So many people are using Twitter now and many of their Tweets are just basically spam posts pushing their website or blog. This is not going to get them anywhere but unfollowed. The rules of Web 2.0/3.0 and social networking won’t work like that.

Spammers follow thousands of people every day, multiple times a day, they send out Tweets saying “Make $10,000 a week, go here to find out how. blah,blah, blah, my website”. So many people are doing this, and I’m guessing they are not seeing very good results. The word spamming means more than just sending unsolicited emails. Now days, spamming is classed as sending messages that have no value. Advertising your website with nothing for the person to gain definitely falls in this field.

So how do you get respect from your followers, and have them see you as an authority and an expert and not a spammer? How can you get them to start seeing you as an expert and an authority, because this is when they will more likely want to go to your website and buy whatever you are selling! This is when you will be able to control your niche market and dominate.

Here are some simple steps to follow to gain the respect and interest of your followers.

5 or more times a day, send out Tweets which come under the following categories:
a.) What you are doing?
b.) Links to interesting articles.
c.) Links to interesting or funny photos or videos.
d.) Your thoughts on a particular subject that’s in your niche.
e.) Reply to other peoples tweets and get interactive with them.
d.) RT (or re-tweet) other people’s interesting Tweets.

When you start Tweeting, forget about driving traffic to your website, that will come later. Twitter can become one of your main sources of FREE Traffic.

People don’t like to be direct marketed to in this day and age. I for one, really hate it when someone tells me to click on a link. Why should I? I’m sure you wouldn’t like it if thousands of people daily, sent you a message telling you to go to their website either. Many people in the MLM and Home business programs do this. You do NOT want to do this.

The only thing a person thinks about when you tell them to go to a link is “what’s in it for me?” But, if you’ve posted about something that makes them laugh, if you posted a link to an interesting article, if you’ve given them something for FREE that could benefit them and help them in their business, then they will be more likely to click on it.

But, I bet you are wondering… “so by posting a link to an article, photo,etc., how can this help me get traffic or monetize my site? Well, this could be a link to an article that you wrote yourself, and at the bottom of the article you could have a link to your actual website. Then when the person reads your interesting and value packed article, they will click the link at the bottom of your article and go to your site . Or, it could be someone else’s article that you saw and thought was loaded with valuable content. Now this won’t bring instant traffic to your website. But, it will help the person who clicks the link and reads start to gain more trust in you and you will gain more credibility as a professional marketer.

If you think that this may be too much work to implement, then I really think Internet marketing is NOT for you. I just say that because I know some people are looking for the magic button and are not willing to put in any work.

These Twitter marketing tips will work to build you a large and devoted list of followers. Just put in a little work and make a lot of friends and the money will follow.

One of the best things about Twitter is that you can market without it looking like marketing. You can chat and share some great resources, but surely that’s not marketing, or is it? I know I have blogged about how to get followers on Twitter before, but this Twitter marketing tip will show you exactly how to build that list of rabid followers, who will listen to you and maybe even buy from you.

1. Choose not one, but five niches that interest you.

You are not your niche. A niche is something you have. For example, I Tweet about blogging, dogs, natural health, social media and cars. Even though I blog about social media, people like to hear about my dogs if they have pets. They like to hear about our cars if they collect classic cars, etc. They like to know a little about you so they can decide if they like you and want to follow you. So expand yourself and find some niches that you like to Tweet about.

2. Use your search button at least 5 times a day, and try to Tweet at least 15 new people every single day.

That keeps new people coming into your world. It gets you new conversations to join into. Search for something you’re interseted in and you’ll find someone you like. Repeat this as often as you can and use the @ function more than any other key on your computer. Join in, don’t broadcast.

3. Ask at least 5 questions on Twitter every day.

Your questions won’t always get answered, but it doesn’t cost you a penny to ask. When they do reply, you get valuable information about exactly what your followers want. How cool is that? Now you know what they are looking for.

4. Answer at least 5 questions on Twitter a day.

This will make you the expert. People like knowing the answer to their questions. It makes them feel better, more peaceful. Questions may be keeping them awake at night. If you can be their answer, you are valuable to them.

5. Send out a dozen entertaining or useful links every day.

These are links you found, that you like. No marketing here. Be sure to track those links as well to see which ones get viewed the most. You are building up your arsenal of good Tweets. I use bit.ly or ow.ly to get my stats.

6. Share a blog post, video or article with your followers every day.

This will get them going to your site. Make sure to post about answers to the questions they’ve been asking. You will be their hero.

I know that this sounds like a bit of work, but remember that it’s all done in 140 characters or less. If you follow all the Twitter marketing tips above, it will take less than an hour a day and you will see your list grow rapidly. You can use your list for testing, information, ideas, etc. Can you see how important Twitter is to your online success?

I don’t consider my self a Twitter marketing expert, because I don’t have a million followers, or even 100,000. But I do think that for my purposes, (sharing what I know), following quality people is the key and the 40+ thousand followers I am lucky enough to be associated with are appreciated by me a lot more because of it. Sharing my Twitter marketing tips and being helpful and credible builds trust, attracts faithful followers and results in a new method of social networking. Just one Tweet may or may not make a difference, but when you add them up over time, a bigger picture starts to emerge.

Twitter Marketing tips are easy to come by. You need to watch which advise you listen to however. There is good and bad info out there and just one bad Tweet can totally ruin your credibility with your followers. This is not something you want to happen. You can use Twitter as a consumer as well as for branding yourself, marketing, customer service, real-time searching,and even direct sales. Twitter is a valuable tool and you do not want to screw it up.

There is a lot of advice on what you should do with Twitter, but based on the increasing ways people mis-behave, there seem to be many ways to fail as well.

I decided to share some Tips on Social Marketing DON’T's on Twitter

1. Don’t describe yourself in an obscure way on your profile. Make yourself transparent. Share who you really are with your followers. Be real.
2. Don’t put up a Twitter profile without a picture of YOU. People want to see who they are dealing with.
3. Don’t have a plain and uninteresting background. Make it stand out and brand you. Your Twitter page is what will impress or repulse followers when they click on your @username.
4. Don’t auto reply to followers with a link to your website or blog. Even worse… a link to a sales page. They aren’t ready yet. Let them get to know you and trust you first. Twitter is SOCIAL marketing.
5. Don’t Tweet about some great resource and then not share a link.
6. Don’t follow over 100 people an hour. Twitter will slap you hard! You can also only follow 1,000 a day. Play by the rules.
7. Don’t post about totally stupid stuff. Nobody cares if you just went to the bathroom, watered your house plant, stubbed your toe, etc. Make it interesting. Post photos, videos, great content, RT good info and then share a couple links to some product you think is outstanding. Make sure you post something that would be interesting to you.
8. Don’t schedule your posts to show up every few minutes. People will get sick of seeing you.
9. Don’t forget to watch your language if you want business people to take you seriously. Keep it clean. Kids are on Twitter too.
10. Don’t over abbreviate so much that nobody can figure out what you’re saying. Use spell check too. Your misspelled words will tell your followers that you’re either dumb or don’t care. Present yourself in the manner that you want people to see you. What is your goal with Twitter? Make it a success.

I hope these Twitter marketing DON’Ts help you to grow your list of followers. Just be yourself and let people see the real you. You will make some great connections and find some great business partners. Just be real and Tweet on.