Twitter is a service that's received equal amounts of hype and disdain, with many internet pundits hailing it as the coming of a new generation of short attention spans. With so many people using the service now, there's certainly some truth to their argument. However, there are many ways to use Twitter as a highly useful marketing tool, beginning with just a few simple marketing principles. Whether you're a Twitter power user or just someone that wants to get more exposure for yourself or your business, optimising your Twitter usage through some very basic principles can lead to massive increases in your affiliate earnings, page views, and advertising revenue. These simple tips and strategies are detailed below:

#1 - Follow as many interesting people as you can.

This is a Twitter strategy that all too often gets massively misunderstood. With many accounts having massive follower counts, there are also far too many that have huge 'following' counts. Lets explain the differences between a value creating follower, and a value extracting follower:

A value creating follower is someone with whom you can connect, benefit from through tangible results, and communicate with to create value for both sides. This can be a mentor, an artist that you admire, or just someone that's interesting to you. It doesn't necessarily have to be anyone important, just someone that can create value you, and for whom you can create value.

A value extracting follower is someone that follows you for the sole purpose of increasing their follower count. This can be a false metric sometimes. While often your follower count is a great way of gauging your online influence, all too often it can become deceptive. When your follower count is filled to the brim with followers that are only there for their own personal gain, it massively devalues your total follower count's value.

#2 - Give your followers more than you take.

This is one strategy that far too many Twitter marketers fail to achieve. Instead of creating value for their followers and winning their trust, many marketers simply spam their followers with endless affiliate links, poorly crafted sales pitches, and shameless self promotion. This isn't a long term strategy.

Affiliate links and promotional material can prove to be an exceptionally powerful and lucrative resource, but without the proper amount of preceding value, your followers will likely click away once they hit your sales page. You need to build trust with your followers before you lead them towards any sales pages or money making opportunities. Spend some time building that trust, and you can take your followers anywhere you can imagine.

This all boils down to a basic marketing truth: people will always listen to someone they trust before someone they don't. Nowhere is this more true than on the internet, where spam and advertising is always present. Be the knight in shining armour and you can eventually lead your followers down a path that makes you massive amounts of money.

Discover the top 10 Twitter tricks in the free Turnkey Twitter report. Feel free to distribute this article in any form as long as you include this resource box. You can also include your affiliate link if you sign up at Clickbank Pirate.