Twitter is a popular social networking site that is good for business. I suggest local businesses use Twitter to address customer service complaints and to keep track of the competition. I have taken a class from Harris Fellman and have learned how to use Twitter in a way I never knew was possible. This is a low cost class for only $199 that teaches you step by step how to twitter, How to use Twitter as a marketing tool, How to sell on Twitter, How to increase the number of people that follow you. You will also learn how to set up a Twitter account, How to create a custom background, How to use services to keep track of your market, How to automate tweeting about your niche, How to write tweets that get re-tweeted, How to set up your account so that you become a person that people want to follow. Harris’s wife used the information in the tutorials and ended up on TV. All in all I believe this is a great set of Twitter Tutorials that will teach you how to Twitter. This is a great class to use to get your business set up on Twitter and also a great class to learn how to use Twitter to make money as an individual.
If you want to be successful on Twitter and want to follow a step by step tutorial on how to use Twitter successfully, go to http://coupdetwitter.net and sign up for the class.
Skip the video on the sales page as it is pretty silly. The instructor is a comedian and TV actor so you get a bit of crazy action throughout the class. Do not let this deter you from learning the well thought out and tested methods that are available for a low price.
There is a money back guarantee so there is no risk to you to try the system.
If you are just starting out on Twitter, it will show you how to set up your account, how to get followers, how to automate tweeting about your business, how to set up custom backgrounds and how to be recognized as a leader on Twitter. If you are experienced, you will learn tricks about automating Twitter, Cool ways to see what is popular right now on Twitter and other tricks and tips to be successful on twitter.
This class was so successful that Harris has opened up a advanced class on how to make money on Twitter. You can check out the new Class here. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know how you use Twitter.

Free Twitter Tools

Here are my favorite free Twitter tools.

Great Twitter Backgrounds

This article show you the dimensions to use when building your Twitter bakground. It also has some of the best looking Twitter Backgrounds to use as examples.

Twitter Special Characters to use in Tweets

This site has pictures of special characters you can use in your Tweets. I like the hearts best, yet take a look and see what you like. Another feature of this site is that you can add a please retweet link automatically to your Tweet. ♫♪♬♥♡❥☺☹✩★ Find a lot more when you get there.

Tweet Effect to see who followed you or unfollowed you

Fun tool to see who followed you or unfollowed you based on your latest Tweeets.

Socialoomph – Free Twitter tool to set up auto follow and to schedule future Tweets

This is one of my favorite Twitter Tools. I do not auto follow on my personal account, yet I do for my business account. This free Twitter tool will auto follow for you, it will delete auto DM’s automatically, it will even allow you to schedule future Tweets. It is a big time saver and improves twitter ease of use.

Best Twitter Search Tool on the Internet

This tool is not that easy to use, yet it is so very powerful. It is the very best tool I have found to search Twitter or the internet for any keyword or phrase. This is a very powerful Yahoo tool called Yahoo Pipes.

Twitpic

Twitpic is a picture sharing site that hosts your pictures for free and will tweet your picture for you automatically when you upload your picture. A picture says a thousand words so using TwitPic with TwitterTwitter helps tell your story.

How to Twitter more effectivley is a question I often get asked. I used to tweet a lot about what I was eating or doing. Then I realized that to be more effective at Tweeting it was important to Tweet something of value for your followers. You can get Re-tweeted more and gain more followers by Tweeting interesting or trend setting Tweets.

1) Be Re-Tweetable

- Tweet interesting, inspirational, or valuable information. Only use up about 110 of the available characters in the tweet so there is room for others to Re-Tweet you.

2) Re-Tweet interesting Tweets

that you think your followers will value. If you Re-Tweet other peoples Tweets, they are more likely to Re-Tweet you Tweets. When you Re-Tweet, add a short comment in front of the RT to show who you are and what you think.

3) Use Twitter to meet people, then direct them to your blog

to continue the conversation. Be sure to use your blog as your Twitter URL for people to find out more about you. Once they are on your blog, you can direct them to your sales page or product page. Do not use a sales page as your Twitter URL because Twitter is about the conversation not just sales.

4) Twitter is a great sales tool for affiliates and businesses.

It is important to give away great value before you try to sell something. Provide at least 7 tweets of value inbetween tweets that offer to sell something or send people to a sales page. On the sales page offer something of value in exchange for their email address.

5) Tweet a story and use Twitpic.com to show a picture that continues the story.

Do not tweet a lot of pictures of food. Cars, Birds, Animals Flowers, Famous places are more interesting that a picture of food. These types of Tweets help people get to know you or your business.

6) Be sure to thank people when they Re-Tweet your tweets,

it shows appreciation and that you care. It builds the relationship with your followers and they will be more likely to Re-Tweet you in the future. It helps them feel appreciated for Re-Tweeting your tweet.

7) Quality Tweets move you up in respect in the eyes of your followers.

Followers will pay more attention to you because you provide value instead of just sales pitches or boring things like “I am tired”.

8) Follow back only the people that you find interesting.

You can look at your new followers by clicking followers and look at the last tweet. If it is interesting, you can go to their page and see if the Tweet Stream looks interesting to you. Only follow them back if they tweet interesting, funny, usefull things or they are someone you wnat to get to know or they are a friend.

9) Use Twitter as chat instead of status updates.

Join the conversation instead of just putting in status updates of “what are you doing right now”.

10) Talk to just one person in your tweet.

Do not say “what is everybody doing”. Say I something like “Reading a realy great article on “put your topic here” ” and provide a link to the article. Bit.ly is a great free tool to shorten links and you can see how many people clicked on it. If you wrtite tweets like newspaper or magazine headlines they will capture attention and be interesting to followers.

If twitter is taking too long for you to manage, you can sign up for a free account for a twitter management tool that will let you auto follow and you can exclude certain words in who they folllow. You can also set it up to delete all automatic Direct Messages from new followers.

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Tweetups are good for business. Meet interesting Social Media mavens and make connections that could last a lifetime.
Silicon Valley Tweetup Video illustrates why you should go to Tweetups in your area. Meet other Social Media Marketing and technologists and possibly find your next customer.