Twitter: A Step by Step Guide

A quick rundown on Twitter.  These points will be explained further in future posts. Click the "Twitter" link on the right for a full list of Twitter posts.

1. Sign-up and post a profile. Do it Here.  Write a little about yourself, and remember your audience! They want to know why they should follow you...Meaning what message will you give them?
2. Follow People and Make Friends. Find your favorite blogs, friends, staff, or whoever you think your customers would like. Just click the "follow" link on the top right of their Twitter Page. Here is ours for example.  The easiest way to do this quickly is to find people you like, or are similar to you, and see who they follow.  You can see this on the top right under the "follow" button, ie. 652FOLLOWING
3. Write some updates. Link interesting ideas, mention cool stuff, plug an event, invite them down for drinks... Remember your audience and engage in conversation.
4. Post some Links.  The "tinyurl" link: We have one made for you (find out more, call us at 612-246-4373), or just copy/paste your link in any url shortening tool. Here is Google's:  http://goo.gl/
5. # ! @ links, etc... WTF?!? Some of the online speak can get confusing, so here is what Twitter Uses



Anthony Weiner's Weener. DM, don't Reply!

1. the "@" - The thing you should use the most! Reply to users by using @TheirTwitterName. They will see you posted them and hopefully reply or share this with their followers!
2. the "#" hashtag - is for Trending conversations. More info than you'll ever want to know is found here on the Twitter blog.
3. the "d" Direct Message - a direct reply to a follower that will NOT go to the rest of your list. This is different from a reply, because only one user will see this.  Want to know what happens when you screw this up? "d TwitterNameUwantToReplyTo"
6. Monitor Conversations about your company. Follow what people say about you.  This is SUPER easy in Twitter and probably the best use for it.  Do people like you? Search what they are saying! You can even subscribe to an RSS feed of this! Twitter Search - Enter your name

That about sums it up! Give us a ring if you have any questions or need any custom backgrounds made up (612-246-4373)!