Email & Twitter

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Often described as the SMS of Internet, Twitter has gained extensive popularity and visibility due in part to the mobile applications that accompany the service. Although the privately held company doesn’t release true counts, it’s estimated that there are roughly five million active accounts making it the third largest social network site with roughly 55 millions unique monthly visitors.

Still not convinced that this service could strengthen your email marketing? Consider the folks at Dell, who sold over a million dollars during the holidays by alerting Twitter followers to sale items. They’re continuing to offer discounts exclusively to the 251K+ people who follow @DellOutlet.

Our friends at Wine Enthusiast have also had success using Twitter, posting updates on their Wine of the Day offer, offering tips through a separate site and even hosting contests – including their Blitzen caption contest this past holiday season.

King Arthur Flour posts updates about their test kitchen, Paul Fredrick offers information and makes offers before they hit the catalogue and GovMint has recently started using the medium to reinforce offers while building their following.

There are even local social journalist using the service to send breaking news updates to others, for instance the status of USAir Flight 1549 was being covered by local Tweets well before the major news networks were able to go live.

So here are a few things to keep in mind when establishing a presence on Twitter:
1) Remember that the medium is all about the updates, be consistent and add valuable Tweets to keep your recipients engaged.
2) This is an excellent medium to test offers; subject lines etc. and can also serve as a medium to make offers not quite worthy of an email.
3) Increase your visibility by adding links to your Twitter site on your website, include a link in your emails and remember to follow others to help broaden your audience.

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Search "Twitter" on this blog for additional tips and ideas and be sure to Follow us on Twitter.