Hi there, The Digital Marketer here, ready to help you put the power of the Internet and technology to work for your business.

Today we're going to explore the big world of microblogs. What are they, how do they work, and most importantly, why would you want one...or two...or three or more of them?

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Back to Microblogs.

Background

First some background, and then some tips.

A microblog is a site that combines the publishing power of blogging with some social networking features like “friends” or “followers.”

Some microblogs, like Twitter and Jaiku (J-A-I-K-U), limit your posts to 140 characters or less and let you send and receive posts through SMS or text messaging. That is 140 characters, not words. The character limit really challenges you to condense your marketing messages into truly bite-sized pieces.

I like to think of my microblogs as watercoolers, especially Twitter. Imagine you with 20, 100 or 500 or more “friends” following your posts. That means that all of those people have access to what you post and you have access to what they post if you are following them back.

Because it is so fast and easy to microblog from the Web, from a handheld device or mobile phone, or even from small desktop applications you can download onto your computer, people have gotten into the habit of posting often and about practically anything.

Since we're talking about using your microblog for business, a quick and dirty tip is to limit your mundane I-had-a-chocolate-muffin-for-breakfast posts, and stick to interesting business items such as what you're reading or hot industry topics. People like it when you include a link to the blog post, website article, or Web applications you've discovered. If you point people to things they find useful, they'll have a reason to continue reading your posts.

Microblogging Tips

If you are thinking of using microblogging as a marketing tool for your business, here are a few things to consider:

1. Do you have a solid business reason to be posting to a microblog?  Not every company or organization has a real need to disseminate information all the time. Do you have a reason to post that could have a positive impact on your company's bottom line? A good example of a retail business using Twitter is Do you have a reason to post that could have a positive impact on your company's bottom line? A good example of a retail business using Twitter is Bella Boutique in Anchorage, Alaska. They post about once a day--which is plenty for their purposes--and a recent Tweet read: "Come down and see us at the Anchorage Women's Show!"  Clearly only Anchorage-area residents could look for the company's booth at an expo. However, they know their audience and target messages specifically to them to drive more traffic to their retail location and to build their brand.
2. Do you have the time to post often? The most popular microblogs are updated at least daily and more often several times to many times a day. You need to post often to build a following-- make sure you can co that before you start.
3. Is your audience following microblogs? With any marketing tool you use, you need to pick and choose based on what your customers are consuming. Just because you know your customers are online does not mean that they have the time or interest in following a microblog. Visit my website for a list of tools that will help you do a little bit of market research before you set up a microblogging page.
4. How will you keep your microblog from being a boring commercial? You'll have a hard time getting loyal followers if all you do is post about your company products or services or other purely marketing and promotional messages. Make sure you can broaden the topics in your microblog posts to capture and maintain your audience.