Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

Retweeting other people’s tweets on Twitter can be a powerful marketing strategy:

•    You can share with your followers valuable info from others

•    The people you re-tweet will be grateful that you repeated their message and gave them credit for the message.

And, of course, when it comes time for you to ask for a retweet of a specific tweet of yours, it is more likely that people will retweet you if they know that you are generous with retweeting others.

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

Thanks to public relations specialist Cathy Larkin at http://WebSavvyPR.com for sharing with me her Twitter lists strategies with permission to share these here.  (She’s @CathyWebSavvyPR on Twitter.)

First, some facts provided by Cathy:  You can have up to 20 lists, each list can have up to 500 people, and these lists can be private or public.  (There appears to be no limit to how many other people’s lists you can be on.)

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

I have discussed on this guest blog many aspects of using Twitter effectively on Twitter itself.  But what about how you are promoting your Twitter presence outside of Twitter?

Your email signature:

Do you include your Twitter username on your email signature?  Options include a Twitter image that can be clicked through to your account or the URL link in your signature block.

Blog comments:

When you leave a comment on a blog, do you put your Twitter username at the end of your comment?

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

An effective Twitter marketing strategy requires numerous elements, many of which have been discussed on this blog.

This time I’d like to work in reverse, covering the top missed opportunities on Twitter.

These elements are what you should be doing. If you aren’t, you’re missing out on using Twitter effectively.

1. Having your real name in the name field (in settings) with a space between first and last names so your name is searchable on Twitter.

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

Effective Twitter marketing strategies are NOT one size fits all.  It’s important to consider your goals when planning your own marketing strategies on Twitter.

Effective Twitter Marketing Strategies for a Mommy Blogger

Imagine you are a mommy blogger and your end goal for your Twitter participation is to increase readers for your mommy blog.  Some of the steps you would most likely take are:

•    Use Twitter and third-party search functions to search for people tweeting about subjects you write about, such as childcare, home schooling, behavioral issues.  You would then follow these people.

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

One effective way of getting Twitter people in your area of interest to know you is to participate in a tweetchat on a related subject.

What is a Tweetchat?

It’s a stream of tweets on the same topic in real time.  Imagine it as a gigantic instant messaging free-for-all on a stated topic.

First let’s talk about participating in one.  Then, we’ll talk about how starting one can help you market on Twitter.

Let’s take this scenario:

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

If you want to attract online attention to a particular product, service or cause, consider running a Twitter contest.  Because of the 140-character limit and public tweets, Twitter is an ideal social media platform for this marketing strategy.

How to Run a Twitter Contest to Promote a Product

Let’s say you want to promote a new product – we’ll call it “Miracle Copywriting” – that sells for $89.   You tweet about this new product, including the link to your site where the product is sold.

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

On Twitter if you are authentic, have a strategic plan, and understand how to effectively use Twitter, you can influence people and make friends in ways that will benefit both you and them.  (Now while you could do this for political causes, in this guest post I’m only talking about creating relationships to promote your brand, book or business.)

The first step to influencing people and making friends is to be someone whom others on Twitter know, like and trust.  And this step has several components:

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

Planning on how to run a Twitter marketing campaign requires, first, the assumption that you want to run a successful Twitter marketing campaign.  You do NOT want to be viewed as a spammer or as an annoying pest.

Thus you must plan a marketing campaign that actually does little selling and more connecting.  Why?  Because this “laid-back” strategy on Twitter is more likely to get you loyal followers interested in what you have to offer.

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Twitter Marketing Expert

If you are active on Twitter and want to promote your business, it’s important to know how to use Twitter for business marketing to consumers.  Twitter isn’t an open invitation to spew sales messages at consumers; rather it’s an opportunity to create relationships with consumers.

Your Twitter Profile Needs to Be Human

It’s no good to use Twitter for business marketing to consumers if you are hiding behind the “corporate veil”.  In other words, your Twitter username can be in your business name, but even if you are representing a large corporation, your actual name should also be on the profile along with your photo.  People relate to people, not business logos.