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Getting Started Locally with Twitter

The first and foremost step is to know how to use Twitter. Many students feel that they have mastered the art of tweeting but when given a basic test, it reveals many features of Twitter are still unknown to many. The use of hashtag has become a very common phenomenon while texting or even while submitting college essays, but its real use on Twitter may be something that needs to be learned. Similarly using the advanced search option is something that is not used to its full potential by the typical user. You as a business man or someone trying to sell a product for themselves or as a marketing person should know the feature of Twitter that allows you to market your product locally or in a defined area.

 

The first and foremost option in Twitter is searching for people and events around you. That can be done by using a specific hashtag to look for specific tweets. This enables you to find people near that area or event. The tags can range from an individual event or a street name to a city or a town. The usage of these tags is random, and hence you need a certain amount of skill to know how to search for your actual desire. The thing that you need to be careful is that some people spell the name of a specific area differently than others, therefore try as many possible spellings as possible to target the maximum numbers in the locality.

 

The other method is finding tweets near you by using that option provided by Twitter. The “Tweets near you” tab by defaults uses your geo-location and shows you tweets in your desired hashtag search by people near you. The settings of the radius which defines the area of search can be changed according to your desire from the settings tab, giving you more control over your search. 

 

The next method for local search is done using the people tab which by default shows people from your city. Follow these people one by one to increase your base. If these people follow you back, it counts as a win for you and will help you with your efforts to use Twitter to drive sales. 

Next, try using the advanced search on Twitter.  This option allows you to add your geo-location or add the place manually along with the distance of search. The tweets that are searched are the ones that are most current which means each time the search output will be different.

 

The last method which is the best way to use Twitter as a marketing tool is by using third party application to use the full powers of Twitter. One such tool is Twitter Grader, which helps you find people by scanning through the latest tweet stream and people’s profiles. 

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They grade these profiles according to their popularity and show the top 50 profiles in your locality or the search area you define. 

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Another third party application is Twellowhood, which is a public directory. It has a graphic interpretation of the world from where you can choose your locality. The list has the name of the city and the number of users in that community which can be seen by just clicking on it. 

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Once you have located the people in your area, what do you do? The first logical thing to do is to follow them, not physically (that would be stalking!) but by pressing the follow button on Twitter. Many of them will follow back if your profile looks like that of a real person and not  a Bot. 

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Finally, consider your marketing strategy. You can pick from some ways to market your product but stay away from spamming. Users on Twitter are more sensitive to spamming than any other social website and will have no problem eliminating you from their follow list. Therefore, you have to be extra careful about the content of your marketing strategy. You can add these people while tweeting telling about your product. You can also engage them in Twitter communities by broadcasting your message through your old and new friends on Twitter. 

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The best way to be successful on Twitter after you find local people is to be authentic and humble online. Your online image should be treated with respect even if you are online only to market products and not make friends. 

Twitter

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