Are you using Twitter for Marketing?  If you are good for you, but be careful.  There are correct ways to do Twitter Marketing, and if you use it incorrectly, it can hurt you.

I love Twitter, and if you’re not using Twitter, I suggest you give it a try and follow me.

If you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of internet marketers now using Twitter as part of their marketing, and that’s okay.  I am an internet marketer and I use Twitter, but I probably don’t use it as much as I should :-)

Some of these internet marketers don’t use Twitter like they should.  They are using Twitter like they would an email list, and it’s going to hurt them.

As an example, I received the following email today to one of my email addresses that has nothing to do with Twitter:
(Note – I have removed the real Twitter username and changed the links in the email.)

Subject: Twitter username wants to keep up with you on Twitter

To find out more about Twitter, visit the link below:

http://twitter.com/i/some-long-code-of-numbers-and-characters

Thanks,
-The Twitter Team

About Twitter

Twitter is a unique approach to communication and networking based on the simple concept of status. What are you doing? What are your friends doing—right now? With Twitter, you may answer this question over SMS or the Web and the responses are shared between contacts.

This message was sent by a Twitter user who entered your email address. If you’d prefer not to receive emails when other people invite you to Twitter, click here:

http://twitter.com/i/optout/some-long-code-of-numbers-and-characters

——————————————–

At first I thought this was a spam email by someone wanting me to follow them on Twitter.  Then I realized this came from Twitter.  Twitter allows you to put email addresses into their system and email people asking them to follow you on Twitter.

Now, I have no idea how this guy got my email address, but I will certainly not follow them because of the desperate measures they are using to get followers.

I have noticed a few Twitter secrets ebooks on the market lately, I hope these products don’t advocate using the Twitter system to send these types of emails.  And please, don’t tell me there are automated bots that can, or will do this!

In Twitters defense, they do allow you to remove yourself from this system.  I won’t remove myself yet, I want to see if I receive more of these.

After I received this message, I checked out who the person was that wanted me to follow them.  I did figure out who it was, and it’s interesting I am on their email list at another email address.

What I found very interesting – were their Tweets.  Almost everyone of their Tweets was a promotion of some product.  No personal insight as to what they are doing, or who they are as a person, nothing about what tasks they are doing – just advertising.

Then I thought about the emails I get from him.  The same, always advertisements.  So, I get email advertisements from him, and now he wants me to get Twitter advertisements from him – I don’t think so.

This is how using Twitter marketing incorrectly can hurt you.  This one email to me from the Twitter system did this:
1.  Made me mad getting what looked like a spam email.
2.  Guaranteed that I would not follow him on Twitter.
3.  Looking at his Tweets made me realize he was using Twitter like email just for promotional purposes.
4.  Made me realize all of his newsletter messages were promotions, and resulted in me removing myself from his list.

Yikes, if only he knew what he had done by using Twitter like he would use an email list.

So the bottom line is – use Twitter for marketing.  But think about how you are using it for marketing.  Don’t use Twitter like you would use email.  Don’t use it for blatant advertising, it takes a different mindset.  It’s part of this Web 2.0 thing that is more about relationships.

Use Twitter marketing by being personal, letting people get to know you, by directing people to your blog and providing good content. Let your blog do your marketing for you.

People get tired of always being advertised to, you do that with Twitter and people will remove you from their follow list – I will anyway.

Mike

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