Twitter, a moneymaker?

When I asked people on LinkedIn and Twitter if they new about any good succes stories related to Twitter I got mixed answers. Many stated that Twitter is “grossly over-hyped” and is “full of ir

relevant tweets”, but I also received some good examples and testimonials of success based on Twitter as a business tool.

Ludvik Zidek (http://www.linkedin.com/in/ludvikzidek) stated that Twitter might be good for the

“news and newspaper industry as it sometimes brings the latest often dramatic news”. Tony Heywood (http://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyheywood2) states that Twitter “will not be around in a few years time”. However, even though he is pretty negative about the future for Twitter he also mentions the following great link http://www.sugarrae.com/an-actual-non-big-brand-twitter-case-study/. The article “shows you a specific example (a step by step guide and Twitter case study all rolled into one if you will) of a non “big brand”, commercial website

utilizing Twitter to further its brand, get traffic and gain backlinks. I wouldn’t call it the “ultimate guide” because Twitter is too new a medium for anyone to be an “expert” at it. But, hopefully it helps people see the potential of Twitter as more than a time waster.” Says Ray Hoffman.

Vivek Bellore (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vivek-bellore/1/8b8/8) mentioned Gary Vaynerchuck´s success with his wine offers. The following link is a great statement from Gary. http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-252642. Vivek also mentioned NPR´s successful community engagement to engage their listening base, “and making sure all their niches are covered”. Obviously some confirmed successful cases.

In the professional services level Allan Kirsch (http://www.linkedin.com/in/allankirsch) uses Twitter to “follow my networking connections”. By Twitter he follows and interacts with network connection to see if he “can assist them in any way”. Allan also states clearly that he does stop following someone that is “constantly spewing useless information”, and that he tweets “important update information about my services” and that he is “keeping the volume light”.

The one and only direct reply from somebody who “gains paying clients through Twitter” was Charrise McCrorey (http://www.linkedin.com/in/coachcharrise). She states that “My business has grown significantly due to the time I spent on Twitter”. She also says “I recommend people develop and use a strategy, because like anything else, it can be the cause for time wasting..”

Another good article was dropped from Danny Somekh, see the following link http://econsultancy.com/blog/4146-moonfruit-paying-for-social-media-prowess.

Twitter for the Nobel Piece Prize!? Well, even that is mentioned. Amy Allred (http://www.linkedin.com/in/aallred3) sent me the following link: http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/07/06/daily17.html?ana=e_bjtt . Well, that will be the day…

Most of the people who replied mentioned LinkedIn and Facebook as tools that works better for business generation and networking.However, well used, in cooperation with other tools, Twitter seems to be an underestimated tool to reach out to customers, stake holders and networking groups to create or strengthen relationships.

Well, that’s it, a small summary of the response I got from my question regarding money making through Twitter. Feel free to comment.