Best Twitter Tools
If you want to take advantage of using Twitter for marketing then you have to have the right tools. This list should help you sort through the masses of information and manage your account more effectively.
Automation
I hate people who follow me and then when I reciprocate they quickly unfollow me. It's like they think they are cool or more important if they have this massive number of followers but aren't following anyone. I like using Twitter to build relationship that mutually benefit both me and the other person so I found Social Too to automatically follow and unfollow people who do the same for me. Is this perfect? No, because there are some people who are following me that I don't really have a desire to follow back, but I can always unfollow them if I notice an aggravating trend. This tool is pretty useful if you are using the principles in my how to get people to follow you on Twitter article.
Twitter Clients
If you want to get the most out of Twitter then you should have some kind of application for your device that makes it easy to use. Here are some of my top choices:
Desktop - For my Twitter desktop application I use twhirl. With twhirl you have open several different accounts at once, which is convenient if you want to open one Twitter account for business and another for personal use.
Phone - I use a Windows Mobile device and I've found Twobile to be the best client for my device.
FireFox - If you use Firefox then you should download the TwitterFox plugin. It notifies you of any recent tweets, plus allows you to sign in to more than on account at a time.
Tracking your latest news and updates
Tweetbeep
I'm using Tweetbeep to not only track what people are saying about me, but also keywords for my niche. This will help me stay up to date on breaking news in the industry, and also to make sure I am following people out there who are posting great tweets that are relevant to my interests.
twitt(url)y
I also stay up to date on what's hot in the Twitter World by using twitt(url)y. Think of it kind of like Digg but for tweets.
TwittURLs
TwittURLs is similiar to twitt(url)y, but focuses on more recent twitter activity.
Site Buttons
Add some flair to your site or blog with buttons to lead readers know they can follow you on Twitter. Both TwitButtons and TwitterButtons.com have several different options for you to choose from. Plus, once you start to get quite a few followers you can show off your Twitter Count with this chiclet.
Short URL Service
Zi.ma and cli.gs are both good for tracking stats and making sure you get the link love passed through. Poprl.com can get you some traffic if you become one of the most popular URLs clicked.
Search Tools
Twubble will help you find more people to follow. It searches your friends and finds the most popular people that they are following. Twitslikeme allows you to enter your screenname and it searches for other twitters who probably share your same interests. Twittersearch allows you to enter your topic in the find box and find tweets covering your search term.
Hopefully you will find this list of tools helpful as you start to do Twitter Marketing. If you think I've missed something let me hear about it in the comments.
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