Image by: Slava Murava Kiss
By Michael Sterling

Twitter has become it’s own universe. No longer a place where people just share their thoughts with the world, it’s turned into an incredible marketing platform. Within a matter of seconds, you will reach more customers than you would on any other medium in existence.

Twitter’s Vice President of Platform Engineering Raffi Krikorian shared in a blog post that the company handled 143,000 tweets per second last week, setting a new record. According to Twitter, they achieved this by blending homegrown and open source technologies.

As a business owner, the word “blend” can be the most important tool you have. Incorporation is key to a successful business, and the best part is it’s easier than you think. 

Social media has slapped the marketing industry in the face with a new dose of responsibility. Not only do marketers have to deal with advertisers and PR people, but now they need to be connected with consumers 24/7.

Nearly half of the world is connected in some way through social media, and guess what, they all want to feel like they’re involved. Neglecting them would be like throwing money in the trash. Once you wrap your head around this, you might want to think twice about not hiring a social media marketer.

Your Consumer Must Always Benefit

Think of Twitter as an interactive scrapbook in that every tweet and every picture should bring about a larger connection for anyone that sees them. Incorporate this attitude with your followers.

Here’s an example: You might think a company like Home Depot wouldn’t have much to tweet about, but in fact they’re one of the most inclusive businesses on Twitter. Not only do followers ask them questions about home improvement (which are answered by their professionals), but the company holds contests for the best before/after pictures in home decor.

By knowing their customers’ needs, Home Depot has built a solid Twitter family and they all benefit from each other’s involvement. Twitter has to be give and take in order to succeed. Your consumer must benefit or learn from the content you propose. Otherwise, why would they have a reason to keep coming back?

Use “Twitter Cards” As A Tool

Twitter Cards are a fairly new idea. In a sense, they enable you to attach media (video, images, audio, etc) to your tweets, which can be linked to specific areas on your site. The Lead Generation Card (LGC) is their most recent addition, and it’s a pretty nifty idea. Currently it’s being tested (to much acclaim) by a few companies and will be released soon.

The LGC will make it easy for followers to express interest in your latest offers, and allows more privacy for them to share email addresses without leaving Twitter. With this information, you can create a more thorough mailing list for potential subscriptions, which will only multiply your network.

But this isn’t the only card you can benefit from. The Gallery Card is another nifty tool. You can promote, sell, or simply share a collection of photos within a single tweet, while also linking them to any place you want. The best part is it’s web and mobile friendly and is a great way to promote contests, discounts, sales, products, or news.

With more to pics to scan, you increase your chances of being spotted by followers. To take a look at Twitter’s latest cards, click here.

Use Vine To Grab Their Attention

Grab the attention of your customers who are on their mobile phones. Vine can easily be used on Twitter and is one of the greatest tools out there to entertain and educate your consumers. Being a mobile app for iOS and Android, it allows you to create short looping videos which can then be shared by followers.

This is a great way to display new products, run contests, and even take customers on a step by step demonstration on how your products can be used.

*Here’s a tip: Create your own voice with each video. Do you want it to be comical? Serious? General? Whatever strategy you implement, be sure it has viral potential. You’d be surprised at how popular looping videos can be.