The best way to Get and Keep Followers on Twitter

Many times business professionals who join Twitter want it to instantly produce results for their business. We sometimes get in such a rush to make things happen that we overlook laying a solid foundation. Simply put we need to learn how to crawl first, then walk and eventually run. Twitter is FAST and can be very effective if you choose to follow some simple steps. It can be very addictive at first and FUN. Here are some simple tips to help you use Twitter for business so you can generate traffic, leads, business and referrals for your business. Remember the key is to leverage Twitter long term and that means creating a step by step plan of success.

1. Setup Twitter Completely - Write an INTERESTING 160 character bio, upload a CURRENT picture and a give a link to your website or blog. I recommend offering a specific page on your website or blog that offers really VALUABLE tips or tools for people.

2. Be familiar with Twitter - Get in Twitter, search for things, click around, use hashtags, use the @ symbol with a username, respond to people, retweet others tweets, update your status, respond to direct messages others send to you, send messages to people, create lists, add people to your list, etc. Make a point to try different things so you feel familiar with the buttons and functions.

3. Create relationships using Twitter - Make a list of people you love and admire. Then connect with them. Think about groups or associations that you would like to interact with. List your mentors and follow them. Start conversations with people - don't be shy - be interested in others. Setup virtual coffee dates with people you just meet to find out how you can refer business to each other, etc. The idea is to feel comfortable reaching out to someone and then nurturing the relationship by communication one on one.

4. Create a minimum of 15 tweets - If you are just starting, your first 15 tweets become your "first impression". Give people a sense of what you will be sharing. If you want to share your bathroom and coffee experiences feel free. You can expect that many will be turned off by that. Show what a valuable resource and expert you are. Show your personality. If you have already started with Twitter, you might want to review what your "first impression" looks like. You can always add more tweets to improve your first impression. Some things you can tweet about Your favorite website and why, favorite quotes, funny things you know, exciting things you have done, intriguing questions, links to blog posts (yours and others), etc.

5. Setup Ping.fm & Connect Twitter http://www.Ping.fm is a free tool and one of my favorite time savers. As the site states "Ping.fm is a free tool that makes updating your Social Networks a snap". How it works is you sign up for a Ping.fm account, you then connect your Social Networking sites to Ping.fm, you can then make a 140 character post and then hit Ping it. All of your Networks will be updated at one time. This makes it easier to share your resources and interesting tidbits with others. And YES, it is okay to post the same status update (what's happening, what's on your mind, etc.) with all of your Social Networks. I find very few people actually reading all of them.

6. Automate Twitter with http://www.FreeTwitterTip.com The PRO version is one of the best investments I have made. It is definitely one of my favorite tools. The PRO version allows you to bulk upload what you want to post. Meaning you can upload multiple mini-posts (aka Tweets) at once. You can then schedule them to hit your Ping.fm account. This means you don't have to constantly update your Social Networks everyday with information. You can schedule it. This frees you to develop and nurture the relationships you are creating.

7. Be responsible and caring about Twitter As a rule of thumb, you will want to check your account regularly to respond to your @ Replies (any time someone mentions you using your Username), and respond to your direct messages. The common sense rule is this...."Please remember you are dealing with human beings....so act like you care about human beings" In addition, make a point to be a giver and a connector. By doing this, you will win fans and not critics. purchase twitter followers [l]