Twitter 101

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been mentioning the best uses we’ve seen of Twitter for small businesses, from bakers who announce their latest batch of fresh goods, to newspaper journalists who put out tweets to find out more about breaking stories.

Now, Twitter has shown how much it recognizes and appreciates the many and varied ways that businesses are finding to use its platform. This week they published a free and simple guide to Twitter for Business.

Six short sections explain all you want to know in a format that is ideal for sliding in front of your less tech-savvy colleagues (you can even print it out on paper for them). The reader is taken through the initially confusing terminology the site uses and then given some case studies of innovative use. Read how Dell, Jetblue, Pepsi and American Apparel all found ways to use Twitter to boost sales and increase customer loyalty – and then, perhaps have some innovative ideas of your own.

No doubt, in part, they also want to stamp out dubious and irritating business practices by explaining in clear language just how best to put Twitter to use for your company. The ‘best practice’ page also highlights some of the worst practices out there – practices that will have your customers scrambling for the ‘unfollow’ button. Well, it’s better to read about them than to make the same mistakes yourself.

You can find the Twitter 101 guide for business here.