It's early in 2009, three years after the launch of Twitter. If you haven't heard of Twitter by now, I invite you to raise your arms above your shoulders, push hard, and cast off that rock you've been living under.

Okay. Bad joke. Every marketer knows what Twitter is, right?

Right.

But knowing that Twitter exists doesn't exactly put you on the cutting edge these days. In fact, with millions of users, and as many press mentions as Facebook, Twitter is fast becoming a critical conduit for marketers looking to manage their brands online. But while marketing strategies are being developed for Twitter, no two brands are using the medium in the exact same way. And that's a good thing, because at 140 characters per tweet, Twitter is nothing if not genuine, say many users who follow the world through the platform.

According to Rohit Bhargava, SVP at Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence, brands that merely engage on Twitter to search for what people are saying about them are missing the point.

"It's relatively obvious advice to say that the best reason for being on Twitter is if you search and find that many of your customers are already talking about your brand and discussing your products there," Bhargava explains. “What most brands underestimate, however, is the powerful way that Twitter can give you direct access to people who may usually be unreachable."

How direct?
Though he likely doesn't know her, one of those people Bhargava could be talking about is Karen Wise, a frequent Twitter user living in the Boston area.

"One day I tweeted about a good experience I'd had at Whole Foods," Wise says. "The next thing I knew, I'd won Whole Foods' 'Tweet of the Day' and was sent a $25 gift card! I didn't even know they were on Twitter, and I certainly didn't know about the 'Tweet of the Day.' Now, I obviously follow them. Very smart on their part!"

Wise's experience isn't uncommon on Twitter. In fact, it's the exact reason why many brands are there -- to connect with real people -- and that connection can take place in a number of ways so long as brands adhere to one rule: Be yourself.

According to Justin Foster, founder of Tricycle Brand Development, that genuine approach is the key to success for brands on Twitter.

"For businesses interested in using Twitter, the most difficult thing to overcome is that Twitter is not a broadcasting medium, it is a conversation tool," Foster says.

That means following good Twitter etiquette, Foster says. Brands should tweet as individuals, complete the bio section of their account (including a picture), and keep their following/follower ratio as close to 2:1 as possible.

But with those guidelines in mind, it's also critical to ask what your brand hopes to achieve on Twitter, because as many brands are finding out, the platform is as difficult to classify as it is dynamic. That said, with a clear goal and an engaging voice, Twitter does offer brands an incredibly powerful tool.

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