To Tweet or Not to Tweet?  First I will tell you what I use followed by why.

My Twitter client of choice is Hootsuite. I've got several pages of selected "streams" where I can follow conversations by the use of a hashtag, a search phrase using quotations or by a list I've set up. A hashtag allows conversations to be "filed" by using the # before a word or phrase; whereas following a stream by a phrase in quotations just means that any tweet using my selected phrase will appear in a particular stream. Streams set up with just a keyword without quotations just means that any time that search term is used in a tweet, that tweet will appear in the stream. Below are examples of streams with search terms and phrases with quotations.

Below is another tab on my Hootsuite deck with streams I've set up using hashtags and lists. The first column I've set up I've labeled "tweeple I met IRL" -in real life; this allows me to easily keep in touch and interact with people I've already had a chance to meet through interaction on twitter which led to meeting in person. The other three columns I've set up with hashtags, or intentional use of a # preceding a word so others can follow that stream or conversation. 

Now, onto the why? It's all about your reach. If you post something that one of your followers who has 10,000 followers retweets, the exposure/reach is exponential. There are many people out there that don't understand why, and let me also say, it's not for everyone nor is it absolutely necessary for every business (and that's okay). First, understand the basics: Twitter is a means by which you can broadcast what you have to say. You can certainly use it to broadcast a wonderful vacation at your inn, but you also want to become known as a go-to person for your region and for your industry. Part of the reason guests come to stay at your property is for what you offer, the other is the area and what there is to do from your property. Nobody should know the area better than you, so why not become that local expert that followers can rely on? There are certain friends I have on Twitter that I immediately associate with a particular region; it's like having a personal tour guide all around the country. Sure, you can go to Tripadvisor to seek out reviews of where you may want to stay on your next vacation but why not head to Twitter to see what people have to say about it and have real discussions or get the opinion of locals? It's also a way to see what people are saying about your competitors. Set up several search columns with the names of your competitor's property; Hootsuite is a way to gather information and decide how you wish to use it.

Twitter allows you to follow people you don't know but that you can get to know. It allows people to follow you without requests, without knowing them first to know to follow them. There are sites that help you find relevant followers or followers with similar interests (make reading Mashable a part of your routine).

My columns help me see who is looking to move to Maine, who talks about innkeeping and what I can learn from those talking about the subject. It's also an opportunity to answer other people's questions, which by engaging, you increase your chance of being followed. The more followers the better your chance of exponential exposure. Retweeting (or RT as you'll see it) is very important as it greatly increases your chance of exposure. Include links to something interesting or helpful that you've read. People are far more likely to RT links than just comments. I know of one fine example of an innkeeper who engages regularly on Facebook - Carole Ballard of Thurston House in Maitland, Florida. She doesn't tweet, and that's okay since she is very active on Facebook. But if she did use Hootsuite to post her updates, she could simultaneously post to both Twitter and Facebook...her reach could be much larger than it is.

In my order of importance:
Listen (read)
Think (before you speak)
Engage (talk, and with interesting content)
Network (reach out to people in your business, you may get plenty of referrals)

Keep the marketing broadcast tweets (or what I call talking to instead of talking with) to a minimum and the informational, helpful and engaging or interacting tweets your focus. Keep it positive; nobody wants to be bombarded with negativity, we already see that on the daily news...Post uplifting comments, post photos, people love images. Don't use profanity, don't complain about your job, your guests, anything negative, there's a time and place for that and it's not in social media, particularly if you care about your reputation. Most of all, be yourself; be professional, but be real. 

There are several ways of posting your information. Below you will see an example of a recipe blog post and how you can set up automated broadcasting from that blog site.

Here I've shown how once you post that recipe on your blog you can broadcast it with one tweet from Hootsuite, to up to 5 different landing pages or sources. So you can be selective on the post location based on the content. Sometimes a tweet isn't appropriate for all locations but with Hootsuite you can choose where to post to.