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In a previous post (Productivity and Work in Social Media) I discussed some of the ways that I use Social Media tools for productivity. In this one I am going to get specific about how I use Twitter:

How I invest my time in Social Media

Twitter presence. I love Twitter, because I get to talk to people that I know from all over the world about this and that. Many of these folks I met at conferences (see the next bullet) and they have amazing things to say, things that I can learn from every day. You can see my list of people that I follow here (hdbbstephen on Twitter), and you may notice that there are only about 500 of them.

I find it difficult to participate in conversations or catch the good information that comes from these folks if I follow many more than that. The good news is that many of these people share awesome links to other Twitter people that I don’t follow, so that the best of the best information still gets through. I also use Twitter for reaching out to new clients and readers for this site, but that is another post!

This is that post.

First things first, download TweetDeck.

TweetDeck is your personal browser for staying in touch with what’s happening now, connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook and more.

TweetDeck shows you everything you want to see at once, so you can stay organised and up to date.

I love it. Yes, there are some other applications that you can use, and there are lots of opinions about all of them. I like the functionality of TweetDeck: Sorting your Follows into groups, maintaining lists of search results, and (best of all) the ability to Tweet from more than one Identity from the same screen – no more logging in and out of Twitter to utilized different personas.

Twitter as a Marketing Tool

I use Twitter (and flickr and FriendFeed – all linked together) as a marketing tool for my products and services – by providing value, sharing information and pictures, and joining in conversations or answering questions. One of the most important methods is finding people that have questions that I can answer via Twitter Search. I will type in some of the different topics that I can offer my help and see who is asking questions, then extend their conversation. For example, if you search for “WordPress Theme Help” you can see all sorts of people that have needs regarding their blogs and websites. Some of these are easy questions and some are more involved, but I always try to do something for them – sometimes it leads to a paying client, sometimes not. But it is good for Word-of-Mouth and a good investment of time.

Twitter as a Communication Tool

I love chatting with my friends and associates on Twitter, even if its not about valuable or business-related stuff. I will schedule some time for myself, usually in the evening, for just shooting the breeze with my Twitter friends that are scattered across the globe.

Important caveat: Twitter can be extremely addictive and hours can go by as you read your Twitterstream and jump in & out of conversations. I recommend that you schedule some time for tweeting and stick to that schedule! I usually set aside 2 or 3 half-hour periods throughout the day to log in and see what is going on.

What is your Twitter strategy? Leave a comment.