Over the past week I have been using twitter in order to see what, if any, benefits it offers to our business.  I have made some great contacts, learned a lot about others and increased traffic by 35%. If you own a business, you really should consider joining twitter and using twhirl to become part of the community.

What is twitter?
twitter is a micro blogging system that allows you to post your ideas, thoughts, questions and links. Think of twitter as a large chat room in which you can correspond with others. Unlike a chat room you can choose who to listen to and who you wish to speak to.

How do I use twitter for my business?
To make use of twitter, you should start by building a group of people you’d like to follow.  For example, if you are a web designer,  you might want to use the search and start following other local web designers.  The designers you are following will post their own tweets which you will see if you have installed twhirl. The best way to make contacts on twitter is to be helpful and reply to others tweets.

Should I use twitter to advertise?
No. If you’re thinking of using twitter as a tool to advertise, not only will it not be effective, you will likely receive an adverse reaction from the community.  The people who are on twitter are very technical and will quickly block you if your only tweets (posts) are advertising or spam.

Can I send my blog posts to twitter?
If you have a blog there are 2 plugins (WordTwit and Twitter Tools) you can use to post your latest posts to your twitter. It is acceptable to post your own blog posts on twitter.

How do I get followers?
The true secret to twitter is not to try and get followers. Followers will find you if you are helpful and post meaningful content.

Do you use twitter for your business?