I don’t think a week passes when I don’t read some blogger’s story about how much Twitter has helped them get more blog subscribers, traffic to their site or sites or opened up tons of opportunities for them.
The thing that disturbs me about these posts is that it seems to me that these people already had a large following and getting on Twitter just gave them a new 140-character avenue to stay in touch with an established fan base.
Before I say another word, I want to be clear about one thing: I think anybody involved in internet marketing needs to go as wide as possible and test and evaluate any method of expanding their following. The problem is that one size doesn’t fit all and one method doesn’t work equally well for marketers at all levels
Don’t get me wrong-I have been extremely lax on Twitter during my current active site development phase. Likewise for this blog. What I’m saying is my own Twitter use has not been the kind that would benefit from the service if it really did help people do all the things listed above.
I need your help evaluating the effectiveness of Twitter across the board. Please use the comment area below to answer as many of the following questions that apply to you:
- How many times on average per day do you post updates to your Twitter account?
- Has your traffic or subscribers jumped remarkably in the last three months as a direct result of your Twitter activity?
- Has Twitter replaced any other traffic source (using whatever site statistics package you employ) in the same period of time?
- Have you made contact with any high-profile Twitter users that resulted in increased business for you?
- Overall, how would you rate Twitter’s effectiveness for your business?
As I said above, my gut feeling is that while Twitter can open doors for everybody the people receiving the greatest benefit from it are people who are already well known in the online world or blogosphere. I also think it’s way too easy to use it just because it “can’t hurt”. Our time is too precious to spend time on any activity we don’t see measurable returns from.
Please take just a couple of minutes and let me know how you feel.
Best,
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