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Author and technologist, Nicholas Carr says,”€œTwitter is the telegraph system of Web 2.0.”

The New York Times has mentioned that Twitter is one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the Internet. Only a few brands skimmed off profits from Twitter and others just tweeted about some direct marketing stuff.  However, there are numerous ways you can leverage Twitter for your business and improve your bottom line.  Here is the one-stop Twitter guide for business.

1.  Create a Twitter account.

2.  Make sure you’ve selected a unique vanity URL for your Twitter account.

3.  Upload an image and customize your profile image using this tool: http://walterhiggins.net/projects/twixenate.html/

4.  Include a link to your corporate website.

5.  Promote your Twitter presence on your corporate website, client emails, etc.

6.  Include your brand name as the title of your profile.

7.  Use the Google keywords tool and shortlist important keywords relevant to your products.

8.  Include those keywords in your bio.

9.  Use keywords in the first 30 characters of your tweets in order to be optimized by Google.

10.  Get re-tweeted and increase backlinks for your content.  This will help you to connect with your target audience.

11. Identify your target audience based on their interests.

12.  Use hashtags to search for your target audience using this tool: http://wefollow.com/

(Hashtags are a community-driven convention to add additional context and metadata to your tweets).

13.  Use more directories for search such as: http://www.twellow.com/ and  http://justtweetit.com/ etc.

14.  Follow the influencers in your industry using this tool: http://www.twitalyzer.com/

Identify local Twitter users or tweeple. €“ If you are a company that serves only a particular location, networking with local tweeple will add more value to your business.

15.  Follow influencers in your location using this tool: http://twitterholic.com/

This tool lists all the influencers on Twitter, based on the number of followers and location.

16.  Enter keywords relevant to your product and use the “Near This Place”€ option in Twitter’s advanced search to identify tweeple who are interested in your product

17.  Search for tweeple near your location using this tool: http://www.tweepz.com/

18.  Network with local tweeple by searching for them with hashtags, using this tool: http://localtweeps.com/

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How to make your tweets effective· If you prefer Web tweeting, use this tool: http://twitzap.com/ for advanced features· Download Tweetdeck for more power tweeting from your desktop· You can add additional Twitter accounts in Tweetdeck and control them using a single application· Schedule important tweets in advance using this tool: http://www.tweetlater.com/· Use: http://cotweet.com/ for collaborative tweetingWhat to tweet on – Starting and joining the right conversation(s) will give you more exposure.· Post tweets based on the interests of your followers· Search for topics relevant to your product(s) and talk to influencers· Use hashtags to power the conversation· Post tweets about useful links and articles· Use: http://happn.in/ to talk about the trends in your locality.Twit research – Twitter is a good source for market data as prospective customers are present there.· Finalize the sample size of the search.· List hashtags relevant to your research objective· Get secondary data for your research based on hashtags by using this tool:http://twubs.com/· Analyze hashtags relevant to your research using this tool: http://www.trendrr.com/Get feedback –As Twitter is a real-time medium, organizations use Twitter to get direct feedback from customers.· Get feedback from customers and other tweeple by replying and directly messaging them· Use hashtags to organize the feedback· Get feedback from local tweeple using this tool: http://nearbytweets.com/· Use: http://twtpoll.com/ to conduct a simple survey in Twitter to get real-time feedback· Post new product screenshots in http://twitpic.com/ and get instant feedback from your followersTwit hiring – If you are looking to hire people for your organization, Twitter is another source to find the right talent.· Search for job seekers near your location using advanced search features in Twitter public search· Use hashtags in your tweets to reach active job seekers· Post tweets to announce benefits such as perks, allowances, etc. for the job(s) you offer· Use: http://twitpic.com/ to share corporate events to show job seekers your organization’s work culture· You can also use Twitter to conduct background checks on employees by using the Twitter advanced public search.Tweetup – “Is an organized or impromptu gathering of people that use Twitter.” Tweetup is an excellent platform to promote products among local Tweeple.· Search for a Tweetup near your location using: http://nearbytweets.com/· Organize a Tweetup in your locality using this tool: http://www.twtvite.com/· Pitch for influencers in your location by attending Tweetups.· Give away promo codes to attendees in the Tweetup to spread your product virally.Follow your competition – This can give you insights on what your competitors are working on.· Follow your competitors on Twitter.· Use Twitter public search to get more insights on competitors’ activities· Analyze their Twitter account and follower patterns using: http://tweetstats.com/· Compare your network statistics with competitors using: http://twitter-friends.com/

