Twitip

It’s true to state that different businesses take different approaches to using social media, whether that is blogging, tweeting, creating facebook groups and fan pages or utilising LinkedIn.

Small businesses have gained online advantage with their small size flexibility giving them the confidence to stand out for their brand and engage with their audience. It’s key to online success for all business sizes that the “social” element of social media and twitter is really appreciated. Both the smaller, and large businesses which do well in social media are those who embrace with open arms the opportunities it gives.

Small businesses are doing well because:
- They are taking advantage of their size and “knowing their customer”
- They often have just one person tweeting for the firm and no chain of command to define the social media approach.
- They socialise and build real business relationships on Twitter and other social media platforms, in the way that traditionally they would offline at places like the Chamber of Commerce. And – it is much cheaper to do so!

Larger businesses shouldn’t be afraid to get involved on Twitter and other social platforms. As an organisation you can learn from listening to what is already happening in your area of expertise by using Twitter Search to check out content, tone and discussions, as well as googling to find out if competitors are using social media, and how.

Twitter and other socialmedia platforms can work well because business does work on trusted connections, and the online medium of Twitter is just the new extension of that. Businesses will do best when they work within the context of their own environments and answer the unspoken questions (Is it safe for my business, won’t it take too much time, what if it goes wrong, what if an employee talks about us or our work…) honestly and up front before taking action online.

At the same time, if you’re not involved you’re missing a great opportunity, and if you don’t test the waters, you’ll never know if it works for your business. When you do dip a toe in the water, you’ve got all those experiences built from networking offline in the “real world” in the corporate environment. Use the right people, who are interested in social media and your subject, and you’re off and running and born to tweet!

By Rebecca Maxwell of My Adventures in History – Follow her @rmaxwell142.

Call me old fashioned, but I am one of those people that value community and relationships with people. As a child of the 90’s, I’ve learned to adapt to our technological age where we can keep up-to-date with people without ever seeing them in person. While this is not my preferred method of contact, the last couple of years I have seen myself rely more and more on online interaction than face-to-face. Recently though, I’ve been frustrated with the alienation of social networking sites to the point of taking some extreme measures, especially regarding Twitter.

I originally signed up for Twitter as a way to keep in touch with those interested in my history blog and network with those who have blogs similar to mine. As more and more of my friends on Twitter found me, I found myself following and being followed by people I knew in real life. While this wasn’t bad at first, I soon found myself “unfollowed” by those I was following. People I knew in real life wouldn’t follow me. Then, of course, people who knew nothing about me or my blog began to follow me out of the blue. (more…)

By Nathan Hangen, follow him @nhangen.

I know, it sounds strange in theory. But think about it like this: you spend a lot of time building a network on Twitter, engaging with your followers, and creating powerful partnerships, but what would happen if this single asset went belly up? You don’t put all of your cash into a single stock, so why should you invest all of your social capital in a single service?

Don’t get me wrong, I like Twitter, but I want to be prepared in the event that something kills my favorite social tool. I’ve never invested this much time in any other platform, nor have I met so many great people all over the world. Twitter excels at connecting people and helping them share ideas, but it can’t be the only way to connect, especially if your business or personal brand depends on it. (more…)

By Chris Johnson of Guerrilla.me – Follow him @genuinechris

One reason alone is why I’m on twitter. To make money. I don’t mean to give Lara the willies. But it’s true. I also post stuff about my kids. I also have made great friends from twitter. I’ve also learned a ton about the world. Still, at the end of the day, twitter is about earning customers for me. Or, should I say, helping people. It’s working. I’m doing enough business to support my family of 4, just from Twitter.

[Honesty Box: We live in the Midwest and are radically cheap.]

This is the ethos you need to have starting out:

1.) Value And Honor Every Relationship Possible. Twitter is about relationships. It’s about small communities, ideas bouncing around. You’re there to help everyone possible. You’re there to be of service. Get it? You have to help people. Let’s get specific: be of maximum service to 100 people at and around your level. Get to know them. Go out of your way to help. For free. If you need to, put a spreadsheet down to remind yourself to interact with them and encourage them. (more…)

By Kathy Colaiacovo of My Twitter VA – Follow her @mytwitrva

Twitter is now a daily part of television, radio and online news reports.  News reporters or hosts on television can be heard saying statements such as “…and on Twitter today…” or “send us a message on Twitter”.  It is becoming common place and many are jumping in the fray for good reason… when used properly, social media can be a great boon to your business.  The key words in that statement being “used properly”.

