Social media is at the forefront of online marketing and Twitter is one of the best ways to utilize it to expand your online presence. Twitter is basically a micro blog that allows you to share with the world what you are working on, how your day is going, business deals, anything you can type in 140 characters or less.

This guide is a very basic tutorial on setting up your Twitter account and beginning your Tweeting adventure.  It is intended for anyone interested Twitter who needs a guide to get them started.  We will be tackling some of the more advanced topics down the road.  Please feel free to comment with any questions that you still have after reading.

Getting started

Go to Twitter.com and click “Join for free.” It’s best to use your real name when signing up so that your friends, business associates, and prospective clients can easily find you. It’s also helpful to upload a picture that best represents yourself or your business. If you select the “Protect my updates” box, people won’t be able to read your Twitters unless you authorize them. Leaving this box unchecked will allow you to expand your Twitter following. Of course, if you let everyone see your Tweets, be careful to not share private information.

Now that you have a Twitter account, tell your friends your username or send them the link to your Twitter page. Each user has his own profile page, in the form twitter.com/username. (Example: our Twitter page is twitter.com/edwardrayne.)

Hook up your mobile phone and IM account

Once you are registered, you can connect your cell phone and IM account. Go to Settings > Devices. Connecting your phone and IM programs to your Twitter account is easy just follow the directions. Remember; whatever you Tweet from your phone or IM application will show up on your profile.

Choose if you want to receive notifications from Twitter on your phone or IM. Choosing “On”  will send you every tweet from everyone you follow. That can be fun but also very annoying and time consuming. If you select “Off”  you won’t receive any notices. A good in between is the third option of “Direct Messages”. This option will send you a notice when someone contacts you privately on Twitter.

Sending Twitter messages, or “Tweets”

You can send a Twitter message, or “Tweet,” from any of your registered devices. From your online Twitter profile just type it into the text field at the top of the page.

From a mobile phone, send an SMS message to 40404. Your phone’s caller ID is attached to your Twitter account, so the system will know it’s from you. From IM, message TwitterIM if you’re on AOL, or twitter@twitter.com if you’re on Jabber/GTalk.

Following and joining friends

If you’ve gotten this far, you’re able to send messages into the Twitter system, and your friends can find your account and follow your updates. Here’s how you can see their messages.

On the Web: to add a friend, first be sure you are logged into your account. Then go to his or her Twitter page and press the “Add” link in the “Actions” box. To find a user page, use the search box on your own Twitter page.

Once you click “Add,” you’ll start to see his or her Tweets on your page if his or her account is set for public access. If the account is private, the system will send a “friend” request that must be approved before you start to see updates.

Twitter commands

If you enter a Tweet with @username at the beginning of it, your message is understood as being intended for that particular person, although others will be able to see it. Example: “Attended Topeka PodCamp with @BillLudwig had a great time.” This will make @BillLudwig a clickable link to his profile as well as show up on his Twitter page under “@ replies” to enable him to know I was talking about him.

If you like what someone Tweeted then you can ReTweet their Tweet. This is done by entering RT @username and then cutting and pasting their Tweet. For example: RT @BillLudwig Topeka PodCamp was a great success!

**It is considered good Twitter etiquette to include a RT @username when sharing links submitted by other users.

In Closing

This is just the tip of the iceburg and is intended to start you off right.  Please let us know in the comments if there is anything related to Twitter that you would like to see us cover in the future.  Thanks for reading.