A little bird told me.... Twitter

 

If you don't already know, and you will be reading in future issues.... blogging is a great way to promote your business. It can be used instead of/or compliment newsletters, or you can use it to do product reviews, or as a source of information to your target audience on business or personal activities.

But what if you don't know what to write? What if you don't have time to write? What if the whole process of writing turns you off?

That's where Twitter comes in!

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read messages called tweets of up to 140 characters displayed on the user's profile page. Even though tweets are publicly visible by default, senders can restrict message delivery to their friends list.

Following someone is when users may subscribe to other users' tweets and followers are subscribers to your tweets. Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, or by compatible 3rd party applications, or by SMS in certain countries (may incur phone fees).

So how can Twitter help my business?

The @ sign followed by a username is used for mentioning someone (they don't need to be a follower) or replying to other users - "I heard @attitude_emedia is bargain hunting", or "@attitude_emedia Today is a good day for bargains". The more times you are engaged in conversation, recommended, agree with or deemed note worthy by having your name mentioned "@attitude_emedia", the more followers you acquire. The more followers you acquire, the more people are hearing the messages you are giving out. Word of mouth in it's crudest form.

Since its creation in 2006 Twitter has gained popularity worldwide.

Still not sure? Then think about the ways that Twitter can add value to your business:

• Broaden your community of like-minded people. Target those that are interested.
• Solidify your reputation within targeted communities.
• Keep those that are interested up-to-date with business happenings & goals reached.
• Encourage customers & clients to follow you and utelize as a support network.
• Advise followers of promotions your business may be running.

Another way of using Twitter is to use it to feed other social networks that you might not have time to work. Have your social networking integrated into your website, then have Twitter fed into your other social networks. This gives you several communal fronts to send your message to (not everyone uses the same social networks, there are many). You can then feed all this back into your website keeping content fresh & dynamic and a friend to search engines like Google.

How do you Twitter?

Here is a great place to learn how to Tweet - Twitter 101 - Learning Twitter.

Users can group posts together by use of hashtags — words or phrases prefixed with a #. If posting about a special you have on 'apples', you would hashtag it: #apples #fruit #sale. These then lead on to trends, and trends are often highlighted by websites that run applications that collate & distribute what people talk about.

The letter 'D' followed by a username allows users to send messages privately - "D cindyleigh How is the weather" - will send the message only to 'cindyleigh' & only if she is following you.

Twitter Lists make it possible for users to follow, mention and reply to lists of authors instead of individual authors

So what's the urgency to get on Twitter?

It's not urgent that you get on Twitter. Like any other business it can be sold or taken over, and replaced by other ideas. However, it is important to at least secure your Twitter username. Like domain names Twitter usernames are disappearing fast. It's always a good idea to have your Twitter (business) username the same or similar to your domain or business name. This all becomes part of the branding of your business. If you put off securing your Twitter username for too long, it could get taken. This is the case with any social network. Once you have secured your username at social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, etc, you can gradually potter around in your social networks. However, when your business name is gone, it's gone. If the name is important to you, it can cost a lot to acquire.

 

The Twitter Glossary

About Twitter SMS Commands