Twitter is the micro-blogging platform that will help B-to-B marketers grow their brand. It’s not a fad (upwards of 10,000 people a day are signing up).

Twitter helps you:

• Build brand awareness
• Generate traffic via followers
• Gain insight via polls/surveys
• Get to people you wouldn’t necessarily get to because of re-tweets

Twitter support applications that I find useful for B-to-B applications are:

TweetLater. Schedule tweets like you would an e-mail campaign so that you’ll have several going out each day automatically.

TweeterSearch gives you the ability to receive e-mail digests of key word activity so you can track and participate in conversations. You can now know who’s saying what about your company or brand.

Ping.fm. If you have a Facebook or LinkedIn account, you can post updates across all your social media sites.

Twitter on Facebook. You can forward your Twitter updates directly to your status updates on Facebook.

TwitterFox. If you use the web browser Firefox, you can view your tweets in you browser as in a pop-up menu so you don’t have to be going to Twitter to check .

Tweetdeck. A personal browser that connects you with your contacts across Twitter and Facebook and allows you to follow your friends.

Twitter is so much more than a micro-blog limited to 140 characters, and when used properly, can help your overall marketing program.

Have you used other tools to help you get the most out of Twitter? Share them in the comment section below.