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Do you have a computer?  A cell phone or mobile device?  Do spend at least 45 minutes online, whether searching for something, sending emails, or writing a blog? Maybe you have a website for your company.

Do you have a Twitter account?

If you answered yes to at least two of the first set of questions, you should definitely have answered yes to the last one.

If you are reading this blog post, that means you are either on a computer or a mobile device.  It also means you got here by a link I posted on Facebook, Google+, or are subscribed to my RSS feed.  It also means you are fully aware that Twitter exists and have at least a rough approximation as to what Twitter is.  Assuming all that, I’m not going to get into what exactly Twitter is.  Instead, I’m going to explain why you should be using Twitter.

Twitter is Real Time

There are many reasons I do not like Facebook.  One of which is the algorithm that pushes certain posts to the top of your feed and then collapses the newest posts. It does not facilitate a true and natural flow of conversation.  Twitter, on the other hand, is a virtual timeline of conversations.  Picture this:

You walk into the food court of the local mall to make the biggest announcement your business has ever had.  But you don’t check your watch first, and wind up walking in at 10:15am when the only people there are the employees opening up the restaurants for lunch and the elderly people power-walking.  You give your announcement, albeit a little long winded.  The custodian pats you on the back and you leave.  The stack of business card you took along wind up in the garbage.

Now, picture this:

You prepare a very pointed and to-the-point speech accompanied with printouts of a press release regarding the announcement.  You know that people may not catch everything you have to say right then, but if you give them something to take home, they’ll be more likely to read it.  You know that going in at 7pm on a Friday evening will have the most impact.  As expected, you make a great announcement and many people even make copies of your press release to pass onto their friends.

Facebook shuffles posts around based on likes, comments, and shares.  Does it do a good job?  I don’t believe so.   Twitter, on the other hand, makes it easy to publish content at peak times when you know your audience is available.

Twitter is Easy

Most people that I talk to that don’t have a Twitter account yet say so because they “don’t have the time to constantly update another status”.  My response is “how many text messages do you send in a day?”

Limited to 140 characters, you can’t get far in your thoughts.  You can’t write a three paragraph response to someone.  What you can do, though, is write what you’re thinking.  Off-the-cuff reactions, first impressions, and reviews of things you experience throughout the day.  You can publish what you think of an article you read, or the latest band you saw live.  You can do so much in 140 characters.  I like to refer to Twitter as your “though stream”.  Write what you’re thinking.  Be sincere and transparent.

Twitter Produces Traffic

If you have a company or small business, you absolutely must have a website today.  Just a Facebook account is laughable.  You need a real, custom, personalized website.  A place with your content, your business information, and your brand and image.  Assuming you have a website, you want traffic.  Traffic to your website increases the exposure of your company.  Exposure creates leads, and leads create sales.  Sales means food on the table and jingling change in your pocket.

Are you ranking on the first page of Google?  Probably not.  Is it possible?  Absolutely!  Twitter is not just a social media service that technology companies use or college kids communicate on.  Twitter is a legitimate service that can drive serious traffic to your website.  By posting tweets that include links back to your site, people are able to have an easy route to your content.

Gone are the days where we go searching for news; we expect the news to come to us.  I get the majority of my new through Twitter.  Sure, it’s still from CNN, NPR, the Huffington Post, sometime Fox (to “balance” it out), BBC, and smaller news companies, but I am not going to their channels to search through the news.  The news comes to me.  Your company can deliver content to your audience in the same fashion as these media houses.  All in 140 characters or less.  Below are a few easy steps to getting started using Twitter.

Create an Account

To start, go to Twitter.com and create a free account.  Include your website and a description of what you do. If you are creating a company account, it needs to be the company.  Don’t include personal information.  On the other hand, if you’re creating a personal account, be sure to include information that portrays your voice.  Remember that if you will be using this account from a personal perspective to drive traffic to your site, you need to keep it professional while throwing in a healthy dose of personality.  Don’t post pictures of incriminating evidence!

Create Content

Your website is like a newspaper.  If you don’t have new, fresh content, I don’t ever have a reason to come back to your site.  On top of that, Google loves new content, so if your site is stale and your competitors are pushing out new articles or posts, you’re falling behind quick.

Write a blog post.  Don’t have a blog?  Let me know and I’ll help you set one up.  I recommend Hostmonster.com* for hosting and then WordPress for the blog.  The plugins that are available for WordPress are great.  SEO (search engine optimization) is a breeze and the analytics are great.

Next, all you have to do is write.  Write relevant content related to your business, industry, or products.  Post these articles on your site and then copy the link.  Post it into bit.ly so you can shorten it and track the total number of clicks at the same time.

Tweet

Copy and past your shortened link into a new tweet.  Write something about it using relevant keywords that will attract viewers.  Then send it!  On top of that, post the link everywhere else you maintain an online presence.  Continue to promote it in the coming days and/or weeks.  But most importantly, create new content.  In the midst of all this content-creating, continue to tweet about what you’re up to, what you’re working on, what you think of the latest news, and so on and so forth.  Look at people and companies you respect that are using Twitter and see how they use it.  How much should you tweet?  That is up to you.  At least once or twice a day to publish your content.  However, to maximize your return on Twitter, you need to engage with other users by replying to and retweeting their messages.  This helps build trust with your followers.  They’ll see that you’re a real person who is listening as well as publishing.  Engagement is key!

Track

Go back to bit.ly and see how many clicks you’re getting.  Go to your blog dashboard and look at the site visits.  If you’re using Google Analytics you can find out even more information there

So, go out there and start tweeting!  Have questions?  I’d love to help.  Send me a tweet and I’ll get right back to you.  Are you a company that is interested in having an agency help you with your social media strategy?  Check out Dave Woodson of GetUnoticed.com. These guys know what they are doing and will produce results for you.