Twitter has now signed up over 100 million users – are you one of them? I am and I have to say I love it. It helps me really connect with clients in a way that’s just not possible with any other medium. Because you’re limited to 140 characters, you get to be more light-hearted and let your personality shine through in ways you can’t in more formal mediums.

If you haven’t joined Twitter yet, or like many users have signed up, sent a few tweets and lost interest, my goal is to convince you to join me in the Twitterverse. Let’s start with basics – why bother? One VERY important reason – because your clients are there and may be talking about you.

If you’re serious about growing a successful business, you need to tap into who is saying what about you so you can position yourself as an expert. But to really make Twitter work, like with any other business tool – you need a plan!

1.) Determine your goals – Do you want to drive more traffic to your website, increase blog readership, attract new clients, demonstrate your expertise, build relationships for joint ventures, etc.? Think about your end goals and make sure they are specific and measurable.

2.) Find your ideal clients – Twitter has great tools to help you connect with potential and current clients, possible partners, competitors, etc. check out Twitter search and Twellow ( a Twitter yellow pages) to find people talking about your niche.

3.) Listen – after finding your clients, listen to what they are saying to understand the problems your potential clients are facing.

4.) Offer solutions & show your expertise – Offer up some advice based on the problems you’ve listened to; create a blog post to offer tips, send direct replies to the people tweeting about the problem to direct them to your blog for advice.

There are lots of ways to participate in the twitterverse, so if you’re already there, follow me on Twitter @nicolabird and leave me your twitter name below, and if you’re not and you’ve no intention to be, let me know your reasons – I’d love to know.