Basics on Using Twitter

Different people have different reasons to use Twitter. Decide what you will use it for so that you have a clear strategy before creating an account. Once you know what you will be using it for, you can create an account name and profile accordingly.

If you decide to use Twitter as a social network, you may want to use a variation of your name as your account name. This will help you develop relationships on a more personal level. You will want to follow people that are social and chatty. As you are searching for people to follow, read their updates to see if they appeal to you.

Twitter can be used effectively to build your brand and generate traffic to your blog or website. If this is your strategy, make sure that your account name is representative of your domain name, product or area of expertise. Write interesting updates that reflect your brand or the topic that you want people to click through and read. Brevity is important since updates are limited to 140 characters and you will need to use a url shortener service like bit.ly, twurl, or tinyurl when posting a link. Without shortening the link, you might find you have no characters left to use in your update.

You may want to use Twitter to increase your reputation as an expert or build your site’s reputation as an authority site. To do that, offer tips to your followers in the niche that you occupy. Make sure to tweet the tip about 5 tips throughout the day so that you reach people in different time zones. Keep the tip brief so that you can add “See more” and a shortened link to your site or blog.

No matter how you intend to use Twitter, do not constantly tweet flogging products or your blog. That will only have your followers unfollowing as fast as they can. Be sociable and ask questions of others. You need to draw them out in order to have discussions that trigger an interest in you and your site.