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Twit coupons· Increase sales for your business by giving exclusive coupons to your followers· Use http://twtqpon.com/ to distribute coupons via Twitter· Get your tweets indexed in http://cheaptweet.com/ by using cheaptweet hashtag and increase exposure for your dealsTwitter promotion· Now you can run sweepstakes offers via Twitter to create brand awareness, increase sales, etc.· Set the objective for Twitter promotion· Make sure that there is no bias in your promotion and be transparent in what you offer· To participate in the offer, ask users to include hashtags in their tweets· Track the performance of your campaign using this trend-tracking tool:http://www.trendrr.com/· Make sure that you do not spam your followers and avoid sending too many tweets about your sweepstakes offers· Calculate the ROI of the campaign by breaking it down into: Number of new followers gained, products sold, new visitors to the websites, etc.Blog sync· Increase traffic to your blog by using this auto-feed tool, http://twitterfeed.com/· Tweet the comments in your blog using this wordpress plug-in: http://www.jonbishop.com/commentwitter-plugin-page/· Include your Twitter conversations in your blog using this wordpress plug-in: http://www.paulmc.org/whatithink/wordpress/plugins/twitter-friends-widget/· Include a retweet button in your blog to spread it virally using Twitter. You can install the retweet button from here: http://tweetmeme.com/about/retweet_buttonFacebook sync· A Facebook page is a marketing channel for most brands. A marriage between Facebook and Twitter will initiate greater engagement and conversations· Integrate your Facebook page with Twitter using this Facebook application: http://apps.facebook.com/twitter/· Avoid spamming your fans in your Facebook page with too many Twitter updates· Use this application: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=115463795461 to post selective Twitter updatesPress Release Optimization· Get more exposure for your Press Releases (PR) by sharing them on Twitter· Use keywords in the first 30 characters of your PR tweet for SEO· Ask your followers to retweet your PRs to spread them virally· Use hashtags to track the PRs· Deliver your PRs to top journalists on Twitter using this paid service: http://muckrack.com/press_releases· Analyze the number of tweets your PR receives using: http://www.trendrr.com/Direct messages (DM) for direct marketing – DM’s are new way to market your product via Twitter· Avoid sending DMs to all of your followers· Analyze the interests of your followers before sending them DMs· Customize your offering in DM based on followers’ demographics· Avoid using automated tools for sending DM’s· Always maintain a human touch while sending DMsBrand monitoring· Monitor real-time conversations about your brand in Twitter to understand customers’ linguistics· To start with, use a simple tool like Twitter public search· Monitor various keywords associated with your brand using this tool: http://monitter.com/· Manage multiple Twitter accounts and brand monitoring using one single tool: http://splitweet.com/· Paid tools like Radian6 provide many insights along with real-time brand monitoringCustomer support· Sometimes your brand will get punk’d in Twitter and customer support plays a vital role to protect your brand from crisis· Monitor your brand in real-time and respond to various customer tweets before a brand crisis occurs· Assign different queries to employees in concerned departments usinghttp://cotweet.com/· Set up a 24/7 automated response for customers’ tweets by using this tool: http://www.localbunny.com/· Analyze the number of issues solved via Twitter to measure ROITwitter Insights· Measure your Twitter performance using parameters like retweet rank, Click Through Rate (CTR) of your tweets, follower count etc.· Find your retweet rank using: http://www.retweetrank.com/· Track the CTR of your tweets by using short URL services like: http://bit.ly/· Analyze your web traffic from Twitter by adding UTM parameters in each tweet link using this tool: http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55578· Analyze your follower count at: http://twittercounter.com/· Find which tweets help you gain or lose followers, using: http://www.tweeteffect.com/· Measure your share of voice by using tools like Radian6Security tips· Never use third party Twitter applications that do not support Oath authentication· Use strong passwords to protect your account from hackers. Use this tool: http://strongpasswordgenerator.com/ to generate strong passwords· If any security lapses occur on Twitter, change your password immediately· Do not click any links in DMs from strangers.