Mindmap of Twitter Tools and Applications available

 

Twitter is one of the top tools we always start our Social Media clients on.  The other day I came across this great mindmap that did a great job of showing the different types of tools to use with Twitter.  Some of these are just for fun and some are very useful:

 

 

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Twitter can be a Great Research Tool

One thing that you must do when you are using Social Media in your marketing mix for your business is to stay on top of current news, trends and events as well as what others are saying.  You definitely want to make sure you listen for any discussions regarding your products or services or those of your industry as well.

Twitter can be used as a research tool to help you find this information.  One way to do this is to use the basic Twitter search found at http://search.twitter.com/ or to use another tool that may make searching a bit easier and more organized for you.

Here are 5 Twitter Search Tools that may help you get the job done:

ReSearch.ly: a Twitter search tool designed to help marketers and businesses in general find the Twitter users that matter most to them. You can search tweets around specified keywords and filter results to show tweets from followers. You can also break the tweets down into segments.

Tweefind: this Twitter search tool sorts search results by user rank. Tweefind search results link the users name for you.

Tweetzi: a Web-based Twitter search tool that lets you see Tweets as they happen – in real time.

Twazzup: an online Twitter search tool that helps you search the news and filter out conversations.

Icerocket: a social media search tool that provides results from Twitter, MySpace, blogs and the Web.  Twitter results are hyperlinked to the user's main Twitter profile page.

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How to use Twitter for Marketing your Denver Business

Twitter has become a very popular Social Media tool used by many individuals and businesses.  It is one tool that you should not ignore as a marketing tool for your business.  This is a quick article that will show you a few ways you can utilize Twitter for marketing your Denver business.

One way Twitter can be used for your Denver business is to listen to your target market and customers and find ways to help them via twitter.  You can use various tools to listen to the conversations of your customers, including the Twitter search tool.  Listen for questions they may have regarding your product or service and offer tweets with information and tools.  Always listen for comments regarding your business both positive and negative and be sure to respond as soon as possible.

Twitter can be used for custom service as well.  There are many businesses that have set up specific twitter accounts just for this purpose.  This is a great method to use Twitter for your Denver Business to help customers get questions answered and problems dealt with quickly.  This is a great way to connect quickly with your customers and prospective customers and build trust.

Offering coupons and special sales to twitter followers of your Denver business is a great way to build a following on Twitter.  Followers like to receive special sales and incentives.  Offering a special Twitter only sale will typically result in increased followers as well as increased sales.

One thing that businesses need to remember about Twitter in general is that it should be used for marketing only.  It should be used as a tool to build connections and trust with your current and future customers.  Engage in conversation, connect, share and be authentic on Twitter.  This will help you use Twitter very effectively as a marketing tool for your Denver Business.

About the author:

Stefanie Blackburn is an Internet and Social Media Consultant for SourceOne Technologies a company helping businesses with Denver Internet Marketing.  Stefanie’s background including a great mix of technical expertise, business experience and Internet Marketing allow her to really dive in to what the client needs and create the right program to help them increase revenue and cut costs.  Grab your FREE 5 Day Crash Course on Twitter for Professionals.

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Social Media Tip – Twiter Traffic

Today's tip is all about Twitter traffic:

Marketing on Twitter is very easy, but you must be aware that it doesn't always yield the desired result unless it is done properly.

Twitter marketing has to be approached in a completely different way than other forms of advertising because Twitter limits the size of posts to just 140 characters.

This means you must keep your posts very short. This means you can’t ramble on endlessly. You have to get to the point and do it in a way that peeks your follower’s interest and get them to click!

It’s a very good idea to read your Twitter page daily and respond to messages that your followers post.

By interacting with them directly, you can establish friendships. This is very important, because your followers can “re-tweet” (RT) your messages to their own followers, potentially allowing you to reach a wider audience.

That ends today’s quick tip

 

If you are interested in help with your Social Media Campaigns please contact us with the form below:

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Social Media Tip – Shift your Focus

When it comes to successful social marketing one of the biggest

mistakes that many marketers make it that they are too focused on

making money and not enough on socializing. As an end result they

unknowingly spam their followers which often ends up in getting your

posts ignored, blocked or even banned.

 

When it comes to social marketing it’s very important that you use

social networks as they were intended (to socialize), especially if you

want to see any real results from your efforts.

 

Always remember to socialize first and promote second! When you do

this you will have no problem attracting hundreds, maybe even

thousands of happy fans, friends and followers that will be interested in

what you have to offer!

 

That ends today’s quick tip

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Social Media Time Management

Social Media is one of our favorite tools for our clients to use to start reaching the right prospects and turning them into customers and then into cheer leaders for their business.  Getting started with Social Media however can be over whelming to some because although most of the tools are free they do take time to implement, manage and build the community you are building.

Here are some tips that you can use to help effectively manage your time as you embark in using Social Media in your business.

Schedule time for your Social Media Activities

It is a good idea to block out daily time slots to focus on your social media efforts.  In these time blocks focus your time to take care of your Social Media activities.  Reply to any questions you have from followers on Facebook and Twitter.  Read through content of those you follow and take a few minutes to comment on relevant content and to share this with others in your network.  Now is also a good time to share a status update as to what you are up to – be personal.  Remember you should share about 80-90% of content and information and only 10-20% should be sales.

Use tools to Manager your Social Media Activities

There are several tools that you can use to manage your Social Media activities.  These will allow you to be able to monitor what is being said about you and your products or services and to listen for a need.  There are also tools that you can use to schedule your activities.

The following tools are some of our favorites:

Hootsuite: A dashboard tool you can use to manage your postings to multiple networks which include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Hootsuite also lets you schedule your postings and to search for items with particular keywords.  It is a great tool!

