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As Promised here’s the next level of knowledge on Twitter. You might want to check out the previous post “Twitter for Business – The beginning“

There are hundreds of applications which allow you show your twitter feeds on your website or blog. If you have a blog or website, you can get new Twitter followers by posting your feeds on your web / blog pages. Then there are “tweet me” and “follow me” buttons which allow the readers to share the content they like to their followers.

To be successful on Twitter you need to identify what you like and then plan to deliver the same value that you get back to your followers. Its a fair exchange even if you give more than you get.

So what is twitter really about for a business and the answer is – generating interest and followers. But by just being on twitter and tweeting this cannot be a strategy for success. First you need to find people / subjects you are interested in. Start following them. See how they write, what they tweet, how many people follow them, how many people they follow etc. When I started I searched for SEO, SEM, Internet marketing, web design, social media, then checked out the profiles of those who came up on search results and clicked follow. In most cases people who you follow will reciprocate by following you. This is beginning of building your Twitter followers base. Over time you will begin understanding the type of Twitter presence you want to have for your business and bring about changes in your style accordingly. As you engage with twitter and as the twitter base engages you, you will start generating followers with your unique writing style.

Twitter also allows you to reply to people in public by adding an @ symbol before their handles. For e.g. If you needed someones attention or wanted to thank someone for tweeting something of interest you just add and @ before the twitter handle and tweet. Like “@virtualsnipers thanks for your blog post on what is seo? Looking forward to more”. Do remember that this post is seen by all followers on your Twitter id.

If you need a more private exchange, go to the direct message link on the Twitter.com site and select a follower by Twitter ID name and send your message from there. This note will be private. If you are using TweetDeck you can click on a follower’s Twitter ID icon and then select to send a direct message or @reply to them. TweetDeck will automatically insert the correct syntax for you in the Tweet.

For many businesses the ability for users to communicate with top management using Twitter is an invaluable resource. This one-to-one exchange allows a company principal to keep tabs on customer viewpoints, concerns, and interests. As a Twitter reply or direct mail does not use email and does not require a response, this is a great way to tap into social networking to test new ideas and to ask for user feedback. For example, if you have a new software product ask your Twitter followers for feedback on a specific feature, or provide a link to your beta version for their testing.

How you use Twitter is all about your personal business needs. The best advice that I can offer to you is that you need to use Twitter a bit yourself first to understand the medium and to find out what you like to read best using Twitter. Then, create your own Twitter network sharing information that you find interesting and have some fun.

I find Twitter great fun and a very cool way to find out first what’s happening in the world before you see it on TV, read it on the Web, or see it in the newspaper. That’s the real power of Twitter; you share, you find out, and you know, all by a person-to-person exchange of information.