When I was younger, the word ‘Twit’ was reserved for those lacking in intellectual prowess. Now, ‘Twit’ is a word used for a 140-character word update on the highly popular Twitter network. And if you don’t know the word as a marketer, you had better learn it fast.

I have set up a couple accounts on Twitter for some clients to inform their customers of upcoming events, or to advertise specials. But, I had not put together a Twitter account for my company, Evolve Communications Group until today – http://www.twitter.com/evolvecomgroup.

It isn’t surprising to me that I have waited so long to do this myself, you know the saying, and “a cobbler’s children have no shoes.” But, a study done by the American Marketing Association at the beginning of this year found that only 3.4% of marketers use Twitter. I found that a bit surprising considering the prolific use of the social networking site. We are pretty busy people, and we are skeptical about the latest trends which come on strong and fizzle out quick. Although, Twitter doesn’t look like it is going away anytime soon, therefore at least set up an account to experiment with and learn.

Here are some rules to guide you, and if you follow me on the Twitter page, I will keep updating as I learn more:

1. Update regularly. Followers get bored and frustrated with Tweets that do not provide fresh content. You may even get some negative feedback, so if you want to go at this, make sure you schedule some time to update your 140 characters at least weekly.

2. You are a business, or are representing a business, make sure your content is professional and of interest to your followers. I chose some people to follow because they were in admirable marketing positions, yet I was surprised to see some of the Tweets were a little mundane. It may help you to be found in searches to update frequently, but you don’t want to damage the brand.

3. My Twitter page is generic right now, but within a day or two, I plan to have the page branded. You may want to take the time to brand before announcing it is out there. You are limited on what you can do (change the colors, background, put on a logo), but I saw some pretty decent things done by other companies.

4. Make sure to place a Twitter logo and link on your website. I have used Twitter widgets with clients. The widget has a running update of all the Twitter posts that show on the page. This gives the users on the site a taste of the type of information they will get if they choose to follow.

5. This is a mistake I made right off – each Twit should direct the followers to your site. I use http://www.tinyurl.com to create URLs to the main site. For instance, my client http://www.luxuryvacationpartners.com has a Twitter which announces travel specials and the URL directs them to the page with all of the details about that particular special. We want them on the page – not just to follow us – so make sure you use this feature with every post.

6. Don’t rely on Twitter, Facebook, etc. to encompass your entire e-marketing strategy. There are many facets to the ever changing field of e-marketing. Utilize social networking in concert with your banner ad campaign, Google Adwords, website, email marketing, and traditional print marketing tools. Think about it, CNN and Ashton are well known outside of the Twitter-sphere, and you need to be as well.