Do you ever eat too much?? Like when you eat too much of a yummy thing and feel so full you can barely walk? (I know a little too well how that feels!)
Lately it seems like I’ve been consuming a little too much of Twitter. It’s all over the place! Celebrities using it, Jimmy Fallon mentioning it on his show, Ellen DeGeneres being funny with it, evening news targeting news about Twitter, magazine articles, Sprint commercial, Today Show segments, etc…
Why? Why do some things catch on more than others? I don’t really have an answer for that other than a few elaborate concoctions of my creative mind, but I’m glad it happens, and even happier that I can use it for business! Here’s how you get started…
Go to http://twitter.com to create an account.
It?s easy to set up an account and customize your page. Make sure you link back to your website in your “about me” options.
http://tweetdeck.com/
Twitter can be a little overwhelming sometimes, too much going on, hard to keep up. Use a tool like TweetDeck to manage your account. It’s important to interact as much as it is important to be in the know of things. TweetDeck will allow you to see at a glance who has sent you a message or who has talked about you. There are other tools out there that will help you manage your twitter account, but I really like TweetDeck because it will also manage your Facebook account!
Need a twitter applicaiton for your phone? TinyTwitter can do the trick! http://tinytwitter.com/ and so can
Think text is too boring? Could say more with a picture? Use http://TwitPic.com to twit pictures. Pictures are great because they portray a greater level of trust.
Twitter is great fun and keeps you in the know. It’s important to use it as a customer service tool as well as relationship building tool. What are people saying about you? Find out by using http://TweetBeep.com – Just like Google Alerts, Tweetbeep tracks Twitter conversations that mention you, your business or your products and services. Alerts are sent to you via email.
Schedule future Tweets with http://twuffer.com. Why? Recommended uses include:
* Tweet hourly/daily/monthly announcements
* appointment/milestone reminders
* run a time-based scavenger hunt
* notify subscribers about upcoming podcast or video episodes
* appear to never sleep
Increase sales and engagement with your followers by offering exclusive deals on Twitter. With the simple coupon creator for businesses http://twtqpon.com.
Looking for people to follow? Do it with http://TwitSeeker.com
TwitSeeker is basically an alternate search engine for finding twitter.com users – “twits” – and browsing the results all in one combined control panel. It finds twits not by what’s posted in their bios but rather based on what they’ve been tweeting about lately.
Twitter is a manageable process that can be adopted for all types of lifestyles, busy or inactive. You?ll just need to integrate it within your normal work flow. It?s addictive but once you understand how to use it, it?ll be a very effective tool indeed. Here are a few ways in which you can use Twitter for business beyond the use of Twitter as a life streaming device:
Personal branding – Twitter is a social media platform you can use to build your personal brand. It has the primary benefit of developing a casual persona and establishes you as a social personality that is connected and approachable. As Twitter adoption increases, new users will be drawn towards well established Twitter personas.
Get feedback – Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you?ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.
Hire people – Need a good logo designer, marketer or programmer? Send out a message asking for recommendations.
Direct traffic – Twitter can be used to get traffic to your websites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news, even on a site like Twitter.
Read news – Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles and can be a source of scoops and alternative news.
Notify your customers – Set up a Twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in.
Business management – Twitter can be used as a company intranet that connects employees to one another.
Event updates – Businesses can use Twitter as a means to inform event participants and latest event happenings/changes. This is a hassle-free way of disseminating information, especially when you don?t have the means to set up a direct mobile link between you and the audience.
Find prospect – Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online.
Acquire votes – Send a link to your stories you?ve submitted in other social news sites like Digg. Sometimes your followers will vote up the stories because they agree with it. This allows you to acquire more support for your efforts on other social media websites.
Are you convinced? You better be! 😉
Follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/buzzbooster