For a long time, we stayed away from Twitter. I mean, there are so many useless conversations going on there, what was the point really? I don’t care what so and so had for breakfast and I don’t want the world to know my culinary inclinations either. However, once I got past the “noise” and learned the true value of this service, I have been hooked ever since. So how can your company benefit from this service? Read on…

Let’s say you are a company that sells a product that people can buy online. Chances are there are people on Twitter talking about your product. But how do I interact with them you ask? This is where TweetDeck comes in. Simply download and install this software, and then boot it up. Put in your Twitter account info, and we are off to the races. Click the search button, and put in your product/company name or any other keywords you are interested in. This will bring up a column that is now updated whenever your keywords appear in Twitter, which allows you to interact in real time with the people that are talking about your brand. TweetDeck will even pop up a little notification to let you know when something new comes in.

But hold on a second, you don’t just want to go barging into the conversation. I would recommend easing into things, focusing helping people solve their problems. Maybe there is a customer service issue you can resolve, or perhaps answer a question from a potential customer wondering about the benefits of your product/service. Once you get involved, however, you’ll find it becomes easier and easier to engage and you’ll start building a good reputation for yourself among some of the most vocal online participants out there. Have fun.