E-Commerce Guide Features My Tips for Effective Corporate Use of Twitter

E-Commerce Guide reporter Vangie Beal interviewed me about how corporations can use Twitter effectively. The gist: "Often, a business hears about Twitter and wrongly expects it to be a substitute for a marketing plan."

More tips to help your company use Twitter effectively:

o Twitter is not a magic bullet but rather a tool -- and a great one. It can work wonders as part of an integrated marketing plan.

o Just as you don't do your own taxes, fill your own teeth, or, hopefully, do your own plumbing repair, it's wise to learn from experts. If your goal is to have your marketing done in-house, it's smart to have an experienced consultant to act as your Sherpa guide, at least initially.

o Twitter is a worthwhile investment for businesses that use the service as a way to interact socially with consumers, but not for those who use it as their only interaction tool.

o For a business, the best way to have a large following on Twitter is to be a brand people care about in other mediums.

o Most businesses don't have a Twitter strategy, and this toe in the water thing is just bunk. You need to go where the conversation is happening -- you listen, you get an understanding of how the medium works, and then you participate in a meaningful way.

Related: Kiplinger.com "Twitter is a Total Waste of Time. Twitter is Great. Both are True.

What a great Article about Twitter.
Here in Spain we do not have the Twitter influence yet...but it is really great to know what would happend next, but also how to use effectively this useful tool.

I would like to hear more about this great tool
Congratulations for this useful post.

Twitter was never a substitute for a marketing plan, it is the other way around - Make a plan on how to market your business using Twitter.

So, it never, never ceases to amaze me that allegedly "seasoned" marketing folks will run, not walk, to the latest gimmick and suffer a complete brainfreeze about the need for an integrated marketing plan b4 you go off the deep end on the next BIG thing in marketing tactics.
Tool?
These people, these pros are the tools.
Is that 140 words...?