How to Use Twitter for More Than Making Friends

Learning how to use twitter for more than making friends starts with actually making friends first! Being the fastest growing online social networking site has made this community a 'target' for traffic generation by many online businesses. This movement has also launched many a instructional manual, and almost an entire industry, on the 'proper' way generate traffic on the site itself! Well considering Twitter is a 'social network site' it stands to reason your success would start with being social and then 'tactfully' pursuing your business goals. A smile with some friendly conversion followed by subtle traffic generation tactics sounds like a winner to me, how about you? But always remember you are, in reality, a guest at a party where a certain code of conduct is expected. By simply following this code you will be more effective trying to generate traffic but always keep the code in mind. This is one code you do NOT want to crack! With that said here are 3 simple measures you will want to take whenever you intend to use Twitter, or any other online social networking for something other than just making friends. Gain Acceptance The first thing you do when entering any social gathering is to make acquaintances and begin establishing relations with others. Once again this is an online social networking site and socializing is why these people are here so participate and blend in with the crowd. Before long you will become accepted and recognize and at this point you can subtly begin to generate traffic for whatever your purposes may be. The 'Art' of the Tweet Now if you are loquacious (chatty) like me you may initially find the character limitations on your tweets a bit uncomfortable. You will simply have to learn to communicate using a minimal amount of words with a healthy mix of abbreviations and links. This should not be too difficult for anyone who sends text messages on their phone. If nothing more this will also help you refine your writing skills! Maintain a 'Good' Mix Careful not to become too one dimensional insofar as to only promote and never socialize. Remember it was your socialization skills that got you accepted in the first place! Maintain value and interest in your conversations and learn to listen well as a courtesy, and to also help you better 'tune' into the discussions. By 'actively' listening your response or contributions will likely have more relevance to any ongoing conversations. In this way others will realize that you are indeed interested in what they have to say making you a more 'engaging' person! Hopefully you see where a 'how to use twitter' manual is not really needed to either socialize, or in this case generate traffic. If you approach the site for what it is, social networking, and simply apply the same tactics you may use in a similar offline setting you're good to go. The only area left for you to screw up is if your traffic generation tactics are flawed insofar as sending people to the wrong site! Let's face it, using online social networking sites like Twitter, for whatever your purpose may be, is not rocket science, as the 3 simple measures suggested above indicate! Simply remember the main intention of the site itself and play by the rules of their game, be social. It will not hurt to enjoy yourself along the way and by keeping your focus, and tactfully implementing your strategies, your efforts will not go unrewarded.