So much is made of Twitter as a platform for conversation, it’s powerful search qualities are often overlooked.

Twitter provides marketers with the ability to micro-target based on geography, keywords and phrases, subjects referenced, content and even sentiment shared.

The increased ability to search necessitates a deeper understanding of your target audience. It also enables marketers to create an ongoing focus group to obtain it.

Use search.twitter.com, wefollow.com and other tools to find your brand’s target consumers.

If you follow 100 people from your target audience, you’ll notice trends. You’ll see who your target audience really is, what they read, think and share.

Your ability to market to them will greatly improve, too. You’ll stop seeing them as just statistics and more as real people.

If you work in midtown Manhattan, you’re likely to know the food cart I’m talking about. It’s the one on 53rd and 6th with 30 people waiting in line. They’re waiting to eat middle eastern food sold from a cart the size of a mini-copper. And they wait at all hours. When I passed by at 10 pm at least 50 people were in line. When I asked them if the food was “that good” to merit the line, they responded, “well, I saw the line, so it must be.”

I believe the same psychology of lines applies to Twitter. So often people use following / follower ratio to determine who they want to follow before actually “trying the food.”

There are many ways to cause lines to form, yet far fewer to cook a great meal.

If you follow social media, you’re familiar with the phrase “lead the conversation.” Brands use when discussing a thought leader strategy online. For example, HubSpot helps small to medium size businesses with tools to manage inbound marketing. They’ve created twitter.grader.com and other tools, to lead the conversation about online tools. Zappos, in addition to being a major online retailer, is leading the conversation about customer service. They use twitter, company blogs and executive keynotes to evangelize about customer service. Nokia’s recent Facebook application, Talking Points, is another example of a powerhouse brand leading a conversation onlinw..

The Talking Points application asks Facebook users to write the rules on conversational etiquette on Facebook, text, mobile and in person. The community votes on the best responses, and users can send responses to their Facebook friends to earn even more votes. Nokia’s tagline is “connecting people,” and this promotion does just that. In fact, it’s a group conversation on the etiquette of how we connect.

I recently interviewed Richard Shaffer, owner of Israeli Wine Direct. Tom Wark, wine expert and blogger, called Israeli Wine Direct “the kind of on-line wine store that should attract at least a glance, if not an order, from all those wine lovers that fancy themselves wine explorers and who revel in the diversity of what different places and people can do with the grape.”

Richard exemplifies a social media entrepreneur.  When he first began Israeli Wine Direct, he used his blog as a way to interview and gain access to Israeli wine experts. And once the business was established, social media has opened doors to new audiences.

His approach to marketing is personal. Wine lovers across America, including Guy Kawasaki, invite him into their home to pour Israeli wine for friends and families. Speak to Richard for 30 seconds and you’ll understand why he gets invited. His passion for wine is contagious, and he shares it on his company blog, Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube and Facebook.

As his business becomes even more successful, I look forward to seeing how Richard’s enthusiasm will translate into creating a company culture with an even greater impact.

Check out our discussion below.

Vizu, a brand advertising measurement company, offers a free web widget that may interest you.
They enable you to put customizable polls on your site.
Toyota’s Open Road Blog is using it effectively to ask its readers what type of blog posts they would like to read.