Twitter is one of the most popular sites on the web (over 40,000,000 users) and if you have not gotten an account yet, stop wasting your time and get one. What happens next is the most important part of this process — what you do with your account.
Who cares if there are over 40 Million users on Twitter if you don’t know how to reach out to them? Today we are going to have a simple discussion about not only what Twitter is, but also how to use it effectively to accomplish your goals.
What is Twitter?
If you already know the answer to this… skip down below and find some of the great tools you can start using to make Twitter more effective. If Twitter is something unfamiliar to you and very foreign.. watch the video below. Its a simple explanation of what Twitter is and what its purpose is.
Twitter Applications
Understanding what Twitter is a necessary first step to mastering it to meet your goals. The next step is to develop a strategy to reach them. I prefer to use the old fashioned advertising approach.. reach as many potential clients as possible. I’m not a spammer, I don’t follow everyone, and I still have a very large amount of followers who click on my tweets (messages). You see I use twitter methods which are both important and easy to do.
I have also compiled and categorized a list of the most useful Twitter applications to help you tweet successfully. There are multiple options for every category and sometimes they do the same thing, so use what you feel comfortable with. Also, you might notice I didn’t add everything to this article that some sites have and that is on purpose. The applications I chose do almost everything you would want and even a lot of what other applications do alone. So find one or two good applications and stick with them. The easier it is the more you will use it.
Networking & Management
Applications in this category focus on conversation, messages, and connecting. These tools make it easier to use Twitter for what it was made for… connecting with other people. These are not spam tools and if you are looking for automated following (which is a scam and should be avoided) then you wont find them here.
Tweet Deck
Excellent tool for mastering the intricate network of Twitter. With its very custom and flexible dashboard you can chat, link, view, and retweet friends, followers, and complete twitter strangers. One of the best features is the internal Twitter Directory and search capabilities. The functions available make TweetDeck the ultimate twitter dashboard for beginners and pros alike. – TweetDeck
HootSuite
Similar to TweetDeck in many of the options available but with a few extra features that might make HootSuite the best for managing Twitter. Features like in program statistics, pending tweets, scheduled tweets, and adding blog feeds to your Twitter Account. When it comes to managing Twitter, HootSuite has it all. – HootSuite
Follower/Following Management
Building your followers and learning how to follow are important parts of Twitter. These applications make following, unfollowing, and crossfollowing really simple. Just check out the videos to learn how easy it is.
Refollow
Refollow is the best program for getting rid of followers who are either (1) Spammy (2) Not willing to follow you back (3) Not active on Twitter anymore. Using refollow is simple and in my opinion the very best way to clean up your followers without giving out your password or messing your account up. Just be careful and actually think about what you are doing and what it could mean to the people following you. – Refollow
Buzzom
Any easy way to grow your account is by using Buzzom. It allows you to actually target who you follow with out just randomly picking and also gives you some choice in the matter. Its very simple to use too!
Other Application Lists
The Most Twitter Apps Anyone Would Ever Need! – Seriously there are 275 Applications at the moment. Many of them do the same thing or are completely useless, but if you want to explore and also be amazed.. this is a great list to learn about Twitter.
Top 20 Twitter Applications – Great list of Apps by TechCrunch based upon traffic rankings. Some of the applications do the same thing and/or obsolete with new changes in Twitter or management tools. Great list though and very interesting to see who is picking up the most traffic outside of Twitter themselves.
There are many other “programs”, “software” and scams to get you followers and allow you to “make money” using Twitter. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Also, unless you are on the official Twitter page or directly connecting into it… never give out your Twitter password to shady sites.
Conclusion
Using Twitter is a powerful way to build traffic, get rid of pesky spammers and create a social media brand. Just make sure you are not missing out because you haven’t started using the right apps yet.
What do you think? Are these apps really the best or am I dead wrong?
The Discussion
Leave a Comment Read Again?Hootsuite seems to be fine for me
I intended to try TweetDeck, but your article helped me to skip this step to my amazing success
Thanks Seth
Great! Hootsuite and TweetDeck basically do the same thing, Hootsuite just has a few more features. I like TweetDeck’s looks, but some of Hootsuites features make it hard to pass up!
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
Great post Seth! Just downloaded TweetDeck and I’m looking forward to checking it out.
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..Check Out My Participation in GenY Gives Thanks =-.
Awesome. I think you will really like using TweetDeck, especially if you have only been using the regular Twitter Dash up until now.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
Not going to lie.. I’m a little confused by all the hooting going on on my TweetDeck, but since I’ve almost figured out RT’s after 4 months, I’m sure I’ll figure out the hoots by mid-February.
