It wasn’t long ago that Twitter was a tiny, bird-sized service that was used for novelty’s sake, but now, it has become a one million pound whale of a service that is hard for your business to ignore.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been writing extensively about Twitter, and Twitter marketing, and I thought it would be good to gather all of these thoughts into one comprehensive article for you to bookmark and reference as you go.
There is a lot of content to consider within the articles, so I don’t advise trying to take it all in at once. Twitter is an extremely important piece to your social media arsenal, and by following my tips, you’ll learn:
- What is Twitter?
- How to use Twitter.
- How to get the most out of Twitter using 3rd parties.
- Quick tips and instructions to get you tweeting quickly.
Twitter Basics
This article will cover all of the basics from “What is Twitter?” to “How do I get my business started?”
After reading this article, you should understand what Twitter is, why it is helpful to your business, why it is important to be social with your customers, and how you can get started using Twitter. This is a very fundamental article that gives more high-level view of Twitter than instructions on using it.
Read: Twitter Basics
Using Twitter
This article discusses Twitter Features, and answers the following questions:
- How do you find people on Twitter?
- How do you find followers on Twitter?
- What is a retweet?
- What is a direct message?
- What does the at (@) symbol mean on Twitter?
- What does the hash (#) symbol mean on Twitter?
After reading this article, you will have a strong grasp on how to use the majority of Twitter’s features, and have a strong grasp of how to communicate effectively with your customers and followers using Twitter.
Read: Using Twitter
Advanced Twitter Concepts
This article covers the more advanced uses of Twitter. Twitter itself is a fairly basic system, but 3rd parties have extended the functionality of Twitter into a whole new direction. On its own, Twitter primarily allows you to only send out messages, but 3rd parties allow you to:
- Schedule Tweets
- Auto Shorten URLs
- Manage other social networks simultaneously
- View analytics, statistics, and reports of activity, mentions, link clicks, and more.
- Allow multiple users to manage a single account.
- Automate tweets from other sources such as blogs.
- Compare your activity to others to see who is using Twitter most effectively.
These third parties add many more layers to Twitter, and take it from being a basic tool, to being an advanced tool capable of generating countless leads. How effectively you use Twitter will heavily depend on how effectively you can use these 3rd parties.
Read: Advanced Twitter Concepts
Twitter Marketing Made Easy
This article discusses why you should consider using Twitter for your business. It attempts to explain common misconceptions about marketing on Twitter, and how you can manage a marketing campaign without appearing too commercial. Additionally, the article goes on to talk about some of the basic concepts of Twitter including Retweets, hash tags, and why you should avoid the temptation of over-automation.
Read: Twitter Marketing Made Easy
5 Steps to Awesome Twitter Marketing
For those that prefer a more structured article, 5 Steps to Awesome Twitter Marketing gives you a 5 step road map to a more successful Twitter account. It also provides links to excellent articles on Twitter.com defining some of the different features of Twitter. Following the steps in this article for a few weeks will drastically improve:
- Your number of Twitter Followers
- The amount of interaction that happens on your account
- It will reduce the number of unfollows you get.
- It will provide useful information from your followers.
- It will quickly establish a reputable presence for you.
Twitter and Your Business
There is a lot of information in the articles above, and understanding it will give your business a strong foundation for successful Twitter campaigns. Bookmark these articles, reference them often, and if you have any questions, then ask them in the comments.