You likely already know that using social media marketing is a good way to not only bring in new readers to your blog, but also as a way for you to meet potential joint venture partners.  But don’t forget the power of Twitter.com and how you can use it to drive traffic to your sites.

Twitter is a “micro-blogging” site, in that each post you make can be no longer than 140 characters. 

Just to give you an idea of the length, the sentence right before this one was 101 characters – so the ability to be succinct is a must.

(LOL and depending on my mood 140 characters is either way too many or just not enough!)

You can post (also known as “tweet”) things like:

- Replies to other people’s tweets.

- Short tips, motivation or quotes.

- Teasers with links back to your blog.

- Links to other interesting articles or sites you’ve come across.

- And “retweets,” where you copy what someone else shared (while giving them credit, of course).

The idea is that while you post this useful content, you also work on building your network of “followers” – these are people who are interested in your updates.

You can also follow other people, so that you can see their tweets. Generally, you’ll find that a lot of people that you follow will also follow you back.

Once someone starts following you, you can send them a DM (direct message).

It would be viewed as a spammy to send your followers direct messages with a link to your site, new offer or anything like that  – The idea is that you can use these DM’s and the public replies (called “@ replies”) to build relationships with others. You can comment on their tweets, thank them for sharing, and just generally join the conversation which in my opinion is really what Twitter is about.

As you build your list of followers and build some of these relationships, you’ll start getting traffic to your sites as a natural side effect.

But the question is, how do you get followers?

Some people will find you and start following you. However, remember a moment ago when I mentioned that people often reciprocate when you follow them?

Indeed, you can build up your list of followers simply by following other people first (just be sure you’re following people in your niche).

Many people in your niche likely already have Twitter accounts. If so, that’s a place to start.  Otherwise, use Twitter’s search feature to find others in your niche. Once you find even one person in your niche, you can follow them and then go through their network to find other people to follow, too.

Before you know it, you’ll have hundreds or even thousands of potential customers, readers and joint venture partners following you.

Now just work on building those relationships and providing good content, and soon you start to see the real benefits of this social network in practice!

Here Are Some Twitter Resources You May Find Useful:

Last 5 posts by Simon Hodgkinson

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