There are a number of ways you can use Twitter for business, both for branding purposes, as well as customer support and market research just to name a few.

Twitter allows you to be on the top of your game when monitoring your business and brand. It offers you a way to connect with other like minded individuals and business owners and exchange ideas. It allows you to monitor what is being said about you or your brand via handy applications like TweetBeep, which also allows you to dig up leads on Twitter as well. Sort of a multi handy application really!

Twitter is powerful in that it connects you with a steady flow of thoughts and ideas from all walks of life, and can build what’s known by some as ’social celebrity’ rather easily. When you achieve social celebrity it means that you or your business is being talked about and your products are being viewed by your followers. That’s a good thing, we call it creating a buzz!

There are so many ways to put Twitter to work for you that if you aren’t exploring them, you really harming your business. Just remember that if your using Twitter it’s because you believe there is value in human connections. So don’t just restrict your tweets to only business. Yes it’s OK to talk about yourself on Twitter, and talk about your business. It’s also OK to drop links to your blog posts or products.

Just don’t get carried away, and be sure that in between flaunting your own stuff you are generously spreading the word on other peoples stuff as well in the form of RT’s and recommendations. Also be sure to insert that human factor by tweeting about life in general, or sharing interesting or funny quotes, pictures, and links to cool articles.

Your followers want to know that there is a person on the other side of the Twitter avatar, not just an automated tweet or a sales pitch. If you can connect with your followers on a personal level, then it will be a natural impulse for them to then turn to you for their business needs. If you stop to think about it, what is the best sort of advertising a business can have? Word of mouth. Twitter is the ultimate tool for word of mouth advertising. Just make sure the words being spread around about you are good words!

You’ve gone through all the steps, you have set up your Twitter account, your all logged in. NOW what? It’s easy fellow Tweep…get to Tweeting! Start having fun, and enjoying yourself on Twitter.

Remember that Twitter is primarily a social network, so the idea is to get out there and be social. That being said, here are a few tips to get you started with enjoying your Twitter experience.

The first tip is to make sure your Twitter name is easily searched and relevant to you or your business. If not, you can go into settings, and as long as the user name is available, you can change it. A great idea you can implement when choosing your user name, is check out www.KnowEm.com. This will search your user name across all of the social networks, and if it’s available you can then use their services to register that name all across the board. Then make sure you add a nice picture for your avatar, and a line for your bio telling Tweeps a bit about yourself.

Next, start following some folks that you find interesting. Chances are they will follow you back, and then you can get a conversation going. Start talking, and posting Tweets. You can start by saying hello and introducing yourself. Even if you don’t have many followers yet, you will have them, and people will peruse your time line to see if you actually ever Tweet or not.

It can feel a bit weird to post when there aren’t too many folks listening, but it’s a great time to just get familiar with Twitter, and using @replies and DM’s. Once your followers start to increase, it will get much more difficult to keep up, so take advantage of the calm before the storm to learn Twitter thoroughly!

Remember to use your @replies as well. If you don’t use them, you are just broadcasting into Twitter space, and not really connecting with anyone. And many new Tweeps never realize people may be talking back to them, because they don’t know to check their own @replies!

To gain followers you find interesting, click on friends profiles and follow some of their folks. Or do a search for profiles with similar interests, and follow them. Chances are they will follow you back and your Twibe will grow.

Also be careful with auto DM’s. And if you DO use auto DM’s, try and limit it to greeting new followers, and make it as friendly and ‘unautomated feeling’ as possible. When you hit your followers with a bunch of uninspired auto DM’s, they are just going to view you as a spammer, and we don’t want that.

Another great tip, especially with business, but with personal accounts as well, is don’t use the ‘private’ or ‘locked’ feature on your account. Very few folks will bother following you if they can’t see your Tweets. This is self defeating, so just don’t do it.

And finally, just have fun with it. The more you Tweet and follow others, the more your own followership will grow. Conversations will get bandied back and forth, and before you know it you will be a seasoned Tweep, and wonder what the heck life was ever like before you happened across the Twitterverse! Happy Tweeting Twitter Heads!