Many companies don’t know how to sell their products on Twitter. Other companies don’t even try since the Twitter experience just doesn’t make sense to them. But, it is not difficult to use Twitter to sell your products and services.

Selling on Twitter is similar to online dating. How does online dating work?

You post your profile and search out the profiles of the men or women you want to date.

You select the people who look or sound attractive, and email a message. But, that message is not “let’s hook up tonight.” It is a friendly message, and an introduction that may get you a response.

The same is true on Twitter. Twitter is a social meeting place. You can’t just set up a profile and start sending tweets (what the messages are called on Twitter) to “hook up and buy my stuff.” Yes, you need to show some restraint.

Here Is My Best Practices For Selling On Twitter

Step 1. Set up a blog

When you are planning to date, at some point your date is going to want to see where you live. It’s your home. It reflects on who you are as a person. You don’t take a date to your office–your cube is not that impressive.

Your blog is your online home. People who are interested in you on Twitter will want to see your blog, and not your company website. A website is a place of business. Twitter is social. A blog is social.

On Twitter, you invite followers into your online home or blog and then if things go well, they can buy from you at your blog or at your website.

Step 2. Show up

You have to show up. Simply, that means you have to make a profile on Twitter. Use your name or part of your name with your company name. The name is important. Don’t use a stupid name that means nothing or is too clever. A personal name is better than a business name. Twitter is social (yeah, I’m repeating myself).

Describe who are you and what do you do. Post a photo of yourself. No stupid photos. No avatars. Be real.

Your Twitter profile needs to link to your blog not your website. See step 1.

Now, check to make sure your profile fits and looks interesting. Sometimes you will find that it is too long or too short or you’ll find a few typos. Fix them.

Remember this about your profile: Your mother may or may not be on Twitter. But, one day, your boss will be on Twitter.

Step 3. Make connections by adding value

One great thing about Twitter is that when you tweet one person, that message is potentially being viewed by all your followers. Everyone on Twitter is a peeping Tom or peeping Mary. In many ways, Twitter is a voyeur’s paradise.

By adding value for one of your followers, you will get credit from everyone as being social and a good citizen on Twitter.

Now, to add value on Twitter you MUST do the following:

a. Post new content on your blog–regularly. Ideally, every day. This is only a hardship if you are not passionate and committed in your area of expertise.

b. Tweet about your new blog post and link it to your post. This lets your followers know you are going to add value.

c. Tweet people to help them in your area of “blog” expertise. This lets your followers know that you can help them.

d. Tweet people to help them in other areas that interest you. This lets people know you can be trusted. Everyone on Twitter knows that many people are trying to sell something on Twitter, and that is not an issue. It is an issue only if you are using Twitter just to sell. An analogy: Making friends only with people who can help you get what you want in life.

e. Tweet people just to be social, friendly and just be you. Twitter is a friendly, social meeting place.

Overall, follow a through e, and you are inviting people to come to your blog. The more you participate, the more people will be following you and the more people will be checking out your blog. Add Google analytics to your blog and you can see how many visitors you are getting daily by using Twitter.

Step 4: Build trust. Build the relationship.

You’ve made a connection. You’ve added value. People are visiting your blog. Now that they are in your home, where are you going to take this person?

When you tweet about a new blog entry, it is like a fortuitous meeting of a new neighbor. There’s not a lot of time for conversation. So you invite them to come by for coffee or tea. And when they come by, you take them into your kitchen. It’s a friendly, informal place. You don’t take them into your living room.

When you tweet about a new blog post, or tweet to help someone about an issue, you link them to a specific blog post URL. Do not link into your general blog URL. That blog post is tailored to add value for your followers and/or to help one follower. A specific blog post URL is friendly.

Now, if that person likes what that post says, and trusts you, you have created a relationship using Twitter. This person is now ready to see the rest of your online home and read your other blog posts.

Having a connection turn into a relationship can happen the first time that person views your post, or it may happen after a few more visits.

