I don’t usually write about social networking tools – but Twitter, the latest social networking phenomena, is becoming increasingly popular among business users, so I decided that it warranted at least a good analysis.

I recently starting using Twitter, and have quickly not only found myself using it throughout the day, but I am also finding that many people successfully use it to promote their business.

Twitter started more as a social site – people would basically send short messages, 140 characters or less, about what they were doing throughout the day.  Actions, thoughts, dreams, desires – whatever came to mind.  More recently, twitter is becoming an avenue to spread information and news – related to just about anything you can think of.

People don’t use Twitter to directly advertise their business – that is considered rude, and you will get more than a few remarks about it if you try.

Where Twitter does shine for your business, however, is to let people know what is new with your business, what you are working on, what discoveries you made – things you can brag about, post news about, and alert people about.  It is great for sharing new information, new product launches, meetings, announcements, hiring – whatever social tidbits you can think of.

The postings, or “tweets”, as they are called, go out and are shown to your “followers”.  Where do you find followers?  Well, you start by following other people, and, most of the time, they follow you back.  At the bottom of your twitter home page, there is a search link.  You can search by keyword, and find people that have used that word in their bio or one of their tweets.  You can also import your address book, and twitter will tell you who is on twitter.

If you are new to twitter, there are many blogs out there describing how to best go about using it.  I subscribe to twitip.com – that blog has some great ideas about the world of twitter.

Social networking is becoming yet another important marketing tool for business – it could only help if used correctly and systematically.

Do you already use twitter?  Send me a comment and let me know how you use it for your business or for yourself!

Tis’ the season to give!  And, as a business owner, it is often customary to give gifts to your customers, as a way of saying “thanks” for their business.

Where I work, we get a table full of cookies, candies, and other goodies – which quickly get eaten up by everyone in the company.

No one is complaining about the gifts, but most people don’t notice who the gifts came from, or care, for that matter.  Most of the people who partake of the sugary goodness do not interact with you or your company, or have any influence on what they purchase from you.  And once the gift has been eaten, the box goes in the trash, along with the card you might have taped to the top of the nice gift tin.

What I am getting to is that while gifts are nice to give to your customer, they don’t always yield the results that you are expecting.

The purpose of giving a holiday gift is not only to say “thanks for your business”, but to also keep you in the forefront of your customers thinking when the time comes to make a purchasing decision.

Those gifts – which are thoughtful – do cost you money, so you can consider it a business expense.  It is not unthoughtful to desire a return on your investment (forgive me if I sound heartless – I am just looking at an honest point).  There are better ways to thank your customers, and keep you and your company in front of them all year.

Here are a few ideas which are much more personal, and directed toward the people that you do business with:

1.  Send birthday cards. Put their birthday on your computer calendar, and have a reminder pop up a week before their birthday.  Send them a card with a hand-written note.

2.  Personalized Pads of paper. I did this for my customers – they all loved it, and carried it with them all year.  It is not expensive to have pads of paper made up with your logo, company information, and phone number printed on it.  Contact a printer in your area.

3.  Wall calendars. Without a doubt, it will be in front of your customer every day, and they will look at it every day.  Make sure you have one specially printed with your company information on it.

The ideas here are not to frivolously spend money to wine and dine or impress your customers – it’s to give them a thank you gift, while at the same time keeping your company on their mind every day, so when it is time to purchase, or if they have a problem, they will call you first.  Also – make sure you know the rules about giving gifts for the different companies you do business with. Not everyone is allowed to receive gifts.

Good luck, and happy holidays!

The E-Myth… I am not writing here to promote anything, but I will say that the E-Myth book is by far one of the BEST books for people who are thinking about, in the process of, or have started a business working for themselves.

I’ve honestly read the book more than 10 times – cover to cover. I have actually gone out and gotten another copy of the book, since I read the first copy to pieces.

If you have an inkling of starting a business, or have already started one – you need to read this book for yourself. ABSOLUTELY MUST.

In a nutshell, all of us entrepreneurs think we can “do it better” than the other person, than the boss we are working for, than the company we are in. And while that is assuredly true, we can’t do it ALL better.

For me, all the points that are made in this book, happened to me. I was able to see the problems coming, as I had read them in the book.

We are the people that CAN do it better, and we WILL do it better. We are the accountants, the engineers, the bakers, the chefs, web site designers, trash haulers – whatever it is that you do, that you want to work for yourself to do – is described in this book. How, in your occupation, you usually do one or a few parts of a whole business, even if you don’t always see the rest of the business, behind the scenes.

You CAN do it all, and many times you have to. But you can’t do it ALL perfectly, as your business needs it.

Do yourself a big favor, and your business a big favor. Read the E-Myth book. Or send me a note – when I get my book back from the friend I leanded it to, I will send it to you. A bit tattered, but still readable.