PSJ Business Booster #12

Welcome to this "Business Booster" from the Professional Speakers Journal (PSJ).

These notes will be kept short and sweet and only have two objectives:

1. Add value to your business giving you a 'heads up' on simple tips and techniques may not have heard about
2. Keep you informed about what's new in the Professional Speakers Journal

Tip of the week - why Twitter is good for your business

Part Two: Business Benefits of Tweeting   

If you've recently joined the Business Booster community you may have missed part one of this topic, which dealt with getting started on Twitter. It also gave you the URL's to some useful Twitter plug-ins. Part one can be found in the Business Booster archive, here:

http://www.professionalspeakersjournal.com/public/department27.cfm

I believe there are many valid business reasons for using Twitter - here's my list:

1) It's a highly efficient way of broadcasting your messages to a wider community

For example, all these Business Boosters are also accessible via Twitter - and here's the good bit; with no extra effort from me. I use Aweber (http://www.aweber.com) to broadcast the Business Boosters each week. By ticking one additional box Aweber automatically creates a tweet (from my Twitter profile) with a URL back to the Business Booster content. I think that's pretty cool. You can do the same thing with any blog posts that you're particularly proud of.

2) Keeping track of your clients and competitors

It's easy to 'keep your ear to the ground' by searching for your clients' names -- and your competitors' too. Find out the scuttlebutt before it becomes the subject of major blog postings.

3) Keeping in touch with 'new stuff' on the internet

It doesn't come much hotter off the press than a fresh Tweet. If you chose who you follow with care -- picking those people with similar interests -- then you have extra eyes and ears surfing through the 'net for you. Keep an eye on their tweets and you'll discover some wonderful stuff that otherwise you would probably have missed.

4) Getting questions answered & immediate mini-surveys

Stuck with some feature in a bit of software that doesn't work? Broadcast a tweet and see who responds. There's a positive aura of helpfulness in the Twitter world, so don't be afraid to ask -- or offer help, for that matter. Likewise, if you want some instant feedback on a thought -- tweet it and see what happens. The comments you get back may help you tweak the detailed design of a bigger on-line survey. 

5) Expand your real-world contacts by letting people know where you are

Going away on business? Speaking at a conference? Why not tweet your location and dates and see if any fellow tweeters want to meet up for some informal networking?  

6) Expand your on-line network

Pay attention to those @messages and have a look at the profiles of the people that fellow tweeters are working with. Like what they do? Then follow them too.   

You'll notice that one of the things not on my list is direct marketing or selling and I just don't see this working in Twitter. The march of time may prove me wrong, but right now, I can't see it working for direct sales. 

I wish you lots of fun and above all, hope you discover lots of useful new stuff too.

If you have ideas for material you'd like covered in the Journal, please let me know.

This is the final Business Booster of 2007. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous 2009.

Regards,

Chris Davidson

Editor@ProfessionalSpeakersJournal.com

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