How can twitter help your business?

[Auctionman]

I've entered into a number of JV's linked directly from contact made via twitter accounts, I have a number of accounts set up as I have interests in various areas and most have led to some gain...even if only in terms of traffic.

[richrf]

Originally Posted by Auctionman

I've entered into a number of JV's linked directly from contact made via twitter accounts, I have a number of accounts set up as I have interests in various areas and most have led to some gain...even if only in terms of traffic.

Hi all,

Thanks for the responses. Is there anyway to quantify the gains vs. the time expended? I'm wondering if it is worth my time. Thanks.

Rich

[Auctionman]

In terms of JV's you are aware of the time that you are putting into it and as such can quantify, in terms of raw traffic versus tweets this becomes harder because once you get into things it becomes exceptionally easy to spend hours reading/replying to other tweets you are following.

In the first instance you will have to put the time in finding the correct people within your niche to follow and then trying to build a rapport with them etc but this is no different to the usual traffic building strategies in terms of time invested.

Once you are moving the time investment will drop, I currently spend about 20 minutes a day just reading new tweets of those that I do not follow in areas that interest me and the rest I control via twhirl and my mobile for when something happens and I'm not at home. I probably invest about 50 minutes a day all in if I had to commit to a figure.

Now this may seem like a lot but for my purposes it pans out, the contacts I have made and the following that I have can be utilised to make far more money than that of the time invested, which in the end is what I tweet for.

Its like all tools, they only really work if you utilise them, just sitting there randomly tweeting and posting links will not have the desired effect, those that follow me on here will see that that is not what I do..

HTH

[richrf]

Originally Posted by Auctionman

In terms of JV's you are aware of the time that you are putting into it and as such can quantify, in terms of raw traffic versus tweets this becomes harder because once you get into things it becomes exceptionally easy to spend hours reading/replying to other tweets you are following.

In the first instance you will have to put the time in finding the correct people within your niche to follow and then trying to build a rapport with them etc but this is no different to the usual traffic building strategies in terms of time invested.

Once you are moving the time investment will drop, I currently spend about 20 minutes a day just reading new tweets of those that I do not follow in areas that interest me and the rest I control via twhirl and my mobile for when something happens and I'm not at home. I probably invest about 50 minutes a day all in if I had to commit to a figure.

Now this may seem like a lot but for my purposes it pans out, the contacts I have made and the following that I have can be utilised to make far more money than that of the time invested, which in the end is what I tweet for.

Its like all tools, they only really work if you utilise them, just sitting there randomly tweeting and posting links will not have the desired effect, those that follow me on here will see that that is not what I do..

HTH

Thanks for the reply. It was very help.

Rich

[Bloggeries]

Originally Posted by Auctionman

Its like all tools, they only really work if you utilise them, just sitting there randomly tweeting and posting links will not have the desired effect, those that follow me on here will see that that is not what I do..

HTH

Great summary. It is like all tools you have to use it. I mean I've been on almost a month now and have 1700+ tweets 1100+ followers but I mean I've got it open all day while I'm working. I enjoy interacting with people and try and post relevant stuff. Easy to forget it's not an IM though lol.

I've done some fabulous networking; in fact my reach of people that I now consider acquaintances has skyrocketed and many new members on this forum are from twitter.

Big fan of twitter here but you have to use it. Like anything if you don't "work at it" it won't work for you. Only way you have to not work at it is if you're a popular celebrity already and then everyone adds you.

[Chaitanya]

Auctionman and Rob,

Thanks for great posts.

Rich,
I am the author of that article and I have had business benefits that are more than just additional traffic from the links I post.

Like Rob mentioned, I have made many friends and started 'joint ventures' with some of them. I visited Bloggeries, thanks to Rob.

In addition to these, the ability talk to potential clients and get insights about their preferences, perspectives, issues etc. is great. You get those insights thick and fast.

Regarding cost Vs benefit, just realize that you get a lot by spending time. Though time is money, alternative methods to get those same insights and contacts through spending money burn a lot and still not be able to reach the level you can get if you use twitter.

Just an additional point about the article, I did not write the article to fill space. I wrote it because I knew that twitter is useful and I wanted to share with readers. I know you have reasons to be skeptical, but I am just expressing my point of view.

Cheers,
Chaitanya
www.p2w2.com/blog

[richrf]

Originally Posted by Chaitanya

Auctionman and Rob,

Thanks for great posts.

Rich,
I am the author of that article and I have had business benefits that are more than just additional traffic from the links I post.

Like Rob mentioned, I have made many friends and started 'joint ventures' with some of them. I visited Bloggeries, thanks to Rob.

In addition to these, the ability talk to potential clients and get insights about their preferences, perspectives, issues etc. is great. You get those insights thick and fast.

Regarding cost Vs benefit, just realize that you get a lot by spending time. Though time is money, alternative methods to get those same insights and contacts through spending money burn a lot and still not be able to reach the level you can get if you use twitter.

Just an additional point about the article, I did not write the article to fill space. I wrote it because I knew that twitter is useful and I wanted to share with readers. I know you have reasons to be skeptical, but I am just expressing my point of view.

Cheers,
Chaitanya
www.p2w2.com/blog

Hi there Chaitanya,

Thanks for the further insight. I have had similar opportunities to make friends and join in ventures on many of the forums that I have visited. However, in general, I feel that the quality of the leads and opportunities are quite low given the time spent. The amount of spam and other nefarious going-ons on the Internet is quite huge when compared to the number of real solid possibilities. I took a look at the chatter on Twitter, and remain somewhat skeptical, but I remain open to the possibilities as others present real life examples.

For me, my domain is a business, and my time is already quite full taking care of issues such as:

1) Spamming
2) Security
3) Backup recovery
4) Finding and adding new content
5) Seeking out new ideas
6) Keeping up with new, relevant technology
7) Understanding what competitors are doing
8) Fine tunning the site for SEO and performance
9) Marketing
10) Freshening up the user interface and usability of the site
11) Updating and maintaining compatibility of software
12) Debugging problems

All of these are typical issues in developing a site, so in order to make sure that I have time for other things in life, I have to make sure that time is reasonably spent. Things like Digg, Twitter, StumbleUpon are interesting, but in my experiences do not seem to add to the economic value of my site. But I can be wrong, and am willing to revisit the possibilities, if I think there is some real business benefit.

Thanks again for your response and your article.

Rich

[Chaitanya]

Hi Rich,

I know what you are talking about. Twitter can be very addictive. I would like to know if someone has figured out how to use twitter without spending too much time.

Spam on twitter, actually, is much lower than other websites.You can completely control who want to talk to. And folks can't just bombard messages. In my experience, I hardly found any spam.

Anyways, there's no need that everyone should find those websites useful. May be its not that useful to your business given its nature.

Thanks for your understanding and a kind response. Catch you around.

Cheers,
Chaitanya
www.p2w2.com/blog

[failureblogger]

It's great how it allows you to communicate with your audience. It enables you to build a better relationship with your blog readers. Your readers feel like they are closer to you.

I'm going to join soon!

[Certain Way]

greetings, I laughed my ass off at the broadcast to 1000's when you forget comment, sounds like a good resource though and a mastermind group (like you guys here is a necessity for success

I'm gonna check out twitter now,
thanks,
Grant