Twitter, the micro-blogging website that allows users to update their world in 140 character doses, can be a great tool for increasing awareness of your business or blog. Many shopkeepers from Etsy and Artfire have found that posting their items not only gets a good number of views, but it can make the sale for them as well. Using social networking and blogging sites to promote an online business is nothing new, but there's finer points that should be kept in mind.
Being as Twitter is a social site, don't be all business about your usage. If you only want to advertise, it's not the right place for that. Endlessly posting your business and little else won't win over many followers. In fact, it may lose the few you've found. By posting some good comments about other people's postings or about what's going on in your world, you present a real person to the Twittering public, someone that they'd like to know more about. By being outgoing and helpful to others, you establish yourself as a decent person, and who doesn't want to deal with decent people?
Some people have set up ratios for themselves, one advertisement for every three non-business tweets (that's what twitter postings are called) for example is a good rule of thumb used by many. Posting discount codes or free gift codes with your updates can be a great way to earn more looks at your business. Sharing your latest additions and linking to a blog you've posted recently are perfect uses for Twitter. The word limit can be difficult to work with at first, but soon enough you'll be sending out concise, well-worded Tweets to show off your business or blog.
Bloggers have found great results by sharing their daily updates and comments on Twitter. Marketing and online work seem to be very actively discussed topics on Twitter, but anything and everything can be made more fun by inviting your Twitter followers to join in. Blog contests posted on Twitter will often be re-tweeted by your followers, allowing their friends to know about your blog as well. Some users make retweeting an entry into their contests, which is just a brilliant idea.
Spreading your name is the most important part of marketing an online business. By using your business name as your Twitter id, you increase brand awareness every time you add a new friend. Posting your site on your brief profile will allow people to look at what you do easily, so don't forget to include that in your personal info. Finding followers who share an interest in what you do can be difficult at first, but searching for new contacts always is. Put yourself out there, best foot forward and be polite. It never hurts, and your business will grow with your well-written tweets.