Gain Twitter Followers

If you're using Twitter as business marketing and networking tool, you be anxious to add "followers" to your list. The more people who follow you and receive your tweets, the more likely you are to reach new clients and make connections that will help you promote and strengthen your business.

Building your follower list takes time, so you'll have to be patient. But there are some things you can do to encourage other tweeters to follow you. Here are a few tips:

1. Share valuable information. Offer business tips, links to valuable resources, answers to questions that other tweeters ask, and recommendations for products and services. Remember that your tweets are about the reader. If you give them something they can use, they'll keep coming back for more.


2. Tweet on a regular basis. Be consistent about sending messages and keeping in touch. If you let too much time go between tweets, your followers may lose interest and look for someone else to follow.


3. Leverage your own resources. If you have a blog or Web site, use them to post articles, special offers, and timely advice. Then, tweet the link so your followers can gain easy access.


4. Design your Twitter home page to reflect your personality. With only 140 characters, you don't have much room to write about who you are. But your followers can learn a lot about you by viewing your home page to see what you like. A well designed, personalized page shows other tweeters that you are invested in your Twitter activities.


5. Reciprocate. Follow the tweets of those who follow you, and retweet posts that you find particularly helpful. Your followers will benefit from the information, and your sure to gain favor in the eyes of the original tweeter!


6. Tweet when others are tweeting. If you want to be noticed, you have to post tweets when other are participating. Typically, the peak hours for Twitter are during business hours during the work week. To reach across time zones, try tweeting in the morning and early afternoon.


7. Include a link to your Twitter page in your e-mail signature, on your Web site, and your other social networking profiles. The more people who can find and click on your link, the more followers you'll gain.


8. Be real. People want to connect with others who are genuinely interested in them and what they have to say. Don't think about what's in it for you. Tweet from the perspective of what's in it for the reader.

Tweeting with twhirl

Twitter is a great little application to help you connect and stay connected with family, friends, and clients. It's so popular, in fact, that many 3rd parties have developed additional applications to make Twitter easier and more convenient to use and integrate with the rest of your social networking activities.

One of these tools is twhirl. It's a free software desktop client that runs on both Windowns and Macs. Twhirl allows you to do everything you would typically do in Twitter without opening your Web browser and logging in. So, you can post short updates (abiding by the 140 character limit, of course), follow your friends' tweets, read replies, and answer other tweeters with direct replies.

In addition, Twhirl informs you of new tweets and allows you to search Twitter Search and TweetScan, look up others' profiles, automatically find tweets that include your @username, post images to TwitPic, and cross-post to Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social networking apps via Ping.fm. It even allows you to share Seesmic videos through Twitter. And more!

So, if you're hoping to get more out of Twitter, you should try twhirl, especially if you have several Twitter accounts to manage. It conveniently brings Twitter to your desktop using a small window, and you can configure it to work best with your needs.

We plan to post about more Twitter apps that will help you maximize the potential of your Twitter account. What are your favorites? Let us know so we can check them out!

Tips for Getting Started on Twitter

Present your professional identity. People want to know who the person is behind the tweets they read, so be sure to fill out your profile and include a picture. You develop more loyal followers if they have the opportunity to learn a little about you and your company. If you are using Twitter to promote your business, make sure your profile reflects your professional image.

Start simple. Offer business tips, links to resources you use frequently, or ask a question to get advice or recommendations. Don't start with a bunch of self promotion tweets. Instead, make yourself a resource for people who need answers that you can provide and possibly your services.

Tweet before you follow. Spend a week or two sending tweets before tackling the task of building followers. When followers visit your Twitter page, you want them to see a solid list of tweets so they know you're a good person to follow.

ReTweet interesting posts. If you agree with a specific post, retweet it. Give the author credit by posting "@Twitter User name" at the beginning of the post. The author will likely send you a thank you tweet and check out your profile. This is a good way to build your network.

Follow the right tweeters. Find people to follow first by searching for your friends, colleagues, clients, and associates. Then, check out their list of followers and start following them. It's best to choose people who are active tweeters. You can also go to MrTweet.com to get additional recommendations.

Contribute to conversations. Offer your opinions, feedback, and advice when you see posts that relate to your business or interests.

Use a Twitter desktop program. Applications like TweetDeck or Twirl will bring Twitter to you computer desktop so you won't have to log in to Twitter to post and read other posts. This makes it more convenient,and you will be more likely to keep up with the conversations.

Be a consistent tweeter. Try to tweet at least once a day. Followers look for active contributors, so it's important to keep your name in front of readers as much as possible.

Don't overdo it. While you need to be consistent, don't be annoying. Remember that you want a professional image, so don't tweet need to tweet about what you had for lunch or other inconsequential activities. Three or four tweets a day is a good average if the information you provide is relevant.

Be patient. Followers will come if you stick with it. Again, be a resource and be consistent. Establish your credibility with helpful tweets and people will want to follow you.

5 Ways I Can Use Twitter for Business

Twitter is one of those social networking tools that helps you stay in touch with your "followers". It's meant for quick postings -- you can only "tweet" 140 characters or less. The premise is that you can update your status throughout the day so your friends and family can keep up with what's going on in your life.

Twitter is a fun application for your personal life, but it can be so much more than that. As a business tool, Twitter can help you network, find resources, and even attract new clients and customers. Here are 5 ways that I am using Twitter to boost my business marketing and network.

1. Building My Network - Twitter offers a huge audience! As other "tweeters" learn more about me through my posts, I'll gain more followers and build my network. Through these connections, I might learn more about up and coming business trends or innovative marketing techniques, and I'll increase the opportunities to pull in new clients as well.

2. Building My Credibility - Twitter shows you postings from thousands of users, many of which are looking for information or suggestions. When I find a question I can answer, I've just promoted myself as an expert on that topic. This is a great way to gain more followers.

3. Asking for Recommendations - The Internet can be a great source of information, if you can find what you're looking for. It's easy to do a search for a particular service or product, but you can easily get sidetracked by all the junk, too. If I need to find a specific service or product to improve my business, I can tweet about my situation and ask for help. The recommendation I receive will be more valuable than any general search on the Web because I'll get specific information backed by the experience of other users. I can then focus my search based on the suggestions I've received, saving me time because I don't have to filter through hundreds of search results.

4. Promoting my business - Tweeting about my business (and personal) successes will let others know that I'm passionate about my work and helping my clients succeed. This is another way to attract new clients and become a resource for those needing help with Web design, building their brands, and developing marketing ideas and promotions.

5. Reaching Out to Clients - Twitter will help me reach out to clients and prospects. Not only can I tweet about new services that I offer or new products and promotions, but I can also offer kudos to my clients who have just reached a milestone and special achievement, and promote a special event being held by one of my non-profit clients. Those are the kind of "real world" connections that build lasting relationships and mutual appreciation.