Top Twitter Tools – The Most Popular Twitter Tools
Check out these Twitter tools – they are each marked out of 10 for how user-friendly, handy, clever and entertaining they are.
At the moment, these are arguably the most popular Twitter tools around. Some I think will take off – if they haven’t already. And some are gimmicks, some geeky, some that have already taken off. Gosh, Twitter moves so fast.
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Bit.ly
Bit.ly is a little like tinyurl.com but creates even shorter URLs. Nice.
bit.ly rose to prominence on the coattails of Twitter and shortened 20 million URLs last week. The New York-based start-up also recently raised US$2 million from venture capitalists. So it’s pretty popular then.
Where would we be without these URL shorteners?
Twitterblogger rating: 9.5/10
Twitter 101
Okay, so this isn’t strictly a tool, but it will help new twitterers (tweeters?) understand the ins and outs of the little social media darling that is Twitter.
Search Engine Watch has created a three-part article for those who are just getting started with Twitter or who want to know how it works. They are on part 2 (you can still access part 1 though). Find out everything you need to know about setting up and using a Twitter account. This article series should help you leverage Twitter to market yourself or your company.
Twitterblogger rating: 8/10 (for newbies)
Twitter applications
Check out these applications for ways to send and receive Twitter Updates – hosted by Twitter itself so the tools are spot on.
Twitterblogger rating: 7/10 (there could be more on there to be honest)
Twitter Search
Twitter Search looks a bit like Google Search and it’s just as easy to use. Twitter Search helps you filter all the real-time information coursing through its network.
You can track what everyone is saying about you, your favourite actors, brands, whatever you want. Oooh the possibilities…
Twitterblogger rating: 10/10
Tweetmeme
Tweetmeme aggregates all the popular links on twitter to determine which links are most popular. Tweetmeme categorizes links into four categories – blogs, video, images and audio. It means you can find the most popular stories – and tweet about them too.
Twitterblogger rating: 8/10
Twellow
It’s the Yellow Pages for Twitter. It’s funny – there’s a directory for everything on the internet. And now there’s one specifically for Twitter too. Twellow.com grabs publicly available messages from Twitter. Then they analyse and categorise each user responsible for those messages into categories at Twellow.com. It narrows your searching into specific niches where you can find who and what you are looking for. It also lists each result’s most recent post, number of followers and a URL if there is one.
Twitterblogger rating: 6/10 (it’s good, but directories are everywhere and there will be many more before long)
Tiny URL
You’ve probably seen this one on Twitter. By entering in a URL in the text field, tinyurl creates a tiny URL that will not break in email postings and never expires. The other (obvious) benefit is that you can fit really long URLs into your 140 characters.
Twitterblogger rating: 10/10 (where would we be without it? It also gets an extra for being the original URL shortener)
Tween Scan
I like. In the innovative world of Microblogging, Tweet Scan aims to organise it all. It lets you search Twitter for any keyword you choose.
You can search public messages and user profiles – and you can choose to get your Tweet Scan results by email and RSS.
Twitterblogger rating: 8/10
Tweetlater
This is exactly what it says it is. You can do a load of tweets and schedule them. It all looks a bit amateur but it’s okay. I guess this is good if you have loads of ideas at once or you want to save all your random ideas and then give them some sort of structure. It’s motto is “plan, set and forget”. Really, who can honestly forget about Twitter? It’s too addictive. Anyway, there are some other tools as well – reporting, etc. Worth a look.
Twitterblogger rating: 6/10
Twitseeker
TwitSeeker is basically an alternate search engine for finding twitter.com users – “twits” – and browsing the results all in one combined control panel. I tried to get access but I’ve been put in a queue. Well! So I guess I can’t really comment on how good/bad/ugly this is. Anyone else?
Twitterblogger rating: N/A
Tweetdeck
This is okay…some people love it. I prefer to go to Twitter itself – but perhaps I’m missing some fundamental point. Basically, you can manage your tweets and group the tweets you get in – all from your desktop. It’s very geeky – so I guess if you’re a geek you’ll love it. I’m a bit of a geek though – clearly not enough of a geek to truly appreciate this one.
