Though Twitter is certainly here to stay, there is some interesting data being reported that shows that the general population still isn't buying into it's utility.

The LA Times recently published a study done by the LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll which reported that, of the 2,025 people surveyed, 69% said they didn't know enough about Twitter to comment on the service. Additionally, of those who were aware of Twitter, some said the short-messaging service would grow, and an equal number of respondents said it was just for kids.

Even with all of this new data, as a marketer if you aren't at least aware of Twitter, you must be hiding under a rock. The question is: how can you use Twitter as a platform for your brand? Admittedly, some brands may not belong on this heavily B2C platform. If
you are looking to expand your B2B brand, there are more effective and highly targeted ways to reach your target customers such as email and SEM. However, if you are consumer-facing, start by searching Twitter to see if people are talking about your brand, product or service. If there is enough buzz around you already there- get started ASAP! If you need to build your brand, you can start by creating a Twitter account and then searching for people that have interest in your category to connect to.

A few large brands doing a great job on Twitter that I've seen are: Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Apple iPhone, CNN and NYTimes. There are also several smaller companies using Twitter to grow their business.

The bottom line: you can't afford NOT to be where your customers already are. Twitter may not be as big or growing as quickly as Facebook, but this is a FREE platform for your business to push messages to your target customers. If you need more help getting started with Twitter, contact Vigor Consulting to discuss your needs and how we can help.