would be the case on Facebook.

There is almost no better place to test some of your marketing messages or different images to go with your posts. Twitter is fast moving and has a lot of noise. What sounds like a disadvantage can easily prove to be an asset: You can test everything, you can measure results and adjust your activity accordingly. Twitter is the perfect place to learn from mistakes and successes. And Twitter is the one social network where proven processes will reward you and give you the growing audience you seek.

In short: Twitter is the perfect place to learn marketing. – Stay with me for my next article, where I will tell you what you need to know to grow your Twitter audience.

Join our free Email Course to learn how to grow an audience and traffic from Twitter:

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