When creating your Twitter profile, you will need to be short and concise because you have 160 characters to share your story or message with the Twitter community in the bio of your profile. Within your profile, you also get to add a photo which can be yours or a company logo if you choose, list a URL to your blog or website, include your name, and indicate your location. They will also let you personalize your background. This is a great spot for your company logo and a short message that you would like to share with the world.

Because a Twitter profile is not as elaborate as a Facebook or MySpace profile, people may overlook adding their information, but do not make this mistake. Your Twitter profile serves as a great introduction to potential clients who may want to follow your company. The whole premise of Twitter is to pack as much quality concise information into quick bite size pieces and a Twitter profile is no different.

With the the internet and social media in particular, companies need to be more transparent and own up to their mistakes. They also must take the time to fix them quickly before things get out of hand, and that can happen quickly. One of the best ways to monitor your brand and its reputation is to set up Google Alerts for your company name and monitor what is being said about your business on the web. Google will send you emails or RSS feeds for anything that they index in their search engine that pertains to your business name. You can also monitor products and services that you offer and you can even keep a good eye on your competition too. These Alerts can be read in Google Reader. Both Google Reader and Google Alerts are free services from Google.

If you try to hide your mistakes online, you will get eaten alive with social media sites like Twitter. Everybody knows everybody’s business now. You will want to respond very quickly to any negative feedback left about your company because if you don’t, serious damage can be done because it is easy for an angry mob to form. Just a little helpful information can quickly diffuse the situation and help keep your brand image in a positive light.

Back in the good old days of marketing (which we will define as preinternet ), companies would broadcast their marketing message to the masses as much as possible. The idea here was to get your message heard or seen by as many people as possible while feeding them the benefits of your product or service. This method worked for a very long time because there were less products and services available to the market, there were less channels in which to get your message out to the public, and the buyer did not have much of a voice either. This model of marketing was basically one way. The message was broadcast from the business through the channel to the consumer. Then came the internet and that has changed everything, when it comes to marketing your company message.

With the internet, the tables have been turned. Now, the consumer has gained the upper hand when it comes to the message being broadcast about a product or service. People are talking to other people about their experiences for the better or worse. They are sharing product deficiencies, offering each other buying tips and tricks, recommending alternative products, and posting reviews. Companies cannot control all the channels of the web. There are just too many sites, blogs, forums, and social sites (and Twitter is one of them) to control and that is the whole point here. Companies have lost control of their brand message and the consumer is now broadcasting that message for better or worse.

Twitter is built around the concept of blogging, but comes with some restrictions that you would not have on your own personal blog. The biggest of these restrictions is that you are limited to 140 character in any of your posts. Twitter 140 character posts are often referred to as tweets in the Twitter world. This restricted space forces you to convey a concrete thought very precisely.

What is amazing about these tweets is that they are viewed around the world. You can create a Twitter post, tweet, in Pittsburgh, and your post can be read in India. It goes without saying that Twitter is one way to reach a global market quickly. Just imagine the possibilities of reaching out to customers around the world!

Your tweets can be sent to individuals or entire groups. As you can see, tweeting can readily speed up mass communication to potential and current customers. Imagine if you were running a sale or special promotion. In 140 characters or less, you could quickly get your message out and begin getting sales, but you will need to be careful with the frequency of running your sales posts through Twitter. Twitter is not the place for constant selling and spamming. No one will like what you have to say, and you will be ignored and when you really think about it, you don’t like nonstop sales messages either, especially from people that you have just met.

Imagine a place where millions of potential customers gather daily to talk, share new ideas and share their opinions on business products and services. In the process, they are helping to shape and mold new ways in which businesses and customers communicate with one another. This new place on the web is known as Twitter. This micro-blogging platform is changing the marketing and communication game as we knew it. It is helping to cultivate a new level of intimacy between customers and businesses and I dare say that the customers have the upper hand in this platform, but that it is not necessarily a bad thing, when you know how to use this to your advantage.

Twitter has literally exploded onto the seen in the last few years, and it is growing at the rate of 1,382% year after year and it currently has well over six million members. It is not uncommon to see major businesses, and news stories promoting their Twitter account for additional information. We are hearing more about Twitter now than blogs. It’s growth is nothing short of phenomenal and it presents marvelous opportunities for growing our businesses.

Brand loyalty and management has never been so important and Twitter allows us to do this with great results!