6 Top Twitter Tools for Business

Twitter really is a great marketing tool for small businesses. So much so, developers have flocked to create a whole range of Twitter tools to help businesses maximize their social media efforts. But, with 1 million third party tools and counting, it can be confusing trying to decide what the best tools to increase your Twitter engagements are.

Here is a list of the top 6 Twitter tools to help you make the most out of your Twitter efforts from the limited time you have.

1. InboxQ

Did you know that 59% of Twitter users are more likely to follow their account if you answer their questions? Who needs Twitter directories when you’ve got Inbox Q. This awesome Twitter tool helps you find people asking questions about areas you specialize in. This is a great opportunity to showcase your expertise on a particular area by engaging with users and helping them solve their problems.

One of the first engagements we ever received was through InboxQ. Twitter user @consultingchris asked what inverse search was. I’m not quite sure how, but I knew the answer and promptly responded to him. I recommend you install the bookmarklet in your browser so you can easily answer questions whenever and wherever you are by simply clicking on the bookmark icon.

2. Commun.it

Commun.it enables you to focus the limited time you have as a small business owner on followers that add the most value to your Twitter account.

There are 3 ways it helps in building stronger relationships with your community:

1. Engagements are prioritized. You can quickly focus on the Twitter followers who offer the most value to you. These are your top influencers, top supporters, most engaged members and potential leads.
2. View relationship history with Twitter users. You can see your relationship status (are they following you or are you following them), engagements between the member and yourself including all mentions, replies, retweets and DMs).
3. Manage your followers.  Quickly view Twitter users you might consider unfollowing or following, and easily engage with new followers.

Use Commun.it to regularly tweet a thanks to top supporters on a weekly basis. It’s a great way to show your appreciation for those who spread the word about your brand.

3. Formulists

Formulists is the most advanced Twitter list creator I have seen. It allows you to automatically set up lists whenever someone retweets, follows or @mentions you. But rather than just grouping Twitter users by retweets, followers and @mentions, it takes it one step following by offering advanced filters with special rules you can put in place.

Here are some samples from the Commun.it website:

• A list of people you follow from the same city as you
• “foodies” or “bloggers” you follow based on bio keywords
• A “Big Twitterers I follow” list of people who have tons of followers relative to the number of people they follow

These lists are dynamic and automatically updated so new retweets, followers and @mentions that fall into the formulist you create are automatically added.

Through this Twitter tool, I’ve been able to quickly engage with  influential Twitter users in the area. Simply select the “Filter Who You Follow into Readable Lists” option under “Organize Your Network”. Then enter your location keywords under Location Filter and specify the minimum number of followers a user needs to have to be included in the list. This way only those with large a large followers base will appear in the list.

4. Twylah

When your followers visit your Twitter profile, they’re greeted with a list of your latest Twitter streams. Not very appealing right? Luckily Twylah turns your Twitter page into a visually appealing page to showcase your brand to your followers.

Each time you tweet out through Twylah your followers are directed to an optimized landing page, full of your relevant tweets on the same topic.

If you can, place a link on your website or blog to your Twylah page. Twylah offers some varied and attractive buttons to encourage users to take notice of the link and view your Twylah page.

5.SocialMotus

As a small business owner, there never seems to be enough time in the day to spend on social media. This is where SocialMotus will help. It lets you effectively build and then engage with your Twitter communities from one interface, making it particularly useful for those who are new to social media.

I’ve used this to:

• Build our Twitter followers through the leads discovery tools, then view the profile information available to send them targeted Twitter messages
• Sschedule posts quickly through the bookmarklet when my followers and fans are most likely to be online to increase engagement rates
• Quickly respond to engagements
• Engage with new Twitter and Facebook users if they’re discussing relevant conversions through the keyword monitoring.
• Quickly view mysocial progress at a glance and track post statistics to better understand which messages are most effective in driving Twitter engagements and so on.

Remember  to set up the priority messaging system to ensure all support and customer service emails are sent to a priority inbox so you can quickly respond.

6. Tweriod

Tweriod is an optimal timing tool. It provides you with the best times to tweet by analyzing both your tweets and your followers’ tweets.

I like this because it lets you know exactly how many are followers online during different times of the day. Posting during these times exposes your tweet to more followers and increases the chance users will engage with your tweet. To implement these optimal tweeting times, simply jot down the days and the time when the most followers are on Twitter. Then make sure you always schedule a post during these times.

What do you think? Do you use any of these Twitter tools? Are there any other ones you would recommend? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Guest Author – Siv Rauv is a Marketing Executive at SocialMotus, a free all-in-one management platform. Now with our Facebook and Twitter tools, you have everything you need to get Twitter followers fast, handle priority messages quickly, track conversions and stats from Twitter and Facebook post and much more.