I had the opportunity recently to attend an Atlanta TWEETUP. That is where those of us accustomed to communicating by Twitter only get a wonderful opportunity to meet face to face. We swap news, business strategies, and socialize! It is a lot of fun and always entertaining to see who actually resembles their online avatar!

More importantly, I had a chance to hobnob with a couple of guys that I follow and who follow me online. Their followings are enormous and they have worked hard to get there. They are both making significant monies online monthly. Mike has realized success in his true online business selling coaching in technical marketing; while Andrew sells insurance (life and health) real time but has mastered valued connections on Twitter to grow his business. Both shared the details on how Twitter has made dramatic changes lately and is likely to continue doing so. The changes will make it significantly more challenging to gain and grow a large following rapidly. The size of your following matters in how much business you do.

While the type of interaction you provide is important, you must:
* Give real content value.
* Be persistent and consistent.
* Share who you are in a social, friendly way.

The larger your following is, the more apt you are to realize results. You may see less than 5 percent response rate but when you have a following of over 50K or 70K (and both of these colleagues do) the results count. Yes, I do see a response rate that matters to me at 18K followers and I am growing constantly.

If you aren't on board, GET ON BOARD NOW! Please this is important to your future business marketing whether you are brick and mortar, service based, a creativepreneurs, a coach, or some other specialty. Twitter is powerful and an integral part of a successful marketing strategy. This is not some temporary flash in the pan, but is here to stay.

Twitter is still privately owned and funded; the changes they have made include drastically reducing the amount of followers you can get in a 24 hours period from thousands to 1K or less. This is likely to continue changing as they struggle to keep up with demand, and manage their bandwidth, before they get bought out by some big fish. They have already turned down offers in the hundreds of millions, betting they'll hold out for a billion! What are you waiting for?

Want more social media and new marketing tips, tools and shortcuts? Check out www.todaybydesign.com! When you are ready to take your business to the next level, get your FREE strategy session with business expert Melissa Galt at www.sixfigureprofessionals.com. Designing tomorrow’s success, today!