twitter tools

Using some of the following tools, I have generated a solid following of about 48,000 people from Twitter, on four different accounts.

This has resulted in a lot of free exposure, branding, etc, but the most tangible benefit is that I get a lot of traffic to my websites!

To give you a comparison, my double opted in e-mail list currently consists of about 11,000 people. my main twitter account currently has 16,200 followers. Generally speaking, if I send out an e-mail (that takes me a good 20 minutes to wordsmith) I get almost exactly the same amount of clicks on the link if I send out two brief tweets to @escapethematrix !

The bottom line is this: Twitter is easy to use, easy to get a following on, and as effective as any other form of marketing. So here's my list of preferred Twitter tools, hopefully this will help you as well.

I like Tweetdeck for a number of reasons, not least of which is that it's free! It's a live, desktop twitter tool application designed to help you monitor everything to do with your accounts, including:

-Live twitterstream of everybody you follow
-Mentions
-Direct messages

It supports multiple accounts, links to Facebook and Myspace, and has a very easy to understand and use interface. Just do a search for tweetdeck and the site should pop right up.

The Social Marketing Blackbox is a suite of social marketing programs and services, and includes a tool called PingIt! What the PingIt tool does is send your "Tweets" not only to Twitter, but to about 46 total sites all at the same time.

So it basically turns you into a serious broadcaster instead of just a "Tweeter." It comes with many other services, as I mentioned, but as long as we are talking about twitter tools I have to include it, as I use it several times per day to get my tweets broadcast.

I have been a member of SocialOomph.com since it was called "Tweetlater." It is also a suite of tools, and has a robust free version as well as a paid version for pro users.

It allows you to schedule tweets, has great analytics, manages multiple accounts well, including posting one tweet to multiple accounts, and has a variety of other services worth checking out.

Here's a secret about Twitter marketing (or any other kind of online marketing): the vast majority of people are lazy.

All you have to do is implement the things you learn, and you'll beat 90% of them. And there's another aspect to this, it's not just lazy in work ethic, it's lazy in learning new software.

For example, each of these tools has a learning curve. And with some of them (especially socialoomph.com and socialmarketingblackbox.com) they are very robust, and there are tons of services and training involved.

But don't be overwhelmed, and don't be lazy like your competitors! Take the time not only to use the software, but to study it, and watch the tutorials, and really get the most out of it.

Bill Gates said that the average computer user only uses 5% of the software on their machine. I believe it. We have these incredible resources at our disposal, that can do so much for us, but most of the time we are in too much of a hurry to slow down enough to watch tutorials or read FAQ's!

So if you want a really powerful, money making Twitter strategy, these tools will provide it. But only if you implement!