As with most marketing strategies, social networking is key.

It is vital to the continued (and elevated) success of any business. No matter what you sell. The Twitter platform is different to Facebook. In that everybody, including celebrities are accessible. Therefore all are able to see what they have been ‘Tweeting’ about.

This whole concept allows for you to directly target your market, by searching for a keyword and then Twitter finds everyone who has ‘Tweeted’ about this, allowing your specific audience to be targeted and followed, and then hopefully, they would find you interesting enough to ‘Follow Back’. By expressing an interest in either your ‘Tweets’ or your business, you can then keep potential customers informed and updated with projects or offers.

Social media and social networking is an infinite marketing resource than can be harnessed and capitalized upon. If you are able to generate interest from complete strangers, you open yourself up to a much larger market than you ever thought possible.

We have compiled 5 reasons why businesses should use Twitter; there are a lot more, probably too many to list!

1. Microblogging

This one is obvious, but in the rush to put Twitter to other uses, many people forget its first use as a micro-blogging platform. And it is still one of the best uses. It’s easy to make a quick tweet telling the world what you are doing, how good your morning coffee tastes or how bad your lunch went.

And it is a great way for friends and family — even those halfway across the world — to keep connected to your daily life.

2. Two Times More Leads from Twitter

• Companies that use Twitter average 2x more leads/month than those that do not (Hubspot 2010).

Think of Twitter as not just a social media tool but as a search engine. Twitter provides a ton of exposure to people needing answers that can provide. Being a regular resource means that you will be there when they are ready to commit to a purchase.

3. Branding

To build awareness, trust, and possibly loyalty. If a company Tweets good information routinely, and isn’t overly self-promotional, the profile will gather followers. The profile is then associated with quality industry news and integrity. Frequency and quality of posts then breed familiarity, and eventually trust.

4. Give away coupon codes and promotions

You can also tweet about new deals and coupons codes to help give your company the extra boost. What everyone loves is getting a good deal, weather it is a promotional lunch set, or   new computer if it’s cheap, we want it.

5. It’s Free!

People tend to forget that getting the type of exposure twitter can give back in the 90’s would have cost companies thousands and yet we have it all for nothing. The tool is a high quality marketing machine if used correctly.

We would love to know what you think please feel free to add your comments.