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There's no escaping the popularity of Social Networks. It seems that every day we're receiving new information about traffic volumes, buzz and how businesses - big and small - are using Social Media to boost their branding and awareness within the market.

If you're an Internet Marketers no doubt you've been paying particular attention to Twitter for some time. And as a community we've been developing and refining our strategies for "global domination" ...or at least seeing Twitter as another channel through which we can create value. ;-)

With all of the examples and material available on the Internet around Twitter, we're often asked, "How does a small business get started on Twitter?"

Already there are clear leaders on the Twitter front. Gary Vaynerchuk and Chris Brogan are amongst some of the leading lights involved in monitoring, understanding and applying Social Media principles. Almost everything these guys do and say is received as Gospel by an ever-growing number of fans and supporters.

And why not! After all, Gary V has taken his wine business from $5 million per year in revenue to more than $30 million per year through the creation of a Twitter strategy. While Chris Brogan is regarded as an authority on the subject and has released a number of authoritative books on the subject - to great effect and reward. Even major Corporations like Dell, Ford and the US Military are now using Social Media and Twitter to reap multi-million dollar revenues.

We have been closely following progress on Twitter; researching and trialling a number of different strategies. Strategies for list building, strategies for creating awareness, strategies for influence and persuasion and, of course, strategies for creating income.

What we found will surprise you.

All of the Twitter Success strategies we looked at and evaluated share a common set of key principles and actions. And you can count them all on the fingers of one hand.

There are variations of course, but if you want to master the foundational elements and create an arsenal of tactics that you will constantly refer to, then you really need to acquire mastery over the core components of channeling Twitter traffic.

• Your Twitter Account

  If you've never set up a Twitter account, it can appear daunting. Let me assure you that, as a Social Media application, it is one of the easier ones to set-up. It appears more difficult than it is because of the very basic looking screen you're presented with after logging in and the strange names they use for doing things. Once you've spent a little time working out what the different things are called and how to use it. Twitter is extraordinarily simple to use.

  In actual fact, the account setup process is, I feel, much easier than Facebook and you can be using it effectively by only needing to know half a dozen different things.

  As with all Social Media, there are a lot of Apps that make running a promotional campaign with Twitter relatively time efficient when compared to other types of PR and Marketing.

• Following and Followers

  Whilst Facebook is based on the concept of Friends, Twitter is based on the concept of Followers. In Facebook, a "friendship" creates a two way relationship - When you and someone become friends you both get to see what each other updates their profiles with. The friendship connection makes it automatically two-way.

  In Twitter the relationship is one-way. When you Follow someone, you're saying to them, that you're interested in what they have to say. This means you get to see their profile updates, because you're following them. The only way that the person you're following will see your profile updates is if they also follow you. So you can be following someone without them following you (and vice-versa).

  In many ways it's like television, you choose who you tune in to, and when you're no longer interested you change the channel - by unfollowing that person. This means that you have to take into account how easy it can be to lose your following and work out a strategy that will keep people engaged as well as attract new followers. Basically, you want to be the popular sitcom and not the ad break.

• Fast Targeted Followers

  Your Twitter social community grows through Following and Followers (if you're really into the science & technology side of things, it uses the whole "six degrees of separation" concept, which is one of the fastest ways to grow a network). Mastering the basics of Following opens doors that let you explore a wide range of possibilities with your community that would likely be unimaginable with other channels of promotion.

  There's a range of things you can easily do that will get you a large following incredibly quickly (we ran a side-by-side comparison with Twitter and Facebook - Twitter required less time to set-up and run, got 2,000 followers in half the time and continues to grow more quickly [Update: As of April 2010 Facebook has made changes which seriously limit making mutual friend connections, meaning that it would now take even longer to reach 2,000 friends]). A number of popular approaches rely on the Law of Reciprocity (if you follow or friend someone, they're likely to follow or friend you back) which works quite well and will get you a reasonable following within about a week. Unsurprisingly, talking to your followers, being friendly and offering value also helps.

• Leveraging Your Twitter Social Network

  Let's start with the Number 1 mistake people make with Social Media, which is that people go straight in for the "sell"! I mean, how would you feel if you were at a party and someone came up to you, didn't even introduce themselves but asked you to buy their product? It wouldn't matter how good the product was, it's really unlikely you're going to buy, in fact you'd probably spend the rest of the night avoid that person!

  It's easy to forget the "Social" part of Social Media, the part where you talk to people, get a bit of rapport and trust established, find out what people are interested in and if you've got something that will help, then make a pitch to solve their problem.

  Infomercials (those late night TV sales programs) are a great example of what works for Social Media, especially Twitter. They take their time giving you lots of information, getting you used to the idea of how trusted and respectable they are, provide lots of proof for how good their product is through testimonials and after half an hour to an hour of this give you a few minutes at the end with how you can buy.

By now you're probably thinking "Wow, these guys really like Twitter" or "Gee, they don't think much of Facebook"! In reality, we believe that both of these Social Media Networks have an important role to play in your marketing and promotions strategy depending on what you're attempting to achieve.

And if you're on the fast track wanting to get traffic to your website and new leads in a hurry then in a side-by-side comparison you'd want to invest your time and money in a Twitter rather than Facebook in our opinion, which is why we're recommending Twitter Traffic Swarm.

Twitter Traffic Swarm

During our investigations and assessments of the various techniques being used by successful people on Twitter, we came across something we couldn't ignore. We studied it, reviewed it, assessed it, applied it and when it came down to it, we feel it does such a good job of covering all of the foundational principles, strategies and tactics needed for Twitter success that we're putting our reputation behind it by recommending it to our customers and anyone interested in what we do.

We've done a deal with John (Ritz) Ritskowitz, the creator of Twitter Traffic Swarm so that you get it for well under the regular price he sells it for.

The Twitter Traffic Swarm package includes 8 professionally produced videos, that you can either watch online or download to your own computer and keep forever, a 43-page PDF Resource Guide with step-by-step instructions covering every aspect of Twitter and a Tweet planning guide for those moments when you're wondering "What should I tweet about?".

John's normal price is $67 - which we think is already an incredible offer. Then when John said he'd be happy to drop the price even lower to give our customers an edge, we knew this guy was all about adding value and helping others. This is a really special offer, so head on over to the offer page and buy yourself a way to get more traffic and leads really, really fast using Twitter.

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