Lately, we’ve been discussing some of the nifty new ways you can promote your business and online presence outside of your actual website. Twitter is yet another way for you to, not only PUBLISH content, information and ideas to the web, but, more importantly, it’s a way for you, your clients and prospects to PARTICIPATE in ongoing communications and ideas exchange.
Twitter is quite a bit different than other Web 2.0 applications out there, and on first glance, it might seem a little silly. Basically, Twitter allows people to post a “tweet” of 140 characters or less, and it gets published immediately. If you have a Facebook account, (and you do have a Facebook account, right? We talked about this!), it’s similar to the “What are you doing?” status feed on your homepage. Go to http://twitter.com/public_timeline and you will see a dizzying array of “tweets” go by. To be sure, very little of it is interesting or relevant to you or your business, and frankly, most of it is junk.
So how does this apply to you and your business? Well, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that Twitter allows you search for key phrases that ARE relevant to your business. For example, since Search Engine Optimization is an important topic for my business, I clicked on http://search.twitter.com/ and performed a search that showed only tweets talking about SEO issues. Once I found some people out there interested in the same topic, the fun can really begin.
First, I decided which SEO experts I was interested in “following”. When you follow somebody, their tweets show up in your account homepage. Some of the SEO experts were posting links to interesting articles, webinars, theories and job opportunities. Already, Twitter is providing me useful information and resources that can help me keep up to date with current search engine strategies. Now that I’m listening in on the topics that interest me, it’s time to start engaging in the conversation.
The first step is to jump in on the threads out there, by responding to the SEO experts and get in on the conversation. Then, it’s time to start a conversation about a new relevant topic of my own. Once you start following people, and participating in Twitter, people will start to follow you too. The more you put into it, the more you’ll get back.
An important step in Twittering is to customize your account profile for your business. First off, change your profile image from the generic one so that you have a unique “face” on Twitter. You can use a photo of yourself, or your company logo, whatever represents you the best. You can customize your profile page to match your website, and create a consistent look and feel from your website to your Twitter account.
Finally, you can also add a feed from your Twitter account onto your website, adding some fresh content to your homepage every time you twitter. We all know how much Google likes fresh content! I have a feed on my homepage where I can tell clients what I’m working on, post some interesting links, and share ideas that come and go throughout the day. I’ll even post a link to this blog article when it is posted.
So, are you twittering yet? Don’t be shy about it. Hey, it’s only 140 characters and I’m sure you have lots to talk about within your own business space. The hardest part is keeping your twitters short and sweet, but the networking and communication exchange possibilities are worth the effort. Visit my Twitter page at http://twitter.com/theatriumdesign, and while you are on Twitter, take a few minutes and get started! As always, let me know if you need any help.
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