Fortunately, unlike dating, you CAN rush a Twitter relationship. Keep participating, keep tweeting and keep adding value. Maybe even consider a special promotion for your Twitter followers.

Step 5. Twitter. Where the sale happens. (apologies to the NBA)

Your blog should be set up so every time someone visits, they know where to go for more information or to buy. Sales happen at different times, but they do happen. A sale can take place on your blog or on your website. Just make sure that if you need to take visitors to your website for more info or to sell, to have that link visible and easy to find on your blog.

Summary

Twitter is a great meeting place where you can sell your products and services. To make a sale:

Step 1. Set up a blog

Step 2. Show up

Step 3. Make connections by adding value

Step 4: Build trust. Build the relationship.

Step 5. Twitter. Where the sale happens

Are you using Twitter the right way?

To get a Free e-pamphlet on “Twitter for Business: 101 Questions” please visit About Twitter.

Hi! My name is Mitchell Cogert. I am an experienced marketing consultant that helps companies use Twitter to meet their business objectives. I have worked with top marketing directors for over 25 years, and I know that a sensible approach is needed to social media and Twitter. I have spent the past year testing many tactics on Twitter, and I know that almost every business can use Twitter effectively and manage it without a lot of time invested (saving you money).

If you need to find out how to use Twitter the right way, please contact me on Twitter at twit_streams or by email at mcogert@twit-streams.com

For the latest news on how to use the power of Twitter for your business, go to Twitter For Business.

Technorati Tags: business, Products, Services, Twitter

1. Twitoria – This is an application that will allow you to sort through your followers and know which ones are not active anymore. With this application, you can delete inactive users and keep your network updated.

2. Monitter – This Twitter application that tells you what Twitter users are saying about you and your business in a specific area. You will have to put in what keywords you would like to associate to your profile and the area you would like to monitor.

3. Twitter Toolbar – A simple toolbar that gives you easy access to Twitter and its tools. You can also view your stats, your friends’ updates and post yours as well. Different versions are available for both Firefox and IE.

4. StockTwits – This is one of the best Twitter applications for businesses that are into stocks. You can get into a conversation with investors and traders and even follow the market real time. You get recent news about the stock exchange and comments about your own portfolio.

5. HelloTxt – With this application you can update and check your accounts in over 35 different social networking sites including Twitter. This is a great tool for multitasking.

6. Tweepler - Having problems managing your followers? Tweepler will enable you to sort your incoming requests-to-follow. In one screen, you can view the requesting user’s statistics (followers, following, number of tweets) and the last three tweets he or she sent. This will allow you to identify if the profile is legit or just spam. It will also save you the confusion of visiting each user’s page.

7. Bubble Tweet – Say you want to introduce yourself in a short video and you want it to be one of the first things that a visitor will see. Putting your video on the website link provided in your profile may not be ubiquitous enough and of course it will eventually bump off your screen page if you put the link on a tweet. Bubble Tweet will solve that problem by posting your welcome video on a bubble shaped layer that will pop up when a visitor lands on your page. This is probably one of the best twitter apps for video.

8. Twitter Gallery – This Twitter application will allow you to jazz up your profile with different background themes that you can choose from.

9. Twitterfox – If you’re using Mozilla Firefox, this add-on will be a great way to get updates from Twitter. You can also post tweets using this application. Upon installation, a small Twitter icon will be added to the bottom right of your status bar. You have to log in with your details and start receiving tweets from there. No need to refresh or to visit the site directly. It will pop up recent tweets from followers as soon as they come in.

10. Future Tweets – This is one of the best Twitter apps for people who have uncertain schedules. Say you’re not sure if you can log in tomorrow because of a meeting. You can use Future Tweets to pre-schedule a tweet to be released at a certain time and date. You can also make recurring tweets that can be posted daily, monthly or yearly.

