Mark Daniels: What are you Twittering on about?

If I'd been around in 1704, when my pub was first built, the concept of telling everybody about it over something called the Internet would have caused horror and confusion and would have had me accused of witchcraft.

But as we approach the end of the twenty-first century's first decade, global communication is a given. Making myself a peanut butter sandwich is more voodoo to me than chatting over something called Instant Messenger with an ex-member of my bar staff who is currently touring Australia, but let's be honest here: my oldest lad is about to turn nine and he is adept at the wizardry of Wikipedia while I still find myself thumbing through old copies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Our next generation of pub users socialise via the Internet, generating pasty complexions by staring at large hi-def monitors until the early hours of the morning using networks such as Facebook and Myspace to woo potential partners, and they spend hours discussing with each other via chat sites whether they should go to the pub on Saturday night or meet in a virtual bar in something called Second Life to play World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

I often feel like grabbing these Google-eyed teenagers by the scruffs of their necks and telling them to get down to the local pub and meet real people. But there is an old saying, and it goes something like this: If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em.

In this case, we should be using the Internet to tell people just what's going on in our pubs - and it is surprisingly easy to do. Most pubs have got a website these days, either cobbled together by a nine-year-old or put together professionally. Either way, they've got a web presence and that, they think, is good enough. Sadly, though, it doesn't always turn out to be the best piece of marketing and, if put together incorrectly, will be almost impossible for those all-important search engines to find and return as a result when somebody starts searching for pubs in Little Pitlurg.

The website on its own these days is not sufficient. Your site needs to be seen on the social networking sites, recognised by the local press, used by the customers to find out what you're doing. Quick updates should always be made, so that each time somebody visits there is something new for them to look at, whether it's an update to tell people that you're now selling Cajun Squirrel flavoured crisps, or whether you've got a live band playing this coming weekend.

And it's not that hard to do. You could complement your website with a blog. They're easy to set up and there's a plethora of blog-sites out there to help you do it easily and efficiently. Check out the Google-owned Blogger.com or their rival wordpress.com for a couple of examples. They're easy, free and quick to set up and you can customise them to give them a more personalised look and feel. They'll even give you a dedicated address, but if you're half-clever when it comes to your website you could personalise it further; mine, for example, reads as: http://blog.thetharparms.com​

Blogs can be used to give short pieces of information (what's coming up this weekend) or longer stories (how we managed to survive flooding the cellar last Sunday). They're effective tools and blogging is becoming more and more popular across all industry sectors.

Social Networking sites allow you to set up your own promotional pages. Some pubs have a Myspace page, although I've preferred to set up my own group on Facebook for my pub, which allows me to post pictures, links and even invitations for upcoming events. These are the two most popular networking sites out there at the moment, but then there's Bebo, Hi-5 ...... (yawn)

Another rapidly growing sector is something called Twitter. Another form of Social Networking, all it allows you to really do is tell people what you're up to in a short sentence, or what you've got coming up. It's great for promotion and is used by magazines like Stuff.tv to announce new articles and even celebrities like Stephen Fry and Jonathon Ross have got in on the act, letting their fans know what they're up to at any given time of day or night.

Again, Twitter is free to set up, free to use, and free for people to follow you on. All they have to do is visit your Twitter page - mine, you knew I wouldn't miss the chance, is http://twitter.com/​thetharparms - and then click on the 'follow' button.

All of these promotional tools are free to use and only require a small amount of your time to set-up and manage and, if used effectively, could become a great - and inexhaustible - source of promotion.

Of course, having a Twitter feed and not telling the world about it is sort of like staying at the bottom of the river with the boulder that's holding you there, proving to everybody that you're not a witch. Once you've got your pages up and running and are happy with the design you need to start telling people about them. Add them to your business cards, put signs up in the pub, write to your local village newsletter, and send a press release to local papers, letting them know what you're up to.

You might be surprised at the sort of reaction you get - and it probably won't involve a public stoning.