If you find twitter a waste of time then this article will show you why you are wrong. It will look at three ways you can use twitter to bring your business into the modern age through inbound marketing. You can use twitter to generate leads, watch the public's reaction to your business and make sure your customers are happy. Once you have read this article you will understand why Twitter is important to your business.

1. Networking and Lead Generation: Twitter offers an unheard of ability to network with like-minded people and generate leads. There are thousands of tweets every minute of every day. Every topic you can imagine is being discussed and this includes your niche, product or service. You can tap into these conversations and engage potential leads.

2. Learn What people Are Saying: Twitter is the perfect tool to monitor what people are saying. It gives you a glimpse into real-time responses from people. The most effective way to use this for your business is to use a Twitter client like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck and set up search columns that find every tweet that mentions your business, your product/service or your competitors. You can get real-time feedback on a sale you offer, what do people think of it? You can get ideas to make it better next time. By monitoring your competitors you can find out when people aren't happy with them and you can then engage these leads and tell them why your biz is different. Monitoring what people are saying will also allow you to give instant support. If someone has a complaint about your product you can instantly tweet them instructions or some sort of offer to appease them. Imagine how they will look at your company after that? You will probably earn a lifelong client.

3. Brand Yourself as an Expert: Branding yourself as an expert in your field is a great way to build credibility. Twitter offers a great opportunity to do this as a part of search engine marketing or SEM process. You can help people who are having issues with stuff related to you field. For example, if you are a web designer and you see people asking questions about coding, you can answer those questions and become an expert in their eyes. When the time comes that this person is so frustrated with coding they just want to pay someone for it, they will remember you helped them and know that you are legit. Helping people is one of the best ways to gain their trust. If you have dozens of people looking to you for advice on Twitter each day, then you will have leverage when you pitch your ideas, services or products. People listen to those who have helped them.