If you don’t have a Twitter account for your blog or your website then you are missing out on a great marketing tool. Twitter’s approach to social media offers a unique way for people to interact, and can do wonders for increasing your readership or business when it’s used in the right way.

Here are a few ways you can use Twitter to help drastically improve your marketing and drive traffic to your website:

1. 1. Use hash tags to your advantage – Take a look at what the trending topics are and see if you can leverage any of them to your advantage. You’ll be able to reach a much larger audience that way and can engage in some pretty interesting and informative conversations by doing so.
2. 2. Participate in industry chats – Almost every niche will have Twitter chats from time to time where they do Q&A’s or have a general chat. This helps you learn more about what’s going on within your particular industry and helps connect you to other people that share your same interests. It’s also a great way to drive traffic back to your blog or website because people will inevitably end up visiting your profile, so you should always have a link to your site on your profile where people can easily find it.
3. 3. Follow the big dogs – There’s a reason that certain people are the top players within a certain niche market, and following them gives you a chance to learn from the best. Watch how and when they tweet and what they tweet about and let it help you refine your approach to Twitter and the tweets you’re sending out.
4. 4. Keep an eye on your competition – It may sound like a contradiction, to follow your competition, but it’s a great way to stay up to speed with what they’re doing, what’s working for them, and what isn’t working for them. It helps give you a cutting edge over them.
5. 5. Tweet often, but not often enough to be considered spam – Tweet at prime time s (11am, 3pm, and 7pm) when the most people are active on Twitter. Make sure that you establish a good presence on Twitter by keeping your account active and tweeting regularly, but try to avoid going on tweeting sprees where you tweet one thing after another for an extended period of time. You’ll end up spamming people’s feeds that way, which no one appreciates.

Twitter is a great way to increase your blog readership or website views, market a product or service you have, and engage blog readers or customers so that you create a relationship with them. The site can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you establish a presence you will quickly reap the benefits. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to get tweeting!

Annette Shaff / Shutterstock.com

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It’s a given that social media has turned into a great tool for many things. It has become a digital home to advertisers, writers, business’, musicians and the everyday web surfer. But it seems that more and more people are allowing themselves to be caught up in the social media moment and too much of a good thing could very well be a bad thing.

I know if you are like me, you probably find yourself frequently using Facebook to update statuses or on Twitter “tweeting” away. This takes away from what you are currently doing in real life. People check-in at places, or update their status about what they are doing or where they are and with who, rather than enjoying the moment they are in. What you have to do is find that middle ground dividing social media land and the world we actually live in. Just the other day I was shopping for a brand new iPhone case for my phone and instead of looking around in the store I found myself on my phone I was shopping for, more than what I was intending to do.

Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are of course very useful in our everyday lives but you don’t want to put everything you do into it, becoming a digital robot. You want to still engage with people around you while using your spare time to check out the latest tweets posted by your favorite celeb or look at new pictures on Facebook that your best friend uploaded.

Here are some tips on how to manage both your social media life and your personal life without being completely enslaved:

1. Status update – There is no reason for everyone to know what you are doing at all times. While it is fun to update your status and that of your cat’s, making everyone aware of your existence every minute can be a little annoying. Try scheduling updates of your status. Infrequent status updates can be just as impacting as excessive updates.
2. Calendar updates – When you adjust your calendar on your phone, keep a written copy handy as well. A pocket sized calendar will do just fine (if your phone breaks you at least have a hard copy to refer back on). Schedule a coffee break with a friend because an espresso by text is not as enjoyable.
3. Useful Apps – Try downloading apps that you would use in certain environments. An app that makes fart noises may not appeal to most but an app that helps you compare prices on products or helps you find the perfect wedding dress might be more practical. Try to use these apps before you go shopping so that you are not the victim of a pitfall.

What I’m trying to say is you can enjoy all the wonderful benefits of using social media, without being sucked in and neglecting your family and friends around you. Let social media awareness play a part in how you use these sites and use them how they are intended to be used; not as a means of survival.

The life of a comedian is already pretty tough. If you make good jokes people will laugh, then they expect you to come up with new jokes that are even funnier. When you can no longer do that you are out of a job and a collection agency is after you demanding money. Now imagine that you have thousands of people following you on Twitter who demand these jokes at a rapid pace and often about current events. That’s a pretty daunting task, but it’s one that many comedians face.

