Like Facebook, Twitter should not be ignored. Unlike Facebook however, you cannot simply advertise what is happening in the shop, because no one will follow you.

You need to be more subtle, the way Twitter works is to tweet your thoughts on almost anything (not shop related) throughout the day and hope that one of your many followers pays attention enough to look at your profile.

When they do, they will see that you run a shop and they may even visit you or your web site. It is far more hit and miss, but it is also very easy to gain hundreds if not thousands of followers.

The easiest way to do this is to start following as many people as you can who are within close proximity of your shop. Many of them will follow you back, and then you are away!

I find Twitter to be a necessary, but frustrating way to market. Here is my Twitter profile: @lambslarder. If you are not on Twitter yet, sign up today.

To get some idea as to how retailers in the convenience store channel use Twitter, take a look at some of the examples below.

Retailers doing Twitter right.

Spar Llanrwst – @SparLlanrwst

Blean Village Londis – @BleanLondis

Jatinder Sahota – @TindaSahota

Jonathan Powell – @Thenewsagent

Jai Singh – @SinghsGLE

Simply Fresh Faversham – @Faversham_SF

Hopes of Longtown – @HopesofLongtown

Dike & Son Ltd – @dikeandson

This advice is taken from the e-book 'So, you want to run a convenience store?' by Peter Lamb. It is available for free download here.