Get More from Twitter – Twitter Marketing eBook Review

The meteoric rise in popularity of Twitter has spawned a rapid growth in media coverage, Twitter books and numerous Twitter-related applications and tools. The best hands-on book about Twitter, the social media platform, that I have come across is an e-Book written by well known blogger Marko Saric entitled Twitter Marketing: How to Go Viral On Twitter. Mr. Saric developed much of his material through substantial experience in acquiring over 20,000 Twitter followers and through his successful blog, Howtomakemyblog.com. His understanding of social media is evident in the practical nature of his explanations and advice.

Tactical Twitter Marketing

As Twitter’s popularity continues to grow many people are looking for methods to use Twitter and other social media more effectively. Mr. Saric’s 55-page eBook is focused on the tactical, hands-on use of Twitter for marketing and promotion, from growing an online audience, presence and reputation to driving more traffic to a web site or blog to growing product sales to lowering customer acquisition costs and more. Twitter Marketing provides tips, tactics, explanations, examples and graphics to help flatten the Twitter learning curve for readers. Mr. Saric also draws on his extensive experience to cite real world examples of what not to do on Twitter and how to avoid the potholes on the Twitter Highway. Sometimes knowing what not to do can be as evaluable as knowing what to do.

Twitter Marketing begins with a short overview of setting up and personalizing one’s Twitter presence and useful Twitter do’s and don’ts. The e-book addresses the importance of a Twitter username, bio, site link and avatar that people will use in finding and identifying a Twitter user. Very useful information for novice users and not overly long for people already using Twitter.

The next four sections in Twitter Marketing delve into tweeting, replying, following, followers, and the tools for growing and managing these important areas. Mr. Saric shares insights and suggestions for selecting a Twitter client other than the standard Twitter web interface. He then provides guidance for effectively growing the number of followers and methods of finding the most beneficial people to follow. For people who haven’t done much research on the various Twitter tools that are available, the suggestions and insights in Twitter Marketing can provide significant benefits by helping save time and energy determining which tools will work best for particular needs and goals.

Going Viral on Twitter

A key strategic aspect of tweeting is the very important Retweet or “RT”. Retweeting is when another Twitter user sees your tweet and then “retweets” or broadcasts your tweet to their list of Twitter followers. Since their followers may be significantly different from your list of followers your tweet will then reach a brand new group of people. As Mr. Saric explains, “Word of mouth or viral marketing is when your content is spread from person to person. Retweeting is the most powerful factor in something going viral on Twitter.”

Methods and tactics for retweeting are explained in detail. Areas explored include: suggestions on how to optimize your tweets for retweeting (less is more); how to get your tweets retweeted by others; and how to track retweets. Twitter Marketing also includes information and suggestions on specific tools to use for maximizing your retweeting opportunities.

How Retweets Scale

Retweets provide a way to leverage your communications (tweets) on Twitter. Say I send a tweet to my 1,000 followers and 10 of those followers retweet my tweet to 10 of their followers and then 10 of each of their followers retweet that tweet to their followers. My single tweet can reach a very large number of twitter users in a very short period of time if enough people find it compelling enough to retweet. Especially if a few of the people who retweet my message have 10,000, 50,000 or 100,000 followers. The trick of course being to write interesting, useful tweets that people will want to retweet.

Twitter Marketing does have a specific focus and so will not answer everyone’s questions about every aspect of using Twitter. Having described some of what Mr. Saric’s eBook covers here are some things that it does not address:

• Twitter’s role in the social media universe.
• How Twitter compares to any other product or technology.
• How Twitter functions as a service.
• Where Twitter fits within the marketing spectrum.
• The philosophical aspects of Twitter.

As mentioned earlier, this eBook focuses on the hands-on, tactical use of Twitter along with the use of a number of related applications and tools. Each chapter ends with a list of suggested Things To Do designed to further the reader’s understanding of the contents of the previous chapter. The eBook also includes a glossary of Twitter terms, and a list of 40+ links for additional useful Twitter information. Many of these links are referenced within the text.

The Value of the Twitter Marketing eBook

There are a large number of other articles, books, eBooks, and blog posts about Twitter currently available. The things I find most appealing about Mr. Saric’s eBook are: it’s very current, being an eBook it had no long publishing lead time; it’s very strong in proving a number of practical tips and suggestions that can be implemented immediately; and it is written in a very easy to understand and digest form that never tries to intimidate or impress. Twitter Marketing is a valuable, easy to implement resource that will help improve productivity and efficiency for most Twitter users.

The Twitter Marketing: How to Go Viral On Twitter eBook does not break any dramatically new ground. In reality most of the basic information could be found by spending many hours online combing through web sites and blogs, reading content that may or may not be well written, current or accurate, and then distilling out what is appropriate to your needs. And therein lays the true value of Mr. Saric’s eBook. For $20 the reader can save themselves many hours plus have a well written, very current resource that also contains 40+ links to further extending their knowledge on Twitter marketing and social media. For the sake of clarity, I actually paid for my copy of Twitter Marketing before I had any plans on writing a review. It was well worth the price.

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