Social Media

Sarah Worsham / Nov 25, 2008

TweetScan for Business Intelligence

Twitter can be a powerful tool for getting your message out, but it also can become part of your business intelligence arsenal. TweetScan can help you keep track of what is being said about your company and products and get updates via email, rss or on their website. You can scan up to five phrases for daily or weekly delivery. Best of all, there are no ads or spam in the emails. It also can be used to check for lost replies and direct messages. TweetScan’s homepage has a keyword cloud representing hot topics on Twitter. You can also search for specific keywords by particular users.

Using TweetScan for business intelligence may take a bit of experimentation. Obvious keywords are your twitter username, company name and any brand names for products or services. Less obvious keywords are those which may represent hot topics in your particular industry. For those, try looking at industry blogs, forums and publications to see what’s hot and then use the TweetScan search functionality to see what people are saying about it.

Obviously this type of business intelligence works best if your industry has a large number of Twitter users. But it can still be useful for keeping track of general industry topics. Twitter’s usage is also growing fairly quickly since it easy to tweet from mobile phones, browsers and desktop applications. From a business intelligence standpoint, it is a rich environment for research because Twitter users tend to be actively engaged in the community (even if they are only broadcasting and not interacting).

If you use Twitter for Business, please share in the comments how you keep track of conversations and important topics.

Technorati Tags: twitter, social networks, social media, internet marketing, internet consulting, internet business strategy

Sarah Worsham / Nov 24, 2008

TweetDeck for Business Twittering

If you’ve decided to Twitter for your business, you may now be a bit overwhelmed with the influx of tweets. How do you filter through them and keep track of contacts and conversations that matter? TweetDeck is an excellent tool for business twittering that will bring some order to the chaos.

The genius behind TweetDeck is multiple panels that can be configured to make it easy to keep track of conversations. First you have a panel that has the feed from all the people you are following. Next there are panels for replies and direct messages, respectively. To keep track of certain people, you can create groups and quickly add anyone to a group. Lastly, to see what is hot in the Twitterosphere (Tweetosphere?), you can add a TwitScoop panel which will give you a tag cloud of the hot topics.

Managing contacts is also easy. Clicking on the name under a tweet will bring up a user’s profile right inside a panel where you can see all their information and tweets, follow/unfollow them, or add them to a group. There’s also a little plus sign under a tweet which will allow you to quickly add a person to a group.

Twittering (tweeting?) is easy with a update section that includes a way to shorten urls and add twitpics. With each tweet you have the option to retweet, favorite, direct message or reply, making having conversations a cornerstone of TweetDeck’s functionality. And using Twitter for business is all about having conversations.

Technorati Tags: twitter, social networks, social media, internet marketing, internet consulting, internet business strategy

Sarah Worsham / Nov 18, 2008

Twittering for Business Startup Guide

Yesterday we discussed some issues you should consider when deciding whether or not to twitter for your business. Once you’ve decided to go forward, here’s how to get started:

Choose a Name

You’ll need a twitter name so that people can find you. Usually businesses choose a name related to their company name or a particular brand. If your name isn’t available, contact twitter. According to their TOS, companies can gain control of names they own.

A little about you….

The bio and website information will give people an idea of what you do and why they might want to follow your updates. These are especially important when people are searching for people to follow by keyword.

Publish your tweets

Setup your twitter feed on your blog and website, add your twitter address to your emails and other correspondence. Twitter is a great way to quickly add snippits of information to your websites and keep in touch with your customers.

Welcome tweet

Even without any followers, make sure you at least have a welcome tweet. People won’t follow you don’t have any tweets.

Find people to follow

You can use the twitter search to see if your customers already are on twitter, or find people to follow on blogs you read. Many people will also follow you back when you follow them.

Listen & Respond

Listen to what’s being said and monitor twitter for mentions of your company and brands. Politely respond to any concerns people have and to any questions you can be helpful with.

Be Relevant

Share relevant information with your customers via twitter. Links to articles or posts of interest can be twittered. Retweeting information others find can be a great way to connect too.

Keep Tweeting

You probably won’t find a twitter audience overnight, so keep sharing relevant information and use Twitter as another tool to connect with your customers.

Don’t Spam

While you need to keep providing good content, don’t overdo it. Tweets should only be every so often else they get really annoying. How often you can tweet depends on the tolerance of your audience, so it’ll take a bit of trial and error. A few tweets per day should be safe.

Be Patient

It takes time to realize the benefits of Twitter. Keep at it, keep listening and stay in the conversation.

What Twitter tips do you have? Please share in the comments.

(photo by Lin Pernille Photography @ Flickr CC)

Technorati Tags: twitter, social networks, social media, internet marketing, internet consulting, internet business strategy

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