Creating a Twitter marketing plan

No one should attempt to use any social media source for building their business or marketing without a plan. It is a fruitless effort without a purpose or objective that is clear cut, as well as measurable goals, and some steps to put in place. When creating a Twitter marketing plan, the same holds true. Here are some tips for creating a Twitter marketing plan that will actually help your business, not just be a waste of time:

First, start by searching the Twitter archives. It is important to discover what is relevant and of interest to your target customers. If you want to be seen and heard on Twitter, impact your readers, and gain a following in order to market your business, you have to provide the users on Twitter with the information they are seeking. Searching the archives can help you spot trends, and discover what it is that people want to know about and are responding to.

Second, always keep your objective in mind. Never tweet anything that does not further your objective, as it may take away from the credibility you have. You have to be both relevant and consistent. This is going to make you a reliable source for industry information, and will brand you as an expert. It will also help you promote your company image and brand.

Third, use third-party applications to increase your Twitter productivity. It does not have to be a huge, time consuming affair to market on Twitter, especially not if you take advantage of third-party applications. URL shorteners, RSS feeds, and more are all going to make your Twitter use far simpler and more productive.

Fourth, measure and track. It helps to use analytics software to track your marketing efforts. That way you can take note of what is working, what posts and links are getting you a lot of feedback, retweets, etc. and then capitalize on those more, or create like posts, use similar tactics, to continue increasing your marketing. If you don't analyze what you are doing, how can you know if it is really working?

Fifth, build your Twitter network by keeping conversations going, and responding to and interacting with the circle of people you are connected to. You will not get very far blasting an ad campaign across Twitter. Joining conversations, providing valuable information, and making it a social network, rather than a soapbox will help you market better, have more credibility, and a greater impact.

Your Twitter marketing plan should start with what you want to achieve using Twitter. If it is to gain customer insight, to provide customer service, to sell or promote products, to do several or all of the above, to widen your network, etc. The point is, until you know how you want to use Twitter, you can't do so successfully. Then determine what your target audience wants and needs from you, and provide value to them.