When you first start using it, it’s easy to think the world of Twitter is so large there is no way it will help your small business on a local level. After all, your first several weeks are all about meeting new people (others on Twitter) and building a connections with them.

After about a month, though, you’ll notice things start to change for you. The “Twitterverse” comes into more focus and you begin to have a little more control in how you want to shape your network. For a small business, it’s very important to define your audience and target your customers so that you can make the most of understanding marketing efforts.

Successful marketing - on every level - is all about customer engagement. It brings people into your story, it motivates them to buy, and of course, it’s what brings them back again. If there’s one word that you must always think of first when you’re developing a marketing program, it’s “engagement.” Fortunately, that’s also what Twitter does for you. It allows you to develop a relationship with others in your Twitterverse so that you can engage with them and build a long-lasting and trusted relationship. You can do this with people half way across the globe, and you can do this with people half a mile away from your store, too.

Here are several ways you can take advantage of Twitter as a smaller, local business owner:

• Find other Twitterers to follow by searching for specific keywords or for other Twitter users in your area.
• Meet other Twitter users by learning of “Tweetups” in your local area and participate for networking.
• Link back to your Web site or blog through your Twitter profile.
• Use applications like Twitpic to take pictures of things in your store and then “tweet” it out to your followers.
• Have pictures taken of you and your customers so that you can show the world how much you love engaging with them (plus it shows people have a great time in your store).
• Respond to queries or questions by others using Twitter. For example, if someone says they’re looking for a great Italian restaurant in Dallas (and that’s your business), Tweet to them where you are located so they can come in for a great authentic meal.
• Use a service such as Twellow to get your company listed. It is like a yellow pages for Twitter.
• Send out coupons regularly. In this economy people love a great deal - even if you cater to a more affluent crowd. You can get more advanced with your marketing if you provide a link back to your Web site or a landing page where you offer special discounts on goods and services.
• Offer customers special coupons if they “re-tweet” (Twitter language for forwarding) your offers. This is a great way to do viral marketing on Twitter.
• Keep people in the know. If your business is entertainment focused, then send out weekly tweets alerting to people of events coming up.
• If you have a blog, Tweet about each blog post you write.
• Once you build a nice network of followers, engage with them even more by doing polls and surveys on topics that relate to your business. The feedback you get can then be used for press releases you send to the media.
• Don’t forget to chat with other small business owners on #smbiz, a live chat session that takes place each Tuesday on Twitter from 8-9 pm (Eastern). Host John Sternal (@sternalpr) helps you find answers to anything you need help on in running your business and you can network with other small businesses for advice.

Although Twitter is just two years old, it is one of the fastest-growing destinations for social networking and social marketing. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, there is a definite business value for Twitter and it will only grow exponentially in the months and years to come.

Tell us how you use Twitter for your local business.