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Some want to know what exactly is Twitter good for? For some, the question goes unanswered, for others, the answer is, well, nothing really. However, if you are in the business of marketing and customer service, Twitter can be a very important tool to use.

Know this: you are wrong if you expect this micro-blogging service to be a substitute for a marketing or customer-service plans. The best way to get the most out of Twitter is to incorporate the tool into your current strategies. It can help your business, but it is not by any stretch of the imagination, a complete solution on its own.

The Dell Outlet is Dell’s online Web shop for purchasing refurbished Dell computers and electronics. By bringing its outlet site to Twitter, Dell claims to have generated $6.5 million from just its Twitter activities alone, in the last year. In addition to the value of the direct sales via tweeting, the company has also realized revenue from people who start by following a Twitter link and continue on to other pages on the Dell Web site to buy a new computer.

Keep in mind, this actual dollar value is only a fraction of Dell's multi-billion-dollar annual sales. Still, it does show that online businesses, e-commerce Web shops in particular can realize a profit and sales through creative business twittering.

Dell uses Twitter to send messages about the latest refurbished systems available in the Dell Outlet. It also tweets coupons and messages about clearance events. In February of last year, Dell started offering exclusive deals to Twitter followers in the USA. Dell's messages are tweeted out to more than 1.5 million followers on the Twitter service.

The first thing to consider, despite the Twitter media hype around Dell, is that its success did not come from using Twitter to create a new business model or sales channel. The Dell Outlet was actually already hot before it began its tweeting. The company uses a special Web shop on its Web site and e-mail marketing to promote this small part of the business, and it integrated Twitter into its strategy for higher conversions.

Also, the Dell Outlet Twitter account consistently targets the same audience and focuses only on the Dell Outlet in their tweets. There is no mention of newly launched Dell PCs or laptops or other electronics and services that you will find in other places on their Web site. The tweets are specifically targeted and they provide information that niche bargain hunters are trying to find. Dell provides links on its Twitter profile for people interested in following other Dell businesses.

The Dell Outlet Twitter account is also personalized. They have removed the business tone from their Twitter presence by displaying a real name, contact information and photo of the spokesperson responsible for the Dell Outlet on Twitter. Very clever:

Dell displays the business identity, but it places more emphasis on the person tweeting behind the corporate logo. When you bring your business in to social media it is important to present an individual face. People will naturally respond better to a person than a business social media setting.

Finally, Dell uses this Twitter account as a communication tool to respond to its Outlet customers. Followers who have purchased a deal from the Dell Outlet or those with questions about Dell coupons and deals can ask their questions via Twitter and the Dell Outlet follows up with the customer in a Twitter reply.

You can study the marketing strategies that Dell uses on Twitter and adapt them to suit your own e-commerce business.

Based on the success of corporations such as Dell, Zappos and others, you can incorporate the following strategies into your own Twitter presence.

…Do not create a new aspect of your business just to tweet about it…Tweet about your core business as it is…

…Select one person from within your business to represent the company on Twitter…Be sure that your followers know that person’s face and name…

…Keep those tweets relevant and focused…Rather than using one Twitter account for all your business tweets, create separate accounts and limit each account to one individual topic or theme…

…Be sure your tweet has value for your customers…They will not care so much about your broken office air conditioner as they will about a hot new product or deal…Good tweets are those that invite a response or retweet from your follower…

…Stay on the ball…If you customers use Twitter as the medium to initiate customer service or technical support conversations, follow up with them on Twitter…