Marketers find Twitter a tweet recipe for success

Great article in USA Today about retail using Twitter for marketing. I actually recently started a Twitter campaign for a client of mine: TwentyThirtyForty.net although the focus was not to sell clothing but to get more exposure for their fashion blog. And so far it’s been a pretty decent success, it got them some notice from other fashion bloggers and finally Dailysugar.com took notice, featuring them on the front page of their site. With a little bit of social marketing and good content, they litterally had one of the most successful days in the history of their little online boutique. That’s what social marketing is about, getting in front of the right audience that finds your content valuable. Twitter is fastly becoming a must use tool in the marketing mix.

Anyway, article from USA today:

USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-03-31-facebook-twitter-status-marketing_N.htm

LOS ANGELES — Cake decorator Suzi Finer fills in spare time during the workday updating her “status” on Facebook, telling about 2,000 customers about what she’s working on.

It’s no frivolous exercise: Finer is looking to boost business for her employer, Hansen’s Cakes of Beverly Hills, and says that sales are up 15% to 20% since she embraced Facebook as a sales tool in September. “That’s even in a recession,” she says. “People are still having birthday parties and weddings, and seeing these little bits about cakes on updates get them excited about the possibilities.”

TELL US: How often do you post updates to Twitter, Facebook, or other social networking sites?

Welcome to the social world of Facebook and Twitter, where you are encouraged to tell your online “friends” and “followers” about every little thing you’re doing Most teens and young adults use the short space to discuss the latest movie, CD or TV show.

Business people — including folks like Finer — find that the updates also work as a valuable sales tool. “It’s become even more important than blogging,” says Chris Winfield, who runs New York-based 10e20, which helps businesses with their online marketing campaigns. “It’s more immediate than a blog post, and if you’re trying to get out a message to thousands of people in a flash, status updates are the way to do it.”