howisthebiz.com 29 August 2008 Articles > Effective Social Networking 185 views One Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

I admit it, I am Twitter lover. Yes, that is right, I am in love! Twitter is what is called a micro blogging platform that allows you to create mini-messages of up to 140 characters through a variety of ways including IM, cellphones and the web.

Your account can be made public or private, so either the whole world can see your thoughts, or only those you allow in can see your thoughts. Personally, I am public as I want to allow as many people to reach out to me as possible. If I make my settings private than only my 100 or so followers will be able to follow my posts.

Here are some simple steps to start with Twitter:

• Sign on for twitter using a name that suits your business, this will help promote branding.
• Once you have a username be sure to post on your blog or website a little “follow me on twitter” icon to encourage people to become a follower.
• We know you have no followers at this point, we know, this is so sad. So, go make some friends! Start with a few short posts about yourself or what you are doing at the moment.
• After making a few posts, then take a peak at the Find & Follow area and see if you have any friends that are already using Twitter by typing in their email addresses. If you find some then you can simply open their Twitter page and click on the follow button, voila you are now stalking..I mean following someone!
• If all goes well and the person actually likes you, they will return the follow and you will have your first follower.
• Next, use the search feature to find people that may be within your industry. So if you sell dog toys, then type in “dogs” in the search box, up will come a list with a bunch of Tweets (these are twitter users don’t ya’ know) that may be dog related. If you want to be more specific, type in “dog toy” and see what you get. Want to get into a pet magazine, type in “dog magazine” and see what comes up. First one is Dog Living, now if you sell dog toys you may want to be in that magazine someday, so I would Follow Them! Hopefully they will at least then have you on their radar and follow you.
• Now, you have found some people to follow and are following you. Why do they care about what you have to say? Well, they may not-but they may! Maybe Dog Living Magazine has a feature article about dog toys for the holidays coming up. Wouldn’t it be great if you Tweeted a post about the new line of dog toys you have? You never know what may happen. Also, your target market is everyone right? You can tweet about what dog toys are safe, sales you are having, new things in your market.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Twitter is a social networking tool. That means all work and no play makes tweets a dull networking friend. Take part in some of the social talk that may be going on. Chime in with thoughts and comments on occasion. It allows prospective business relations and/or customers really get to know you! And hey, it never hurts to make friends right….

Written by Jill Caren/Modern9 Photo Design