Twitterblogger rating: 5/10
Twitterpower
This is the website for a book called Twitter Power. It’s all a bit salesly and gimmicky. My humble opinion is that it will be old before it’s even finished being new.
Twitterblogger rating: 3/10
Twistori
A. Thing. Of. Beauty. I love this. Oh go on, just take a look. You have to really, it can’t be explained. It’s quirky, gimmicky and I love it. It’s one twitter tool that I’ll be using a lot.
Twitterblogger rating: 8/10
Tineke is a successful online copywriter, who has written for Vodafone, Waitrose, Natwest, Vets4Pets, Southport Tourism and many more. She is also a social media fiend who loves Twitter. Visit her blog at http://www.twitterblogger.co.uk or her copywriting site at [http://www.brightcopy.gg]
Author: Tineke Bright
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
1000′s of New Twitter Followers in No Time – Twitter Marketing Software
I decided to invest a substantial amount of time researching Twitter because I knew I could be getting more benefit from Twitter than I was receiving. I knew I could get more twitter followers to learn from and share with in the Twitter community.
First I learned about HootSuite dot com, which is a great FREE Twitter software tool that allows you to post not only to Twitter but you can add Facebook, LinkedIn and Ping.fm. Have you ever visited Ping.fm? Their service allows you to create 30 social network and social bookmarking accounts and link Ping to them so you can create one post that will go to all those sites automatically.
Once you have your social networking and bookmarking accounts created you can then link your Hootsuite account to Ping.fm, which will allow you to make one post in Hootsuite, which will allow you to create many posts and then schedule them to be sent out in the future. These are great tools to get started in Twitter but there are some flaws.
The biggest flaw to me is that you can get a lot of people to follow you, build a Twitter community and do it semi-automatically but how do you un-follow people? When you add people that do not want to follow you back you may want to remove them from your list. If you have ever tried you know it is probably a project you never completed, at least I didn’t. This is when I looked into Twitter Marketing Software that would automate many of the Twitter tasks.
The benefits of software for Twitter are numerous and I will list them. I can’t tell you which is the best Twitter software but I will give you a list of the features that I think are necessary.
How to find Targeted Followers
Look for software that will allow you to search for the right followers by keywords, profile data, location or who they are following or who is following them.
Export/Import Options
I learned a long time ago to make sure easy backup options are programmed in to the software or in the worst case, the back up is locating an XML file that is easy to locate and save to a folder on your computer.
Add New Twitter Followers
Adding new people you want to follow should be as easy as clicking one button to send a number of tweets and better yet, there is an option in the program to automate all your follows so you don’t even have to do this part. Make sure it is Twitter auto follow software.
Unfollowing Twitter Accounts
As I mentioned before if you have ever tried to determine which accounts you want to unfollow because they are not reciprocating the follow you know it is very tedious and not worth the time you would have to invest. The software you get should perform this task automatically. When I set up my software to do this I was amazed, I was able to sit back and watch all the tasks performed automatically. The software I use even allows you to set a time limit in days for people to follow you back or the program automatically unfollows the Twitter follower. Sweet.
Safelist
A good program will have a safelist that will enable you to make a list of people that would not get unfollowed in case a mistake is made during operation.
Messages
Being able to automate your messages is a big time saver. This means when someone follows you your software will automatically send him or her a “thank you for the follow” message. You can also use the message option to broadcast a message to all of your twitter followers. If you think you will need to attach files or music make sure you have that option in the software that you purchase.
Tweets
Make sure the Twitter desktop software that you purchase will allow you to set up your tweets and post them automatically to your Twitter wall. Being able to load your tweets from a file is invaluable as well as being able to export your list. There are strategies to using different lists on a rotation to keep your content fresh for your followers. Strategy is a whole other topic that I will cover in the future. Some Twitter software will allow you to post your tweets from your list and remove them as they are posted on a pre-determined schedule or you may be able to set the program to post your tweets in random order and then to be deleted as they are tweeted or to have the list keep rotating. This way you could have a list posting all day for you automatically.
Of course the software should also allow you to manually post tweets to your Twitter account.
Replies
The Twitter software you choose should also have the option to set up automatic replies to people that Tweeted you.
