Obviously by reading the title, you can probably figure out this post is going to concern Twitter.

The first time I heard of Twitter, my response was: “What in the world is a Twitter?”

I’m sure many of you had the same response.  To this day, I wonder how micro-blogging (I guess that’s the fancy term they give to status updates) became so damn popular.  Twitter is absolutely huge, and I’m sure most have heard of it (and if you haven’t, crawl out of that cave!)

So… How Can Twitter Bring Some Free Traffic?

There is so much to learn about Twitter, but this post is going to be a quick crash course.

Let’s take a step back here and try to figure out why Twitter is so powerful.  Like all social media, the community makes up the strongest aspect.  Anytime people gather looking for information, it can be a marketing playground.  You just have to find the crowd.

Twitter is the same way.  Your goal should be to network and communicate with people interested in your niche.  Assuming you already have an account, the best way to do this is to follow them first.

I see so many people out there who only follow the people they are interested in and then wonder why no one follows them back.  Obviously Twitter was meant for this reason, but then again, we aren’t using Twitter just to communicate with people we are interested in.

By following other Tweeters first and communicating with these people via retweets and mentions (@replys), your follower count should increase rather quickly.  A lot of people (around 20-30%) will follow you back just for following them.

The best way to find people within in your niche is to use the Twitter search with specific niche keywords.  As you go through the search results, you can easily enter into other people’s conversations who are talking about your niche.

Your number one goal should be to get more followers as quickly as possible, but without going against Twitter’s terms.  Please do not follow 2,000 people in a single day, then come back here complaining that your account got banned!  From personal experience, I’ve found that following around 100 a day when you’re just getting started is perfectly fine.  When your account grows larger past the 2,000 mark, you can follow up to 250 a day.

By just jumping on Twitter every day for a half hour or so, you could easily have a Twitter of 2,000 within a month.

Also, if your account is relatively new, I wouldn’t go tweeting all your links just yet because people will just see you a spammer.

That’s pretty much all there is to it.  Later on I will write about more specific functions of Twitter, but for right now, this is enough for you to get started using Twitter!

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think!  Also, leave your twitter profile for some exposure!

Make sure that you already have checked out the three previous posts.

• The Traffic Generation Kick-off: Blog Commenting Power!

• The Traffic Generation Kick-off: Document Sharing Case Study

• The Traffic Generation Kick-off: Video Marketing Made Easy

Tomorrow I’m going to write a post on my favorite traffic generation strategy.  Stay tuned!