4 Easy Ways to Find Valuable Business Twitterers to Follow

Twitter is growing up fast! It’s not just for geeks and early adopters anymore. We’ve got P.Diddy, Ashton Kutcher, Ellen DeGeneres, Maria Shriver, Shaquille O’Neal, and even Oprah tweeting away.

This explosion in Twitter use has attracted all kinds of people to the micro-blogging service. And all these new people bring all kinds of new expectations about how its unique form of social media marketing should be used. The old rules (from last summer!) don’t still apply like they used to.

But How Do You Use Twitter for Business?

This comes down to a question of "Who are you following on Twitter.com? And, more importantly, why?

Following many of the celebrity tweeters is more a guilty pleasure - like reading People magazine at the barbershop– than a legit use of business time.

More constructive is to follow people in your business niche from whom you can learn and enjoy their company.

4 Easy Ways to Find Valuable Business Twitterers to Follow

1. Here are some of the people I follow and why (you can add your Twitter username in the Comments, too!)

2. Check out Twellow.com, the “Twitter Yellow Pages,” for listings of 4.6 million Twitter users conveniently organized (and searchable!) by categories.

3. Use MrTweet.com. This free service will help analyze your Twitter use and recommend additional people to follow that may match your interests.

4. Follow anyone who comments below on this post or here. These folks are all paying attention and willing to contribute to the community – just the kind of people you’d probably like to do business with.

The easiest way to learn about Twitter (or any other kind of social media) is to get involved and use it. Visit Twitter.com and sign up for free today.

Follow me at www.twitter.com/scott_fox and we’ll get acquainted!

[If you're interested in learning more about the best ways to use Twitter for business, check out all my Twitter posts here.]

Comments

[Tara Jacobsen]

Hi Scott!!! Happy to add my link www.twitter.com/taradactyl Thanks so much for the great links!!!

[V Gangan]

For those looking for comments on achievements and success, positive thinking, here's my Twitter: www.twitter.com/vgangan

[ATW]

As a brand-new ScottFox.com fan, I'm just jumping in -- Twitter is about four chapters ahead of where I am. Perhaps someone can offer advice on this question -- in setting up a Facebook page for my small business...and then a page on MySpace...and then LinkedIn...is it best to send all members, across the sites, to one email address (info@smallbusiness.com)? Or is it smarter to segment by network (facebook@smallbusiness.com; myspace@smallbusiness.com, etc.). Will this give me an edge as far as tracking who-comes-from-where? Will it make people feel more connected to the 'smallbusiness.com community' from which they come? Or is it confusing and completely not necessary?

[Scott Fox]

Welcome!
There is no "right" answer here, it's up to you how you work best, I think.
I use different email addresses for some social media accounts to try to keep track of them as you suggest. Others I filter using filing "rules" in MS Outlook.
If you are a solopreneur or small business, I would vote for doing whatever makes it easiest for you to keep up and interact with your audience most effectively.
Your time is the most precious resource you have, so optimize for that. If you are more available, your customers will feel and appreciate it.
I hope that helps!
Scott Fox