Below is a discussion response I wrote for my business class. It was a focused on marketing in a technological setting. I decided to divide this into a couple (more digestible) parts. Part two comes out tomorrow.

The Twitterfesto

I could probably write a book on how Twitter can help a business. For my site, I’m working on building an audience and community. Twitter has recently been a big part of that effort. One of the big benefits of being a comic creator online is the ability to respond directly to your fans. If they like your work and you as an individual, you’ll have a more committed reader. Since joining Twitter I’ve managed to increase my readership. Twitter, for those who don’t know, is a social marketing tool for small, medium, and big businesses, as well as individuals looking to connect with family and friends easily. When you discover someone’s Twitter page, you have the ability to “follow” him or her. By doing so, you’re able to keep track of any update they make. Since you’re limited to 140 characters or less, it is very similar to sending a text message to anyone that wants to follow you. I’ve used this to help my site on several levels. (more…)

Twitter has also helped me grow a closer relationship to creators I respect, and fans that are interested in my work. For my comic, the comments section (the section under the comic or a blog post where the reader is able to respond to a post) has been the large extent to where I’ve been able to interact with my fans. Now with Twitter, I’m able to market myself. While I have fans of my comic, a good half the people I run into on Twitter seem to be just as much fans of me (how very sad). I’m now able to count on “Superfans” to help me promote my comic through their efforts on Twitter. I’ve had a couple individuals advise me on how I need to integrate Facebook to help me market myself, for example. (more…)