How to Use Twitter for Business

Unless you've been on another planet lately, you have heard about Twitter - a microblogging platform, with an instant messaging (IM) feel to it.

Sign up for a free Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com/.

It asks a very simple question, "What are you doing right now?" And you get to answer in 140 characters or less.

You follow people, and people follow you. Whenever you update your status, those that are following you get notified. Incoming notifications of people you are following can come in a variety of ways. You can have them delivered via text message to your mobile phone, you can have them come through a few IM programs, such as GoogleTalk and Jabber. You can also use these methods for updating your Twitter status. They've made it VERY easy for you to send your update from a variety of places.

Also of special note: Twitter is a real-time application. Due to the nature of Twitter and how people are always watching the new posts, you'll usually get speedy-fast replies...like within seconds. Talk about an efficient way to get an answer to a question!

Recently, I held a "Using Twitter for Business" class for my fellow virtual assistants. I posted the video class on my podcast site, "Outlook, SharePoint, and Business Technology" podcast. Watch this video to see Twitter and some Twitter tools in action. This link takes you to the full version of the video, which is nearly an hour.

Here's a link to it: http://www.productivitypodcast.com/businesspodcast/how-to-use-twitter-for-business/

To make it fit for YouTube I had to shorten it a lot. A link to the shorter video on YouTube is below. Also, the YouTube video is a bit blurry.

You can update your Twitter status via:

1) from your phone

2) from IM - currently not working

3) from your logged-in home page

4) from m.twitter.com.

5) from any of the third party applications on Twitter Fan Wiki, see the link I provided above.

Twitter offers suggestions on how to find people to follow at http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=62, but the fastest way I've found to find people to follow is to find someone that follows lots of other people. You can get into their list of people they are following (on the right under Stats) and start following people on their list. I go through the list and if I find a name that I recognize and is someone I want to follow, I click the Follow button. It's really simple. If you want to follow me, go to www.twitter.com/AndreaKalli.

They offer a download center for ways you can find out what your friends are doing - http://twitter.com/downloads

Plus there is a cool wiki for other Twitter gadgets you can download and play with - http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Apps. Windows, Mac, Linux, Multi-platform, and Second Life. You name it, you got it. The multitude of Twitter web apps are offered in categories such as: Search Engine, Posting and Alerts, Badges and Widgets, Diet and Exercise, Mobile apps, and Other (a catch-all category).

There are a series of commands you can use - http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=75.

The most common ones used are:

• @username + message

directs a twitter at another person, and causes your twitter to save in their "replies" tab.

Example: @meangrape I love that song too!

• D username + message

sends a person a private message that goes to their device, and saves in their web archive.

Example: d krissy want to pick a Jamba Juice for me while you're there?

Tell blog readers, fellow MySpacers, or website visitors what you're up to with a customizable Twitter badge. There is a selection of badges that you can use to display your Twitters as you update.

---To add a Twitter badge to your blog, MySpace, or website:

1. Log in to Twitter.

2. Click Badges at the bottom of your home page

3. Decide where you want to put it

4. Choose a just-you badge, or a with-friends badge

5. Customize it

6. Follow the Instructions on the page and voila!

If I'm out and about and I want to Twitter something cool, I'll use my mobile phone to send in a status update. You need to set both these up through Twitter first, so they can verify things before you're able to do that. Just log into your account at http://www.twitter.com/, click on the Settings link at the top, click on the Device tab on the page, and set things up.

Some people Twitter more than others. If you start using Twitter, you'll find this out for yourself. I find it interesting to see the different ways people use Twitter. Some people only talk about personal stuff, some only talk about business stuff. Then there's those that talk about both. It's actually a great way to figure out how you're going to use it...if at all. Which leads us to the question of the day - should you be participating in Twitter?

I feel that depends on a few things:

1) How you feel about constantly keeping people updated on what you're up to

2) How you feel about keeping your finger on the pulse of what's being talked about in your industry

For me, it really just comes down to that. Just like anything else, you decide on how often you update your status on Twitter. My recommendation is to try it out for awhile and get a feel for how you might use it. I'm not saying it's for everyone. I have a very hard time keeping my status updated. At least give it a chance to see if it works for you. Some people just love it, and some don't. Simple as that.

Time management is KEY if you don't want to spend most of your day reading Twitter posts and posting to Twitter. The constant distraction of Twitter posts can absolutely destroy any concentration you need if you're working on a project. If your project is on a deadline, you're best to stay away from Twitter altogether until you have some free time. If you think you can simply pop into Twitter for a few minutes here and there, you're fooling yourself into thinking you haven't interrupted the concentration needed to give a project your undivided attention and focus.

1) Tracking topics and keywords. Twitter tracking was a great way to accomplish this, but it's not working right now. Instead, I tested http://www.tweetbeep.com/. Very similar to Google Alerts, you set up a free account and set up alerts based on keywords or phrases you want to be notified of within Twitter posts.

I like how you can track conversations about something of interest, such as SharePoint. Use this feature to see what people are talking about and to chime in. This would be a great way to identify yourself as an expert or information resource.

2) Use twitter to ask questions about things related to your business. For example, you could ask "Creating SharePoint training. What do you think is the best method of delivery? Workshop, videos, or a combination?" Or start up a conversation about an industry issue or problem.

3) Announce that you're working on something cool, a great new product you'll be offering. Ask people to help you decide what to name it, or to make some other kind of contribution to it. Don't forget to announce when your new product is released.

4) If you hold free seminars, workshops, or web meetings, let people know that it's starting soon, how to participate and join in.

5) Use it to "mingle" with leaders in your industry and create "soft" relationships, aka - getting your name known. Start up conversations with the big-wigs.

6) When you post a new podcast or article, Twitter it! Let the Twitter community know about it. If you like, use www.twitterfeed.com to automatically push your rss feed posts to Twitter. So simple and an efficient use of time.

When using Twitter this way for business, building up a large list of followers is key, so spend time building who you follow. That will encourage others to follow you. It's not as simple as creating a Twitter account and thinking you'll be able to tap into the entire Twitter community. Only people who follow you will see your posts.

>Exploring Twitter - http://explore.twitter.com/

>Twebinars: http://www.twebinar.com/

A twebinar is a webinar and Twitter mash-up where conversations take place in real-time before, during and after the webinar, on Twitter.

Third-Party Twitter applications that are very popular:

1) Twhirl: http://www.twhirl.org/ - a desktop client.

2) Twitterfeed: http://twitterfeed.com/ - How to pull your blog posts into Twitter.

3) Tweetburner: http://tweetburner.com/ - lets you track what happens with the links you share on Twitter.

4) HelloText: http://hellotxt.com/ - HelloTxt enables you to update your status across all of your social networks and microblogs with a single click

5) And my personal favorite, due to the fact that I'm in Outlook ALL DAY LONG: OutTwit - http://www.techhit.com - Use Twitter from Outlook. You have Outlook running all day already. With OutTwit you do not need to open any other applications or the browser. Plus you will be able to archive, manage and search your tweets the same way you manage your email. A HUGE TIME-SAVER, IN MY OPINION.

Time-saving tips:

You can have your Facebook status be updated automatically with your Twitter status update, or even the other way around. Facebook offers a few Twitter sync applications that you should check into:

--TwitterSync - http://apps.facebook.com/twittersync/

--Twitter - http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/