Are you using the power of Twitter?

Twitter, at first glance, often seems like a complete waste of time to many people. It takes some time and persistence before you have the “aha” moment regarding this microblogging platform.

But first of all, what is Twitter? Twitter is a microblogging platform where you follow people and people follow you. You update Twitter with “tweets” about what you’re doing. People are really interested in the human side of those on the internet and it is probably for this reason that Twitter is referred to as a social networking application.

Your tweets are limited to 140 characters, so you’ll soon become adept at putting your message within these limits. In fact, you can say a lot in 140 characters and even include a link in your tweet.

The best exponents of Twitter users are those people, or rather Tweeple, who interact socially with others. There is always room for commercial promotion as well, but you will find that the best Tweeples are those that only use around 5% of their tweets for such purposes. The rest of the time they will be engaging people in conversation, providing help and assistance and even helpful advice. Such behavior improves your reputation on Twitter and you will find people who not only follow you but also read all your tweets because of the value you provide.

If you go on Twitter and start posting links to affiliate programs or even your own sites all the time, you’ll quickly find people unfollow you and you’ll have no one to interact with.

Another way to drive people away very quickly is with Automatic Direct Messages when someone follows you. There are a couple of websites that you can set up to automatically follow people who follow you. Direct messages containing links are quite unpopular. I mean seriously, did you just make this contact and want to send it to a sales link? How popular are you going to be? Before you start using links in your conversations, at least build relationships. You have to give before you can take on social media and if there is any rule then this should be the most important. Ask yourself every morning, “what value can I provide to my followers today?”

The first thing to do when you get started on Twitter is to use Twitter search. This way, you can find people who are interested in the same niche as you. The “search” function link is located at the bottom of the main web-based Twitter screen. That said, the best app to manage your account is Tweetdeck. It shows you in three columns, your own Twitter feed, all the replies that have been sent to you and the direct messages that you receive.

Besides being great socially, Twitter is a great way to promote your business and find other people around the world in your niche. So get on Twitter and I’ll see you there.