If you're a B2B marketer, and you're not following Mark Schaefer's {Grow} blog and community, you should. Likewise, if you're active on Twitter and are wondering how to make all that time you're spending not only fun but productive, then grab a copy of Schaefer's new book The Tao of Twitter. You'll be glad you did.

Tao is an appropriate term for what Schaefer gives us in this book. It could have been "gestalt," but tao is probably more familiar to a wider audience. I like to think of Tao as the Twitter guidebook. The author literally walks us through his Twitter experience over the past few years: getting on, learning the basics, experimenting, sorting out unanswered questions, trying to keep up with changes, thinking through implications and discovering the meaning and lessons of this new way of communicating. Throughout the book, Schaefer continually asks, "what does this mean for marketers?" and gives his assessment.

Rather than lecturing, finger-wagging or boasting, he reports on his Twitter experiences casually and informally, like you would conversing with a friend. He exposes his goofs and hesitancies and offers sage advice based on learning by doing. Twitter is "learn-as-you-go" for everyone, but Schaefer's book tells us how he did it. If I'd had this book in '09, it would have greatly reduced my "time-to-effectiveness" as I fumbled around on Twitter.

As with his blog, which has gathered a big following in a short time, his writing is concise and clear. It makes for a quick and engaging read. Not only that, it's an accessible read. In my case I read the Kindle version. On my Droid. Mostly during down times at my daughter's soccer games and kung fu lessons. I love printed books--they take up enormous space in my office--but the mobile format allowed me to read Tao during a period when I really had no time at all to read a book.

Here are a few key takeaways from Tao for engaging with people on Twitter in ways that may help you develop your business:

• The 3 key elements of business benefit are targeted connections, meaningful content and authentic helpfulness (the latter being the secret sauce of Twitter)
• Being helpful fuels business serendipity. (How about "good deeds lead to good leads"?)
• Twitter is fundamentally a person-to-person medium (not broadcast)
• Start out small, and focus--a little effort goes a long way over time
• Choose your followers just as carefully as who you follow
• Be patient, plant seeds and allow them to grow (or should I say "{Grow}?)
• Where else can you, in effect, "pre-populate business relationships"?
• Once you get the hang of it, Twitter can be an amazing business networking tool, almost like no other

Anyone who has been active on Twitter for a while will recognize the paths Schaefer goes down and identify with his story. By its nature this book may be most valuable for Twitter newbies who are just getting started. (It's best to hire your sherpa at the beginning of your journey vs. three-quarters of the way through.) But even for very experienced veterans, there are insights and tips here that may be quite helpful--especially for marketers. Regardless of your Twitter skill level, most readers will find at least a half dozen insights and tips that are fresh and new and make it well worth reading.

As Schaefer says, on Twitter "There is a majestic random synergy that holds the potential to impact your life daily ... if you know what you're doing." So what are you waiting for?