Twitter which started out just as a tool to help users make friends and family aware of what is going on with their lives has now become one of the hottest new hangouts to mingle and socialize on the web.
While Twitter works just fine as a tool to update people about latest happenings in one's life, it is in the online marketing arena Twitter enjoys immense possibilities borne out of sheer magnitude of people, all swarming in one spot ready to lap up and spread interesting, unique and usable messages.
Here are some steps you can follow to become a successful online marketer on Twitter.
Step 1

Create a Twitter account

This is fairly easy process and you can create an account for your marketing campaign at http://www.twitter.com. Remember to create separate account whose name is related to the product/service you are going to promote, even if you have a personal Twitter account. It will look more professional in the long run to have a dedicated following which will comprise exclusively of the target audience.

Step 2

Customize the profile

Once the account has been created, it is time to tweak with the profile details to make it look attractive for the target audience. So add an attractive logo, match the color of the profile with that of the logo, include keywords about the product/service to be promoted, add pictures and bits of information which are interesting and usable and fill in all the sidebar information.

Step 3

Put badges on the website

Putting badges on the website and the web pages related to the promotion will allow the visitors to the website to follow you on Twitter. Twittercounter and Twittergrader badges are recommended for this purpose.

Step 4

Seek followers

This is the most important aspect of Twittering whether you are doing it for a personal purpose or for a marketing purpose. But web marketers must only seek quality followers who have interest in the business vertical in which they are promoting their product or service. This can be done by going through the profiles and tweets posted by the followers.

Step 5

Retweet

Retweeting means replying to the tweets posted by other users. Proper retweeting can go a long way in gaining invaluable followers who are very popular themselves. If you follow someone with say 10,000 followers and retweet to his/her posts meaningfully for long enough, chances are bright that he/she will start to retweet you and start following you. If someone with 10,000 followers retweets your posts then there is the potential for massive impact as often their followers will retweet your post and so on. This way you would hit the Twitter jackpot.


Step 6

Create buzz

Now you have got a sizable number of people following you and you have the power of retweet and you want to write a new post. But before actually writing the post start creating a buzz through tweets.

Step 7

Tweet your post

You have the retweet power, and you have created the buildup. It is time to tweet your post. So do it, make sure that it brings some value to your followers.

Step 8

Tweet constant reminders

This is an important part of successful tweeting. Keep posting reminder tweets which are different from one another and lead to different aspects of the post. You should also time your reminders by gauging when the most of your retweeters are retweeting.

Tips and warnings

1. Be Useful - create value for the readers
2. Be Timely - post when the most of retweeters are online.
3. Be Willing to Engage - don't create impersonal and vague tweets rather interact with the reader.
4. Don't be Spammer