11. Twitter Counter – This Twitter application will give you a code for a badge displaying your Twitter account and the number of followers you have. You can post the code on your website to encourage customers to check you out on Twitter.

12. Group Tweet – This works like an email group where pre-approved users of a certain company can access updates that only they can view.

13. TwitPic – This is one of the more popular and best Twitter apps available. It works like a simple picture hosting site that can automatically post a link of the picture you uploaded into your Twitter profile. This is a great way of showing people updates of your company or a new product that you are launching.

14. twtQpon – No customer will resist a freebie. twtQpon is a Twitter application that can create unique coupons for the services or products that you are selling. You can use this application to share the coupons to those following you on Twitter.

15. Tweetbeep – If you want to be in the know about what people are saying about you, Tweetbeep is your bestfriend. It tracks down Twitter conversations that mention your name or your business. You can get the stats via email.

16. Tweetburner – This is another Twitter application used to monitor your account. It tracks your tweets and automatically shortens the links you post and keeps a log of the number of clicks that your tweets get.

17. Twitter Safe – Keep your network of followers safe by creating a backup in case something goes wrong with your list. This is a Twitter application that protects the hard work you’ve spent building relationships with your followers.

18. Splitweet – One of the best Twitter apps for people keeping both an account for business and a personal one. You can manage and update different Twitter accounts from one screen. You can also update your accounts using this application.

19. Twimailer – If you feel that the usual email that Twitter sends does not give enough information about new followers, Twimailer can change that. The notifications sent to you by Twimailer includes not only the follower-following-tweets combo, it also give you their stats and their most recent tweets. You can also follow that person back right on the notification, without having to visit the Twitter page.

20. Twitxr – Enjoy mobility with this Twitter application. You can send real time pictures from a company event or a product launching straight from your mobile phone.

21. Track This – A business that uses a lot of couriers and transfer services will definitely get a lot of help from this Twitter application. This will help you track down packages you sent through UPS, USPS, DHL and even FedEx. Updates are sent by direct message so you know exactly where your package is.

22. CoTweet – Managing your Twitter account does not have to be done by one person alone. With CoTweet, other employees from your company can contribute to the account. Each person can send tweets with their names on them. Great way to show some kind of openness and personality for your company.

23. Tweet Later – This Twitter application is a cocktail of tools that can improve your productivity. You can monitor keywords, mentions, replies, future date tweets and reply to followers.

24. HootSuite – This is one of the best Twitter apps for productivity. You can pre-date your tweets, add multiple profiles and update them across the board.

25. TwitterHawk – You can use this to effectively market your product. This application can automatically send a response to those who mention your pre-defined keywords in an area that you specify.

Find out the hottest marketing strategies and techniques free of charge at his Online Marketing Blog. Brian Horwitz is part of an elite group of Internet Entrepreneurs who teach proven ways to make money online with pay per click, SEO, Article Marketing and much more.

Technorati Tags: Applications, business, Twitter

Twitter is all the rage with those active in the online world. Sending out tweet after tweet, updating their twitter followers regularly on their status, where they are at, what they are doing, where they are going and who they are meeting. The big question that many marketing professionals are asking today is. Can Twitter will be effective as a prime time tool in mainstream marketing.

Twitter has an active role for all small business firms and must be part of their overall marketing strategy. Business has already started to pull away from traditional Yellow Page type advertising and other forms of traditional marketing for their business in return for a more direct and active online marketing campaign. Twitter is playing an active role in the online strategies for many business owners.

Are you still confused about Twitter? Twitter is a very easy to use online service which broadcasts your messages, status updates, web links and other forms of quick and snappy messages to those faithful followers. Twitter is a wonderful example of permission based marketing because those that wish to follow you simply do. Permission based marketing is now the de facto standard, replacing email marketing as spam rules begin to restrict what can and cannot be send by way of email.

