Mentions can be used in a number of ways, and are quite effective in building relationships with your consumers and spreading the word about your business.

Why Use Mentions?

Mentions are a great way to communicate with other Twitter users on a more direct, personal level. When you mention your followers, they will see that you are interested in what they are up to, and they may mention you back. When you mention someone, it appears on your Twitter page and vise versa.

This technique is also effective for your business because not only are you establishing relationships, but it is a great way to spread the word to other consumers. Your followers may post an update saying "Be sure to check out @yourusername's handmade scarves." Their followers can click on @yourusername and be directed to your page, where they can obtain more information on your products and follow you as well.

How to Mention

Mentioning users on Twitter is easy. Through the update form (a.k.a "What are you doing?"), simply type: @username Message. For example, if you want to mention Ken Gaebler, whose username is gaeberdotcom, type: @gaeblerdotcom How are you doing today?

To find out who mentioned you, click on your own @username, which can be found in your Twitter sidebar. All updates that mentioned you will show up, allowing you to keep track of who mentioned you, what they said, and what time it took place.

Getting the exact spelling of the @username you want to mention is essential. You can mention any user who is registered to Twitter – you don't have to be following them, and they don't have to be following you. If you misspell the @username you want to send a message to, it may accidentally go to another user with a similar @username, so be careful!

Different Ways to Mention

There are a couple different ways where these mentions can become handy in situations. One way is to ask somebody a question, or to talk to them. Examples of this type of mention can be "How was your vacation?" or "Great article in the paper yesterday!"

Another way to use mentions is to simply refer to other users on Twitter, ideally when you are updating about something that relates to them. These sorts of mentions may say "Meeting @username for lunch" or "Has anybody heard the news about @username?"

Mentions can also be used to reply to users who mention you. To reply to someone, click on your @username in the Twitter sidebar, where all of your mentions can be found. Hover your mouse over the update that you want to reply to, and two icons will appear on the right: a star, and an arrow below it. Click on the arrow, and the @username that you want to reply to will automatically appear in your update box. Type in your message, and hit reply.