Marketers planning their social campaigns for 2011 have something to tweet about – the microblogging site recently announced a row of funding, as well as more options for business partners […]

Marketers planning their social campaigns for 2011 have something to tweet about – the microblogging site recently announced a row of funding, as well as more options for business partners looking to effectively engage social audiences.

Yesterday, news broke that the company raised $200 million from investors. In a blog post, the microblogging site welcomed new investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and it announced Mike McCue and David Rosenblatt would be joining the company's board of directors. The new funding brings the value of the site to an estimated $3.7 billion – and businesses may find they can get a share of this next year.

Twitter also announced that it has launched a new version of business.twitter.com. The revamped site offers businesses that are new to the microblogging community a Twitter tutorial. It offers insight on how to optimize activities, such as reaching mobile consumers with Tweets or sharing content on the web. These best-practice tips come with case studies from leading brands such as Best Buy and Jet Blue.

The Best Buy case study, for instance, describes how the electronics retailer used Twitter to handle customer support with @twelpforce. It explains that the account has helped answer more than 19,500 customer inquiries, and it suggests "real-time customer service" has humanized the large brand.

At the same time, Twitter execs emphasize that the revamped business site should help organizations of all sizes. The business site also promotes advertising options for partners to increase brand awareness. Marketers may want to take advantage of these ad options as one early adopter, Mongoose Metrics, claims brand awareness has significantly increased and Promoted Tweet analytics offer a bevy of useful marketing data.

Nonetheless, marketers might remember that consistent, quality Tweet content is essential to building and maintaining a follower base. As Brafton has reported, social content marketing is poised to be a top marketing priority in 2011. 

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.