Twitter is an absolutely amazing online business tool, and it has, on several occasions, staggered a little bit under the weight of its explosive growth – and occasionally, when a major news break happens, tweeters from around the world spring forward and crash their servers. It’s difficult to think of anything that has had such an amazing growth curve as this upstart social networking platform. Twitter didn’t exist at the beginning of 2006, yet today it’s ranked as the 25th most important website in the world by a number of visitors, and it has many millions of active followers.brbrTwitter does break the usual trends somewhat, insofar as anything to do with social networking has an established trend of course. Twitter lets you post messages, either via a web portal or through your mobile phone, letting everyone know exactly what you’re thinking, where you’re at or what you’re doing at the moment. Your message is restricted to 140 characters or less, so it’s always succinct. You have the option of selecting who you want to talk to, and who you want to hear from – known as followers or following in the world of Twitter.brbrAt this still early point of its development, Twitter doesn’t really have any kind of a href=http://www.virtualmissfriday.com/ target=’_blank’online business/a model in place. You can quickly sign up and start tweeting your message at no cost whatsoever. Marketers take a good look at the viral capabilities afforded by the service and start to salivate. All sorts of amazing opportunities await those who work toward harnessing Twitter’s incredible power.brbrTwitter is perfect for communicating business news or interacting with your friends and family. You can send a message directly from your mobile phone using one of the currently available applications, without even having to visit a computer. It’s difficult to estimate the actual number of users because of the fluid nature of the platform, but many experts do caution that the number of avid users, or those who actively follow and get followed, represents a very small proportion of the total user base.brbrWhile the number of engaged users may be only a few percentage points of the total user base, the Twitter platform can still be viewed as having good marketing potential. Internet marketers should choose to solicit their followers with caution. Whatever your niche, the first thing that you need to do is to seek out other experts who are regular tweeters. You can do this by using a simple search within the program. Once you find these experts, take a constructive look at their list of followers, as your job is to try and add friends or followers to your Twitter feed in a concerted and sensible way.brbrAs it appears that the vast majority of members do not actively keep up with Twitter, it follows that there is no point in adding followers without trying to qualify them. If you can readily see that the follower in question has a fairly active list of individuals who he or she is following and, in turn, is being followed by, then they’re definitely good potential targets for you to go after.brbrWork toward building a list of followers by first following people who you suspect might have an interest in your specific products or services. If you have qualified them and you find that they follow you back, you are on your way.brbrWhile you might just simply include your information in the profile supplied by Twitter, most experts will recommend that you also create some sort of banner or template instead of using a stock wallpaper background. This should also contain your branding, logo and a catchy message of some kind – it’s something all serious marketers maintain.brbrJust as with any other kind of Internet marketing or a href=http://www.virtualmissfriday.com/ target=’_blank’website development/a, stay clear of spamming and keep your messages relevant, informative and entertaining as well. There is a time and a place for you to include your marketing message, and you must always do this in a subtle way. Happy Tweeting!brbrMichelle Dale is The Managing Director of Virtual Miss Friday, an accomplished Executive a href=http://www.virtualmissfriday.com/ target=’_blank’Virtual Assistant/a Service which helps companies of all sizes reach their commercial targets. Want to get more information about online business building success strategies that really work? Contact VMF today!