Social networking has impacted business in a major away, both online and offline. Savvy business owners and internet marketers are finding ways to piggyback off of the popularity of these sites to gain consumer confidence, build brand loyalty and make sales. While social networking provides outstanding opportunities, it is important that marketers not put all of there “eggs in one basket” and that they plan for the end. When the public fascination wanes, which it undoubtedly will, this will likely mean a sudden and dramatic drop in income for some individuals.

There will always be a newer, bigger and better website that people will eventually flock to. It is important to plan for this. While it is important to stay current, traditional marketing methods will still prevail. In this article, we will discuss some ways to safeguard your business and income from the inevitable Twitter bust.

a. Provide Lasting Value: If you want to benefit from your Twitter followers long after the website dips in popularity, make yourself invaluable. Consistently provide your Followers with solid information, tips, entertainment or whatever your specialty is. Doing this will significantly increase the likelihood that they will become long term fans or buyers of your products.

b. Collect Email Addresses: Always, always try to collect the email addresses of your
followers. Email marketing is one of the best ways to make a consistent income online. Use Twitter to develop credibility so that your email conversions are high. In order to get your followers’ email addresses, offer them something free. This might be a free e-book, discount on a product or simply quality information that they would be hard pressed to get anywhere else.

c. Promote Your Primary Website: It is important that you get the word out about your primary website. This is because if your followers stop visiting Twitter altogether or reduce their use of the social networking website, they still know where to find you and purchase your products.

d. Start A Traditional Blog: Because the internet is so fluid, social networking sites that might be popular today may not be tomorrow. However, people tend to bookmark their favorite traditional websites and blogs. Having a blog that you update regularly will tend to stay pretty popular amongst your fans as long as it gives them what they want and has free content, while a particular social networking site may not. A website is great for static information, though it may be updated occasionally. Therefore, having both a website and blog is ideal. If people no longer feel compelled to tweet, they can still get lots of fresh content from your blog.

e. Offer “Twitter Only” Specials: One way to encourage continued participation on Twitter by your followers is to offer specials that are only available on Twitter. Offer significant discounts and your followers will tend to stayed involved.