We have used Twitter to offload inventory to followers of a major retailer before they were sold off to a discount store. Net outcome: $4,000 in sales of the products over what they would have netted if sold in the traditional manner.

We have also used Twitter to bring together players that wouldn’t otherwise connect in the normal fashion. For example, a small business in Phoenix was looking to get in front of Amazon. I was having lunch with an SVP of Amazon that was in town for the day. I sent a Tweet alerting others where we were lunching, showing my Amazon friend how some use it to socialize (after asking if he would be okay if someone joined us) and it was a good way to connect them in a non-salesy sort of way.

We have used Twitter to generate specific answers to questions that people ask within the key categories of our clients where we are positioning them as subject matter experts. Simply search:twitter(stream you’re watching) and you can go that way. In some cases you lead Twitters to your site and product/offering. Other times, you are just increasing your rankings and visibility as a SME, which helps with brand positioning and PR.

We’ve used it to find employees, products, and also for contractors that are well versed in social media in 15 countries when a client needed us to fast track a viral online video contest in a flash in four languages.

The list goes on. So for some that see social media tools, microblogging (like Twitter,) social networks, social bookmarking, etc. as just “fun” and a waste of time, there are some firms like ours that are finding viable business examples for them. It’s just a matter of remember that Twitter and the like are all just TOOLS, not an end all be all. And that you can’t just jump in. You need to have an expert help – unless of course, you are JUST playing.

That said, if after a while, you aren’t getting traction either completely review the activities or ditch it altogether. It won’t necessarily work for everyone.

Having tangible metrics (be they related to your own activity, SEO, traffic) is essential but tricky.

Thanks so much for all the warm welcomes and kind words. It’s wonderful to be able to share my experience with this tremendous community.

I’m big on demystifying and revealing nuts and bolts applications that fuel biz, so that’ll be a big focus of what I write about here at SBT, along with marketing, copywriting and more.

I find a lot of people think social media sites are supposed to work like magic. They post 1 small blurb and wait by their computer screen for instant magical results. Not gonna happen. It takes lots of time and effort and I do agree that you have to let it happen naturally. Trying to force it will only leave you frustrated.

It took me a while to “get” Twitter, but stories like your Business Week one are becoming more and more common. Now if we could only do something about that darn fail whale!

Although I have signed up for Twitter, I actually have not used it. One reason is that my contacts are in outlook and they seem to look for contacts in gmail etc which I have not updated. Your examples have explained the benefits simply and it makes sense. Great post.

Thanks for giving some terrific evidence to support the worth of participating on Twitter. By the time the naysayers realize the worth of a new medium, another wave has come along. I appreciate you for clarifying the relationship among the layers of social media so early adopters have even more reason to jump aboard.