From the eDesk of Tara Reed,
artist and self-proclaimed Twitter addict
(Portland, Oregon)

In my opinion, there is nothing that "every business" should do, except maybe try to stay in business. Twitter seems to be talked about everywhere these days, from Time Magazine to the corner coffee shop. Headlines cry, "Why YOU need to be on Twitter NOW!" and many business owners are in a panic trying to figure out what Twitter is, exactly, and how to make it work for their business.

I joined Twitter in June 2008 because I too, was told I should. In a "follow directions" kind of mood, I signed up and figured I'd try it and see what happened - really having no understanding of what I was doing or what I would gain from 'tweeting'. (There is a whole language associated with Twitter - tweeting is what they call the 140 character or less updates you post to Twitter.)

Fast forward to March 2010 and Twitter is my favorite social media platform and my #1 source of links and referrals to my blogs and websites. By interacting, testing, listening and learning I have been able to make Twitter work for me.

But is Twitter going to give the same web traffic results to any business? Maybe - maybe not. There is no "one social media platform gets results for all" solution. There are many factors involved in how successful you are using Twitter for business - your target audience, your personality and like or dislike of the platform, how you interact, who you interact with, etc. I have been asked, many times, to explain Twitter to others.

Don't make this mistake:

A business owner friend asked me about how I use Twitter.  I told him how I had built my list of followers and those that I follow and how I can get help, advice, feedback, web traffic etc.  He missed the part about creating the connections.  He signed up and his first tweet went something like this:  Go to www.(hiswebsite).com and check this out!  His second tweet:  Does anyone have a resource for XYZ?  Then he promptly told me how much he disliked Twitter and that it doesn't work.

It didn't work because he didn't understand how Twitter works. User error - plain and simple!

I can teach you what has worked for me.

I was invited to do a "faculty call" for Alex Mandossian's Teleseminar Secrets class - helping other students understand how, when and why they might decide to use Twitter.

As a result of this training and many, many conversations, I created a 70 minute audio - To Tweet or Not to Tweet. An "Audio Summary" accompanies the audio. By listening and reading, you should have a better idea of whether you do or don't want to jump on Twitter and how to use it effectively.

For $27 and 70 minutes of your time, you can decide how Twitter sounds to you.

In this 70 minute audio you will learn:

• WHY Twitter can help grow a business.

• WHAT Twitter is, by definition.

• HOW you get started - step-by-step.

• ROADBLOCKS to success on Twitter

• STRATEGIES to unlock the magic of Twitter

• FIRST STEPS to get started

• and finally, HOW TO USE TWITTER TO build community, find joint ventures, find fun opportunities, get help and resources and get feedback.

As an added bonus, you will also receive my special report:

How Can Social Media Help Artists with Their Business: A Closer Look at Twitter

and eBook: I'm on Twitter, Now What?

The 17 page eBook walks you through the steps involved to setup your account and start connecting.

My goal is to share what I have learned and help others start their Twitter experience with a better idea of where they are going - not just blindly following the current social media trends!