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If you have a business and want to get the maximum amount of recognition, no doubt you’ve heard the latest buzz surrounding what is called “social media”. It seems like everywhere you turn, people are talking about Facebook and Twitter. Even Conan O’Brien has a segment about Twitter on The Tonight Show:

Of course, Conan is making fun of how some people use Twitter (and it’s a pretty funny segment usually) – but Twitter has some legitimate value as a way to promote your business (or any other sort of website). So…if you want to use Twitter but don’t want Conan to make fun of you, here are my five tips:

1. Pick a good handle. Your username should be your business or site name. If it consists of multiple words, separate them with an underscore. The handle should readily and easily identify you to people searching for your business.
2. Make a good profile. Completely fill out your profile, and include a picture. Link to your site from within your profile as well. When people read your Tweets, you want them to want to view your profile and then visit your site.
3. Tweet on a regular basis. Every day or couple of days is fine. You need to Tweet more than a couple times a week (so your profile doesn’t look “dead”) – but you don’t need to Tweet multiple times per day! It’s probably impossible for you to actually provide that much valuable info, anyway – which brings us to the next point…
4. Don’t “junk Tweet”. If you look at the Conan segment, you’ll see that he’s mostly making fun of how “empty” most Tweets are – because that’s the big problem with the way most people use Twitter. To differentiate yourself, make sure you actually post things that your readers will find valuable. (Best case scenario – they’ll look forward to your Tweets because of the cool info you provide.)
5. Promote your Twitter address. What you want are “followers”. It will help people to find you on Twitter (and connect your Twitter account with your site) if you link to your Twitter profile on your site, on your Facebook, in your email signatures, etc. Tell everyone, “Follow me on Twitter” and you’ll find that people WILL.

So, we can all enjoy Conan’s segment – but also we can learn from it, and not fall into the pitfalls of “typical Twittering”. Use Twitter wisely, and to your advantage. By following these five easy tips, you’ll find that Twitter can actually provide some extra value and additional (free) promotion to your website!