Social Mention is a very valuable tool to be able to keep a real time pulse on mentions of your company, brand or any other key words you which to watch in the social scene.

If you do find Social Media overwhelming we are here to help you and can develop a custom package to work with your goals and budget.  If you are interested in learning more just complete the form below.

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Why you should be on Twitter now even if your Customers aren’t

Here is a wonderful video by Laura Fitton known on Twitter as @pistachio .  She is a co author of the book Twitter for Dummies.  In this video Laura gives some great benefits of being on Twitter even if your customer isn't on Twitter – yet!

The video is only 4 minutes long and provides some great points.

 

 

If you are interested in getting started with Twitter and you don't know where to start just complete the form below and SourceOne Technologies can assist you.

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Are You Paying Attention to What is Being Said Online About Your Brand or Business?

Social Media and Social  Networking tools have changed the way people share and obtain information.  Social Media and Social Networking tools have opened the door to content publication for anyone to be a publisher and share information with others.

These tools can be wonderful in spreading the word about your company and the products and services that you provide, however they can also be used to spread information that can be damaging to your brand or business.

Part of effectively using Social Media and Networking is to monitor what is being said about your brand and business and to keep a pulse on your market or niche.

Adding a monitoring component into your Social Media and Social Networking efforts will help ensure that you never miss a compliment or a complainant written about your brand or business.  If you know what is being said then you can be proactive in handling any complaints or potential bad press as well as highlighting any compliments that are being written about you.

The following are several FREE tools that you can use to monitor what is being said about your brand or business online:

Twitter Search – http://search.twitter.com/

Use Twitter Search to search for “Tweets” related to your company or those needing your products or services

Google Alerts – http://www.google.com/alerts

Google Alerts allows you to set up an alert that will let you know each time there is a new entry on the web with information related to your company, product or service or a topic you are interested in

Technorati – http://technorati.com/

Technorati is a great place to check out what is being covered in the blogosphere

Trendpedia – http://www.trendpedia.com/

This tools allows you to search for names and topics and compare how they rate with other topics or names

Social Mention – http://socialmention.com/

This tool is similar to Google Alerts, but focuses on social media

Twendz (Beta) http://twendz.waggeneredstrom.com/

This tool allows you to monitor twitter conversations in real time on the topic or key words of your choice

Effectively using Social Media and Social Networking tools to monitor mentions of your brand or business will help you stay ahead of the curve and be able to effectively deal with any bad press as well as highlight any positive press that you may receive.

Stefanie Blackburn is an Internet Consultant with SourceOne Technologies. SourceOne Technologies currently offers assistance to business owners in establishing a complete online presence.  SourceOne Technologies is your Online Marketing Consultant.

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Social Media and Social Networking leads to offline conections

We are working with several of our clients on incorportating Social Media into thier overall Internet Marketing plan due to the many benefits that it produces.

One benefit though that is often overlooked is the opportunity Social Media provides for you to network with others.  In several cases by using Social Media or Social Networking tools you are now able to connect with others that are great potential power partners, business partners or even customers, just because you started using Socail Media and sharing more information about yourself and what you do.

Often people over look this beneift of using Social Media and Social Networking but you shouldn’t.  The larger your network is, especially in a troubled economy the larger your base of contacts and potential customers are.

Users on Twitter, one of the most popular Socail Media tools right now have organized what are called Tweet-ups where you can go and in person meet the people you network with on Twitter.  This is an excellent example of how online Socail Media or Social Networking as extended to offline.

Here is a great article that goes into more depth on this topic, how networking is one of the benefits of using Social Media and Social Networking.

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Twitter is a tool your Business should be using

Is your business on Twitter yet?

If not you should probably put it in the plans to be completed.  Twitter is now main stream and is being used by many businesses to drive traffic and increase sales.  Twitter is viral and when businesses use it they are able to touch a lot of prospects quickly.  If you are posting interesting and helpful information on Twitter it will be shared by others and give you exposure to others.

The article below is from FYIndOut and it helps expand on the topic of businesses using Twitter.

Savvy Businesses Making the Most of Twitter

Companies are beginning to realize the importance of using Twitter to monitor their brand, create relationships and turn leads to sales. According to a recent survey by MarketingProfs, “more than eight in 10 Twitter users, most of whom represent small businesses, expect their company’s use of the popular micro blogging tool to increase in the next six months.”

In addition, 66% of the respondents consider Twitter either “somewhat important” or “extremely important” to their company’s business/marketing operations, compared with 29% who consider it “not very important.”

At FYIndOut, we’re always focused on helping businesses find and promote what they’re looking for and one of our main focuses is around using the power of social media to work for business.  Twitter is fast becoming one of the top platforms that companies not only participate in, but also get real value by doing so.  Unlike most other social media sites, Twitter has the ability and breadth to be a fun and efficient way to connect consumers in our personal lives as well as help businesses and employees in our professional lives.

We have definitely seen a positive difference in using Twitter for our company.  Through Twitter, we’ve been able to connect and learn from industry trendsetters, other entrepreneurs, investors, and key media people that cover our industry.  Not having any luck reaching out to people via email or their “Contact Us” form?   Try Twitter.  You’d be amazed at how fast you’re able to connect with others.

If you are just starting to use Twitter and have any questions about our experience or think that we might be able to help, please reach out to myself (@scottjmanley) or our Community Manager, Brett Kopf (@brettkopf) and we’ll do our best.

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• Twitter to Move into Business Mainstream (marketingvox.com)
• Paul Chaney: Is Twitter a Business Tool? Yes! (mpdailyfix.com)

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