Market Yourself Using TwitterA Web Tutorial for Beginners

Prepared by Saundra WashingtonTechnology Tools for Real Estate

www.techtools4re.com

Millions of people use Twitter to

market themselves and their businesses.

You can too.This tutorial will show you how.

So, what is Twitter, anyway?

Twitter is a micro-blogging

platform.That means it’s an Internet

application you can use to post short, quick messages

(called “tweets”) on the Internet for anyone to read.

Those messages can be about

anything.

Some people use Twitter to

let their friends know what

they’ve been doing.

Others use it to demonstrate

their expertise and enhance

their reputation.

Still others use Twitter to

attract customers.

Twitter is easy to use and

absolutely free. In fact, there’s

almost no reason not to

use it.

To get started, go to

www.twitter.com and create an

account.

Use your real name as your username, or

create one that reflects your

business.

Add a picture to your profile.

Include a one-sentence bio that describes your business...

...and a link to your company’s

website or FaceBook Page.

Once your account is set up, you’ll need followers and something to

“tweet” about.

First, let’s discuss how to get followers.

At first, Twitter assigns you a

group of followers.

But you’ll want followers who matter to you.

One way to get these followers

is to follow them. Many will follow you back.

To find people to follow,

click the “Find People”

tab at the top of your Home Page.

Enter the name of a person

whose Twitter account you want to find.

Find your person...

...and click the “Follow” button

to start following him

or her.

That person’s twitter

messages (“tweets”) will

now be available for you to see.

Alternatively, you can search

by topic. Navigate to

Twitter Search: www.search.twitter.com

Enter a search term relevant to

your field.

This will help you find people tweeting about

your area of expertise.

Decide which of these people you want to

follow.

Follow prospective

customers, but also colleagues and experts in

your field.

You can also use Advanced

Search to find people in your geographic area

to follow.

Enter your city to see current messages from

people near you.

Follow the ones who are most

interesting.

When you follow people,

many will follow you back and your list of

followers will grow.

Now you’re ready to tweet.

But what should you

tweet about?

Do not start by tweeting about your products

or what you can do for people.

Instead, start by just watching

what others are doing.

You’ll notice that many successful

tweeters offer advice or

useful information.

They post links to other

people’s blog articles or try to help others.

Or they give credit to others

by repeating (“retweeting”) their messages.

You should do the same thing.

Find interesting news stories and timely

articles on the Internet.

Tweet about those stories and include

links to those articles.

Use an application like www.bit.ly.com to shorten the

URL to fit inside 140 characters.

Or “retweet” the messages

of others.Put “RT” in front of the

person’s username or use the Retweet Button.

Only occasionally should you

post messages about your products or

services.

Some people may like your

posts and share them with

others.

Others may comment on your tweets.

When others comment, they’ll

address you by putting “@”

in front of your username.

Engage your followers by

responding to their

comments.

TweetTweet

Start commenting on other people’s

tweets.

Follow the people you meet

this way or people whose comments you

enjoy.

Continue in this manner and

your following on Twitter will

grow.

Soon you’ll be communicating

with people from all over the world.

And all of them will know something

about you and your business.

The more interesting your

tweets, the more respect your business

will get.

Remember: Never make the

mistake of tweeting only about your yourself.

And avoid sending

constant or repeating

messages about your products and services.

Nobody likes spam and

people will ignore you or stop listening.

There’s more to know about using Twitter

and much more to know about

Internet marketing.

Hopefully, this tutorial gets you

started.

To learn more, visit

www.techtools4re.com