How to Find Your Targeted Market on Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking website.  With that said, you can do much more than update your friends and family on the happenings in your life.  In fact, Twitter is a great online marketing tool.  Whether you are selling a product or service, you can use it to increase your sales.

Many wonder how it is possible to make money with Twitter.  The service is free to use, but you don’t get paid for using it.  As previously stated, you can make money if you sell a product or a service.  This is because you develop a following on Twitter.  These individuals are called followers, but they are also your friends or your contacts.  Messages are sent throughout the system.  

When using Twitter to market or sell a product or service, proceed with caution.  You do not want to outright sell, as you may be labeled as a spammer.  Instead, do so subtly.  For example, do you run a website that sells eBooks?  If so, your message could say “It took weeks, but my website is finally complete.  I sell eBooks.  Checkout the website and tell me if you like the format.”  This gets people to your website, but without you technically soliciting a sale.

You can also use @replies to market a website selling eBooks, or any other product or service.  Say you receive a message that says “I wish there was an easier way to learn about making money online. There are so many websites to visit.”  You can respond with “Hey, I have a website that has an eBook for sale on working from home.  It has all the information you need in one place.”  Since you are responding to a message, your aren’t outright spamming Twitter members.

As you can see, there are multiple ways for you to use Twitter as an internet marketing tool and to improve your profits.  The only problem is you must first develop a list of followers.  Yes, your close friends and family are a good start, but they may already know all about your business and what you sell.  That is why you need to expand your horizons, but how do you do so?

First, it is important to determine your targeted market.  If you sell eBooks on a wide range of subjects, you will have a wide market.  If you sell used kids clothes on eBay, your target market will include parents, and so forth.  Once you know who your targeted market it, it is easier to find these individuals on Twitter.

As for how you can do so, the easiest approach is to join online communities.  In keeping with selling kids clothes online.  Join message boards for parents.  Start conversations with other members.  After a few days, make a post stating that you are a member of Twitter and are looking for other contacts.  Say you want people to follow you on Twitter, but that you will follow them too.  Not only do you get followers, but you get those in your targeted market.

Next, you can turn to the Twitter website itself.  From the main page, you can click the “Find People,” link.  Search for members with profiles online.  You can search by location or name.  Quickly scan a profile to see if a bio is present.  If so, read it.  What is the person interested in?  Are they are parent, pet owner, or do you see other signs that classify them as a member of your target market?  If so, make contact.  This approach is time consuming, but it does work.

Finally, it is important to know how updates are sent.  Although private updates are allowed, many Twitter members send updates to everyone on their contact list.  If a reply is sent and not privately, you can see it.  This allows you to see the name of other Twitter members.  Become a follower.  If the person you are now adding is a friend or family member of someone in your targeted market, they may share similar interests.

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