Businessense - 15 ways to use twitter

Are you using twitter to your advantage?

1. Twitterfeed: Twitter feed is an amazing way to link your blog/website to your twitter account. It automatically checks your website for new posts and tweets them for you, including a link to the site. This is so useful if you are a blogger. Let Twitterfeed notify your followers of your new post while you are snoozing away somewhere.
   
2. Mobile twitter: Do you have twitter on your phone? How annoying is it when you are somewhere where you need to tweet something quickly but oops! you have to wait till you get home when the moment is gone? You then return to 2500 tweets and you don't even know where to begin or what has been happening. Stay in touch- have mobile twitter. Time is of the essence.
   
3. Contests: A good way to keep your followers nearby and get new ones is by twitter contests. Many brands do this already. Anyone remember moonfruit? OK you don't have to give away Macbooks but simple things like first to re-tweet this gets whatever. It keeps people in tune.
   
4. Discount codes: Generate discount codes for your twitter followers that are valid for a short period of time (so the discount code website doesn't get hold of them). They will be sure to stay close.
   
5. Give information: This I think is why twitter was created. So you can tell people quickly what is happening or what you are up to. The surest way to lose followers is by silence.
   
6. Engage with members that have similar interests: Shout out to the beauty bloggers! No don't mind me. The amazing thing about twitter is that you can follow and be followed by brands, websites, celebrities or other bloggers that share your interests. I exchange tweets with amazing beauty addicts that I have never met and it is a fantastic means of communication and information. We discuss events, send messages to brands. talk about products, exchange ideas and lots more.
   
7. Twitpic: You must have a twitpic account. Twitter only allows you 140 characters but one photo can convey 1,000 words. How do you convince your followers about this amazing pink elephant you can see if you don't give them an opportunity to see it themselves?
   
8. Instant messenger: There is no proper instant messenger on twitter but indirectly that is what is on offer. You can involve your followers in your IM with another brand if they follow you both but if you prefer to keep it private, just direct message the person you are after if you follow each other. The possibilities are endless.
   
9. Website traffic: You can include links in your tweets and this is a way to get people to the target site instantly.
   
10. Get quick live feedback: So you are in a fix about which colour to include in your new palette or if your new website layout looks appealing, just tweet the question to your followers and voila!
    
11. Live commentary of events: The joy of being a blogger or website owner is that you are considered press. Your followers will appreciate frequent updates of the event you are attending and with twitpic, they can even see what you are seeing.
    
12. Re-tweets and hashtags: Have you ever thought about how many million people can see your message in the space of 30 minutes by re-tweeting? Just ask people to re-tweet your message and their followers and followers of followers will get the message. If you include a hashtag in your message, you can track the hashtag by clicking it. This is very useful if you want to create a trending topic and get everybody round the world on twitter involved.
    
13. Do not spam or over-tweet: The last thing you should do is to spam your followers or over-tweet. This is a sure way to lose followers and it is very very annoying. Sometimes spam may not be your fault but do not start it. Do not over-tweet either, it becomes spam eventually. It is annoying when the first page of my Tweetdeck is packed with messages from one person, which are, to say the least, useless.
    
14. Sales: No one has said advertising your product is illegal. If you twitpic whatever it is with a price, an interested buyer will contact you. twitter is a real time tool, so whoever might be online now may never get the opportunity to visit your website.
    
15. Follow Friday: FF is a good way to get your followers onto other people with similar interests. It helps your followers and it helps you as well because usually FF is reciprocal and other people can find you. I have discovered many brands and beauty bloggers by FF alone. Do not underestimate its potential.