When you are first starting, Twitter may not be the most intuitive social media platform. It takes time to learn how to use Twitter for business. But what a growing number of users are finding is that Twitter is one of the most powerful, connecting, global social media tools out there. I think of it as a way to connect with the world, in an open source kind way. It’s a way to find your community, or tribe, or target market, and actually keep in touch with, interact with, and be a part of your online neighbourhood. I’ve used it to connect with publishers in Italy, get live news as it happens, and even to keep in touch with nearby friends. You can use it as an incredible learning tool too. Here are 7 tips to get you interacting on Twitter:

• Find out what a # (hashtag) is
• Use hashtags to find your community
• Take part in # community dialogues
• Keep the content about you and your products to a minimum, and focus on engaging your customer
• Create interesting, witty content
• Use @mentions and RT’s to interact with your market and thought leaders (did you know, you can even tweet directly to Barack Obama, Justin Beiber, or any celebrity in your industry)
• Respond to your @connects to keep in touch with people connecting with you

And don’t worry if you don’t get the power of Twitter all at once. It takes time. Keep at it, and you’ll find the benefits for your business on it. Check out Wishpond’s Twitter Campaigns to boost your Twitter engagement using contests and promotions.

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