you can also use Twitter to update your Facebook so you only have one entry to type
Twitter is "Social Media", not the yellow pages. It gets my name out there, it gives me visibility, it's helps me "get known". It's an opportunity to drive traffic to my website and to my blog.
With my new blog, I've done an article on how brides need a wedding planner now more than ever. I received emails, tweets, and even phone calls from wedding planners all over the country who loved that article! That article has already been picked up and reprinted in a few places online. While the California planner probably won't order a cake from me, it's all baby steps for our master plan and goal.
I don't "tweet" yet, but I do a monthly newsletter. I know that on the day I send out that newsletter I need to keep my schedule open b/c my phone will be ringing off the hook. I can see the benefit for staying in your client's "face" so to speak. It helps them remember that grandma's bd is next week and you'll need to get a cake..... so, I'm sure in that idea, it will generate sales.
I don't "tweet" yet, but I do a monthly newsletter. I know that on the day I send out that newsletter I need to keep my schedule open b/c my phone will be ringing off the hook. I can see the benefit for staying in your client's "face" so to speak. It helps them remember that grandma's bd is next week and you'll need to get a cake..... so, I'm sure in that idea, it will generate sales.
Absolutely! Stay in their face and in their minds.
My GFS sales rep was in today and told me he was really impressed to see that I "get it", with all the things I do to put my name out there. Newsletter, Twitter, Blog, articles in magz, etc. etc. I actually hear that a lot from folks.
A Justice of the Peace friend of mine says that I've mastered the 11th commandment: "Those who toot-eth their own horn, live to toot-eth another day!" 
Oh, and I have 2 stories on how Twitter works for new business. A wedding planner in Southern INdiana needed a DJ in Northern Indiana. I contacted my DJ guy and confirmed he would travel that far north. Yes he does, so I introduced these two. Another lady was looking for a photographer for her son's senior pics. I got her and my photographer friend togehter.
Twitter is such a new technology that it doesn't really have a concrete audience or concept except for "what are you doing now?". So it is what you make of it. As someone who focused on social media technology as it is applied to small business, in school, I think it's leaning towards becoming an important business tool for the exact reasons that IndyDebi described. You can't get that instant access to other vendors through email, or whatever. The way email technology is set up....it just doesn't work because it is one on one. Twitter is like yelling in a crowded room of people with similar interests, and getting a response right away. Twitter also forces you to keep you messages at 140 characters b/c it's just random bits of information here and there that you may or may not find useful.
Twitter also forces you to keep you messages at 140 characters b/c it's just random bits of information here and there that you may or may not find useful.
One way to kinda get around that is via a blog. You an give a headline teaser plus a link to the blog.
One I use, for example, is "Brides are told fake cakes are cheaper. Not necessarily true. Here's why: " Then I copy-n-paste the link to my blog. I see this done on there a lot.
I do like your analogy of shouting in a crowded room. A very good description. 
I have a Twitter page... I am not a good tweeter though. I am just starting to vamp up on the whole social media scene. I haven't got a system down yet. It feels odd for me. (and that's just because I don't think that anyone willgive a hoot ablout what I have to say)
Great article
Marketers find Twitter a tweet recipe for success
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2009-03-31-facebook-twitter-status-marketing_N.htm
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