Twitter has transformed the way people communicate online, and it is an indispensable tool for social networking and marketing. Similar to social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, it allows you to make new friends by adding “followers” and following other members. You will receive your contacts’ updates, and they will receive yours. The thing that makes Twitter unique is that it only allows its members to send messages that have no more than 140 characters. Messages have to be brief and straight to the point, like in microblogging. It can be challenging to get a message across meaningfully in the allotted space, but this is part of the fun of communicating through Twitter. It requires you to be creative and think about the core meaning of the message that you wish to convey.
Why Use Twitter?
There are many reasons why you should use Twitter. This social networking tool can help you make more friends, gain the latest information, and promote your website or business. It allows you to communicate with your target audience in a more personal way. You can add people who share the same interest as you to your list of friends, and send them messages to let them know about your latest activities. Whether you want to get more people to read your articles, visit your website, or try your products or services, you can get the results you want by sending well-thought-out messages through Twitter. Twitter is also an excellent tool for doing business research. You can find out about the interests and needs of your target consumers and use the information that you have obtained to improve your products or services. With about 50 million daily users, Twitter is one of the best places on the Internet for making new friends and gaining new readers and customers.
Using Twitter Effectively
The success of your endeavors on Twitter is dependent on what you “tweet” about. While it is easy to write a short message, it can be difficult to compose an engaging and convincing message in just 140 characters or less. In order to create effective “tweets”, you need to know what your followers want. People who join Twitter want to have good conversations, get to know more about other members, gain interesting information, and learn more about certain products or services. To achieve an active following, you have to make sure that your messages are worth replying to, and you need to reveal your personality and provide interesting information about your business. Also, your “tweets” must be share-worthy enough for your followers to send them to their own followers. It is a good idea to include links to great information, websites, or videos in your messages.
To build good relationships with your fellow Twitterers, you need to give and take. As much as you wish that your followers will share your messages with other people, you also have to “retweet” their messages from time to time. Make yourself useful to your followers, and they will be more willing to help you out. Establish mutually beneficial relationships.
How to Set Up a Twitter Account?
Setting up a Twitter account is very easy. All you have to do is go to the Twitter website and complete a simple registration process. Enter your email address, select a user name, and upload a picture, which can be a photo of yourself or an illustration. If you are using Twitter to gain new readers for your website or blog, you should choose a user name that is related to them. After you have registered, you can proceed to searching for the kind of users you wish to connect with. Once you have located them, you have to make a request to follow their updates. If they decide to add you to their list of friends, they will most likely follow you as well. You can use keywords to search for potential followers and build a list of followers who share the same interests as you. It is important that you communicate regularly with your followers and people whom you are following.
How to Tweet?
There are several ways that you can post messages on Twitter. Firstly, you can post a regular message. Type the message that you wish to send and click “update”, and it will be viewable to everybody who is following you. Another type of message that you can send is a reply. When someone sends you a message, you can reply by typing “@”, followed by his or her user name. Replies can be viewed by all your followers and the people whom you are replying to. Finally, you can send a direct message. This type of message is a private message to a particular person that you do not want anyone else to see. To send a direct message, type “dm” with the user name of the intended recipient.
When you send messages to new acquaintances on Twitter, it is best that you talk about things that are related to your personal life, and not your business. Twitter is foremost a social networking site, and many Twitterers have little tolerance for overt advertising. Instead of sending promotional messages, you can ask questions, share opinions, provide information, offer tips, and share links.
The Etiquette of Twitter
Similar to other social networking sites, Twitter has its own etiquette rules. If you break certain etiquette rules, you may find yourself losing followers. First of all, you should try to avoid being seen as a spammer. If all your messages are about your website or business, your contacts will lose interest fast, and they will think that you are a spammer. Also, you need to respond to every reply. When your followers respond to your message, you have to let them know that you have received their messages. If you post links frequently, make sure that you do not post the same link twice. It is also important that you do not use all capitals when you are posting your updates. Finally, try to login to your account every day.
