Small retailers looking to do some cost-efficient marketing may want to consider a recent promotional offer launched by Twitter and American Express. The first 10,000 eligible businesses that register through the payment processor's site will be provided with $100 in free Twitter advertising.

"Small businesses were among the first to embrace Twitter as a way to connect and interact with consumers in real-time," said Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter. "Today, we're announcing a simple way for small businesses to amplify their voices on Twitter and reach a new set of potential customers using our Promoted Products."

The Promoted Products lineup includes Promoted Tweets, which are displayed within users' timelines, and Promoted Trends, which are featured on the website's side bar. For example, an electronics retail store could promote an upcoming sale via users' timelines or try to acquire more followers by launching a Promoted Trend.

While Twitter definitely plays second fiddle to Facebook in terms of global audience, retailers can still use the platform to reach a considerable number of consumers. More than 200 million prospective shoppers are members of the social network.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 at 9:19 am .