8 Quick Tools for Successful Tweeting

In these uncertain times, marketers are seeking to decrease spending, while increasing engagement – driving social media as a bigger component of their strategies. Yet these outlets are not completely free. They do require constant maintenance and investigation of new ways to earn the attention of your audience, engage them, and get them to interact – and Twitter is no exception. In order for Twitter to be an effective marketing tool, you must attract not just many followers, but the right ones. So how do you do this? Here are 8 tips and tools can help.

1. Look Beyond Your Rolodex

Often when you follow the right people it accomplishes two goals. First, these people will reciprocate the follow and second, their thought leadership will add value to your page which also attracts more followers. To find the right followers, try looking beyond your Rolodex at these groups. Once you have exhausted all those you know of in these categories, try looking at who they are following. This may give you access to other industry leaders you haven’t already heard of. Also keep in mind; you don’t have to actually “know” a person to follow them.

• Clients
• Analysts
• Writers
• Bloggers
• Publications
• Conferences
• Employees
• Sister and Parent Companies
• Professional groups
• Supporters
• Vendors

2. Make Ever Character Count – Say the Right Things

This is your chance to flaunt your stuff to your customers and industry. Show em’ what you got. By doing this, it ups your chances of engaging customers, improving customer service, gaining media interviews, and receiving conference speaking spots. That is why it is so important to make sure your page isn’t full of “I just ate nachos and had a Guinness” or “Can you believe Madonna and ARod?” type Tweets. Though nachos and Guinness are tasty, they don’t really spice up your page.

3. Remember to RT

Yep it’s true, you can do more on Twitter than Tweet – you can “Re-Tweet”. Re-Tweeting is officially defined as re-quoting someone’s Tweet. Usually when you come across an interesting Tweet and you want to publish on your page, you Re-Tweet it. This is a way of crediting the person who initially created it, while sharing it with your audience. You do this by writing in RT; the @ symbol; followed immediately by the Twitter name of the person you are Re-Tweeting; and lastly ending with the phrase/link you are Re-Tweeting. So what is the value of doing this? This is a great way to provide your followers with more thought leadership. And remember, the more valuable your page is for people, the more people will follow you!

4. Don’t Fear the Report Card – Use Grader.com

You can’t get grounded anymore so get your grades! This site does an analysis on your Twitter profile grading against other profiles on:

• The number of followers you have.
• The power of this network of followers.
• The pace of your updates.
• The completeness of your profile.
• The score is based on your twitter profile in relation to other profiles that have been “graded”.

5. Get in Tight with Mr. Tweet

Twitter is more than just a social media site, it is also a bit of a popularity contest. The more followers you have, the more credible your page appears, and the more people will want follow you. So, how do you get popular? Get to know Mr. Tweet. By following him on Twitter, he provides you bi-weekly updates with advice on who you should be following (that you are not), as well as usage statistics, and more. It is a great way to find additional quality people to follow – which can lead to more followers for your page!

6. Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

Twellow.com and JustTweetIt.com are just two of the Twitter directories out there where you can register your profile. This is yet another way to promote your page. The directories are organized so that other users can search by categories, which make finding you easier than just using the “find people” function.

7. Take TweepSearch.com for a Test Drive

TweepSearch allows you to search key words in users’ bios and location information. This can really help you find the right way to follow. Hopefully, they will return the follow.

8. Recycle – It’s Not Just For the Environment

This tactic doesn’t just have value for the green movement. It is also a great way to increase your exposure. When you upload a new deck to SlideShare, release a new video on YouTube, or send out your newsletter, announce it on Twitter. This may seem like old news to you, but it probably isn’t to everyone. And remember, repetition is not always bad. The old print tactic of showing the same ad multiple times still has value in this new world – so use it. Repetition will expand the audience that sees your message and can also help break through media fragmentation.