Since Twitter was first launched in July 2006 the number of registered users has increased at an incredible rate and, as of September 2011, there are over 200 million worldwide.

If you are unfamiliar with Twitter, it is a free service that allows anyone to say almost anything they like to anyone they choose in 140 characters or less.

It describes itself as: “A service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

Now that statement might seem a little vague. It may also prompt the question: “Is that all it is?” Well no. Superficially, Twitter might appear to be the ultimate in meaningless chitchat, however, typifying the kind of micro-blogging that now permeates online social communication it is very much more than that.

While many individuals do use it to tell no one in particular what they had for breakfast, millions more – especially business owners – are utilising Twitter’s resources as their primary means of marketing. Easy to set up and use, it is a great way to network and communicate with contacts old and new, and because small-business owners tend to work on the floor not in the marketing department, Twitter’s intimacy suits them well. Like most social media tools Twitter is outfitted with the means to subscribe, share, friend or follow other Twitter feeds. In addition, developers have created tools that allow users to bend and twist their feeds in inventive ways.

Is Twitter right for you?

Like any social networking platform you first need to determine if Twitter can work for you and your business. For example, Twitter is good for:

• Marketing – when you release a blog post, a new product, service or special offer you can announce it on Twitter.

• Connecting and networking with others in your industry or others who share your views.

• It allows you to get instant access to what is being said, this minute, about your business, staff, products and brand helping you improve customer service.

• It provides a steady stream of ideas, content, links, resources and tips focused on your area of expertise or interest.

• It is interactive – you can ask your followers for ideas for a blog post or even your next product. Your customers know what they want, ask them then deliver it to them.

• Share news and stories about the business you are in. If your messages are pertinent and informative you will quickly develop a reputation for being an expert in your field.

What it is not so good for is direct sales – anything outwardly promoting a product or service. Most Twitter users really do not like this approach, so keep your messages informative or fun.

The trick is to offer a tantalising snippet incorporating a link that users are compelled to click on. This might take them to a press release, blog post, feature or extended article and it is here you can be a little more up front, providing an opt-in to your newsletter, for example, before showcasing your product or service.

Instead of selling you rely on your customers to talk to each other helping to spread your reputation by word of mouth. Small businesses typically get more than half of their customers this way and Twitter is the digital manifestation of that. Twitter is where customers sell to customers, where they create personal viewpoints and feel compelled to tell anyone who will listen.

Marketing on Twitter is different to traditional marketing. Yes, you can take the initiative and get the ball rolling and be involved in the debate, but ultimately you no longer have complete control over what is being said, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Ideally, you want customers to be writing glowing accounts, and they no doubt will so long as your business is providing a positive experience, but if they are unhappy, and they make it known, then you have an opportunity of redressing their dissatisfaction immediately.

Large companies have dedicated employees who do nothing but monitor Twitter for negative feedback. Now even small companies can monitor this sort of live feedback from customers.

Here is how it works: whenever someone mentions your name or company name you will get an alert before anyone else does. If someone happens to complain, you “tweet” an instant response with a solution, which will hopefully appease the unhappy customer. Other users will take note of your action and share the news with other users. Being transparent and quick to rectify problems, complaints or general enquiries for that matter will help to enhance your reputation.

Following others and being followed

In addition to having your own followers on Twitter it is essential to follow other users too. The point of following others, initially, is to let them know you exist. When they post a message it appears on your Twitter timeline (much like your friends’ posts appear on your Facebook feed). Unlike Facebook you do not need other people’s approval to follow them so long as they have a public status. Likewise, when you post a message it appears on theirs. Therefore always try to give an incentive to follow you by posting useful information. Naturally, different organisations, small businesses and sole traders will be interested in different things, so try to tailor your messages accordingly, but keep the content relevant to your business. More on that later.

Micro-blogging (tweeting)

If you are familiar with sending text messages from your mobile phone then you will have little problem adjusting to Twitter. The principle is largely the same with one exception: on Twitter you have just 140 characters (including spaces) to communicate your message clearly.

These 140 character messages are called “tweets”. Here are a couple of typical examples from the timeline of 10 Downing Street. http://mobile.Twitter.com/Number10gov

Number10gov Prime Minister launches GREAT campaign to promote Britain as a destination for tourism and investment bit.ly/nNVOlv #great about 2 hours ago.