Outsourcing tasks to specialists who have the needed skills is a solution for many when it comes to launching on the various social media channels. Outsourcing works well because you hire someone to do work more efficiently than you can, giving you more time to work on your area of expertise. After all, your time is better spent directly on the revenue generating tasks so you can grow and prosper your business. (more…)

The following is Part 4 of a series of posts by Crystal N. Woods, from
Conscious Evolution, Success and Self Esteem (Follow her @CrystalsQuest) You can also read Part 1 – Journaling and Part 2 – Link Lists or Part 3 – Conversations.

As blogging went mainstream, and more newcomers started flooding the market, the earliest bloggers were given a bit of momentum forward into the online equivalent of celebrity status – they were the trend-setters.

Not all of them took advantage of this push, though, while some of the newcomers rapidly adapted to blogging and took it by storm, getting their own place high up in the heirarchy with amazing speed.

The difference between these thought leaders and the majority of bloggers is the same difference we see affecting who gets promotions at work, makes it as a ’star’ in Hollywood, or even gets nominated to run the local Rotary Club.  It’s simply this: in order to lead others, you have to be willing to get out the front and lead others. (more…)

by Corbett Barr of Free Pursuits – Follow him @freepursuits

Many people use brute force techniques to grow their twitter followers only to be disappointed by the quality of relationships they form. I’ll show you how to grow a community of followers who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer using simple tools and techniques.

If your goal for using Twitter is simply to acquire as many followers as possible, there are plenty of common techniques you can use to accomplish your goal. For most people though, the quality of relationships made on Twitter is much more important than the quantity.

Maybe you’re trying to attract people to your blog, or sell a product, or find some freelancing work or just meet some new like-minded friends. Whatever the case, you can use the techniques here to build a high-quality Twitter following.
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by Bradford Shimp of All Biz Answers – follow him @bradfordshimp

image credit: Joel Olives

We all hear so much about how to get more followers on Twitter and how to use it to make money. Those things are well and good, but Twitter is a two way conversation. It is just as much about following as it is about getting followers.

Choose Who You Follow For the Right Reasons

Being a good follower starts with why you choose to follow someone on Twitter. I recently watched a video that presented a strategy of following random people to see who would follow you back. The sole purpose of this strategy was to get more followers.

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by Sean Platt – a freelance writer who blogs about creativity and passion at Collective Inkwell. Follow him @writerdad.

Twitter has no doubt altered the entire landscape of blogging. It’s accessibility, immediacy, and wide availability to anyone with a working Internet connection have made it the fastest thriving online application ever, currently growing at twice the speed of Facebook.

I myself was late to the Twitter party. Though I did have an account, I rarely used it until recently, vastly preferring the broader canvas my own blog provided. It wasn’t until I finally realized the true benefit of what Twitter offered that I fully embraced its almost limitless possibility.

What does Twitter offer above all else? Twitter allows you to show a more immediate version of yourself.

When I am drafting a post to be later published on my own site, I can take all the time I need to sand the rough edges and make my prose and personality glow. This is not true with Twitter. Whenever I am truly engaged in Twitter, I am responding to information at the speed in which it appears. I have 140 characters to make my thoughts count, and a never ending stream of information to first access and then act upon.

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Have you ever wondered if Twitter could improve things at home? In this post, Corey Allan (follow him at @simplemarriage) of The Simple Marriage Project and Parent To Launch explores the idea of using Twitter to get more out of family relationships.

With the addition of social networks in the past few years, it’s amazing how easy it has become to stay “connected” to other people. I’m currently only on Facebook, FriendFeed and Twitter. But with countless other avenues to use for connection, how could these mediums be used to improve, or perhaps even save your relationship with your significant other?

I realize that many people use Twitter for the networking or marketing aspect of its design. It’s a great way to generate a buzz about a product or service you can provide. It’s also a way to expand your network of influence and influencers.

But what if Tweets were used to tweak your relationships?

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