10 Most Obvious Benefits of Twitter

Blue sky and a happy cow showing her tongue

SEO 2.0 is by now known as the best possible combination of using

  • search
  • social media
  • blogging

to achieve prominence online. Now how does Twitter usage fit in there?

I tried to use Twitter properly that means both to the advantage of the community/medium I use and also for my own goals

in contrast to just working for free for UGC sites or wasting time on social media.

Thus I present to you the 10 most obvious benefits of Twitter:

1. Getting people to share my content on other social media sites
Many times in recent months all I needed to do to spread certain articles was to share them on Twitter to get the word out. My followers shared them elsewhere on other social media sites or communities like Inbound.org

2. Verifying information before posting
I posted a story on Twitter first and then on a niche social news site just to get notified on Twitter that someone had discovered it was just a rip off of an 2006 story after clicking the links in it.

I did not notice myself. Thus I could get it deleted before all of the Internet knew it and ridiculed me (psst, don’t tell anybody about it!).

3. Getting acute issues resolved
When some sites are down I look up what’s going on on Twitter. Last time my Zoho mail account stopped working and I was unable to reach it I realized I was not the only one, others couldn’t access it. How did I know? I asked on Twitter.

4. Interviewing people and generating content for my blog
During the first days on Twitter I asked a few people to reply to my questions concerning their Twitter usage. At least 5 did reply. I posted the answers in my next Twitter post. I used Twitter to crowdsource articles numerous times ever since.

5. Being one of the first to know a story
Social media early adopters and other people find stories online and post them to Twitter first. So in many cases I was the first person to share these pieces of great content to other social media.

6. Getting a blogging gig
In fact I found out about my first SEO blogging job opportunity via Twitter as far as I remember. I contacted the owner of a UK SEO blog via Twitter instead of writing a resume or something first.

7. Getting direct traffic
Now I did not really hope for much traffic from Twitter, others apparently get up to thousands visitors via Twitter but indeed it is significant if you know that 100 or 200 social media power users who may also have blogs have visited your site.

8. Networking with influential people
I was able to contact a RWW writer and a story of mine was “liked” by Robert Scoble over at Facebook via Twitter as far as I remember. Influencers are more approachable by way of Twitter than elsewhere.

9. Getting post ideas
One day I was sooo lazy that I needed some external input to be able to blog. I tried with a little cheerleading first but then a follower of mine suggested something crazy. This inspired me to write the 7 Completely Insane Black Hat SEO 2.0 Techniques.

10. Blackmailing innocent users
It might sound weird but I have a slight psychological disorder, I like to blackmail innocent users. I love saying things like “Counting. In case I don’t have 200 followers by tomorrow morning (CET) I’ll boycott Twitter!!!“

Now all these benefits sound quite selfish and as SEO 2.0 is always a give and take with giving first and then taking what did I do for the other Twitter users?

I did #1, #5, #7, #8 from the giving perspective. I’d love to do #2, #3 and #4 for you but you must let me! Ask questions, and ask the right questions!

Anyways, #10 is not fun. Obey and follow me or I will boycott Twitter! I extend the deadline to tomorrow!

Last updated: February 22nd, 2017.

 

Merken

Merken

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