How to Manage Your Twitter Account
Learn how to use tools and best practices to manage your Twitter account.
Aliza Sherman
Listen
How to Manage Your Twitter Account
Today we’re going to talk about how to manage your Twitter account. Before I fill you in on the secrets of Twitter domination, I’m letting you know right here, right now that….
Back to managing your Twitter.
Why Use Twitter?
If you’re one of those people scratching their heads about this Twitter phenomenon, let me just remind you that we were all doing the same head scratching when email came to our attention. Electronic mail? Why in the world would we want to use that? Come on, you remember those days!
People are using Twitter today because of the same reasons they adopted email–it’s a fast and efficient way to communicate; and you can do it from anywhere at any time.
What Are the Benefits of Twitter?
Another attractive feature about Twitter, is that it also combines a soap-box platform–a pulpit for you to preach to the masses and not just a small contained group of people in your address book.
Fast and easy communication +big potential reach = an addictive tool for all of us.
But the same way that we are still overwhelmed with emails, I don’t think we’re going to be able to prevent being overwhelmed by our Twitterstream. The main ways to manage using Twitter are to use common sense, to employ self-discipline and to carry a crowbar to extricate yourself from your keyboard.
What Tools Can Help You Manage Your Twitter Account?
I’m all for using somebody else’s products and services to do something well. We have the technology. People have made Twitter better than it was. Better. Stronger. Faster. So why not leverage those tools to manage your Twittering? Here are just a few of the tools I’d recommend:
Tools for Tweet Management
HootSuite: HootSuite has really improved by leaps and bounds since I first saw it. Many feel it is the go-to solution for managing your Twitter accounts. Even if you have just one Twitter account, you can get a great dashboard view of your Twitter activity, schedule tweets, and track the links in your tweets.
Splitweet: Another site with a nice visual dashboard for your tweet management is Splitweet, though their features are more cursory.
Tools for Tweet and Link Tracking
Bit.ly or cli.gs: For shortening and tracking link click-thrus, you can use services like bit.ly or cli.gs. I love the bit.ly sidebar bookmarklet, which is a button I place on my browser toolbar that opens an overlay box on the page that I want to link to with a short URL or a short description with the same URL, and then access to a link tracking dashboard. Very handy.
Dlvr.it: For heavy-duty management of your multiple RSS feeds into your Twitter account combined with link tracking, try dlvr.it The service will have you sighing with relief as you get the kinds of statistics that you previously thought you’d have to pay a bucketload of money to see. You’ll get info about not only who clicks on the links you place in your Twitterstream, but also about how those links are passed around in the Social Mediasphere.
Tools for Tweet Chat Participation
If you’re looking to follow a live discussion on Twitter using a common hashtag, try TweetChat or TweetGrid. A hashtag is a word or phrase without spaces that has a pound sign or hashtag in front of it. Using a tool that automatically refreshes and tracks only the tweets with the hashtag helps clear the clutter so you can focus on the conversation.
Tools for Twitter Measurement
Tweetlevel: Tweetlevel was created by Edelman, a PR firm, and helps you measure and analyze your influence on a cursory level. It also shows you how you compare to some of the Twitterers you follow. By looking at the most influential Twitterers, you can probably learn a few things about upping your Twitter game; although it does seem to favor those with a lot of followers. Remember it is quality, not quantity!
TwitterCounter: TwitterCounter gives you a graph to track your follower growth day to day. They offer a pro account with a premium dashboard to view all of your stats in one place.
In my earlier article, How to Measure Your Twitter Success, I also mentioned TwitterAnalyzer and TweetStats so you may want to check that out.
Bottom Line: Twitter is a powerful communications tool–and with power comes both risks and rewards. The rewards can outweigh the risks of Twitter overload only if you use Twitter wisely. As somebody once said: “Too much of a good thing is bad.”
Contact Me
That’s all we have time for today.
The podcast version of this article was brought to you by Audible.com the Internet’s leading provider of audiobooks with more than 75,000 downloadable titles across all types of literature and featuring audio versions of many New York Times Best Sellers.
For listeners of this podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook, to give you a chance to try out their service.
One audiobook to consider is Linchpin: Are You Indispensible by bald-headed guru and one of my personal marketing heros Seth Godin. Seth has the uncanny knack for stating things simply but profoundly. But don’t take my word for it. Artist and Web 2.0 pundit Hugh McLeod says in a review of Linchpin that “(Seth) is out for blood. He’s out to make a difference. And that glorious, heartfelt passion is obvious on every page, even if it is in Seth’s usual quiet, lucid, understated manner.”
For a free audiobook of your choice go to audiblepodcast.com/techgirl. That’s audiblepodcast techgirl.
Tune in for another business boost from The Digital Marketer, the host who’s not afraid to go under the Internet’s hood & get a little dirty!
Resources
HootSuite – HootSuite
Splitweet – Splitweet
dlvr.it – dlvr.it
bit.ly – bit.ly
cli.gs – cli.gs
TwitterCounter – TwitterCounter
TwitterAnalyzer – TwitterAnalyzer
TweetStats – TweetStats
Tweetchat – Tweetchat
Tweetgrid – Tweetgrid
Twitter Birds image courtesy of Shutterstock