“Twitter is a micro-blogging service with social networking components allowing people global reach to communicate to one another by following, sending and reading other peoples updates known as “tweets”. Tweets are text-based posts where you have a maximum of 140 characters to get your message out there.”

Think of it like text messaging; only Twitter however is on rocket fuel. It’s such a simple, yet brilliant idea that is now becoming so effective and being referred to as another popular method of communication in real time. Not only that but its gone mobile with plenty of applications you can use on your iphone or Blackberry.

Twitter is fantastic for the following three reasons:

1. Traffic – It can attract and deliver hungry traffic to your website.
2. Distribution – A great platform for communicating to potential and existing customers about your new products or services and spread information far and wide online.
3. Amazing real-time market research – Really get into your customers minds, conversations and get valuable instant feedback to grow your business stronger.

Here are 10 quick and simple ways you can integrate Twitter into your marketing to help expand your business further online and attract more “followers”:

1. Get your name - Make sure you get your companies twitter account name before anyone else snatches it up. Even if you don’t want to focus your efforts on Twitter just now, it might become very valuable to you in the near future. It can also make your company seem more “human” and gives your company a certain persona that it is living and breathing.
2. Link out to Twitter - Increase your followers by linking to your Twitter profile from your corporate website and from any additional online properties you have access to. These could include personal blogs or web 2.0 accounts.
3. Networking - During networking events, your Twitter username can be a lot easier for someone to remember rather than a phone number.
4. Forum signatures – If you frequent online forums (be it an industry specific or general) rather than putting a link back to your website, these can convert better and “carry on” the conversation if you will unlike a website which is colder.
5. Blog comments – Rather the same point as forum signatures above, a link to your Twitter profile can almost carry the conversation on into a different world rather than it ending when they visit a corporate website possibly trying to sell them something before they are ready.
6. Article Marketing – Another way to continue with a theme or conversation from where your last article left off.
7. Press Releases – Another great way of offering contact information without having to give out your email address to the world.
8. Emails and Newsletters – In your contact or footer section a simple link asking them to follow you on Twitter to keep up to date with you.
9. Business Cards – Why not offer another method of communication for those people uncomfortable lifting up the phone. Let people search for you on Twitter and communicate with you there.
10. Guess blogging – Offer to write a guess post on a website/blog that you feel is valuable to your business and ask in exchange you submit your Twitter name in the article rather than a website link. Typically webmasters are cautious of links but Twitter appears less threatening to website users and it seen as a “cool” if anything.