I’ve heard a lot of back and forth about the value of Twitter to small and large businesses alike. I have some very strong opinions on social media and what it can/has done for me. I plan to outline the more obvious points regarding Twitter in this post and add reviews and tutorials on Twitter applications which is what allows Twitter power to be unleashed.

The Basics:
Twitter runs off the principle that user1 can follow user2. After following user2, user1 sees all of user2′s updates. User2 also has the opportunity to follow user1 back. Updates, often called “tweets” are limited to 140 characters. Users can also DM(Direct Message) or block other users. Links can be included in tweets and even automatically shortned to fit the 140 character max.

The Magic:
The magic of using Twitter comes from its simplicity, and aggressive following/friend building style. Users can build up a large audience of 1000′s of followers in a short time. How targeted your followers are depends directly on who you follow. So if you have a business that sells dog collars try to follow people that are already following dog clubs or belong to pet-related groups.

The Limits:
Twitter limits the amount of users you can follow daily to 1,000. Once users reach 2,000 followers they can only follow 110% of the followers they have. For example if you have 2,000 followers exactly you’re allowed to be following 2,400 people. Users can also be banned for hitting certain triggers like following too many at once, un-following too aggressively or being blocked by too many users.

Small Business Benefits:
Why can small business benefit from a tool like Twitter? Well first of all setup takes 5 minutes and the Twitter account can be kept up with little or no effort. I say no effort because it’s easy to automated blog posts and other things to be posted automatically on Twitter. I have found Twitter, especially in the early stages, to be more about making connections than direct traffic. Use Twitter to communicate with potential customers:

Here’s a few things that are great or Small Businesses to psot on Twitter.

This gives you something to go by. I recommend developing a schedule choosing a day of the week, month to post specific types of media.