If you can’t figure it out for yourself there are many consulting and marketing agencies now offering Twitter services to their clients. “We encourage each of them (clients) to have Facebook and Twitter sites and we act as administrators to send “chest pounding” messages about the services/products they provide.” states Pauline Harris from SPIN in Baltimore, MD. Her agency acts provides consulting services for business who simply need a firm to keep on top of Twitter.

Twitter broadcasts out a short 140 character message to your followers whenever you have something to say, announce or share. The wonderful thing about Twitter and a long time secret to those Internet Marketing experts who figured this out early, is Twitter is simply a conduit to other great services. Twitter can be used to pull information for your corporate, association or personal blogs, you can use your Smartphone to send Tweets (Tweets are what Twitter users call their messages) or you can type your tweet directly into Twitters online page.

Twitter then will send your message out to your followers and using services built into social networking applications, your message can also be sent out to their services. Twitter is a robust tool to reach thousands of people each day for the cost of your time to develop the content.

Are you still confused about the business benefits to Twitter? You need to look outside of the main Twitter application to see the real value and you also need to deflect the “get rich” type advertising that promises that you will build your followers to several thousand overnight. Many business owners are steering away from the spray and pray approach, electing to hand pick who they follow and in return who follows them.

Effective use of this powerful social networking tool takes careful planning and consideration before true mastery of this marketing tool occurs. Many business owners and entrepreneurs simply stop at the main Twitter website, see a tremendous amount of noise and dismiss it. Twitter is more than an online teleprompter for newsfeeds of those that you follow. If that is how you look at it, then Twitter may not be a tool for your business.

Here are three great tools that you need to have in your Twitter arsenal:

Twitterfeed – Twitterfeed.com is an online solution that provides a mechanism to take your blog posts or any other RSS service and broadcast it out to your Twitter followers and social networking websites including Facebook. If your business has a blog, writes articles or submits news stories to online services, then you must have this solution running to promote the work you are already doing to a bigger audience.

Tweetlater – This nifty application is a handy service for the busy business owner or entrepreneur. With Tweetlater you can leverage this online web solution to schedule your tweets. Simply do up a series of tweets and then have Tweetlater send them out. Tweetlater also allows you to set up policies that allow you to automatically follow those that follow you. It is a karma thing and karma goes a long way in the Twitter world.

TweetBeep – Don’t have time to watch Twitter all day or how keeping on top of the people that you follow. With TweetBeep you now can monitor Twitter for keywords and when an item of interest is tweeted it appears in your Inbox. This service even works with shortened URLs. Watch your domain names. Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. Stay on top of industry trends and so much more.

There are many great online applications available to enhance your Twitter experience, find the one that meets your business needs. Twitter can become very noisy and you will need to find tools that will provide a filter to limit the noise and bring the messages that you want to the foreground.

Twitter when leveraged correctly can bring amazing new business results, connect you with the industry leaders and provide a conduit to share your experiences. Dawn Meade of Advanced Video Systems says “I sought out fellow Twitterers in my field by searching for AV and similar terms, followed several and discovered one to be a staff writer on two industry magazines. Through our Twitter ‘friendship’ I ended up being interviewed for an article and a sidebar feature on my company!”

Before you dismiss Twitter as just another social online service with no relevance to the business community, do your homework. Twitter can work to help promote your small business to the world or simply your local community. You could learn from the industry leaders.

Relationships are still important in business, either virtual or in person. Take that first step to develop deep and meaningful relationships with others in the business world and allow you to share your insight with the global community.

Stuart Crawford invests much of his time working for small businesses in Calgary and Red Deer, AB. His passion is to ensure that small business wins in their market with the right technology solution to meet their business goals. Stuart has been awarded the Top 40 under 40 (2007) in Calgary, is a recognized Business Leader of Tomorrow (Business in Calgary). His current role is the Vice President of Business Development with Bulletproof InfoTech. Bulletproof provides managed computer and network services to businesses in Alberta. Stuart’s can be contacted through his blog at [http://blog.itsuccessmentor.com] or at 403.206.2233.

