Today is Twitter’s 5-year Birthday.  How quickly he has grown-up.  I just can’t believe he has almost 10 billion users.  Whew!   To celebrate, I’ve listed below my favorite Twitter Icons that you are free to use.  Just click on them to get to the HTML.

Here’s a great article from Mashable on the subject:  http://mashable.com/2011/03/21/twitter-5th-birthday-2/

Having trouble keeping up with your Facebook fans?  What about your tweets?  I hear you. I understand logging into several social media sites a day can be time consuming. I’m happy to say, I have a solution for you: Nutshell Mail. With this FREE applications you can receive updates to all your social networks in one easy-to-digest email.

You can review and respond to all your social chatter right from the email. It’s the coolest thing. You decide how often you want to receive the email and what content you want.  Totally customizable, totally convenient and totally free. You owe it to yourself to give it a try!

http://nutshellmail.com/

I found this cheat sheet very interesting and thought you might too!   I’ll be referencing this piece of information from Sendible in my upcoming free tele-seminar on web traffic in January.

Getting ready for the How to Twitter for your Stampin’ Up! Business Course starting May 8th. This video shows what Twitter was initially created for - connecting with friends. We are going to take it up a notch in the course and show examples of using it for REAL LIFE MARKETING of your Stampin’ Up! Business. BAMM! I feel like Emerald.

Ta-Da! Yes, I will be offering personalized Twitter backgrounds right after my Twitter for your Business Course is over. I’ve been creating several different themes for the attendees of my course to choose from and they are pretty darn fun.

You see, I want the attendees of the course to walk away with everything they need to start connecting with their customers. The course includes: a 50-page manual, a personalized background, a Twitter badge, 4 stamping projects, video demonstrations, my Twitter resource rolodex and reminder sheets for reference.  The personalized backgrounds will be available in mid-June for $19.99 separately but they are INCLUDED in the upcoming course on MAY 8TH. The course price at $35 is a great deal!

1. It’s Short, Sweet & To the Point

Have you ever heard the phrase, less is more? You’ll find that one of the best things about Twitter is that it keeps all messages very short and sweet. You’ll have to give your customers the gist of what is going on in short tweets that allow their interest to be piqued in such a way as to make them investigate further. Sometimes we get carried away with long-winded messages that make them yawn and move on. Instead, you will be able to catch their attention quickly and make them want to know more. This is great practice for us marketers and scrapbook journalers.

2. Immediacy

Much like a blog or an RSS feed, you can get access to the people that use Twitter regularly. In some ways, this is like making sure that you can reach them no matter where they are, and you will find that this is very important when you want to make marketing one of your biggest priorities. You are making sure that they have all of the latest updates to what you are doing and what’s going on by simply sending a tweet their way.

3. Everyone’s Doing It

In many ways, Twitter is a social program more than it is a marketing one, and you’ll find that using Twitter can help you feel a great deal closer to your customer base and other’s in your online community. If you are looking to make sure that they see you as a person rather than as simply a company or service, you’ll find that Twitter encourages them to think of you as someone they can get to know. This can be very important when it comes to establishing a loyal customer base.

4. You Get to Hear a Lot

Remember that it goes both ways; you can put information out on Twitter and you can also learn a lot too. By following other’s Twitter accounts, you can keep in the know about various products, services, and other happenings online. This can be a great way to keep an eye on what is going on in order to keep yourself in the know of your industry.

5. Make Them Laugh

You can also use Twitter to tease people a little bit, in a fun way, of course! When you use Twitter, you have to keep your messages short, and in many ways, a little mysterious. Pique their interest, joke around, and you’ll find that you gain a lot more followers and hopefully website traffic and customers as a result.

If you would like more information about using Twitter for your business, request my complimentary 3 Simple Ways to Connect with Customers using Twitter using Twitter Report. Just enter your name and primary email address on my home page and you’ll get the report instantly.

 
TwitterBar is a Firefox add on which makes Tweeting or posting on Twitter a quick and easy process. TwitterBar is a small icon which hangs out in the upper right hand corner of your browser’s address bar – where you type your URL. Hover over the little grey dot and you’ll see how many characters you have left in your post. (Twitter allows 140 characters per post)

To get TwitterBar installed on your browser you will first need to be a Firefox user. Firefox is a free web browser like Internet Explorer by Mozilla. To grab and install TwitterBar visit:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4664

Go ahead and click on the green Add to Firefox button in the middle of the screen. If you do not presently use Firefox then you’ll first want to go to:
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ and download it for free. Again, simply click on the green button in the middle of the page and follow the installation instructions.

Using TwitterBar.

There are two basic ways to use TwitterBar. The first is to go to your address bar in your browser – the place where you normally type a URL or website address. Type your post, for example, learning to use TwitterBar, and then click on the little grey dot at the right hand side of your address bar. When you hover your cursor over this dot it will tell you how many characters you have left. For example, if you type learning to use TwitterBar, then it will say 69 left.

You can also post by typing “–post” at the end of your tweet. For example, learning to use twitterbar “–post”

But wait, there’s more! When you visit a webpage that you want to post, all you have to do is click the little grey dot and it will send a tweet with the URL.

Twitterbar is a quick and easy way to post on Twitter and take advantage of this popular and growing social networking and marketing tool. It’s a great way to share valuable information and keep in touch with fellow Twitter friends.

Product Name: Twitter

Rating: 6

Where to buy: http://www.twitter.com

Description: Twitter is a social networking site that helps to keep you connected with friends and family. By using instant messaging, SMS and Web interface you can send and receive message from anyone on your list with ease.

Review: Connecting with family, friends or even coworkers just became easier with Twitter. As a work at home business owner it is not uncommon to miss that office chit chat every now and again. You can think of Twitter as your virtual watercooler. It’s nice to be able to talk to others who know how you feel and understand what you are talking about.

The best part about Twitter is that you can have the chit chat when YOU have time for it. If you’re busy working on a project and just need a break jump on Twitter and “twit” away. When you’re break is done, no problem, just sign off and come back and catch up on anything you might have missed later when you get a chance.

Twitter can be activated on your cell phone so you can stay in touch no matter where you are. You can send and receive Twitter updates right on your instant messenger too. I spend most of my day on the computer and have my Google IM up all the time. With Twitter updates I’m always on top of what’s going on with my family and friends.

With Twitter you can make new friends or block people you don’t want to talk to. It’s easy to navigate through Twitter to find people who like the same things you do or may even know some of your friends and family. Plus you always have the option of blocking anyone you don’t want to communicate with.

Twitter is a social network that works for you no matter who you are, where you are or when you might just need that how are you? It’s also a great way to market yourself and let your friends know when you’ve made a new post to your blog, added a new product or service to your website or even found a news story online that you think they could benefit from. Just send the URL over Twitter and they’ll have it right there!

Next week I’ll be talking about how you can use Twitter as a marketing tool for your Stampin’ Up! business.