You may think that Twitter is just for social purposes or celebrity following.  You’ve probably heard about Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) and his showdown with CNN. However, what you may not know is that businesses are finding Twitter to be an incredibly useful tool in online marketing world. 
 
At Cybernautic (@cybernautic), we’ve gotten leads though our Twitter (we have one of the largest followings in Central Illinois with over 4,000 followers) and we’ve noticed other businesses using Twitter too. 
 
Take the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, for example (@PeoriaChamber).  They use Twitter to announce meetings, golf tournaments, and potential trips to China.  They recognize the value of generating inbound links to their site (www.peoriachamber.org) and getting others to retweet their own tweets.  So how can you make use of Twitter for your business?

• Link to articles, blogs, or your internal website pages.  Let people know what information you have that’s valuable and worthwhile.  Encourage people to read your blog and visit your site.  Draw in traffic and leads.

• Give people the latest news.  Let people know what’s new with you and your company, what products or services you offer, who your latest employee editions are, and other things that make you a dynamic and interesting small business.

• Inform about special opportunities and events, your products, and your services.  Let people know about upcoming fundraisers, outings, and other special events.  Let people know about new products and services being released and special deals you’re offering.

• Encourage retweeting.  Retweets are like word-of-mouth advertising and show others that what you said was good enough that someone not only read it, but wanted others to read it too.  This can be a fantastic source of inbound links to your site, and we know that inbound links are king!

• Have fun with your followers.  Have contests, reply to your tweeters, and encourage them to keep dialoguing with you and about you.  Let people know that you’re paying attention, staying current, aware of them, and interested in what they have to say.

We’re not just offering unfounded suggestions.  As a company with over 3,000 followers, we speak from experience.  People will listen if they know you have something worthwhile to say, and if you give them a chance to hear it.