Twitter is one of the most powerful social media marketing websites today. While it may still accommodate a lot of pointless babble, this real-time short messaging service continues to go from strength to strength as a viable alternative for connecting with people online.

Twitter is a free micro-blogging service that enables users to send and read messages known as tweets. Twitter, primarily used by consumers, has been attracting an increasing number of businesses who see it as one of the fastest ways to "connect" with customers. So, can you really improve sales using Twitter?

Top Twitter Business Techniques
As an increasingly popular social network, Twitter is growing daily and presently ranks one of the 20 most popular websites worldwide by Alexa's web traffic analysis. Whether you're a celebrity, politician, corporate giant or a one-man-band, Twitter can help you improve brand awareness and acquire loyal customers.

However, this doesn't mean to say you simply join Twitter in order to solely promote your products. While increasing sales may be your long-term goal, adopting a direct one-way sales approach will soon turn people off. Remember, social media marketing is all about dialogues, not monologues.

Creating a Dialogue
The best way to build a large following on Twitter is to offer helpful, friendly and genuine information – without expecting anything in return. Here are some content ideas to help build a positive reputation for your company on Twitter:

• Provide content about events related to your industry.
• Use Twitter search to find conversations to participate in.
• Re-tweet other users' good comments.
• Thank those who re-tweet your comments.
• Ask questions and invite comments on industry-related topics.
• Add links to great resources on other websites.
• Share some of your personality (without being mundane).
• Make reference to new content on your own website.
• Respond personally and promptly when someone sends you a message.
• Compliment great web content.
• Tweet your support for a charity event.

Once you have a good foundation of followers in place, you can then move on to using Twitter to help promote your products. Consider the following techniques.

• Make limited-time offers available exclusively on Twitter to reward those who follow your business.
• Re-tweet testimonials from satisfied customers.
• Share "pick of the week" products.
• Announce arrival of newly-released products.
• Tweet special coupon codes.
• Link to new product reviews on your website.
• Make reference to videos showing off products you sell.
• Promote special company anniversary give-aways.
• Refer to media coverage that relates to your products.
• Tweet about competitions running from your website.

As you take advantage of the opportunities to create some traffic to your website using Twitter, remember to take care that your content doesn't become too sales-oriented. Genuine participation should always be your first priority.

Finally, be consistent. Twitter is a fantastic source for real-time, short-form information, in a myriad of industries – including yours. If you need help with your social media marketing activities, contact us.