Twitter is absolutely blowing the socks off of rapid fire communication right now. Want in, but think its too difficult or time consuming? I’ve got a few quick steps to get you ‘twittering’ in practically no time at all!

• Sign up for an account at www.twitter.com. Your profile and picture are important, so take some time to think about how you want to be seen out there.

• “What are you doing right now?” doesn’t mean “I’m eating pizza,” or “I’m watching TV.” Be friendly and for your first post, its perfectly fine to say, “I’m just starting to tweet, want to meet people in the ____area,” or “I’m looking for people in the ___business.”

• You want to follow people who also know interesting people. Since you don’t know anyone yet, we suggest @ShariV, @skhamilton, @geraldvoigt, and @scottalberts. We have existing relationships that you can tap into to start your own following.

• Make sure that you acknowledge your new followers with a “Thanks for following me” direct message or response with the @ sign.

• Go ahead, be choosy! You won’t like everyone, and you don’t have to follow everyone following you. Look at their profiles and websites.

• Twitter itself is not real efficient for interactive conversations while doing other things. If you intend to multitask, as I do, I suggest the twhirl desktop application so that you don’t miss important things, but can weed out uninteresting things while you work.

• Decide how long you want to interact, and stick to it. Announce yourself with a “Good Morning!” tweet, and excuse yourself with a “I’ve gotta get back to work” tweet, or something on that level.

You don’t have to be on every day, and you don’t have to be on all day. Community Marketing Blog advocates using twitter only 60 minutes a week! I’m sure we don’t need to tell you to watch the language if you’re marketing. Manage your tweet time and you’ll find this a most valuable tool!

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