Technorati Tags: business, Prime, Ready, small, Twitter

Twitter is a “microblogging” service that continues to grow in popularity. Twitter posts, known as “tweets” can only be a maximum of 140 characters. Updates or Tweets are shown on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive these tweets. Getting subscribers or followers on Twitter is a goal of many who use the service. People who subscribe to your tweets, will get your whole tweet at once, instead of having to go to your website. Companies like Apple, Intel, Cisco and even the White House are all on Twitter.

In theory, if you gain more followers on Twitter, then you should be able to drive more visitors to your website and generate exposure for your businesses. This is because, if done right, Twitter can be a mechanism to send information to these potential customers and marketing your website. However, Twitter involves engaging other users. If you want to gain and keep a large percentage of your followers, don’t use spam tactics. One such tactic is to simply “blast” anyone and everyone on twitter with a notification that you are following them. Many people will simply follow those that send them notification that they are being followed. However, these people that “blindly” follow others, usually don’t actively engage many people. Following are some proven tips on how to grow your network on Twitter and how to use this service to gain exposure for your online business.

First you need to consider Why would people want to follow me? What can I provide them with that’s of value? Considering that there’s literally millions of twitter users, you need to determine what sets me apart from them? Market your strengths.

1) Build your profile

If you read through numerous expert blogs on Twitter and how to grow your network, they all start with the same/strong recommendation to provide a strong profile. Consider your profile as a breathing organism that should be continually built up. Treat your profile like your website or blog’s about me page. Try to update your account with content that appears like it’s written by a human. This means, include interesting comments/observations. You’ll need more than a sentence or two that describes who you are and what you do. Unless you’re a celebrity, you’ll need a detailed and clear profile. In one of the steps below, outside promotion is discussed. Directing traffic to your profile page is an excellent way to gain followers. In fact, this strategy of continually building up your profile and regularly driving visitors to this page on Twitter is one of the most effective means to gain followers.

Since you’re directing people to your Twitter profile, you should ensure your Twitter account’s background, avatar and overall design are consistent with your website. Although directing traffic to your profile page is a subject for another article, a few ways include: a) using Twitter as a customer service or support tool, b) include links to your profile page on your forum, blog and other social media posts.

A great way to attract people who may be interested in the content on your website, is to use the same keywords in your profile that you do on your website. A few examples include:

“I am interested in fitness and working out. I share weight loss tips on my website ” or “I’m a professional guitar player who loves to teach music, check out 5 tips to playing guitar on my website” or “I’m a successful financial adviser who can help you reduce your debt, sign up for my free newsletter when you visit my website.” These are all nice short bios that tell visitors about yourself. Note that we give them a reason to visit our website. It’s also a good idea to include some useful tips on your profile. This way potential followers will more strongly consider you. Always include a hyperlink to your website (include the “http” to ensure that it’s clickable)

2) Sync your website with your twitter account

This ensures new posts or articles appear as updates in your twitter account. If you’re driving traffic to your twitter account, people will see your numerous posts. This helps generate long term traffic, provided your content is of interest to your visitors. Use a twitter tool called TwitterFeed, to automatically post your latest blog posts titles.

3) Post questions as tweets

Examples of questions can be seeking information or recommendations. The result may be that your network could direct you to other twitter users with whom you may converse and ultimately gain as followers. Also consider questions where you’re seeking feedback on your website(s) or seeking a course of action for a given scenario. Your goal with questions is to generate a conversation and engages your Twitter followers with the responses from your followers.

4) Manually “pick” your followers.

A great way, but admittedly a bit time consuming, is to search Twitter using keywords of interest. You can simply type in any words or phrases and attempt to connect with others who share that particular interest. You will have to sift through the search results and look at various profiles along with their related Tweets. Next you can add people you think you can engage in conversation. This can be a very effective way to connect with people that would be interested in your website. This brings us back to point 1), develop a solid profile. If you build a profile with strategically placed keywords, people who are searching twitter, may land on your profile and follow you.

