I came across this article over at EzineArticles.com and thought I’d share.  I’ve also added a few of my own comments below:

Twitter, What it Can Do For You

It may sound like a funny word, but there is definitely nothing funny about what Twitter can do for you and your business. No matter if it does sound a little strange, it is a great tool to use to network, market, connect and more. Not to mention the fact that it is also easy to use.

Twitter is a micro-blogging application that allows you to be “short and sweet” with your words. You don’t have to be a woman or man of many words to get your point across here, because Twitter only allows you to communicate in 140 character posts per tweet.

This short length may sound like it’s too little to help you get your words out, but honestly it is just perfect. After all, who wants to say too much; saying just enough is usually the secret to ultimate success anyway.

Still worried about making Twitter work for you? The following are a few Twitter tips, or secrets to making Twitter a success for you!

#1 Listen – Yes, even on Twitter you can listen. In fact, sometimes by sitting back and taking it all in on Twitter, you can learn more and make more out of Twitter than by doing too much tweeting yourself.

#2 Stay Active – Going weeks without twittering will get you nowhere. In order to make the most of Twitter, you have to be involved. Through being involved you’ll learn more, gain more followers and find more people whom you’re interested in following.

#3 Don’t Oversell – Don’t make all your Twitter time about selling or you’ll burn out fast and lose tons of followers. You must engage and communicate as well in order to truly be a Twitter success.

#4 Use Twitter Tools – To use Twitter efficiently, you may want to take advantage of some Twitter tools that will help you to streamline your Twitter time and make the most of it. Some examples are Tweetdeck, Tweetlater, Twirl or Twitter Fox – just try them until you find something that you like and that works best for you.

#5 Gain Followers – Followers and those you follow truly make or break your Twitter experience. You will want to follow those with common interests and / or those in your target market, and you hope to gain followers in the same categories.

#6 Interact and Communicate – Twitter, after all, is a form of social media, so it should go without saying that you should be social. That’s what it is all about and will help you to make the most of its benefits.

#7 Use Links – Twitter is a great place to share the linky love, whether it be for a post on your own website or blog or to help out a fellow business owner – both should be done and done often.

#8 Think before you type – With Twitter, as with just about every other place on the web, what you type is permanent, so you want to type wisely. You don’t want your words to come back to haunt you.

#9 Be Respectful – You want to respect your follows and yourself, so much like tip #8 you want to use wisdom in your words.

#10 Keep your tweets to under 120 characters – Keep your tweets to max of 120 characters to make them retweet friendly. This allows for enough from for RT @YOURNAME.

There you have it – ten hot tips for using Twitter to your greatest advantage. It really is no secret that Twitter is a hot social media tool that has everyone talking, literally. Why not join the conversation?

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LegalTypist Comments:

1.  Preferred twitter desktop management application:  TwInbox by TechHit.  For those who use Outlook.  TwInbox allows you to organize twitter right through Outlook.  Best part?  It’s still free!

2.  To be retweetable, your tweets must leave enough room.  Although Serena and many experts recommend you leave 20 spaces, I say on twitter, every keystroke counts! Unless your user ID is 15 charcacters long, you do not HAVE to leave 20 spaces.  To be more easily RTed, your tweets must leave five spaces plus the number of characters in your twitter ID.  For example, I leave 15 spaces total – you can count yourself: RT @legaltypist -… please note there is a space after the twitter ID.

3.  Reword Tip #3 from Don’t Oversell to just Don’t Sell. Don’t ever sell on twitter.  Connect, communicate, network – don’t sell, market or promote yourself.  Do you walk into a room full of potential contacts and say “Hey!  Buy this stuff from me!” Of course not!

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