Mac Compatible
Not all Twitter applications are Mac compatible so if you work on a Mac this is an important detail. I operate on a Mac so I did have to find Twitter software for Mac.
Conclusion: If you are serious about building a large and solid Twitter community you need to find the right automated Twitter software for you.
Download a free Twitter Training Video to learn more about Twitter to explode your follower count. Bill Wynne has marketed online for years and you can read other articles on his blog.
Author: Bill Wynne
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Twitter Marketing – Why This Service is in Demand For Virtual Professionals
Not at the Online Water Cooler Yet? Why Your Clients Should Tweet in 2009
The biggest Social Network in 2008 saw an explosion of Twitterers jumping onboard, with unprecedented growth of 422% last year! Social Networking has permanently changed the way people connect and businesses communicate, and Twitter has chartered new territory in the world of user-controlled Web 2.0. There is untold potential for businesses to harness this tidal wave for expanded exposure and engaging their target audience like no other time in history. The next generation of instant communication and marketing is here, and if your clients are still unsure of what Twitter can do for their business, 2009 is definitely the year they shouldn’t get left behind!
Twitter – the Worldwide Chat Room
With humble origins of a research and development project in 2006, this new social movement has taken the world by storm with Twitter’s platform of real-time communication. As a media tool by Barack Obama’s 2008 U.S. presidential campaign and the British Primer Minister’s Office at 10 Downing Street, this free micro-blogging platform provides the most interactive Social Networking service on the Net!
Get Your Clients Onboard in 2009 – The Twitter Marketing Demand
With today’s challenged economy and shrinking marketing budgets, trends predict more businesses and organizations will turn to Social Network Marketing to reach their audience. Online presence is demanded in the 2009 marketplace, and utilizing Twitter Marketing to its highest business potential can open doors of opportunity that are simply no longer possible by out-dated practices. With Twitter Marketing, it’s never been easier to get your client’s message across and promote their product and service in the world of Social Media.
But without knowing how to benefiting from Twitter’s staggering promotional opportunity, businesses don’t know where to start, and are left scrambling trying to stay current! With the fast-changing Web 2.0, establishing a presence online has created a huge demand for Virtual Professionals to offer this much-needed service of Twitter Marketing.
Tweeting – the Powerful One-to-Many Instant Messenger
Is your client looking for a way to network with others in their industry in less time ittakes to make their morning coffee? The force behind Twitter Marketing is effective Micro-Blog “Tweeting”, which provides enormous business potential as a tool of Social Media Marketing. With meaningful interaction and sharing industry knowledge, businesses benefit from instant feedback and real-time answers, industry research, bouncing ideas off thought leaders, and building a network of supporters. Not only does Tweeting broadcast your client’s messages and breaking news to their target audience, it also builds a buzz about their particular service, and opens up doors to untold number of lucrative business affiliations.
There are thousands of success stories of business growth and partnerships forged through Twitter, and now YOU can offer this hot new service as part of your client’s Social Media Marketing Strategy in 2009!
Providing the Value-Added Service of Twitter Marketing
You can easily build your client’s audience and industry authority, 140 characters at a time. Whether it’s providing guidance and consultation, or handling this ongoing service on behalf of busy clients, a booming number of Virtual Professionals are providing Twitter Marketing services for the staggering promotional opportunity of their client’s products and services.
More than just a publicity mechanism, effective Twitter Marketing provides your client;
- brand building;
- online reputation management;
- website traffic generation;
- strategic content and resource sharing;
- interactive market research;
- promoting products and services;
- extended reach of affiliate marketing and networking.
Are you ready to take your Virtual Professional business to the next level with this specialized niche service?
Learning the Specialized Skill of Twitter Marketing
Are your Virtual Professional services lagging behind, while other VP’s are growing their client’s business like never before? Adding the value-added service of Twitter Marketing to your Virtual Professional service will have your phone ringing off the hook! There’s a short supply of VP’s with skills such as creative business applications and unique Twitter profiles, contributing with effective Tweeting, Web 2.0 etiquette, and managing you and your client’s time efficiently online!
Don’t let your Virtual Professional business get left behind this year. Grow your specialized skills and help your clients get on board!
