There are likely thousands of people using Twitter that live in your locale and are having conversations RIGHT NOW.

Here is how to get started:

How To Use Twitter Advanced Search

One of the easiest ways to sort through the Tweetoshpere is to use Twitters own advanced search tool. You can find it here.

By filling in the “Places” data in the advanced search screen and clicking “search” at the bottom you will find messages from people that are tweeting in that local area.  You can increase the radius of your search by miles by clicking the dropdown field.

To further refine your search you can filter by phrases that are being used.  In this case I chose the term marketing and it returned people within 50 miles of St. Louis, Missouri that have tweeted the word ‘marketing.’

Find and follow those people that are “tweeting” about topics that interest you or your business.

How To Use Twellowhood

Twellow has a super cool service called Twellowhood that can be used to “drill down” on particular geographic locations and find Twitter users in those locales.  You can find it here.

Start by clicking on the continent, then the country, then the state, then the city you are interested in.

Localizing Your Tweets

Another way to build your local network on Twitter is to start customizing some of your tweets toward the local area.

• Use the # sign to indicate a topic or locale.  In my case it is #STL.  Using this “hashtag” allows people that are monitoring any #STL tweets to see my message.  In the below case, this real estate agent is also using the #RealEstate hashtag.

• Target specific people in your local area by sending a message using the @ tag.  When you write a message that includes, for example, @RussHenneberry — this will be highly visible to me on my Twitter page.  This is a great way to get people’s attention using Twitter.

• If you really want to get someone’s attention using Twitter you should retweet the things that they are promoting through Twitter.  A retweet is when you copy and paste their message and send it out to all of your followers with the following text:  RT @TargetPerson Blah Blah Blah.  In this case StLBot is retweeting a message sent out from @CenteredinSTL.

Leave a Comment!

Do you have methods that you use to attract a local following on Twitter?  I would love to hear from you.

Related posts:

1. Twitter Cheat Sheet
2. Tiny Action, Mighty Payoff: Twitter Advanced Search
3. My Big Twitter Blunder