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..Check Out My Participation in GenY Gives Thanks =-.
Jenny, once you watch and play with it a bit its great. I love that I can pick and chose specific subjects and its an all in one package. The best part is the sound feature, I can leave it running and I know when someone is adding tweets….
.-= Cathy´s last blog ..Written Experts Who Are They =-.
Great Tools!
Thanks a lot!
I just had a look at Buzzom.com – amazing tool!!
Cheers from Chillout Hamburg!
LS
.-= chill musik´s last blog ..Liedschatten auf Facebook.com, Twitter & Co =-.
Buzzom is quite a find! Its fast and easy to use for crossfollowing, building, reciprocating and even flushing. Its a great tool for managing your account.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
Glad you mentioned pruning the followers not worth following – that’s getting to be a weekly activity for me. :-/
.-= Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog ..The Great Canadian Moose Riders – Today’s Humor of the Day =-.
Pruning your followers is important. Don’t just unfollow everyone, but a healthy prune of followers that do not update, or sometimes those who do not follow you back is good.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
I’ve been using Hootsuite for quite some time now and I love it. Don’t know what’s the matter with me but I hate it when people follow you and then unfollow you once you add them up. I heard those people use a script that auto follows and unfollow people. It’s very irritating and waste of time because my instinct is to unfollow right back. I’ve even experienced several follow-unfollow routines that got repeated in a matter of days. Jerks.
That’s why I like Refollow. I’d check that out to prune my list. I need that.
.-= jan geronimo´s last blog ..Read My Lips: Twitter Lists Are Meant to be Exclusionary =-.
Yes the spam cycle of going through and unfollowing is quite annoying. Many spammers are set up to just try to monetize so the sooner you find out who they are through Retweet the better it is. Then just cut them from your list and see how much cleaner your tweets are!
Twitter is all about conversation and connections.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
WOW! I am really impressed with this TweetDeck I want it…it looks so organized and i love that…
Congrates! Following you.
Thanks for the follow.. I am glad you are liking TweetDeck. Its really a beautiful app.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
Great round up. We have been using friendorfollow.com to prune inactive followers every week so we will give Refollow a try this time. It looks like its a lot more powerful. Thanks.
.-= Bill | Edward Rayne´s last blog ..Introduction to Twitter =-.
Yeah refollow is not only powerful but very easy to use. I use it pretty often to clean up my users and feel confident it is not selecting any tweeters I want to keep.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
This is a great list here. I use Tweetdeck quite a bit and Hootsuite every once in awhile. Hootsuite is also great for searching tweets.
I’m going to check out Buzzom and Refollow, thanks for that.
.-= Christopher D. Anderson´s last blog ..Creating Groups With Hootsuite =-.
Yeah of course, you’re welcome. Searching tweets is a big part of using twitter well, its good you are doing that with such a nice tool.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
Great list.
I have 2 twitter accounts and had a plugin installed to follow anyone back if they follow me automatically. Well the problem was that some random spammers just followed me and I followed them back so there would be no benefits or any point. All I had was tweets that we’re automated and selling their own products. It became very very innoying. Anyway great job on providing the videos very very helpful.
Thanks for letting me know about the Re-follow exactley what I need.
.-= Teen Blogger´s last blog ..Teenbloggerkid.com Open For Guest Bloggers =-.
Yeah following someone for no reason doesn’t help anyone, but using these tools are a great way to start fixing that.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
Pretty awesome set of Twitter vids! I still need to get my butt over to TweetDeck but right now, I’m pretty happy with the tools I’m currently using.
I mean, sure, everyone on Twitter is shouting and not too many are listening but who cares?!?
.-= Gabe | freebloghelp.com´s last blog ..Six degrees of site separation =-.
That’s exactly right. Doing a little listening goes a very long way on Twitter. That’s why I think cleaning up your account is important so you have feeds coming in from followers you actually can connect with,
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
I have used Tweetdeck and Hootsuite does the same thing. So I will stick with TweetDeck. Refollow, I wont need now, I will try Buzzom
Buzzom is a great way to accomplish a lot of Twitter, let me know if you need any help or have questions.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Twitter Apps To Make Your Blogging Easier =-.
Excellent post, Seth. Lately I’ve been using http://tweepi.com and have really enjoyed all the information it gives me about people I might want to follow. I really like that I can begin my search using the username of someone I alreayd enjoy. Even tried it with this guy who calls himself @seth1492… good stuff!
.-= Brandon Cox´s last blog ..Sency – The Web in Real Time =-.