Number10gov The Prime Minister is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly and is meeting with world leaders including US President Obama #UNGA 12 hours ago.

The feeds include the username – in this instance Number10gov – a brief message of 140 characters or less comprising links and hashtags, and when the message was posted.

Hashtags (#) are used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets in that category. Clicking on a link will open a new page.

Choosing a username

Creating a Twitter account is a little different from, say, creating a Facebook account. Just as you are limited to 140 characters for each message there are limitations to how much information you can provide in your profile. The whole idea behind Twitter is economy, packing a lot of information in a small amount of space: a single image, a biography comprising 160 characters or less and a username of just 15 characters or less. What you write, therefore, needs to be given careful consideration. After all, this is your introduction to other users, your micro pitch, it is all they see and learn of you and may be the difference between them following you or not.

On Twitter, your username, or handle, is your identity. If possible, sign up for Twitter by using your name or a variation of it (assuming somebody else isn’t already using it). For example, if your name is David Lee, you may want to pick a username such as @davidlee or @david_lee.

Twitter usernames typically appear with an @ sign before the name, because that is how you refer to other users on Twitter. But when you are actually choosing a username, the @ isn’t part of it. The only characters you can use are uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and the underscore character ( _ ).

If users have already claimed your name – and it is likely they have – try adding a number at the end, such as davidlee25, or an adjective or work description, such as @bigdavelee or @daveleeplumber, for example.

If it has less than 15 characters, and it is available, you can use your company or business name as your username. If possible opt for a short Twitter username. Tweets are only 140 characters, so when people are replying to you, if you have a longer name, you leave them less room for message content. Twitter limits your username to just 15 characters for this very reason.

Whatever you choose simply add your username in the Name text box on the Settings page for your account.

Your Twitter name has power and influence on search engine optimization (SEO), which translates to how close to the top of a search results list you appear in a search engine such as Google. If you are a business, consider using a valuable keyword as your Twitter name.

Setting up an account

Step 1: Get a Twitter account

First off, visit http://Twitter.com to sign up for an account – you will be presented with a short form with three fields: Full Name, Email and Password.

Fill in these fields then click the yellow Sign Up button. This opens another page, which replicates the first page with the addition of a new field: Username.

Here a suggested username has been automatically generated. You can change this if you wish.

If you are planning on using this account for brand management, use your domain name as your username – for example:

http://Twitter.com/cocacola

http://Twitter.com/sony

http://Twitter.com/Twitter

Click the yellow Create my account button.

You will now have a basic account from which you can start promoting your business.

Building connections

After creating your account, you can, if you wish, start tweeting immediately, but it is best to first start building your connections. Twitter makes this very easy for you. In the right-hand column you are presented with various options to search for organizations, areas of interest and individuals.

Begin by searching for some of the big name players within your industry. These will give you some insight into developments within the industry and will give you a chance of being found by other like-minded users.

Secondly, search for users listed within categories relating to the products or services your business provides.

Alternatively, take a look at Twellow, which is an excellent place to locate people with similar interests: http://www.twellow.com

Twellow is like a Twitter phone directory that sorts people by industry. The profiles also tell you a little about each person, including how many followers they have. Sometimes following people with large followings can lead to people following you. If your goal is to keep tabs of what industry leaders are saying, then focus on industry leaders. The Twellow site has a link to each profile on Twitter so you can click on the link and go to a Twitter page to follow the person you have chosen and then jump back to Twellow to keep looking. If you want to get listed on Twellow use this link: http://www.twellow.com/user_add.php

Another directory can be found here – http://Twitterpacks.pbwiki.com

The nice thing about this directory is that you can also add your Twitter links – that is if you are not afraid to edit a wiki!

Build connections through existing contacts

Twitter gives you the ability to import and search for existing contacts you might have within a number of other online service providers, such as LinkedIn and Gmail. This is a great way to build up a list of already engaged users within the Twitter environment, and you may also attract some of their followers to follow you too. After you have confirmed with Twitter which of your contacts you would like to follow, click the Finish button at the bottom of the page.