Check out this blog post on the “Seven Hottest Social Media Marketing Services for 2009″ – http://vaclassroomblog.com/social-media-marketing-specialist-the-hottest-service-niche-for-2009
See VAClassroom.com for more information on training and skills that are in demand for the Virtual Assistant Industry – http://www.vaclassroom.com/socialmarketingtraining/
Author: Craig W Cannings
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
How Can You Use Twitter For Your Business?
If you aren’t using Twitter as part of your business’s social media strategy, you could be missing out on a great opportunity to connect with prospects and customers. There are so many ways you can effectively use Twitter to build relationships with your target market and they don’t involve posts about what you ate for lunch or obnoxious self promotion.
I am talking about really connecting with your audience and giving back without expecting anything in return. When you offer help or a valuable gift to a prospect, they will remember it. They will begin to know, like and trust you, and you know how important that is, right?
So, how should you use Twitter for your business? The answer totally depends on the goals you have for your business and what you are looking to accomplish in your social media efforts. Here are some ideas to consider:
Host a contest for your followers. This is a way to give your customers and prospects something of value to thank them for their support. Give your followers a free product in return for being the first to reply to you with a keyword, or offer a trial of your service for free to the person who answers a trivia contest. One of my favorite examples of this strategy comes from (my favorite) NASCAR driver, Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin). He has offered fans race tickets for answering trivia questions.
Provide customer service. Why not use Twitter as another way to answer your customer’s questions or concerns? There are many different tools available to search for tweets involving your business. If you see that someone has mentioned a problem they had with your product or service, take the opportunity to contact them and offer a solution. Not only will you satisfy that customer, other potential customers will see the conversation and know that you are truly committed to customer service and satisfaction. And trust me, they will remember this when they are in need of your service.
Teach your followers something new. You do this by providing valuable content that your followers would be interested in knowing. If you write an article about how to use a brand new technology that will make life easier for your followers, share it with them. Post a link to your latest blog post. This doesn’t even have to be your own original content. There is so much information available on the Internet. If you come across a great article that you know would help your followers, post a link to it. Not only are you sharing valuable information, but you are also letting your followers know that you keep up with the news and trends in your industry.
Twitter can be a very effective tool in marketing your business. If you are already using Twitter to market your business, take a look at how you are currently using it. Are you using it to your advantage? If you are not currently using Twitter, I urge you to give it a try. You may be very surprised at what will come of it!
Jennifer Salie, owner of Superior Collaborations, is dedicated to helping other entrepreneurs spread their message online. She started her VA business in 2009, calling on her 10+ years of administrative and supervisory experience. Jennifer is also certified in 1ShoppingCart and is a certified Internet Marketing VA.
Whether they are just starting out or looking to take their business to the next level, Jennifer is passionate about helping businesses build their web presence. She works with business owners to develop and implement the best e-commerce and Internet marketing strategies that will have them reaching their business goals.
You can learn more about Jennifer and the services she offers at http://www.superiorcollaborations.com
Author: Jennifer Jacobs
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Twelve Twitter Tools For a Better Twitter Experience
You can do a lot of things on Twitter. You can post pictures, videos, files, etc. You can also share your blog entries. For a quick guide to all things Twitter, check out the following:
1. Twitpic: One of the most popular Twitter tools out there which lets you easily share pictures on Twitter.
2. Twitter Feed: Another popular Twitter tool where you can post your blog entries and RSS feed on Twitter.
3. Tweetcloud: Tweetcloud is a useful and fun Twitter tool which summarizes what topics other users are usually tweeting about on Twitter. It’s very easy to use. You can type a keyword, press enter, and you’ll be able to see which users on Twitter are tweeting about that certain topic. You can also type a username, and you’ll see a cloud of words that user keeps tweeting about. With the Tweetcloud, you can easily see which users you have a lot of common with.
4. Twitter Karma: Twitter Karma lets you sort users who you have a mutual following relationship, followers who you don’t follow back, and users you follow who don’t follow you.
5. Friend or Follow: Friend or Follow works the same as Twitter Karma, but this particular Twitter tool is better used for those who have a large following of people on Twitter.
