How to Use Twitter...

Twitter is a simple web application that allows you to post Twitters (or Tweets) about what you are currently doing or thinking. From a marketing perspective Twitter is a waste of time unless you gain "followers".

You can post snippets (140 characters) about what you are currently doing or thinking and your followers will see these messages. You can also post links to things that you find online or post links to your latest published web page or blog post.

Twitter is a way to tap into what is currently going on with the people that make up your niche. It is a way to see what the leaders in your niche are up to right now.

Twitter is a way for your followers to be a fly on your wall so they can see what you are doing at any given moment.

From a marketing perspective, Twitter is a good fit for you if your business covers a hot topic. I am in the Internet Marketing business so there is an abundance of enthusiasm in my niche so Twitter is a perfect fit.

Before you start Twittering gain some insight to see if there are people active on twitter in your niche. You need followers for Twitter to do you any good so it would do no good to start twittering unless you have an audience to tap in to.

Twitter (at the time of this writing) allows you to search for people based on their user name or text in their profile. There is another tool that I prefer more than Twitter's called Terraminds.

With Terramind's Twitter search system you can search for people on Twitter by their name or by what they are posting about.

If you have a website about dog training then you could use this tool to find anyone on Twitter that is talking about dogs by doing a simple query.

Visit Terraminds

Find leaders in your industry using this tool and then follow them. This is a great way to emulate the success of those that you respect by following what they do and where their minds are. This can also be an excellent source of inspiration for new website content or blog posts.

As stated, gaining followers is the key to success with Twitter and there are many ways to do this here are a few:

How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business...

Here's one way:

  1. Seek leaders in your industry use Terraminds

  2. Follow them

  3. Follow the people they follow and a percentage will follow you in return... This is a numbers game.

  4. Start Twittering. Every time you post new content or read a good article or find someone good to follow then Twitter about it. Your followers will follow your links to your new content.

Another way to gain followers on twitter is to ask for your website visitors or blog readers to follow you there to get inside tips and insight.

Conclusion...

In conclusion you can use Twitter in the following 3 ways:

  1. Inside scoop - Get the inside scoop on what leaders in your industry are doing right now.

  2. Social Networking - Twitter offers a great way to begin networking and chatting with enthusiasts in your industry.

  3. Traffic - Use Twitter to drop links on articles or blog posts that you publish, as you publish them... Your followers will then follow your link to see what you're up to.

Research...

Following are some excellent sources of further research on how other people are using Twitter to enhance their business:

Here's a good video on one user's perspective on how to use Twitter:

Best regards,

CharlesHeflin.com

Follow me (Charles Heflin) on Twitter

Suggested Reading: The Dollars & Sense of Online Communities