We’re often asked by clients and colleagues if they should be Twittering. And of course, our answer is, it depends. Let me ask you a few questions first:

• Are your customers on Twitter? The answer is probably “not many,” unless your customers are tech-savvy or other marketers. If they are tech-savvy or early adopters, then you absolutely need to be here. (Also consider if your customers will be the next group to get on Twitter; if so, then you might want to jump on ahead of them.) Caution: Twitter’s growth is so explosive; you may answer “no” today but “yes” in just a few months.
• Is your business reputation dependent on being a leader? If so, then you need to keep up with the latest trends.
• Is your business large enough that people are talking about you? If so, you need to monitor and participate in the conversations on Twitter.
• Are your competitors there? What are they talking about? How are they using it to build their business?
• Is networking an important tool? Twitter, and other social communities, are becoming a new form of networking.

Right now, Twitter is a bit like “Inside Baseball.” It’s not that easy to use at first so that keeps a lot of otherwise casual users away. The folks who are on there have their own Twitterspeak, as they tweet with their tweeps in the Twitterverse (“talk” to their “people” in the “Twitter Universe”). When you first start tweeting, you’re not likely to have many followers.  We’ll discuss that in future Twitter posts.