6. Qwitter and Twitterless: Both of these tools inform you when someone stops following you. They’ll also post which tweet you posted that may have led them to unfollow you.
7. Nest Unclutterer: This Twitter tool is very useful, especially if you have a large following. It detects and removes users who are inactive, spamming, etc. It also allows you to put on a certain criteria of users whom you may want to review first before the Unclutterer removes them.
8. Twitoria: This Twitter tool scans your Twitter account and shows your followers who have been inactive for days, weeks, months, and even for a year.
9. Twitter Grader: The website boasts itself as “a free tool that allows you to check the power of your twitter profile. It looks at a variety of factors including the number of followers, power of those followers and the level to which you are engaging the community.” With just one click away, you can know how engaged other users are on Twitter.
10. Link Bunch: With only 140 characters per tweet, it can be difficult to post more than one link without flooding. This Twitter tool bunches up all the links you want to share to your followers and turn into one link.
11. Tweetcube: This Twitter tool lets you post files on Twitter – from JPEG files to MP3 files.
12. Twideeo: This Twitter tool lets you post videos on Twitter.
Hopefully with these 12 tools, you’ll have more fun on Twitter. Fret not if you need more new tools. With Twitter getting more and more popular each day, a lot of people will continue to create and develop more Twitter tools.
One note: All of these sites can be found by typing in the keyword. Due to url restrictions, we were not able to list them here. Email me at the resource box below for any links that you have challenges finding.
Andy Nathan
30 Minute Businesses
http://www.30minutebusinesses.com
New business ideas from the only website that shows you how to do it in 30 minutes!
Author: Andrew M Nathan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Twitter Marketing Software Pros and Cons
For most of the Twitter marketing software, you can find some similarities in their functions. The most common thing is to help you to get more Twitter followers fast and easy. This can be the main selling point for any Twitter marketing product. I can not deny that Twitter followers are important for you to make sales. The more followers you have, the more people will see your tweets. And if you have an affiliate product link, and people buy the product after clicking the link, you earn commissions. You can save a lot of time for getting thousands of followers in few days or weeks, comparing to them who try to get more followers manually.
To make your life even easier, some Twitter marketing software can even let you preset all your tweets, and your tweets will appear on Twitter all around the clock at anytime prefer and preset by you earlier. That means, you can tweet and earn money even when you are sleeping, or going vacations, or need not to be on Twitter again once you have done all the settings. This is really good for those who are too busy to tweet. If you are unable to set too many tweets at a time, the software can help you to spin your messages and thus your tweets will look different every time. This sounds really cool!
However, despite the above mentioned benefits that Twitter marketing software can give to you, many people have overlooked the downsides of those software. In most cases, Twitter marketing software will help you to follow many people in a short span of time and wait for those people to follow you back. If they do not follow you, the software will help you to unfollow them. However, the qualities of followers you get from here are mostly unsatisfying. This is because they are the people who are using software also, or even try to spam your Twitter account with lots of promotion link. When you browse through the tweet histories of these people, you will notice that they are sending lots of promotional and uninformative messages. Their main purpose on Twitter is to make sales.
The worst case that will happen by using Twitter marketing software is your Twitter account will get suspension one day. Twitter.com not allows its users to follow or unfollow people in short span of time. By using Twitter software to follow or unfollow people, you may break this rule easily. Your account will be suspended because of sending tweets too frequently or even worse, sending the same tweet every time.
Therefore, I believe that most of the people that really success in Twitter marketing do not rely on software to help them to get followers or to tweet. To them, two thousand of loyal and quality followers can be much better than twenty thousand of Twitter software followers.
In order to learn more on how and what to do everyday on Twitter, welcome to get a comprehensive guide for yourself at http://www.TwitterDynamics.com. You can read and learn more about Twitter in my blog at http://elvintiong.blogspot.com. Welcome to leave a comment and your twitter user name so that I can follow you back.
Author: Elvin Tiong
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Twitter As a Marketing Tool – Five Tips to Start Getting More Results From Twitter Marketing
If you have been on Twitter for a while, you have probably been wondering how to use Twitter as a marketing tool. Twitter is great at helping you connect with your potential clients and inviting them to learn more about your business. Read this article for tips on how to use Twitter as a marketing tool and get clients from Twitter.