5) Retweet often (but not too much)

You want to optimize your exposure on twitter. In addition to the above tactics, you want to re-Tweet (sometimes called @ reply). The reason why you gain followers when people re-tweet you is that your username is exposed to people who haven’t heard of you. When you do this choose the right keywords or phrases. Other Twitter users enjoy engaging and thought provoking conversations. If you tweet and re-tweet with your followers, others notice. Your keyword rich (but not overdone) tweets can get picked up in twitter searches.

6) Understand How Twitter Works

Twitter should not be another marketing tool to be over manipulated. Although some will try, Twitter should be considered as a social marketing tool useful to those who are a part of the community. Don’t spam and don’t over-actively promote yourself.

Your goal should be to build a network within the community by replying to other tweets (retweeting), sharing observations, news and even direct your followers to a blog post, filled with useful information, and only then use that post to get followers to take action. Trying to take people out of Twitter right away and into a sales pitch will get you labeled as a scammer.

7) Review your followers and revise your strategy if necessary

If you’re using twitter to grow your online business, it’s a good idea to track the number of your followers. If you are losing many more followers than you’re gaining, review the content of your tweets to ensure it isn’t offending or “turning away” your followers. Consider having an unbiased third party take a look at your tweets to provide you with feedback.

Other ways to gain a twitter audience

To build your network above and beyond your initial contact list, you’ll need to look both inside and outside Twitter.

Outside of Twitter, placing a link to “Follow me on Twitter” in your email or forum signature, website, blog posts, and any other way that you communicate with people (where appropriate, of course)

Inside of Twitter, it’s all about following people. You can find other users that you admire, and see who is following them; you can also see who is following your friends. In order to do this use Twitter directories to find members who have similar likes. You can do this by using the search feature to find profiles of people you want to follow – and follow all of them. In most cases, they will, in turn, follow you.

There are more great strategies to grow your online business with Twitter. In addition to Twitter, you can easily grow your business with numerous other Social Networking sites. One way to find out about these strategies and more is through a Portal Feeder membership which includes training and the most powerful set of tools, resources and support to get you started making money online in 30 days.

Dan Lyne has numerous highly visited blogs and websites. He frequently contributes to numerous online resources. Click on the link to find out how you can grow your online business and how Portal Feeder can help you start your most successful year ever.

Technorati Tags: business, Online, Twitter

First, I have to say that I had been confused on how to use Twitter to benefit my own business until I downloaded TweetDeck. TweetDeck is a desktop application that allows you to review and post status updates on Twitter and Facebook simultaneously. I consider it a “must have” application for anyone who wants to make sense of Twitter. TweetDeck allows you to sort the people you follow on Twitter into groups, allows you to limit the number of Tweets (Twitter micro posts) to be shown at any one time, and also allows you to remove all Tweets you have seen with one click. Additionally, using TweetDeck, finally a Twitter search on a topic makes sense.

Since using TweetDeck, I have had a much better Twitter experience. As a Twitter newbie, visiting your own Twitter home page is intimidating; it consists of post after post from people who you are following, who you may not know much about, and it just seems like a huge volume of content. To get started effectively first group the people who actually have something interesting to say on TweetDeck and voila, you have a powerful tool that keeps you at the forefront of what is happening in your industry and on the Web.

So how do you get started with Twitter? Well the first thing is to start on Twitter yourself to understand what you like to read, who you like to follow, and to clearly identify what you like about Twitter. For me, it boils down to this: I like to follow people in my industry who say something of value, who provide a link to a new application or point me to an interesting new article, video, or blog site that I should review but may have never have found myself. Based on what I like, and the people who I find interesting to read, I now write my Twitter posts using this same formula to grow my own Twitter audience.