Suggestions For You Feature

Twitter will offer suggestions with their Suggestions For You Feature. This is a useful tool when you start creating your lists as it uses built-in algorithms designed to measure relevance based on the accounts you follow, and the accounts followed by the users you have chosen to follow. If you do not agree with the suggestions you can click Hide and the list will be replenished with new recommendations. If you agree with the recommendations simply click Follow and you will start receiving the users’ Tweets. Remember, the point of following others is to let them know you exist.

Alternatively, to get you started, a compilation of some of the UK’s top bloggers tweeting on a wide range of technical subjects can be found here:

www.canonburypublishing.com/twittering

Refine your profile

Before you send your first tweet, refine your profile to give you some level of authority, it should reflect your business and branding as closely as possible.

You can refine the look and feel of your profile via the home page of your profile.

Click on your username tab located at the far right of the page, then select Settings. Click on Profile from the top menu, here is where you will be able to amend the following:

Profile picture – add a picture here. Choose an image that best presents you or your company. A simple headshot or logo is ideal. Just make certain you do not leave the profile picture blank.

Follow these steps to add a picture to your profile:

• Click “Settings”: The Settings page appears

• Click the Picture tab

• Click “Browse”: If you are using Safari, click “Choose File”, instead. A file selection dialog box appears

• Choose the file you want to use, and then click “Open” (or “Choose” in Safari): You can use either a JPEG or a PNG file, and the maximum size is 700KB

• Click “Save”: Twitter updates your profile with the new image

Location of business and URL of business site – self-explanatory, insert where you are based and your company web address.

Biography – here you have just 160 characters to let the world know who you are. Do not leave this blank. Your bio must convey to others that you are worthwhile following. Here are a few things to consider:

• Use short phrases that reflect your expertise. Explain what you do.

• Show a human side to your personality, mention a passion or interest: “Long suffering Rovers fan”, for example.

• Try to avoid political or religious viewpoints – unless it is relevant to what you do, and never be salacious.

• Do not write in “text speak” or use abbreviations to get more across (that is fine for your messages but not here).

• Do not come over as a salesperson.

• Include a few keywords relevant to your business.

Next step, click on the Design tab, here you can amend the background image and colours used on the account. We will take a look at this feature in more detail in the next issue. Creating a bespoke look is a great way for you to stand out from the crowd.

Start interacting

So now you have an account and a list of users to follow. The next step is to start interacting with those users and promote your business or brand.

You might like to talk about developments in your industry; something newsworthy within your own business; it may be that you are attending a conference and want to keep users informed with regular updates; or it may simply be that you hope your customers are enjoying the winter sunshine.

Basically, the topics you post should be as varied as you are, the opportunities are endless.

Make your first tweet

Tweeting is simple, deciding what to say requires a little more thought. Quite a lot of thought actually, and we will take a look at this in more detail in the next issue, but if you cannot wait, this is what you do:

• After you have logged in you will see the “What’s Happening?” box at the top of your screen.

• Click the box with your mouse. It expands a little.

• Write your message.

• Make sure your message is fewer than 140 characters. Twitter automatically counts the number of characters you use. Remaining characters show up as a number below the box. Unlike your bio, feel free to abbreviate words or substitute with numbers. Turn people into ppl, four into 4 and so forth. Just ensure the message still makes sense.

• Click the “Tweet” button to post the Tweet to your profile.

• You will then see your Tweet in the timeline on your home page.

The timeline is a long stream showing all your tweets and tweets from those you have chosen to follow. The newest messages are displayed at the top. You can interact with messages from within the timeline by hovering your mouse over the “Reply” or “Retweet” links.

A reply is simply responding to what someone says. You do this by clicking the “Reply” link. After you have written your message click “Tweet” to send.

A Retweet is when you come across something you like and you want to share it with your followers. Effectively, it is republishing someone else’s comments and accrediting it to them. To do this simply click the “Retweet” link.

Clicking anywhere on a Tweet in your timeline pulls open a sidebar, where you can see photos, videos, and profile information related to that message.

Twitter is so much more than a platform for idle chitchat

Easy and fun to use it is a powerful marketing tool for businesses large and small. If you are not currently using it you are missing out on some serious benefits.

In next month’s post we will take a look at what to write and how to write it, how to plan a marketing strategy using Twitter, customizing your home page to give it a branded feel and much more.