A great point of view was expressed by Becky McCray at Small Business Survival in her entry on Twitter. Two points stand out:

1. Start with your fans, even if you only have 15 to 20 they are more valuable than 500 people you don’t know. We agree with that premise. Use your email list from events, mailing list, etc. to find out who is on Twitter and follow them. They will most likely follow you because they already have a relationship with you.

2. Use Twitter to learn. Follow thought leaders in your industry or town or for small business. These folks will have lots of followers and will post content and links to interesting articles that will help you with your business. This is one of the tactics that many people forget, but it is a great way to stay current in your industry.

Comments following the entry are great, from folks who use Twitter successfully to even the vendor selling his service for localized tweets. Becky does a nice job replying to everyone as well. If you are a small business in a rural area, this is a good blog for you to follow due to its good writing and more importantly, good tips and tactics!