1. A Conversation about Twitter
in 140 characters or less
to tweet or not to tweet
Part Five: Twitter Tools

2. I’ve finally tested
Twitter, but it seems
pretty basic and
unorganized
Meet Twitter Tom

3. There are some useful
tools to simplify &
enrich your Twitter
experience!
Meet Twitter Tina

4. I’ve heard about some of these
Twitter tools, but I’ve always
wondered, do we really need more
tools?

5. Well, because Twitter is such a raw
communication platform, additional
tools have been developed as
extensions to meet
your specific needs

6. By selecting the right tools for your
strategy, Twitter becomes more user-
friendly for you!

7. How so, and what sort of needs are
you talking about?

8. For example, filter incoming tweets,
shorten URLs, attach rich media,
schedule tweets, and manage users
and accounts ...

9. @Tina @Tom
... integrate with your other social
media channels, search for businesses
and influencers, update
via your mobile device

10. Whoa!

11. But let’s simplify all this by reviewing
key types of tools & providing
examples that almost everyone can
use and benefit from

12. First and foremost, get a Twitter
client that simplifies and manages
your Twitter interactions!

13. Wait, how does adding another
Twitter client app simplify
interactions?

14. Depending on the quantity and
activity of followers, you could drown
in an unorganized stream of hundreds
of messages on the Twitter web app

15. Many of the Twitter clients can help
you manage your tweets by
organizing, filtering, and categorizing
your messages

16. Hmmm, give me an example...

17. TweetDeck lets you divide your
tweets into easy-to-see groups, and
keep a running stream of a Twitter
search term
find more

18. It also allows you to easily embed
images, shorten URLs, send direct
messages and much more

19. There are other Twitter clients that
have additional functionality to help
you add relevant and rich content to
your tweets

20. What if I just want to do some basic
stuff, like share links to cool articles
and web apps?

21. You can use URL shorteners like
bitly or tinyurl that make it really
easy to share short links
find more

22. If you want to do even more, there
are also clients like TwitPic that
allow you to easily add rich media
find more

23. Makes sense. You also mentioned
integrating Twitter with my website,
blogs, etc. How do I do that?

24. @Tina @Tom
Twitterfeed can help with that

25. Integration is important and tools
such as twitterfeed automatically
tweet updates about your other
online activity
find more

26. Yeah, I wouldn’t have time to sit at my
desk and duplicate everything I do on
other social media channels, so
automating sounds useful!

27. It can help but do not overdo it and
remember to maintain a personal and
authentic touch in all that you do

28. You don’t want people feeling like
they are talking to a robot!

29. But scheduling your tweets, or
thoughts, with applications such as
TweetLater and CoTweet is
much like scheduling blog posts
find more

30. I like that. I can see how scheduling
thoughtful tweets could save time
while not overwhelming my contacts
with all my thoughts at once

31. That’s right!

32. An automated approach to tweeting
makes it seem easier... Now if you
could only make it automatically
identify and follow interesting people

33. There’s a tool for that, but be careful
with automation & scheduling. Being
present & responsive in real-time is
what makes Twitter unique

34. And, instead of automating who you
follow, you can be more selective by
using a Twitter directory

35. A directory?
Like Twitter yellow pages?

36. Yes, you can use Twitter directories
like Twellow to help find the
people you are looking for
find more

37. But once you find people of interest,
are there ways to distinguish among
them to know who I really
want to follow?

38. Using tools such as TwitScan and
Twinfluence can provide statistics
that might help you decide
find more

39. You can even use these applications
to take a look at how you and your
tweets are being received in the
twittersphere

40. I can see how using these tools
makes Twitter an even more powerful
social media channel

41. @Tina @Tom
Tools have certainly improved the
effectiveness of my Twitter usage!

42. Me too! Now, if I remember
correctly, you were concerned about
sitting at your desk all day monitoring
Twitter?

43. Yeah, I’m on the go all the time so it’s
tough to set aside time for something
new like this

44. Well, don’t feel confined to your desk
just because you want to stay
connected on the twittersphere.
Take Twitter with you instead!

45. You can use Twitterberry or
Tweetstack or Twitterfon... or
hundreds of other apps to make
Twitter mobile and connect
anytime, anywhere!
find more

46. It sounds like there’s a tool for
everything...and maybe even too
many tools!

47. Open platforms bring a lot of players.
If you can think of a tool, it’s probably
already out there

48. So how do I figure out which Twitter
tools are going to work for me?

49. Check out application review sites
like Web2Review.com or ask the
twittersphere for their input
See Big List of Tools

50. You know what, I actually have
learned a lot through our five
conversations

51. I have learned what Twitter is, why I
should join, what’s in it for business, 7
strategies, and the scoop on Twitter
tools

52. Questions and conversations are the
basis for knowledge! Hence the value
in Twitter conversations and
searching Twitter for answers

53. This has been a valuable 2-way
conversation... but I’m not 100%
convinced...

54. There is still one major thing I don’t
understand...

55. When I look at other Twitter
streams, I only see one-way
conversations and it makes
everything seem out of context!

56. Yeah, sometimes a Twitter page may
make someone look self-centered
since conversations occur across
published Twitter accounts

57. Exactly, that’s what makes it seem so
out of context!

58. That’s why it’s so important to try
Twitter yourself since you are the
only one who can easily read your
own 2-way conversations

59. By observation alone, it’s hard to see
the value of a 1-way conversation;
you need to engage in 2-way
conversations to fully understand

60. OK, well, thanks for validating one of
the problems and clarifying my
understanding

61. Sure, a lot can happen in a
conversation of 140 characters or
less, even our educational
conversation

62. Now that I am educated, I can no
longer deny its purpose and use, but I
am still entertaining whether it’s right
for me

63. I can definitely see how Twitter is not
simply a technology fad, rather it is
about the power of the people &
networks I can discover

64. You do understand and I look
forward to following your tweets
when you give it a try

65. @ Tina,
Thanks for the continued reminder

66. No problem. If you ever have more
questions, we are never more than
just a tweet away @freshconsulting

67. 5 PART Twitter educational series by the team at:
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
contact us for your business use
Authors
@jeffdance
@syamaguchi
@brentdance
@joshdance
FreshConsulting.com 1.877.56 FRESH