Twitter is a great way to make and manage connections with prospects, customers, bloggers and other influencers – as long as your messages are brief, targeted and to the point.

Twitter can be used to broadcast news, express thought leadership, connect with media types, announce special deals and sales, promote events, or disseminate service messages or customer support.

Following are some best practices for using Twitter effectively as a marketing tool:

Know How Your Customers Use Twitter:

Before you engage the public on Twitter, do a Twitter search to find out what people are saying about your firm as well as your brand, products, services and industry.

Listen and Learn:

Spend time listening to your community and learning about the dynamics that propel it. To be successful on Twitter, you have to build credibility.

Build Relationships:

Develop relationships and become a trusted source of information and advice. You don’t build Twitter equity by spewing out unilateral marketing messages. Instead, engage people within the Twitter community. Trying to advertise or sell too soon or too blatantly will get you marked as a spammer.

Track Results:

Track the results of your Twitter involvement and change course if your efforts aren’t working like you want them to. If your goal is to handle customer support issues via Twitter, see if there is a decrease in the number of service calls coming in. If you are selling goods, measure the sales generated.

Tweet Regularly:

Schedule tweets so that you maintain a regular, consistent presence on Twitter. You can do this for free with HootSuite.

Here’s to your success!

Courtney