As I began writing this article, the curiosity bug visited me; I wanted to know how many Twitter users there are. The numbers are astounding.
There are 500,250,000 active users on Twitter. Of that amount, 180 million Twitter users log on daily and check their messages or to tweet.
Now as marketers, those numbers should impress you enough to make you learn how to use Twitter and learn how it can best help you to market your online business opportunity.
Some network marketers don’t see how Twitter can assist them in marketing their product or opportunity. But many of the MLM industry leaders are using the Web’s fastest-growing and most talked-about social media site and are using it to their benefit. In Network Marketing, the best copycat wins. You want to duplicate what the very successful people are already doing.
To effectively use Twitter for business, you will need tools that are designed to make Twitter more efficient. I’m going to introduce you to eleven Twitter tools that will make life in Twitterville just a bit easier.
1: TweetDeck
can be used as either a web-based application or a desktop application. It’s Twitter on steroids. Everything that you use on Twitter is organized in columns which allows you to easily see what is going on inside of Twitter without you having to click from link to link.
You can include Facebook to this account which would allow you to update your Facebook status while posting your tweet.
Inside of TweetDeck, you will find:
Timeline column. This is what you would home stream – what you see when you first log in to Twitter.
Interactions column: This is the column that shows the people that have mentioned your name by using @[YourUserName]. This is where you will see retweets. It’s a neat way to see who is interacting directly with you and to thank them.
Activity column: This shows you the stream of actions that people you follow are performing. You will see when those you follow add someone to a list, favorite a tweet or follow someone.
- Use Search.Twitter.com directly within the Twitter platform. This application will help you find people to follow within Twitter based on keywords. Insert your targeted keywords. When you find a profile that may be of interest to you from a business perspective, follow them. When you see them make a tweet, reply to it, or retweet it.
- Twellow give you an idea on how you may want to follow based on keywords, business category, or location. It’s a very straightforward application and easy to use.
- Twittergrader: Tweetgrader let’s you know how influential you are on Twitter based on the number of tweets, retweets, and mentions you have. If you have a pretty impressive score, you can even paste it to your Twitter stream for bragging rights.
5: Twollow
Suggest who you should follow based on keywords that you choose. You get the option of using the service for free or upgrading to a more advanced account with more search options.
6: Twitterfall
This is a search package for Twitter as well. Many of the Twitter programs suggest who you should follow based on your query. Many of them overlap in their features. You will find the same features in Twitterfall as you will find in say, Twollow. Many times it will depend on which layout you prefer.
7: Hootsuite
Like TweetDeck, Hootsuite will organize your social accounts. What is really cool about Hootsuite is that you can add most of the major social media sites that are in use today. And another added bonus, your social media updates can be scheduled in advance.
8: SocialOomph
Many business owners want the ability to respond right away to people who follow them. SocialOomph gives you that ability but you will have to pay for it. The app provider does, however, have a free version of SocialOomph. With it, you can purge your inbox. That alone makes it more than useful. The Twitter inboxe can get pretty cluttered especially if you don’t clean it out regularly.
9: DTV
DTV is an online tool to save Twitter videos online. You can use this tool to download any video from Twitter to use it later to engage your followers.
10: Unfollowers.me
By now you are probably noticing that many of the apps designed for Twitter are very similar; Unfollowers.me is no different. You will see people who recently unfollowed you or who is not following you. You can search for Twitterers via keyword as well as by name.
