What is Twitter?

If you haven’t heard; Twitter’s the best thing that’s come along since reality TV. It’s been featured in Newsweek, New York Times & CNN. It’s the best things since…well, you know.

Twitter is a micro-blogging social network that allows you to post your thoughts to anyone willing to listen at 140 characters at a time. If you need a primer, Common Craft explains it best.

When, I started using Twitter almost a year ago, I got a bit of flack from my collegues. “It’s a waste of time.” “It’s just another Facebook”, “You’re not that interesting…” (Okay I made the last one up, but I’m sure someone thought it!).

Why Use Twitter?

After 11 months, 190 followers & 400+ updates later; although I don’t have 69,000 followers like Guy Kawasaki. I now have enough perspective to articulate the real-life benefits of using Twitter to further your personal or company brand as part of your social media marketing.

1) Easily connect & network with anyone without the muss & fuss of confirming your friend/connect request like Facebook or LinkedIn.

2) Establish yourself as a thought leader by posting tips, sharing insightful links & helpfully answering questions. (Like my regular pay per click tips.)

3) Be the first to see trends, gain insight or hear news before it becomes mainstream. (Like the last Google Pagerank update.)

4) Follow, learn and communicate with thought leaders. Where else can you do this without being blocked, ignored or snubbed? (Like @portentint)

5) Establish a rapport with people ahead of meeting them in person

6) Keep in touch with industry colleagues & acquaintances

7) Build your personal (or company’s) brand. (Like @vkistudios does for business or @rishil does for his own personal brand)

8 ) Monitor the buzz about your company, product or service using Twitter’s search engine. (Like Comcast.)

9) The potential to put your message in front of thousands of people.

10) Increase your website traffic & readership by sharing your latest blog posts in Twitter. (Which could also be re-tweeted several times over.)

11) Use tools like Survey Monkey and post them to Twitter to poll or survey your followers & beyond

12) Discover new job opportunities or potential contracts from other Twitterers or by following a Twitter account that does the job for you. (Like @seojobs or @ppcjobs)

13) Learn something new. Whether it’s a sales strategy or marketing tip, the Twitterati is a wealth of knowledge & expertise

14) Use Twitter to post special deals, promo codes & offers to your audience. (Like @delloutlet)

15) Track your competitor’s latest developments by following them

16) Get minute-by-minute coverage of your favorite conference by tracking hash tags.

17) Get personalized recommendations. “Where’s the best coffee in Vancouver?”

18) Get answers to specific questions. All you have to do is ask!

19) Provide a customer service channel. (Like @jetblue)

20) Finally. It’ll help with your street cred. (Like @Zappos)

So the next time you’re in a marketing meeting talking about Twitter and why you should do this “social media thing”. If all else fails and this list still doesn’t convince your <insert bosses title here>, tell them @Google is also on Twitter…that should count for something right?