The Tweet Life: 10+ Twitter Tools You Need

Ahhhhh, The Tweet Life. If you are participating on Twitter, aren’t you interested to know more about your tweet success? I recently wrote a piece about Feeling Twitter-pated or Twitter-hated? to help people find their ‘twitter flair.’  However, that article didn’t focus on the tools and tricks that can help you maximize your efforts on twitter.

So what can you do to evaluate your tweets? See who is following you (and more importantly unfollowing you)? Make tweets easier? Time your tweets? And more….?

These tasks seem daunting – YET – there are many applications out there to easily track & trend your tweet success! Monitoring, measuring and maximizing your tweet life will pay off.

The Tweet Life: 10+ Twitter Tools You Need

1. DASHBOARD:  Most of us know about Tweetdeck and Hootsuite applications – a must have if you are on Twitter! Depending on your preferences, either platform is beneficial. These ‘social media dashboards’ allow you to list, query, add columns and integrate multiple accounts (and add other social utilities).
2. AMPLIFY:  Find how far your tweet amplifies using Tweetreach. Search for a url, Twitter name, phrase or hashtag – to show how many users you reached, for the last 50 tweets on your topic.
3. TIMING:  Time your tweets (you can even participate when you are offline). Simply use applications like Twittimer, which allow for scheduled tweets, anytime.
4. MEASURE:  Grade your tweet profile with TweetGrader. With this tool you to check the power of your twitter profile compared to millions of other users that have been graded.
5. COMMUNITY:  Create a twitter club, using tools like Twubs to follow the conversation. This application allows you to search on a hashtag for what is trending, and who is involved.
6. MONITOR:  Evaluate who is UNfollowing you with WhoUnfollowedMe or FriendorFollow. You can investigate who unfollowed you recently as well as other Twitter users that are not following you back. Or use Qwitter to receive an email message when someone unfollows you!
7. TREND:  Search tweets in real time using TweetGrid. Using up to 10 topics at a time, you can create a grid of the trending topics you search.
8. GROW:  Add to your follower base by using WeFollow or JustTweetIt. Simply use a keyword to find Twitter users following the same topics, and list yourself too.
9. LOCALIZE:  Find local tweeps with the tool NearbyTweets. Search who is nearby, and tweeting about the same topics as you.
10. PURGE:  Get rid of Twitter users you are following, that aren’t active, using Twitoria. Check how long it has been since other users last tweeted.

The best part? These applications are all free! Using these Twitter tools will enhance your presence on Twitter. Most take only minutes to master, and will maximize “The Tweet Life” you are living.

More info? 44taryn@gmail.com or @Taryn44
BLOG: SoMeffect

Feeling Twitter-pated or Twitter-hated? 4 Ways to Find Your Twitter Flair.

Sometimes you feel like you are doing all you can to find followers, post creative content, interact with targeted tweets, and keep up on the latest tweeting trends. And you are not making much progress.

So how can you avoid those inevitable twitter blues? Pun intended (the twitter bird, Larry, is blue after all). Those times when you are tested and perhaps testy about your success rate. Those times where you are trying and tumbling to maximize your reach.

With the following tips, tricks & trends, hopefully you can remain blissfully Twitter-pated.

Four ways to find your Twitter flair:

Finding Followers: This can be tricky. Is your goal for quality, or quantity? Most studies (and opinions) show that the depth of your following is better than the amount. Your Twitter voice will resonate more with a captive and calculated audience.

• FOCUS on your audience and goals (who are you trying to reach, and why)
• FOLLOW people you want to follow you back (everyone likes to be followed)
• FORMAT your profile, bio, avatar so you appear authentic and interesting
• FORM relationships for credibility with public, government, association, 3rd party entities
• FIND incentives, rewards or ways you can help out other Twitter users
• FORGET all those follow-back, direct message or other schemes (seems like spam)

Creative Content: With over 750 tweets happening per second, you need to stand out. Real-time mediums like Twitter make ‘new’ content a volatile and fleeting attempt. Content that is valuable to followers and industries you are targeting is much more likely be re-Tweeted or mentioned.

• CONCISE wording and descriptions will help, 120 characters or less
• CHARACTER helps give your tweets a distinct voice (humor, professionalism, etc.)
• CHOOSEY in the content you post, only innovative or interesting material
• CHARISMA can exist in word form, engage people to make your content stand out
• CLARITY in your messages so that followers get the point (and get it quickly)

Targeted Tweets: Here the five W’s surely apply. Make sure you are attending to who, what, where, when and why you are tweeting. Being relevant is key. The more targeted the tweets, the better value you are adding to your audience.

• WHO is your audience, and the communities you are trying to influence
• WHAT are your objectives (branding, influence, education, satire, etc.)
• WHERE is your audience located (time zone, city/rural, region) 
• WHEN is your audience online (5pm daily, certain days of week more effective)
• WHY does your audience care, ensure your tweets add value to your followers

Tweeting Trends: If you ain’t growing, you’re dying. Keeping up with an extremely fast paced medium is going to take some time and effort. Invest in your Twitter time and focus on the industry leaders to help guide you on the latest trends in social media.

• TRACK what is new and different
• TREND the best practices of others, and see what might work for your tweets
• TEST out platforms, apps, plug-ins, sites that seem reputable and value-added
• TRY to focus on time saving or beneficial extras, or you will get bogged down
• TECHNOLOGY magazines, publications, newsletters and blogs to help you are endless

Feeling Twitter-hated? Sometimes that happens when the feeling is overwhelming and the task seems daunting. Standing out in a crowd of 140 million tweets per day is not going to be easy. Finding your niche, your audience, your voice and your character will distinguish you amidst the crowd.

More info? SoMeffect@gmail.com or @SoMeffect | 44taryn@gmail.com or @Taryn44