Consider Twitter the newest advertising tool that can reach a wide array of potential clients that your business has never touched before.

Where did Twitter come from?

Jack Dorsey,  an American software architect created Twitter. A micro-blogging and social networking service that basically sends messages to its followers with a limit of 140 characters per “tweet.”  When he first analyzed the idea of instant messaging, Dorsey had thought of how to share posts amongst a number of friends easily.  Twitter has now obtained notice in the world market and has received a trendy status to teens,  movie stars and now is moving on to the business community. Due to its 140 character limit, it is from time to time referred to as the “SMS of the Internet”

How can it be used for marketing your business?

Twitter permits businesses or business owners to interrelate with their customers or networks by broadcasting information and updates as well as address comments or concerns about their products or services. These messages are broadcast over the Twitter network, thus letting businesses achieve reaching a greater number of possible customers.

Most of the leading networks and organizations have been using Twitter to provide updates to their followers. Since, these tweets can be viewed using mobile phones it becomes a powerful communication tool.

How to use it?

To use Twitter for business, it is as easy as following this 5 simple steps:

1.    First you need to log-in and become a member of the site. Use a provocative username that best fits your company. Then you need to expand your network by adding followers or following other people’s tweets. This way people will recognize your company’s profile.

2.    After creating an account, do not forget to put your logo in instead of your picture. You want people to recognize your brand. Think about using a Twitter background that is consistent with your company’s image.

3.    Talk to people; once you have developed a network, start sending tweets. It does not always have to do with the product or service you are selling, try to talk to your followers and show that there is a human behind the logo. This way people will become comfortable with your company. Always keep in mind that your posts are a reflection of you and your business.

4.    Provide creative posts:  suppose you owned a restaurant, you could “tweet”  your followers/customers about daily specials, enhancing it with pictures to add to their delight.

5.    You get immediate customer feedback.  If you receive a compliment, grace them with your gratitude, if you however receive negative feedback, acknowledge that you have read it and improve your service or product. This way they will know that you are taking comments seriously and can cause repeat business.

As a reminder you don’t need to read and reply to every “tweet” thrown at you. If you are running a bigger staff, assign more than one individual to updating the tweets, this way there is a variety to the type of message received by your followers.  Or if you don’t know how to get started or don’t have the time or people resources, consider hiring a virtual assistant to help with the task.  Twitter is just one of many social networking sites you can use to promote your business.  You may consider using Facebook, Youtube , Linkedin, Flickr and many more.

Soon you will be surprised when your revenue increases as more and more share your tweets and more and more people are introduced to your product.