How to Use Twitter by Finding People with a Need

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Yes, there are definitely people on Twitter wasting their (and your) time. But there are also people looking for help and guidance. Those are people you want to talk to. You have the potential to offer these people solutions – to step up and provide them with real help. With any luck, you could even end up with a new customer. Or at the very least, someone who knows you are and will tell others about you.

As you use Twitter and begin following more and more people, it gets increasingly more difficult to actually know what's going on with them. Use the following strategies to get control of that situation and position yourself to provide real value.

To begin with, search for and follow people who have something to do with your industry. As a hypothetical example, let's say you provide plumbing services in New York. You could use Twitter to search for anyone in your geographic market who might have need for your services; this could include contractors, building maintenance workers, or office managers. Over time, you will get a feel for which ones might actually be good contacts and which ones either don't actively tweet or are just babblers. You want to end up with a group of people who can truly help you, and who you can truly help.

It is highly likely you will lose many followers during this process. Most of the people you follow will follow you back. Likewise, many people will unfollow you when you stop following them. But if you've made the decision that a particular Twitter user is not beneficial to you, then you're really not losing anything.

It is imperative that your Twitter account is updated systematically, even if you are not in position to post anything. You can use automation to make your posts for you. Tweet Later is an example of a program that can be used to schedule your tweets in advance. Applying this concept to our hypothetical plumbing example above, our business man could program a batch of messages related to plumbing that would be scheduled on a spread out, recurring basis. His new followers will see him constantly updating his account, even though is all set up in advance.

Address people directly in tweets if you have some useful advice for them. There is nothing wrong with inserting yourself into a conversation. Also try not to sound like too much of a salesman. You don't want to come off sounding like you are only looking to get something in return for your help.

Twitter is such a new medium, it is difficult to estimate what the return will be on your time invested in Twitter marketing. Every scenario is different. Using the right tools to manage Twitter efficiently will help tilt things in Twitter's favor.

Tweet Later is the ultimate platform for managing your Twitter accounts. It lets you schedule dynamic Twitter posts in advance, as well as automating the act of following users who follow you and sending your new followers a personal message. To try it out for free (no credit card needed!), visit http://www.trytweetlater.com. To learn more Twitter marketing strategies, visit twitterforbusiness.blogspot.com.