One thing is for sure, the Twitter train has left the station for businesses…are you on?! I’ve been doing a lot of Social Media Boot Camps for businesses recently and I’m consistently asked the question – is this really worth it for business (both B2B and B2C companies)? Then I’m reading USA Today on Friday as Jon Swartz pens a story entitled, “Businesses get cheap help from a little birdie.” The story of course about how businesses such as Comcast, Dell, JetBlue and Starbucks are benefiting from Twitter’s “popular communications technology.”

I think it’s important to stress that I’ve created the following list looking at 5 reasons businesses should CONSIDER Twitter. The reality is if your targeted audiences aren’t participating on Twitter…neither should you or your business. The one caveat to this argument is that someone who isn’t your “targeted audience” might still benefit or add value to your business…always true. Personally I wouldn’t advocate for a business to launch a Twitter strategy if they don’t have a major (influential) audience already actively participating in conversation on Twitter.

So, here goes my 5 Reasons Businesses Should Consider Twitter:

1 – Monitor Your Brand: If you decide that Twitter isn’t write for you to allocate time or budget towards a solid strategy for your business, at least consider monitoring what others are saying about your company.  Here is a great story from Robert Scoble in Fast Company earlier this year on this subject;

2 – Join The Conversation: To the USA Today story, many businesses are successfully creating brand champions as well as mitigating major customer service issues through engaging with their customers on Twitter. Don’t just push out your information…add some value and respond directly to your customers;

3 – Its Free: Okay, so time = money…and it certainly takes time to execute an effective Twitter strategy for your business.  But, with the right time management tips and tools you can optimize your time on Twitter while still effectively delivering on your set strategy;

4 – Supplements Traditional Marketing Program: One of the main reasons I like and recommend Twitter to so many businesses and organizations is that it does a really great job of leveraging many of the traditional marketing tactics you are already implementing.  For example, when your company appears in the New York Times you should leverage your audience on Twitter to share the story;

5 – Innovate or Die: Okay, so maybe not so extreme, but the reality is most brand leaders have leveraged Twitter and social media to their advantage – just look at the Blog Council members as a case in point.  Perhaps Bill Gates said it best, “Never before in history has innovation offered promise of so much to so many in so short a time.”

I’d love to hear your additions or edits to this list…thanks!