Grow your business with Twitter

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Some two years ago, Twitter launched as an online service where people could describe their current status in a brief text message (‘tweet’) and broadcast it to the world or a private circle of friends. It was a brand new concept though we did see some clones later in the form of Jaiku and Pownce.

When people initially tried Twitter, the first very obvious reaction was—“Why would anyone want to share moments of their private life on the internet?” or “Why would you want to know that I am going to the gym or caught in a traffic jam?”

The concept of Twitter did seem weird at first but the world quickly discovered tonnes of interesting uses and saw a value in using this service. Even businesses are using the Twitter ecosystem to pre-announce new products, get feedback, share upcoming deals or just for tracking buzz around their products and services.

The Dell Outlet uses Twitter to announce upcoming deals and discounts on refurbished Dell computers. JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines use Twitter to let customers know about new routes and fare discounts. News sites like BBC and The New York Times publish stories on Twitter the moment they get published thus replacing the traditional email alert system.

If you also own a product or a service, here are some essential tools to help you harness the full power of Twitter without making any dent in your existing marketing budget because these tools are completely free.

Twitter Feed: This service fetches new content from your blog (or any site that supports RSS feeds) and publishes a link in your Twitter account. It will help your existing customers stay updated about news related to products they already own.

Tweet Scan: This is like Google for Twitter. It will solve two problems:

* Tweet Scan is great for monitoring feedback about your product from conversations happening in the Twitter universe. And they provide RSS feeds so you’ll automatically know when people tweet about products.

* With Tweet Scan, you can find existing customers who are already on Twitter and follow them so they come to know about your existence. Or you may search for the name of your competing products and track potential customers.