Twitter is a great marketing tool.

Many people might make the mistake of thinking that it’s only for online businesses, but Twitter will bring a ton of business to a local brick and mortar shop. A friend of mine in Minneapolis Minnesota uses Twitter, very effectively, to get customers to walk into his shop everyday!

It takes a little effort to turn your Twitter page into a marketing machine, but there are a few of ways to make it happen.

First off, get acquainted with Twitter. There are a lot of great resources available online which teach the basics (including this blog).

So, who are all these people following your Twitter page? Followers are users that, in theory, like your content and want constant updates. The more followers you gain, the better your marketing. But if you want people to walk into your shop or take advantage of an offline offer, you’ll want to target followers who are a) interested in your business and b) live in your area. Wouldn’t you know… Twitter gives you tools to target these users.

Use the Twitter search to look for users in your area and locals who are interested in your business. Searching on Twitter requires some shorthand. For example: to search for users in your area, type in “near:Topanga within:25mi” or search for people in Los Angeles who like movies by typing in “movies Los Angeles”. When you start following some of these users, they will look at your Twitter page and likely start to follow you.

You can also stroll on over to the TwellowHood directory, which allows you to find Twitter users oin your area. Just use the map to drill down to your town and find out who’s there to follow on Twitter.

Once you have some of followers it’s time to begin promoting your business to them. Remember that your Twitter followers will get all your updates. Some followers even have it sent to their cell phones. This is how you can easily update all your followers on everything from daily specials, discounts, in store events, and coupons. Twitter acts as a real time messaging system, so you can even tell your followers about things right now.

Have your followers help you create a community. Give your followers rewards for passing on coupons, specials and offers to their  friends with ReTweets. ReTweeting gets your customers doing your marketing for you. It is the ultimate Internet word of mouth and a great way to build relationships – after all, that’s what a community is built on right? What’s the word? Relationships.

Twitter is growing at an amazing rate. Leverage this tool to create some local buzz about your business. Twitter is free to use and easy to learn. Two of my favorite things Free and Easy!

If you found this article helpful, please add a comment or use the “Tweetmeme” Button above to Tweet about it.

Thanks,

Lennie

This post began as an article written by Jennifer Davey. She is a Small Business Coach and Marketing Strategist. Jennifer coaches small businesses, self employed professionals, and solopreneurs in strategies for getting clients and making more income.

Discover what you need to know to get client’s, by reading Jennifer’s FREE report “What You Need to Know to Be Successful at Getting Clients”, available at http://jjscoaching.com/free-marketing-tips/.

Tags: Followers, marketing, marketing machine, marketing tool, Twellow, TwellowHood, Twitter, Twitter local search, twitter marketing

This entry was posted on Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Doing Business Online. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.