Twitter is also referred to as a “micro-blogging” service, meaning you can post short updates limited to 140 characters or fewer. Why just 140? originally, this character limitation was implemented to make Twitter compatible with mobile phones and text messaging.

How business can use Twitter: 

1. Develop and promote your brand
2. Interact with your customer base
3. Track what people are saying about your company and brand
4. Create buzz around upcoming events
5. Help individual employees act as liaisons to the public
6. Promote other content you have created including blog posts or podcasts
7. Develop direct relationships with bloggers and journalists for potential PR placement
8. Generate sales leads for your business
9. Give customer service

What can you Tweet:

1. An observation: Tweet about what you are doing, thinking or feeling
2. What you are reading: Post a link to an interesting blog post or news article
3. What you are watching: Post a link to a video
4. What events you are attending: Share a link to the next conference you plan to attend
5. Content you have created: Post a link to your most recent company or personal blog article
6. Someone else’s content: Post a link to someone else’s blog article as a helpful resource
7. Chat with someone: Direct messages to other Twitter users using an @ sign
8. Retweet what someone else has Tweeted: By click on Retweet button to repeat to your followers what another user has tweeted

How to find people to follow in Twitter:

Building your network is the most challenging and time-consuming part of using Twitter. Think who you want to follow, what these prospects followers can give you and also what you can give them back.

1. Use Twitter’s “Who to Follow” feature
2. Follow people your followers are following
3. Follow key opinion leaders and bloggers

How to get people to follow you on Twitter:

1. Make usernames easy to find and remember
2. Place “follow buttons on your website, blog, linkedIn, emails…
3. Make your Tweets useful resources so people need you

Twitter ideas for marketing:

1. Use Twitter as traffic generator to your website
2. Monitor your brand
3. Use Twitter to promote events, campaigns, new products, features, services

Ideas to use Twitter for social search:

1. Twitter is a powerful social media platform, but it is also a key to the future success of organic search marketing
2. Use SEO keywords
3. Ask for retweets. Search engines are looking to see what content spreads through social media, because that can often be a strong measure of credibility of the web page linked to within the tweet
4. Spreading blog posts through Twitter will help boost traffic from Twitter and search engines

Ideas to use Twitter for customer service:

1. Respond to concerns people tweet about your company or products
2. Be sure to follow back everyone who follows your company account

What you can measure on Twitter:

1. Reach: Total number of followers. This number is your raw distribution power
2. Response Rate: Average number of @replies per tweet
3. Branding and Awareness: How often people reference your company or products. Use Twitter Search
4. How many lists you are on
5. How many ReTweets you are generating
6. The number of Direct Messages

Companies using Twitter creatively

• JetBlue  JetBlue Twitter account is not about shouting advertisements to followers
• BestBuy hundreds of employees are handling online customer service and company promotions via Twitter
• Amazon daily deals amazon daily deals
• Dell Outlet
• Cookbook, probably the best way to condense food recipes on Twitter