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Monday the 16^th was ‘Blue Monday’ – which is apparently the most depressing day of the year. Pah! Couldn’t be more wrong in my opinion. I’m much more depressed on the other 364.

I am joking, of course.

With Blue Monday came a new trending topic on Twitter where users were publishing their ideas for combating the January blues.

I read ideas on everything from buying a designer handbag at a cut price to making huge life changing decisions like quitting a job or moving to the other side of the world.

Inspiring stuff.

And it struck me yesterday that Twitter is inspiring.

The fact is, Twitter is growing, and growing into an absolutely invaluable marketing platform. So, although we’ve touched on whether it’s possible to grow a business on Twitter before, I want us to really think this week and ask…

HOW can you grow a business on Twitter?

One of the problems we have with Twitter in 2012 is the very fact that it is getting bigger and bigger and more and more popular as time passes. The scale of Twitter activity is so HUGE that your ideas can feel like they are being Tweeted in to a big black hole.

Making yourself stand out on Twitter is what is needed. That much is obvious. But how?

Over the weekend I was thinking about this as I found myself becoming re-enamored with Twitter after seeing an inspirational presentation I came across by a guy called Ryan Spoon.

His advice is to:

“1. Listen.
2. Be authentic.
3. Be compelling.
4. Find the influencers.
5. Extend off Twitter and onto your site.”

I couldn’t think of 5 better rules myself.

In any niche at all, this advice is fantastic and I urge you to take a look at his presentation here.

All in all this is about being knowledgeable, willing to give and be very authentic. Honesty. It will get you far online.

I’d love to hear more from you guys about how you’re using social media sites like Twitter... In fact I’d like to use my weekly post as a forum for sharing tips about (amongst other things) how we can use sites like Twitter to further business ventures we undertake this year...

I’d like to give you some ‘do or die’ rules… and I’ve come up with my first 3 already:

1. Be everywhere

The social media world is no longer limited to Facebook and Twitter. And although it’s best to focus efforts where you’ll get the most reward, it’s important for any business to claim their ‘place’ on every site. Setting up on most of them takes just minutes.

You’ll need to think about LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, services like Foursquare, Places, Maps and directories available within your niche.

Even if you can’t spend a load of time updating a Google+ or LinkedIn page, at least get them started so that you have the link to your site (important for SEO) and more relevant results for you/ your company showing up when someone searches for you.

2. Measure Results

I’ve been a marketer for about 9 years now. And right from my very earliest training on ROI, the importance of measuring results has been drilled into my skull with a Black and Decker.

But it struck me just recently that in the world of online business opportunities, individuals aren’t always shown in a useful and meaningful (and easy to apply!) way how to track and interpret the result of their efforts.

I’d like to teach any of you who aren’t familiar with it about Google Analytics (video coming up on this next week!) Google Analytics lets you track visitors to your site for free. For example, I can see how many visitors came to my site from LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. It’s important, it tells you where to focus your efforts.

3. Add Your Social Media Links to Online and Printed Collateral

Once you’ve got all of your social media profiles set up and launched, make sure that you’re adding your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ pages to business cards, brochures, fliers, and any other printed materials you might create.

Make sure that links to all of your social media profiles are on your own website too.

And there you have it… my first 3 rules.

Let me know if you have any of your own or if there is any specific element to Google analytics you’d like me to look at for your free video next week!

by Sara Baugh Online Opportunities Expert Sara has several years experience at the cutting edge of Internet Marketing and is a regular contributor to Internet Income Detective. You can sign up for her free weekly eletter here: Recent Articles by Sara Name Email

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