Twitter is such a great place for comedy because it allows you to see jokes being made as you are experiencing and finding out about something. For example, during this year’s Oscars everyone was on Twitter providing their own commentary that was often hilarious. Before you try your hand at the Twitter comedy game, remember that you are limited to 140 characters. You don’t realize how little that really is until you try to tell a joke that you are proud of. This is a part of the beauty of Twitter comedy, you can’t be long-winded, you need to tell your joke and get to the punch line quickly.

The craft of Twitter Comedy is even being recognized in mainstream places. Rob Delaney was named the “Funniest Person on Twitter” during Comedy Central’s Comedy Awards. Was the right person chosen? I don’t really think I can give a definitive answer on that as comedy is such a subjective thing, but I will say I have a few comedians I follow that can make me laugh with every Tweet. I browsed through Rob Delaney’s history and some of his tweets left me sitting there feeling very apathetic.

The next time you’re on Twitter try and make a joke that is truly funny. You may find the experience sobering and rethink quitting your day job for a glorious comedy career. After all, no one wants a debt collection agency knocking on their door while they’re trying to fit a Kim Kardashian joke into 140 characters.

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It’s fitting that a “Social Discovery” site holds people on the page longer than Facebook. In today’s ever-increasingly over-connected virtual world, we are no longer as fascinated with the daily machinations of our friends and family. We have become good at shuffling through pictures of little nephew Timmy sliding into third base with a quick Facebook like or clicking the retweet button when a friend declares their local sushi bar has the best Sake in Long Beach.

We’re ready for more. We’re ready for something new.

A recent article on Mashable was aptly named, “What’s America’s Most Engaging Social Network? You’ll Be Surprised“. Surprised we were. With all of the attention that Pinterest has received the last few months, that Google+ has received the last year, and that Twitter and Facebook have received the last several years, it is shocking that a website can get as big as Tagged without hitting more radar screens.

The company, which launched right around the time that Facebook was starting to get attention in 2004, allows users to find new people for friendship or romance. It wasn’t always like that. They started off trying to be much like Facebook but for high school students.

“We took a hard look and decided we weren’t going to win,” co-founder and CEO Greg Tseng said. “But we had found out a lot of our users were actually using Tagged to meet new people, so that led us to pivot into a new space called ‘social discovery,’ where people use sites to make new social relationships.”

The pivot has paid off. The company has been profitable since 2008. It recently purchased competitor Hi5 and other startups. Perhaps most importantly, they have been continuing to attract top Silicon Valley talent, tripling in headcount the last year to 170.

Tagged users average 18 visits per month and stay on the site for 12.1 minutes according to comScore. Facebook users by comparison stick around for 10.9 minutes per visit.

It makes sense. The learning curve for Facebook is often the biggest reason people get stuck on it for so long. Checking through our friends’ and family members’ updates is quick for experienced users and posting to the site is a breeze. With social discovery, there are limitless connections, searches, and profile-views that can happen. It’s simply a matter of how much time someone is able to spend looking for their next social BFF.

Over the next year, expect a shift in time spent on social discovery. Facebook will be the end destination for the connections we make (unless Google+ can somehow grow more quickly) but the site does not lend itself to finding fresh acquaintances, to “reloading” so to speak. Tagged may be the perfect place for freshness.

If you follow these five steps they will get you well on your way to achieving a successful Twitter Social Media campaign.

1. Set a target

A Social Media Campaign is no different to any form of Marketing and you must set an achievable target. It may be to gather 200 followers in your first month, or to achieve 150 retweets, RTs, from followers and other local businesses. Just because your company is not a multi-national conglomerate doesn’t mean you cannot set and measure your goals on Twitter.

2. Do your research

Research is equally important whether you are a Twitter newcomer or an experienced tweeter. Social Media is all about being social and the best way to get noticed is by having the social leaders in your area mention you. For example if you are a small restaurant you may want to think about contacting DJs from local radio stations and inviting them down for a meal on the house. It is likely that these local opinion leaders will have many followers and if the food is good you will almost certainly get a few mentions on their Twitter account and can begin to build up a good rapport with socially important people. Trying to get good mentions from local people with many followers is a great way to build up followers, who can potentially be customers.

3. We are all in this together

Don’t be afraid to Tweet other local businesses for fear of them stealing your followers and potential customers. To stay on the same example of a restaurant, how many people do you know who go out and eat at only one restaurant? Zero is my answer! So people are always going to eat at your restaurant one week and then your competitors the next. Mention your local competitors and hope for mentions in return. This will make you visible on the timelines of people who are not yet following you, again opening you up to more potential followers, and eventually customers. Getting mentioned is important, it gets you noticed.

