“Business owners and their representatives should think of Twitter as attending a local networking event. When you attend local networking events, to be effective, you build relationships, have one-on-one’s to hear more about their business and vice versa and then, if interested, purchase their product or service and/or help connect them with their synergy partners. Use the same concept with Twitter:

• Learn by reading tweets and profiles
• Build relationships
• Interact and engage to find out more about followers
• Help connect others with their target market or synergy partners

Also, just like local networking, it takes time so don’t use Twitter thinking that one Tweet is going to make you rich…it won’t! It’s all about building relationships and networking!”

Here are some other great tips about using twitter to market your business:

Create a graphic background with a virtual business card on it. People who are interested in you will see this when they view your twitter profile. Your biography should be a brief summary of your services, and don’t forget to link to your business website!

Sign up for a service such as SocialToo to automatically follow your new followers, as well as gain some statistics.

There are other Twitter services that will allow you to automatically message your new followers with an introduction, like the free service from TweetLater.

You should definitely read 137 Twitter Tips : How Small Businesses Get The Most From Twitter if you are just learning to tweet!