What I also like about Twitter is that the people who I follow also know how to show their true personality in their Tweets. Ye,s I do like to know what Danny Sullivan (famous search engine marketing guru) ate for lunch, but better yet is the link to the video he thought was funny. I love following Ashton Kutcher (movie star married to Demi Moore who just hit 1 million Twitter followers in April). Man, that guy is really funny and is having a ball with Twitter. His posts are great and he has just earned the status of the user with the most followers. This is why you can’t hire someone to “Ghost Twitter” for you. It’s about showing the real you – you can’t fake that!

So how can you use Twitter for business? Twitter is an excellent tool for linking and this is the real value for businesses. By using Twitter to point people to content on your website, articles you have written either on or off your website, or by linking to a service you want to highlight, you drive traffic. On top of that, Google actually indexes Twitter and so your Twitter page can appear in the organic search results so make sure your bio is well thought out. Don’t waste time using Twitter to point to blog posts, use TwitterFeed to post your blog posts directly onto Twitter. If you have a blog or website, you’ll get new Twitter followers by posting your TwitterFeed right onto your web pages. People who may not have known your Twitter ID can simply click the bottom “follow me link” and start following you on Twitter.

What’s important to be successful in using Twitter is to identify what you personally like about this new media and then deliver the same type of things that you like back to your own followers – work to provide value not drivel! So you’ve got to play with Twitter and learn how to use it first before you can really become successful with it for your business.

So how do you get followers? Well, I started by following everyone (who I found by doing a Twitter search) who had the last name McCord. Then I searched for web design, search engine optimization, and pay per click. Any site profile that looked good, I clicked to follow the writer. It was that easy. Many times people who you follow yourself will choose to follow you. That’s how you initially build up your Twitter base. Over time you will start to identify your “Twitter voice” and refine the type of Twitter presence you want to have by changing your content style and the things that you Tweet about. As you refine your presence, you will build a following.

Another cool Twitter use is that you can reply to any of your followers by simply putting an @ in front of their Twitter ID. For example to send something to my attention use @mccordweb at the very front of your Twitter posting and click enter. Just remember that this post is seen by all followers on my site and on your Twitter site. If you need a more private exchange, go to the direct message link on the Twitter.com site and select a follower by Twitter ID name and send your message from there. This note will be private. If you are using TweetDeck you can click on a follower’s Twitter ID icon and then select to send a direct message or @reply to them. TweetDeck will automatically insert the correct syntax for you in the Tweet.

For many businesses the ability for users to communicate with top management using Twitter is an invaluable resource. This one-to-one exchange allows a company principal to keep tabs on customer viewpoints, concerns, and interests. As a Twitter reply or direct mail does not use email and does not require a response, this is a great way to tap into social networking to test new ideas and to ask for user feedback. For example, if you have a new software product ask your Twitter followers for feedback on a specific feature, or provide a link to your beta version for their testing.

How you use Twitter is all about your personal business needs. The best advice that I can offer to you is that you need to use Twitter a bit yourself first to understand the medium and to find out what you like to read best using Twitter. Then, create your own Twitter network sharing information that you find interesting and have some fun.

Currently I am following 204 people and 183 people are following me on Twitter. Personally I find Twitter great fun and a very cool way to find out first what’s happening in the world before you see it on TV, read it on the Web, or see it in the newspaper. That’s the real power of Twitter; you share, you find out, and you know, all by a person-to-person exchange of information.

For those of you clicking in from my e-newsletter the rest of the content on Twitter applications and uses follows.

Below are some of the Twitter applications that I like and use regularly for my business.

Twuffer – I love this one, it is a Twitter post scheduler. Some people feel that Twuffer defeats the immediacy of Twitter posts or Tweets, but I like it as I will schedule Tweets on days that I am not blogging to keep my followers advised of things I find important. It is easy to use, allows you to Tweet ahead, and lets you select a posting schedule by day and time. If you are pushing content on a service or product this is an excellent tool to use. Set your Tweets up one week or one month at a time and feed your content to readers in addition to your regular Tweets. Make sure to use http://www.TinyUrl.com to change any long URLs you point to in the Tweet to a Twitter-friendly short version to save space.

