Think Twitter is only a fad and not very important in the operation of your small business? PLEASE reconsider. The world’s most popular microblogging platform is a powerful tool for communication and specifically for the use of small business. A way to leverage your business or entrepreneurial ventures in general in an outsized way and on a global scale is truly amazing. A peek at stories and posts with advice on using Twitter for business using Topsy, the search engine powered by Twitter entries yields an amazing resource. Below is but a sample.

Introduction
How to use Twitter for your small business. Uncertain what this Twitter thing is all about? Don’t worry. This post is an introduction of sorts into the realm of the planet’s most popular microblogging platform…and more importantly how to use it for your small business. Read other entries below for other details and tips. WebTotal

20 Twitter tips. When starting on Twitter, you’ll have some basic questions about how to make this new medium useful for your business or other entrepreneurial ventures. Hopefully this collection of tips specifically targets the concerns of many beginning small business owners on Twitter. TwiTip

Tips & Tools
Don’t make these Twitter mistakes. Mistakes like being too negative or just being boring. There are other helpful insights here about practices to ignore but most importantly don’t make the mistake of using Twitter for mere advertising. Not only is being overly promotional a serious mistake, it is a short sited approach to a platform capable of so much more. Solopreneur.biz

More Twitter tools. There are plenty of additional resources to make your small business marketing and networking even more effective. From HootSuit to TweetDeck and beyond an array of applications can help you manage and use a simple Twitter account in ways it might be hard to imagine. Here are some of the basics. Building Your Business

Case Studies
Twitter and Facebook ROI. Have your doubts about just what Twitter and other social media do, especially for a bricks and mortar business? Some of the value in these mediums often questioned by critics can be actually be seen in the savings a business can save on costs for more traditional advertising. Take this hotel in Adelaide, Australia that reckons it’s saved about $15,000 in marketing costs over the last nine months. The Sydney Morning Herald

Another small business Twitter success story. Another story of a small bricks and mortar business making use of Twitter, this time from an SEO’s perspective. See how Cafe Italia in Victoria outside Melbourne, Australia, has used the Twitter platform to engage customers and hear some suggestions about how your business can do it even better. James Richardson

Advanced Techniques
Seven ways to spy on the other guy. While the title of this post is actually “7 Sneaky Ways to Use Twitter to Spy on Your Competition” there’s really nothing all that sneaky about these suggestions. All use basic tools and techniques based on the transparency inherent in social media so your competitors can learn from you as easily as you can learn from them. KissMetrics

Tracking Twitter with Google Analytics. If you’ve wondered how to track Twitter effectiveness in conversion campaigns and found services like Bit.ly giving you less than the precision you had hoped for, here’s another option. Marketer Adam Henige has found another way using a basic search tool. Here’s his suggestion. Search Marketing Insomniac

Getting Started
Twitter roundups make your site a resource. Of course, Twitter can be thought of as more than simply a marketing or networking tool. Used effectively, it is also an efficient stream of resources often arranged by topic which can be easily collected and displayed (along with appropriate links) on your main Website as a sort of compilation of real time resources. Notice how Ross Kimbarovsky, co-founder of CrowdSpring has combined his Tweets from throughout the week on topics related to his niche in a single blog post as a resource for his readers. CrowdSpring Blog

Business women to follow on Twitter. Perhaps the most important aspect of Twitter is the ability to follow other thought leaders. Follow those in your industry you respect and admire. Learn from them. Network with them. This list of 50 excellent business women to follow (including our own Anita Campbell) is a great place to start. Happy twittering. Online Colleges