Here are top five tips to help you start getting results from Twitter marketing:
- Tip #1: Define Your Target Market. If you want to get results from any online marketing technique, Twitter marketing including, then you must know exactly who your perfect clients are. If you don’t know who your perfect clients are, you will not be able to get results with Twitter marketing.
- Tip #2: Start Connecting With People In Your Target Market on Twitter. Once you know who your target market is, start connecting with people in your target market on Twitter. Every action you take on Twitter needs to connect you with people in your target market.
- Tip #3: Become An Active Participant On Twitter. Twitter marketing will only work for you if you are an active Twitter participant. If you are not actively participating, then people in your target market will not know who you are.
- Tip #4: Promote Your Expertise On Twitter. A big part of your Twitter marketing should be letting know people who you connect with about your expertise. You can do that by sharing tips and articles on Twitter.
- Tip #5: Automate (Some Of) Your Twitter Marketing. If you want to use Twitter as a marketing tool, then you should automate some of the actions you are taking.
You should not automate relationship building, but it is perfectly fine to automate some tasks, such as sharing of your blog posts. That way you will free up more of your time for building relationships with your Twitter followers, and will still be able to share your blog posts.
And now learn more about using Twitter and Facebook to get more newsletter subscribers and clients in FREE Social Networking Report available at http://www.HowToUseSocialNetworking.com
By Biana Babinsky, the online marketing consultant. Take a look at Biana’s blog at http://www.OnlineMarketingBlog.com
Author: Biana Babinsky
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
How to Use Twitter For Business
These days, marketing your business means thinking outside of the box. Just thinking that you are going to get the same results by doing the same things you’ve always done is going to allow your competitors to get ahead. Therefore, it is up to you to focus on getting the word out about what you have to offer – and the best way to do that is to go where your customers are!
One of the most popular web services these days is Twitter – a sort of micro-blogging service that allows users to interact in 140 characters or less. Like more traditional blogging, there are a number of people who use Tweets (as Twitter messages are called) to stay in touch with friends. However, there are a number of marketers and sales professionals who are using Twitter for business as well.
When you use Twitter for business, you will find that you are able to forge a connection. With Twitter for business, you will have the opportunity to make announcements about the products and services that you have, to point out great reviews or compliments about your business and – more importantly – to start to build relationships with your customers and prospects.
Not convinced that Twitter for business is something that makes sense for you? Consider this: Twitter is going to allow you to network and make connections – to see what others have on their mind. Twitter is going to enable you to give answers and offer advice, to see what’s important to your customers and to understand a bit more about their needs.
Of course, it’s also a good idea to think about the way that others use Twitter for business. There’s a cafe in Minneapolis, for example, that uses Twitter to connect with customers and to ramp up business on a slower afternoon by offering specials just to their Twitter followers. The more that these followers re-tweet the message, the more business that they are able to do and the more followers they get.
In other words, Twitter for business is going to help you to do more to make a connection with your clients. In just 140 characters, you can be sure that your prospects get a sense of who you are, know what you have to offer and know what other people have to say about it. Twitter is going to let you do more to establish your reputation, to forge relationships and – ultimately – to grow your business.
Marketing and growing a business always requires a bit of progressive thinking and meeting your customers where they are. When you use Twitter for business, you will be able to take advantage of new trends, to reach out to customers and prospects and to focus on showing your customers that you know what matters to them. By making that connection – and always being willing to grow your business – you’ll find that you are in a great position to keep making sales and to get others interested in all that you have to offer.
Entrepreneur and outdoor photography adventurer Caroline Melberg is President and CEO of Small Business Mavericks, a division of Melberg Marketing. She has over 20 years of experience creating marketing communications materials and writing copy for some of the largest and most successful companies in the world and she’s a leading expert on Internet Marketing for small businesses. Her small business columns are syndicated online, and she publishes the award-winning weekly eZine, “Small Business Maverick Secrets.” To learn more about managing your reputation online, visit http://www.SmallBusinessMavericks.com today!
Author: Caroline Melberg
Article Source: EzineArticles.com