Twitter Feed – This is another one of my top favorites. TwitterFeed allows me to show my blog posts from “The Web Authority” directly onto Twitter. It also allows me to post my Tweets back on my blog (by installing a widget) in my blog template – very cool cross interaction! I pick up many Twitter followers with this technique. Readers come to visit my blog and then choose to follow me on Twitter.

Twitter Grader – This one is a vanity application that allows you to see where you stack up against other Twitter users. Twitter Grader measures the power of a Twitter user based on followers, number of updates, and posting frequency.

TweetBeep – With this application, you can manage your online Twitter reputation. Alerts will be emailed to you whenever a Twitter user Tweets about your business, name, or domain. You select the alert criteria and what to watch for using TweetBeep. This is great for a business that is concerned about branding and online identity. PR professionals should make sure to use this tool to watch for comments about their clients.

Twitoria – Clean up your Twitter followers by finding out which people never use Twitter or post infrequently so you can delete them right from the Twitoria interface.

Qwitter – If you want to know when someone stops following you, sign up for this service. Actually, this can be an excellent tool to find out what a reader hated that you posted about and caused them to “chop” you, so you can fine tune your message. If you get a flood of drops after a Tweet, it allows you to learn that people don’t like a certain type of Tweet – instant feedback at an anonymous level!

One big thing about Twitter that I have not even mentioned yet but is actually one of Twitter’s best features is the ability to text-in Tweets from your mobile phone. Although you can’t easily link to great content typically on the fly like this, the ability to connect with others without being tethered to a computer is an opportunity to show the “real you”. Maybe your followers do want to know what you are eating for lunch or about a seminar you just attended, just be kind and don’t vomit out Twitter spam using your Blackberry on meaningless drivel.

You can easily set up the ability to receive text messages from your Twitter account to your cell or Blackberry, but be careful as you may be inundated if you have a large following. I would recommend receiving Twitter updates via text message to your cell only from a small group. For example if you have a project team, set up a Twitter account for each member to allow them to post just to this small unique circle of team members. The value to track and interact with each other at anytime and anywhere using Twitter by computer or by cell phone adds real value for work groups and teams – particularly team managers. Twitter even allows you to make this type of group private.

Another feature of Twitter is the ability to add hashtags in front of keywords in your Tweets to help with sorting to allow others to find your important content. For example if you wanted to Tweet about a recent earthquake in LA you would use #laearthquake in the front of your Tweet. By using hashtags you enable Twitter to return your information for topic searches on newsworthy Tweets. You can visit Hashtags.org for more information on the current hot hashtags that are in use for today so you can follow, add to the topic, or create your own. For example in Twitter World, Fridays are the day you post with #followfriday and enter in the Twitter IDs you want to recommend to others. You would be amazed at the cool new people you can follow and interact with from recommendations of the people you follow.

In conclusion, Twitter is one of the hottest new mediums to arrive on the Internet scene since Facebook. Although it is not exactly “new”, Twitter has just recently become very high profile. If you are in business, Twitter definitely warrants your attention. Not only is it a very smart new tool to use in your marketing arsenal, but I think that the more you use it you will grow to love it and find it fun to use. The ways that you can use Twitter are endless: for teams, for family members, for business networking, to stay at the forefront of news, to promote yourself and your services, and to just have fun connecting with others online. Just remember you can’t really make sense of Twitter for business without using TweetDeck or another similar aggregating and sorting application. Thanks for reading, see you on Twitter, you can reach me at @mccordweb or visit me at www.Twitter.com/mccordweb.

Nancy McCord is an expert in the field of search engine marketing and Web visibility. She is the owner of McCord Web Services LLC based in the Washington DC area. Her firm provides web content writing, blog writing services, webmaster services, web design, and Internet marketing services. You can find out more about the services that she provides at http://www.McCordWeb.com.

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