4. Run twitter offers

Running a Twitter only offer is a great way to not only measure the effectiveness of your social media campaign but to get mentioned and acquire more followers, potentially leading to more customers. Sticking with the restaurant analogy, if you find Tuesdays are your quietest night then maybe offer half price food on Tuesday for all those followers that retweet a particular Tweet. If this works you will be getting increased footfall on your quiet periods and increased mentions on your Twitter feed; a win-win situation.

5. Interact with your followers

Social Media is all about interaction, if a customer comes along and has a good meal he or she is likely to tweet about it. Retweet these tweets as they are a great advertisement for your business. Unfortunately however not all your mentions are going to be complimentary, how you deal with these is equally as important as retweeting positive tweets. Again with the restaurant analogy, if somebody Tweets “Last nights steak @your-restaurant was pretty dreadful”, it may be worthwhile to reply inviting them back for a free steak and a drink on the house, promising to get it right this time. At the very least this will probably illicit a positive response from the customer which will be reflected on his Twitter.

Despite the vast and utter hugeness of Facebook, Twitter has a few more Fortune 500 companies on their platform instead of Facebook. The difference isn’t much and the circumstances behind the fact are unknown (not every company should be on Facebook or Twitter), but it still makes for an excellent tidbit that can be used by Twitter fanboys.

In the meantime, here’s an infographic that breaks down the rest of the Fortune 500 social picture.

Infographic by- GO-Gulf.com Web DesignCompany

Mark this under “facts that will depress your favorite internet marketer if you have one.”

Despite a tremendous emphasis by both the media and the rest of the social media world, a recent study shows that as few as 8% of those who are on the internet in the United States actually use Twitter. That’s not the whole population; excluded are babies, onlineless elderly, Amish, and those who treat technology like the Amish.

In other words, if everyone you know is on Twitter, you’re probably a geek.

Via: Buy Real Followers

Every now and then, it’s good to get a pulse from the general Twitter population about preferences we have as humans. This weekend, we’re looking at the not-often-considered question of itching versus pain.

This stems from my adventures at SXSW last week when, unfamiliar with the incredible infestation that many call “Texas Mosquitoes”, I found myself bitten from toe to scalp. Itching, to me, is the worst. I’ve experienced constant pain before and it sucks, but I have to say I’d rather have constant throbbing pain (headaches excluded) rather than recurring itching, particularly below the knees.

How does Twitter feel about this particular #HumanPreference? Retweet this if you’d take a pain over an itch.

The manual voting process will need to continue and we’ll continue to have to watch the Academy Awards every year. Social media was only able to pick two winners in the five major categories this year. I am disappoint.

Not really. There are always two different popularity contests going on at the Academy Awards. The important one is for Hollywood insiders – those who have a vote get courted, prodded, and lobbied by those who want someone or some movie to win over others. The other one is for the people themselves, but their opinion only matters in that they get to pay for the Hollywood insiders to continue to be Hollywood insiders by going to, buying, or renting movies.

The general public hasn’t seen most of the nominees in a given year. Many of the voters probably haven’t either. It’s all very politicized between Hollywood’s efforts to be fair and balanced (of which they’ve failed lately), their desire to right past wrongs (Whoopi Goldberg lost for The Color Purple but won for Ghost), and all-out politics itself (The Hurt Locker‘s anti-war sentiment made it a certainty for Best Picture).

Still, it’s clear that social media, for all of its predictive abilities, missed this year pretty handily. Flowtown examined what the public was saying prior to the Oscars. Here’s how they voted through social media buzz:

In case you weren’t 100% completely aware that social media is a grouping of storms that rage with massive levels of activity every moment of every day, here’s an infographic to reiterate it.

Pinterest is the new hotness with a rapidly-increasing userbase. Now that it’s getting over a thousand visitors every minute, we should expect to see it continue to blossom (assuming it can get around its copyright woes).

Tagged is bringing together people through “social discovery” and with 3500 new friends connections per minute, the discovering of new people is thriving.

Facebook is becoming more than a networking tool – it’s the preferred communication tool of so many that messaging through Facebook is a more common activity than calling or texting to some.

Storm might not be powerful-enough of a metaphor to use. A better one might be to say we’re getting sucked into the maelstrom.

Thanks to Social Jumpstart for the graphic.