Wow that’s a great resource Brandon. Thank you for letting us know about that. It is a wonderful Follow Manager for twitter, definitely worth trying.
Great post. I love using HootSuite. I use to use TweetDeck on my desktop and iPhone. Even though I still prefer TweetDeck’s look and layout, I chose HootSuite because it is web based and I can access it from anywhere. I also like HootSuite’s easily accessible stats. I now use Twittelator Pro on my iPhone.
I find TweetDeck’s look to be far superior to HootSuite’s but you are right, the web access makes it very simple! Also the stats are a very nice touch.
I hate to disagree, but I just don’t think twitter is that worth it. My blog has a twitter feed, but we have it mainly for our readers who enjoy getting links that way. Basically, I don’t think it is worth my time. That said, I’ll be doing a push soon to get new followers.
.-= Eric C´s last blog ..Knowing the Path and Walking the Path =-.
Although you are entitled to your opinion I believe twitter is awesome, it has opened alot of channels for me, and the people are interact with are great.
I think its all about how many users you have and how targeted they are. If you are not active on twitter its not going to help you. But if you do spend some time there to build up your followers and use it every day for something rather than promoting your own links then it will quickly become a great traffic tool.
We get a lot of traffic from Twitter.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Does Your Post Frequency Bring in the Best Results? =-.
Well the problem was that some random spammers just followed me and I followed them back so there would be no benefits or any point
.-= water dispenser´s last blog ..RO =-.
You’ve offered a good review of a broad range of tools.
I have substantial experience with Hootsuite and I’ve found that it has worked really well. We operate one Twitter account with multiple contributors and it has worked well. Lastly, while I haven’t used it yet, I hear good things about Buzzom (especially the “flush & lock” feature).
HootSuite is a great program for managing your tweets, with its scheduled, shrink and statistical features.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Does Your Post Frequency Bring in the Best Results? =-.
Refollow looks really sweet. I’ve never used it before. I love Hoot Suite. I tried tweet deck, but found hootsuite to be a little faster to setup and a little easier for me to keep track of. I love being able to quickly schedule tweets, and the click tracking from ow.ly is nice (although it does suck that it uses the ow.ly browser bar).
One program similar to buzzom I have come to like is Tweepi. You can search for people who are following your favorite tweeters. Then it displays stats like tweets in the last week, followers, following, number of RTs, Times RTed, how much they interact with others, how many links they post, and more! I think it helps me to target the best people to follow “in mass.”
It also offers clean up and reciprocate options, although It looks like refollow is probably a better site for that.
Great list of programs to make twitter easier to manage!
.-= Blake @ Props Blog Reviews´s last blog ..Are You Really Trying To Be Successful (or Are You A Schmuck) =-.
Wow your resource is really great for targeting your new follows much better! Really enjoying the Geekier Following function. Thanks a lot for the suggestion.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Does Your Post Frequency Bring in the Best Results? =-.
Great job Seth, definitely one of the better twitter app posts around.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..What Is Your Favorite/The Best Affiliate Marketing Forums? =-.
Thanks a lot Dennis!
I have never tried tweetdeck so far, but i will give it a try.Thanks for the information seth
.-= Top Blogging Tips´s last blog ..Blogging Tips and Techniques =-.
No problem! Glad you liked the resources and hope you give them a try.
.-= Seth´s last blog ..Does Your Post Frequency Bring in the Best Results? =-.
Thanks so much to the brilliant man who wrote this article, Seth you have great writing skills and you know how to make things understandable.
I don’t know about Twitter. Maybe I have the “wrong” kinds of followers because although I have over 1200, when I tweet links from ,y blog I very rarely get any hits. I must be doing something wrong. Maybe some of these tools will help me improve my Twitter skills.
.-= Chris Mollo´s last blog ..My Top 10 Favorite Al Pacino Movies =-.
I am a newbie and looking forward to such interesting and helpful piece of information on Twitter as well as other Internet marketing strategies. Thanks Seth.
.-= AKS´s last blog ..Endeavor to make the Web more accesible and user friendly =-.
Great list you got there Seth, Buzzom sounds good to me, gotta give it a try. BTW i saw a widget beside the upper part of your post showing the number of tweets and a green retweet button. What is it called and how do i put it in myblog?
Nice, I use hootsuite and its bookmarklet all the time.
Trying out buzzom now, haven’t heard of it before.
.-= Kuswanto´s last blog ..Step by Step: Drawing Cute Anime Girl Face =-.
great useful information…..
.-= sasikrishna´s last blog ..MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST-BASIC QUALIFICATIONS NEEDED TO BE A MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTIONIST =-.
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