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Twitter is a Micro blogging service, Social Network, Real-Time Information Network and Social Search Engine all rolled into one. In short, Twitter is a place where people share what’s on their mind – and it can be great for your business. When someone follows you on Twitter, your status updates are sent directly to their stream. Similar to when someone opts to join an Email mailing list, this means that they have opted to receive your tweets. Bottom line is that the more people you have following you, the more people who see your content.

You can take advantage of your existing networks and add links to your Twitter Profile every place, for example – including your blog, website, Facebook profile, LinkedIn profile, Business Cards, Shop Windows, and other print collateral.  The more places you let it be known you're on Twitter, the easier it will be for people to start finding you. Integrate Twitter into your website, blog, and Facebook. This can help to increase your Twitter following and brand awareness and overall web presence!

Provide better customer service:

• Track the conversation: There are lots of tools for tracking Twitter conversations around your brand including Hootsuite, and Constant Contact’s NutshellMail. You may use Hootsuite for advanced users who want to track their brand in real time or NutshellMail for users who want to keep tabs on their brand once or twice a day. 
• Engage with customers: Re-tweet when they mention your brand positively. Ask followers questions that relate to your business, industry, or something fun and topical. Thank and reward loyal customers. There are lots of ways to go, just make it meaningful, positive, and authentic.
• Respond to complaints and requests quickly: The great thing about Twitter’s real time nature is that you can respond quickly to customer complaints and requests.  No on-hold wait time, no long lines. Plus, when you publicly help one customer, you often help other customers too.

Twitter for Market Research

Twitter lets you in on what your competitors are up to:

• Monitor your Brand: Save time and money by using Twitter to find out what people are saying about your brand - and use that feedback to improve your products and services.

If you have NutshellMail, it will automatically display your saved searches in your updates. Don’t forget to search for different variations of your brand, since people will mention you in different ways.

• Monitor your competition: Knowing what's happening in your industry can be a huge advantage. You can use Twitter search and tracking tools like NutshellMail to keep tabs on your competition. Just like you would search for yourself, save searches for your competitors’ mentions. Even consider following up with them to see what they’re saying.

Twitter is a great free way to build brand awareness. It takes a minimum of 5-7 mentions of a brand before people remember it. Twitter will help to up your brand's mentions and get your brand into the minds of customers.

• Know your brand: Before you can introduce your brand to others, you’ve got to know it inside and out! How well do you know your brand?
• Decide on an approach. There’s no one-size-fits all approach to branding. That’s why it’s important to decide how you’re going to showcase your company.
• Become an expert: Twitter is a great platform for demonstrating your expertise in a specific niche. This will make you the go-to resource for customers, while attracting potential customers.
• Have a plan: Harnessing the power of Twitter to build brand awareness requires strategy and consistency.  Good tweeting comes from a balance of planning and flexibility – you need to have an idea of what you want to say, and how you want to say it in advance, but you also need to be on the look-out for comments, stories, and conversations that are relevant to your brand.

For more information on how social media can help your business, visit www.wsiwebapplications.com or follow me on twitter @cmappleton