Here’s what happened when Chris Savage, the chief executive of Wistia.com, searched for the phrase "private video sharing" on Twitter, a social networking site. One post he found read, "A teacher requested a private ‘video sharing’ Web site so that specialists can observe student behavior—can anyone refer one?"

That got Savage’s attention. He e-mailed back: "Still looking for a private video sharing site?"

Minutes later came the reply: "YES! It’s the first request for one—thought I’d hit up my tweets before [I] go digging."

Savage: "Cool. You may want to check out Wistia.com. Full disclosure, I’m the CEO; -)"

While this exchange may seem a bit cryptic, Savage is one of a growing number of business owners to whom it makes an awful lot of sense. Savage frequently trolls Twitter looking for sales leads for his five-person, $1 million company, which makes software that facilitates video sharing through a private network. Although Savage has been using Twitter for only a year, it’s already helped him find 12 new clients for his Lexington (Mass.) company. "This is a no-cost way of marketing," he says.

Jeremy Quittner, staff writer for BusinessWeek in New York, has written an insightful article entitled "Twitter: Building Businesses Tweet by Tweet", which outlines how entrepreneurs are finding the fast-rising microblogging site to be a useful tool for reaching out to customers.  It details Twitter’s strengths, how to get started and some examples of businesses who have made it work for them.

"It’s likely that you are familiar with most of the ‘traditional’ marketing practices; direct mail, email marketing, advertising, telesales, pr etc – however, for a few years now, given the opportunities the internet provides, the term ‘new marketing’ has been bandied around. If we think of traditional marketing as ‘push’ marketing – mediums we use to push our messages onto others ‘interrupting’ them, then the new marketing relates to ‘pull’ marketing – marketing activities we do which ‘attract’, as a magnet would, interested parties, at their own accord, to view our wares."

In her article entitled "Social Media:  5 Things to Do Right NOW", marketing consultant, Michelle Carvill, lists five of these pull activities and tips for getting started.