The social media holy trinity #2: Twitter

The mystery and power of the tweet is still a somewhat confusing area for many mumpreneurs.

Let me say at the outset, like all social media channels, the value in Twitter comes from maintenance: careful strategic “following”, a manageable quantity of tweets from you and a similarly relevant and manageable quantity from those you follow.

So what is it? Twitter is a micro-blogging site, which enables the user to “tweet” out a comment in less than 140 characters.

This creates brevity in content, and is a “real time” communication tool in that it is used as a way to garner attention in the moment.

Once you have signed up, you can find people who interest you and “follow” them at the click of a button.

Twitter is a bit like a buffet of people and interests, whatever you want, you will find it or them.

For the mumpreneur, there is an active community of global mumpreneurs that you can find and connect with instantly.

Try searching on keywords related to your business and then investigate who comes up in the search. If you like the look of them or their business, then click follow and you will start to receive a tweet feed from them.

Likewise, once you have created your profile and avatar, you are searchable and live, and folks can follow you and your 140 pearls of wisdom.

Tempting as it may be to follow Perez Hilton or Kim Kardashian, if you are using Twitter for business, consider it an extension of your brand and try and curate those you follow to have some link and relevance: either as service providers, potential clients/customers or industry authorities.

Keep searching and keep following until you have a critical mass of interest: like Facebook and LinkedIn, it is a niche volume game to coin an oxymoron.

Once you are in the land of tweet, you need to link it to your Facebook, LinkedIn, website, blog, and ensure that all of your social media and online channels work together for maximum penetration.

Add Twitter buttons and links to your website, and use the tweet shortener tools available to notify of information longer than 140 characters.

Twitter is an excellent tool to drive customers to your main sales portal. It’s your global sandwich board enticing customers in.

One of the most unexpected outcomes my clients have from Twitter is the community and relationship aspect, with real and enduring friendships and peers developing.

It’s also a great tool for early feedback for a new product, or to ask questions of your Twitter community – saving you hours looking for answers is only a tweet away.

Micro-blogging, macro impact. You’d be a twit not to!