As we all know Twitter has become an enormous presence on the social media landscape. Due to it’s easy interface and numerous tools it has earned it’s spot in the limelight with everyone jumping aboard. Heck, even celebrities have joined the scene. However, as it relates to us internet marketers, there seems to be some confusion over how to use it properly. Therefore I will attempt to give you some guidelines, or some do’s and don’ts, to make your twitter experience as successful as possible.

Do’s

1. Tweet interesting or informative information.
Now this might sound obvious but you’d be surprised with the kind of nonsense that people tweet about. I’m all for tweeting about some cool article or neat piece of info that you found, but don’t tweet random quotes all day and nothing else, or random pics that you find just to have something to say. The idea behind using twitter to build your business is to show others that you are worth doing business with, so share things that they would want to know.

2. Follow people who are worth following.
I bet that when you first started using twitter you simply followed everyone you came across. Don’t lie, I know you did! Though I’m sure you got plenty of them to follow you back, how many of them were actually interested in what you have to say? The trick to following people is to follow those in your target market which in this case are those interested in mlm or making money online. I use http://search.twitter.com to find people who are talking about these topics and I start following those people. This will ensure that your tweets don’t fall on deaf ears.

3. Use the RT feature often.
If you don’t know what this is RT mean to retweet something that someone else tweeted. This is a great way to get noticed because people love to see their stuff retweeted, makes them feel special. Just don’t overuse it to the point you don’t come up with your own stuff.

4. Tweet at least 3 to 4 times a day.
You should tweet at least this many times so that people know you are active. You don’t want your followers to forget who you are or think you are not a serious marketer. On the flipside however, you don’t want to tweet everything you do minute by minute because then people will just start ignoring you.

5. Fill out your profile and picture.
If you want to be taken serious than please fill out your profile section so that people can know a little more about you. Also make sure to have a picture or at least and avatar that can be identified with you. I don’t follow someone who can’t even take the time to change the default pic.

Don’ts

1. Auto DM with a link to your website.
I know a lot of people do this and think it’s great but in my opinion it’s simply annoying. I’m fine with sending an auto direct message to welcome your new follower but make it about them not about you. This is one of your first contacts with your followers so don’t push them off to your website immediately.

2. Constantly talk about yourself.
Twitter is a place to meet and share with others, therefore you have to interact people. If you never reply to anything then you are essentially having a one way conversation. Not to mention you will alienate others if you never join the conversation.

3. Post links only to your website.
Now it is absolutely ok to post links to your site occasionally, but if its going to a squeeze page don’t post your links all day long. If you have a blog you can post a link to an interesting article but make sure you say what the article is about. Otherwise no one will know why they should check it out.

4. DONT use foul language.
Once again you would think this is obvious but I have seen people using cuss words and I think it’s very unprofessional. Again, if you are marketing yourself, you want to put your best foot forward so please, please, please don’t do this.

5. Don’t forget to be personable.
Remember that this is a social network so don’t forget to be social. Let others get to know you. You don’t have to share everything about yourself and shouldn’t, but let people know that there is a real person behind your business.