Hi Jim,

It all depends on what you want to achieve and with whom - for example, are your target market twitter users?  If so, then tweeting regularly might be a great idea, if not then it might not be a valuable use of your time.

Generally the rule for all of these media is that your (potential) customers will only subscribe if there's something in it for them - news, useful content, special offers, opporunties for social interaction with like minded individuals etc.  Few people subscribe to feeds that just push out adverts.

The Inbound Marketing Book (www.amazon.co.uk/.../0470499311)  is a great starting point for using blogs/facebook/twitter, or meet me for a coffee sometime if you want to chat about a strategy.  Some of the 2010 fellows have backgrounds in internet marketing and may be able to help you too.

That's a great question Jim, but it's quite difficult to answer. It's a bit like asking "what's the best way to use the telephone for business?".

One of the best descriptions I've ever heard of how to use Twitter was by Laura Fitton (@Pistachio) while we were at Babson. Her secret to twitter is; Listen, Learn, Care, Share. She has a great presentation on it here:  http://twitter.com/#!/Pistachio/status/5433192290975744.

Essentially her argument runs: People are talking about you and your competitors on Twitter (whether you are there or not), make sure you are listening. Then learn from what you hear and care for/about the people on Twitter. That way you will know what to share.

FB statuses and Tweets are similar. They are short, so you might be able to cover What, Where When and Who, but you will probably need to link to your blog to cover Why and How.

What you do as a business will also determine how you use Twitter. For example consider the FT (@financialtimes) vs. Innocent (@innocentdrinks) vs. Runkeeper (@runkeeper).

The FT uses Twitter solely to publish headlines with a link to their articles. (Followers > Readers)

Innocent talks with their customers through Twitter, in addition to publishing updates and links through to their site.  (Followers > Fans/Innocent Family)

Runkeeper does Innocent, but in addition they selectively re-tweet items mentioning Runkeeper (good or bad or questions) to their community on Twitter, who will often respond on Runkeeper's behalf to the original Tweeter. [It's hard not to be swayed by an influx of messages from loyal fans if you are choosing between two similar products.] (Followers = Fanatics?)

You can link your FB and Twitter accounts. Consider that you may not want to. A daily post on FB will get your community's response on that. You will dilute that daily topic if you push all your tweets to Facebook.

What is it that you are trying to do with Twitter? Connect with your customers, connect with your market, brand awareness, or eyes on site?