New to Twitter, Quick Guide for Beginners

Are you new to Twitter?

This is a quick guide for Twitter beginners. Twitter is finally growing in popularity. Its being displayed in movies, commercials and even astronauts are using it to tweet from space.

It is an amazing business tool that can really help you reach a whole new clientele if used properly. Think of it as being able to network 24/7 with people all over the world or you can stay local if that is your business goal for the tool.

I have found there are a few tools for Twitter that have made my life easier.

1. Tweetdeck - This is a desktop application that allows you to group your followers in columns. You can do searches as well and keep it as a column. Only limitation is that you are only allowed no more than 10 columns. I have mine grouped by info only, locals, different industries and friends.
2. Hashtags - Hashtags are great way to follow a group and for your tweets to be followed by others viewing that group. You'll see popular ones like #followfriday and #fail (www.hashtags.org)
   
3. Twitter Search - This is a great place to go when you want to search for specific things that people are tweeting about. Could pertain to your business name or business trends. (search.twitter.com)
   
4. TwitterCounter - Allows you to track the increase/decrease of followers (www.twittercounter.com)
   
5. Short URLS - Cli.gs is a great site to create short URLS for twitter. Since you are only allowed 140 characters this allows you to put a link that is shorter than the original. It also has stats that allow you to see how popular that link was. You can also customize it to.
6. TweetStats - This is a great way to track how ofter you tweet, who you tweet the most with. Don't miss out on the TweetCloud tab to see whats the most popular word. (www.tweetstats.com)
   
7. TwitterHawk - Marketing tool that searches for people tweeting about specific keywords you choose that is also in targeted areas. Its essentially a lead generator that has a higher hit rate. It sends you the results so you can respond in a timely manner. This service is not free but affordable. (www.twitterhawk.com)
   

A few Twitter tips before you move on your way to tweeting.

1. If you are tweeting about something that you want to be retweeted (RT) then only type 120 characters. That gives room for the person RTing to include your name.
2. Don't be afraid to get personal. Like networking in person, people want to get to know you first before they do business with you.
   
3. Be polite. Say thank you when someone RTs something of yours. It gives you a good way to start a conversation and to make friends.
4. What is #followfriday? This happens every friday where people list their followers that they believe others should follow. Sometimes they list them based on profession, location or one at a time with the reasons why and adding a personal touch.
   

I hope this helps you get started. I'll soon post twitter tools that are great specifically for business. Stay tuned.

Once you get up and running, follow me (@amandastewart) and my business (@printitquick) on twitter.