Social media has been a hot topic around the water cooler here. Why? Because social media is a low cost method of promoting your business and brand online to your customers, whether they be other pet businesses or pet parents. Twitter is one of these social media tools that has gained in popularity over the past year or so. You can use Twitter for your business to:

• Engage your customers and prospects
• Create “buzz” around your business’s brand
• Redirect traffic to your Web site or blog

What is Twitter?
Think of Twitter as a way of writing a Post-it® note to a micro blog. You send and receive short messages within your defined Twitter community by following other “Twitters”. These folks can also “follow” you back, creating a way of communication with them. Tweets or messages contain only 140 characters long, so they are easy to read quickly.

What is a Twitter Timeline
Your Twitter timeline is the list of tweets that you can see because of the people you follow. (It’s the stream of icons with tweets on the side.) Your timeline shows up on your Twitter home page (http://twitter.com/home).

There is also a public timeline that contains tweets from everyone on Twitter. You can review the public timeline using the Everyone option under your profile.

The Three Tweet Types
There are three types of tweets you can send out:

• General tweets – Go out to all of your followers. (They also appear in the Twitter public timeline.)
• @Replies – Go to a specific person and start with @username like @7LuckyDogs. They also appear to other users and appear in the Twitter public timeline.
• Direct messages – Are private messages sent to only one person.

@Replies
You send an @reply to a specific person, but a reply is not a private message. @Replies show up in the your timeline and the public timeline. They also show up in the timeline of every person who follows both you and the person identified in your @reply (the @username person).

Note: This is the default setting. You can also view all @replies made by the people you follow by changing your @replies setting under Notices in your settings.

Most likely, you see a tweet in your timeline and you want to reply. Move your mouse over the tweet and a back arrow appears on the right. Click this, and Twitter starts creating your @reply to that person. However, you can send an @reply to any Twitter user by typing @username at the start of a tweet. You can view all @replies sent to you under the @Replies tab on the right of your home page.

Direct Messages
You can send a direct message to any user who follows you. You don’t use the Twitter message box on your home page to send a direct message. Instead, you send it from the Direct Messages page.

Use the drop-down list to select the person to receive your direct message, and type the message below. When you click Send, the message appears in the Direct Messages page for that Twitter user. Or, someone sends you a direct message, you can reply to a direct message with a direct message. Display your Direct Messages page, located the direct message, and click on the envelope with the left arrow. Twitter starts creating the direct message at the top of the page.

Note: The only way you know that you have a direct message is to check your Direct Message page. Keep track of the number of direct messages and you can tell when you receive a new one because the count changes.

About the Author Dara is a brand identity and marketing design strategist at 7 Lucky Dogs, a leading consultancy in marketing to “pet parents”. Through customized marketing and brand identity packages, 7 Lucky Dogs helps you discover what makes your company, product or service different from your competitors. We then translate this differentiation visually into a logo, product packaging, an E-commerce site and promotional materials to reflect those unique attributes. We make our clients look credible and memorable to their prospects while they increase their bottom line. As the owner of 7 Lucky Dogs, Dara is passionate about helping independent pet businesses stand out in front of their competitors and attract more clients. She blends business smarts with creativity with formal education in both graphic design and marketing.