Twitter as Research Tool
If you're not using Twitter yet, here's another reason why it can be a powerful tool for your business.
On Saturday I was sitting at a Starbucks, just about the only place in Ft. Bragg that I could get a wifi connection, killing time before I was to be at the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference. I was prepping for my presentation to a group of about 100 authors about why they need to use the Internet and blogs in particular to market their books.
Out of curiosity, I decided to throw out a question to my Twitter followers: 
Within a couple of minutes I had a bunch of responses.
More responses...
There was nothing new or groundbreaking in the responses, but two things were accomplished:
1. I strengthened my relationships with colleagues by reaching out and tapping into their wisdom. You never know what you'll learn or who you'll connect with.
2. I was able to demonstrate the power of social networking to my audience of authors by sharing this story and information with them. I was able to demonstrate how and why it's important to be participating online.
Take a look at the responses. You'll see a theme or two: you've got to be creative about how you market your book and don't confine yourself to the traditional book. How many different ways can you format the content?
Back to my original point. Twitter is a powerful research tool so take the leap and start using it for your business!
