A lot of entreprenuers and small business people usually stumble and fall when they first get on Twitter to market their services and products. Even when I first joined, it was more for SEO purposes than actual connection. Thankfully I wisened up and have made a sizable income from using Twitter as a marketing channel. Here are 5 rules that you should take note if you intend to succeed in using Twitter for business purposes.

Rule 1: Have a Photo

Even though it sounds redundant, not having a picture make you look like a spammer to the prospective followers. Yet so many serious business owners make this mistake. The second mistake to use photos that are low-res and does not contain your face. Twitterers want to connect with human beings, not with your admittedly impressive muscular back! In fact, studies have shown having a photo boost following rate by a cool 80%.

Rule 2: Be Interesting

Again, I may sound like captain obvious, but in a sea of countless faces with everyone being a "marketer, entreprenuer and work-at-home mom", there's very little difference among the pack. Add a little bit of color--a bold photo, a compelling bio, Tweets brimming with personality and you'll start getting an unprecedented amount of recommendations. You'll be a word-of-mouth hero in no time.

Rule 3: Be Valuable

The more value you add to your followers, the more responsive they will be to your promotions. Value actually lies in relevance. The more links of relevant interest you tweet out, the more they can't get enough of you. Just use a URL shortener like http://budurl.com, track out the topics that generate the most interest, and give it to your followers over and over again. You'll be like a gem among all the chaff on the tweetstream.

Rule 4: Get Naked

No, this is not as salacious as it sounds. But people are attracted to vulnerability, and they need to buy from who you are before they buy what you sell. So be real, be authentic, tweet your innermost thoughts, hopes, fears and dreams, and they'll be drawn to you. The bonding potential that Twitter brings is tremendous and you can put your relationship marketing on steroids just by being yourself.

Rule 5: Be Balanced

Unless the person is really difficult, most people are okay if you tweet out the odd promo once in a all. After all, you need to eat right. Unfortunately, mostly people take advantage of their followers' goodwill and spam them constantly without adding any other form of value. The general ratio is Seven Tweets of Infinite Value to every one promo link. You'll make more money without upsetting more people than you should.

In Other Words...

The 5 rules says one thing --It's humanity, not technology that draws people in at the end of it all. You may have the most shiny app, but without the human connection behind, it will result in Twitter marketing failures.

So follow this 5 Rules of Twitter Marketing, and see yourself actually monetizing the marketing channel in a really quick time!

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