RSS feedLast week I talked to you about the fact that Twitter is a real time search engine. Another difference is that Twitter only indexes micro-blogs. Tweets cannot be longer than 140 characters. It is a good idea to connect your Twitter account to other accounts where you will be able to expand the relationship, such as Facebook or your blog.
Tweets you send need to be diverse, yet follow a theme that is consistent with the image you are building for your company or personal brand. Offering tips and complimenting your customers are great but do not provide enough variation to get you very far.
So let’s take a look at what you can do with Twitter besides retweeting other peoples tweets. Here are 5 examples:
1.Communicate in Real Time
With the recent disasters that have struck the world the power of Twitter as a real time communication tool has become very apparent. We no longer have to wait until news reporters arrive at the scene.
Another example is when you are traveling and need help finding a location or deciding where to go for dinner. With the real time input on Twitter you can get a timely response from someone in the are you are in.
There are numerous other examples, where real time communication can be a big help.
2.Personal Branding
In order to differentiate yourself from your competition it is important that you brand yourself. You need to develop a clear picture in other peoples minds of what it is you stand for. This will help you build a reputation of being an expert in your niche and it will attract like minded people.
3.Ask questions
Twitter is a great place to ask for input from others. Especially if you want to get a quick answer, this platform is awesome. There are now over 100 million users. There will always be people who are willing to provide feedback, an opinion or simply answer your question. This is also a great way to meet new people with similar interests or collect content for blog posts.
4.Provide quality content
It is so easy to send out a short message that Twitter has become a very powerful tool to share quality content. When you are searching the net, you can send a quick message when you find something that is of interest to you. You can count on the fact that there will be others who are interested in the same topic.
5.Drive awareness
You can drive awareness to something of interest to a large number of people in a matter of seconds. If you provide valuable content, focused on your niche, those that are interested in that same niche will start paying attention to what you are broadcasting. Make good use of hashtags here. If you consistently add a keyword that includes your brand you create not only an easy way for people to find your tweets, but you are also actively building up your brand.
I have only provided 5 suggestions, but there are many more. What do you use Twitter for? Share it in the comment section.
