Joel Comm
Beyond Twitter
One of the things that really makes Twitter fun is all the optional add-ons. Here are just a few of the third- party tools you can use to effectively manage your profile.
Twellow.com—Add yourself and search for others on this Twitter version of the Yellow Pages.
Twitpwr.com—Shorten the length of URLs you want to post in your tweets.
Tweetlater.com—Don’t have time to tweet over the weekend? Schedule your tweets in advance.
Tweetbeep.com—Get alerts when people tweet about your brand or any keyword you want to track.
Twittercounter.com—Track the rate of follower growth for your profile to see how you’re doing.
Twitterpatterns.com—Dress up your profile with these fun, free backgrounds.
Tweetdeck.com—Download this personal browser to create groups and stay organized when you have a particularly large number of followers.
Twitpic.com—Upload and share photos on Twitter.
Twitter Power
Twitter followers are a valuable commodity. The more you have, the further your messages will reach and the more influence you (and your brand, product, or service) will garner. Building a long list of followers takes time, but it’s definitely worth the effort. Although there aren’t any foolproof shortcuts to reaching critical mass, these 6 steps will help cut the time it takes to build your list.
1.) Become a follower.
In order to grow your list you need to participate as well. Each time you become someone’s follower, you turn up in their list, which means that they can see who’s following them—and so can everyone else. Once you’ve found someone to follow, you can see who they’re following and who’s following them. If any of those people look interesting, you can add them to your follow list—and so on.
2.) Respond to requests.
Twitter conversations are open and public, which makes them very valuable to you. Anyone can see who’s saying what in a Twitter exchange, so they can look for and follow the Twitterers who impress them. People will follow your tweets if you produce content that’s interesting, fun, and valuable. To have maximum influence on potential followers, answer questions in your expertise rather than just any question you happen to see.
3.) Mobilize your social network.
Twitter is extremely powerful, but it becomes even more powerful when it’s combined with other social media tools. Surf to twitter.com/badges to add your tweets to your blog, your web site, or your Facebook account. Use your other social media accounts to make sure that people know what you’re up to. If you can show users your tweets and bring them onto your Twitter page, you’ll be able to massively increase the number of your followers.
4.) Put your Twitter name in your signatures.
Such an easy thing to do, such an old idea…and so often forgotten. Just as including your URL on your business card and on your e-mail signature can drive plenty of interested people to your Web site, adding your Twitter URL (twitter.com/yournamehere) can have exactly the same effect.
5.) Entice your followers.
Giving away freebies is a marketing standard. You create goodwill, let potential customers try your products out, and build a list of clients you can draw on in the future. The principle can work exactly the same way on Twitter. Look to give away items that cost you little, but have high value to the recipient. For example, one fitness coach emails a free Smoothie recipe e-book as an incentive to anyone who follows her.
6.) Run a contest.
This builds on the freebie idea above. One company asked a question on Twitter at a specific time and followers had 15 minutes to reply. Three winners were selected at random from those who sent in the correct answer and received a $100 gift card. By running a contest in real time you’ll collect all your customers together in one place at one time turning them into a community. And, of course, it also keeps customers following your tweets and attracts more people looking to win discounts and gifts.
Adapted from Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time, © by Joel Comm; Reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., www.twitterpower.com