CNNFortune reported 100 million Twitter users log in at least once a month. Half of those, 50 million, log in every day. About 55% check in with mobile devices, while about 40% just check in without actually tweeting.
Those numbers are huge for anyone who’s marketing online. But that’s not all.
Thirty-four percent of marketers who use Twitter have generated leads from its use…with 20% of those closing deals.
But how do you take advantage of this growing audience of Twitter consumers? You have to become a power user. So here are 100 proven tips to help you do just that.
And to make it easier to follow along, I’ve broken them up into 10 sections that each contain 10 tips.
10 Reasons why twitter power users are so influential
At the end of this article I’ve listed my top ten most influential power users. But before you skip down to see who they are, let me show you why they are so influential in the first place.
In an older study released by Exact Target, Jeff Bullas pointed out:
- Seventy-two percent of power users publish a blog post once a month.
- Seventy percent comment on other blogs.
- Sixty-one percent write at least one product review a month.
- Sixty-one percent will leave comments on news sites.
- Power users are six times more likely to guest post.
- Five times more likely to run a blog.
- Seven times more likely to post to Wikis.
Here are three other stats on Twitter that power users should think about:
- The average Twitter user spends over 12 minutes on his or her profile.
- Twitter users are the most generous when it comes to giving donations compared to other social sites.
- Twenty-nine percent of people have tweeted about a brand on Twitter.
Moral of the story: Twitter power users are not influential simply because they tweet. They are usually content creators online. In other words, their influence spreads as they publish consistently.
10 Twitter tools that’ll make you more effective and efficient
To become the most efficient and effective Twitter power user, you have to use the right tools so you can get the most visibility.
- Buffer – If you tend to do all your tweeting in bursts, you probably are losing some traffic. Use Buffer and you’ll have a more balanced tweeting schedule throughout the day.
- TweetWally – This is a great tool to help you search for relevant tweets or hash tags, build a presentation (or “wall”) of these tweets and then share them. Great for teachers or researchers, as well as a power user’s blog.
- Tweriod – Use Tweriod to see when you tweet and when your friends tweet. Then tweet during those times to increase engagement.
- StrawberryJ.am – This Twitter tool in beta does one simple thing: it analyzes your entire followers’ tweets, boils them down and shares with you the most shared links. You can use this information to spot trends and blog and tweet ideas.
- Twitsprout – This robust Twitter analytics tool is easy to use and endorsed by big media like Mashable and Fox News. It gives you the relevant competitive intelligence all in one location and even allows you to take that information anywhere. You can enroll 3 Twitter accounts or less for free.
- Proxlet – Here’s what Robert Scoble had to say about Proxlet: “one of the best things I’ve found lately is @proxlet — lets you filter Tweets in Google Chrome. Get rid of Paper.li spam!” You can also block apps, mute users and filter hash tags.
- BackTweets – This little analytic tool, recently acquired by Twitter, allows you to track everyone who has shared your content.
- Tweepi – If you’ve got a Twitter account where you are following too many people and want to clean up the mess, then Tweepi can help you. It flushes the unfollwers, cleans up the inactives and nudges you to follow new users.
- Twilerts – Receive emails when you, your product, brand or business is mentioned on Twitter. Sign up, create filters and you can stay on top of your reputation management game. It’s like Google Alerts for Twitter.
- ChittyChat – Get a room. That’s ChittyChat’s slogan and it offers Twitter users the chance to engage in a conversation in “private,” allowing you to communicate directly with them instead of using “mentions.”
Generate more retweets using these 10 tips
A retweet is that little reward that says somebody liked what you shared. But what makes people retweet? Here are some practical ways that will get you more retweets.
- Tweet something humorous - Over 84% of retweets tend to be something funny. Whether you are making fun of a celebrity or yourself or sharing a funny picture, there’s a good chance it will get retweeted.
- Ask - I wouldn’t abuse this, but if you occasionally end your tweet with “plz retweet” you are likely to get some retweets out it.
- Don’t use the least tweeted words - Dan Zarrella explains what the 20 least retweetable words are so you can avoid them.
- Time your tweets – Getting more retweets happens when the most people see it. That’s why you have to remember that 48% of Twitter users are in EST and that 6% of all retweets occur at 5 PM. And keep in mind that Wednesday is the best day to tweet.
- Share quotes – It seems that people love witty quotes and like to RT them. What’s nice about quotes is that you don’t have to think them up. Somebody has already done the work for you.
- Add links – In Dan Zarella’s The Science of the Retweets he pointed out that nearly 19% of all tweets contained a link. What’s interesting is that nearly 57% of retweets contained a link. People like to RT links…so tweet links.
- Pay for RTs – A tool like reTweet.it gives you the option to buy retweets. Pay $10 and you can get 10 RTs…$20 will get you 80…and $40 can give you 200. But Lauren Dugan argues it might not be a great idea. I also am not a big fan of it, but what do you think?
- Mention a high profile Twitter user in your tweet – Write a tweet in which you say something about another user and they may RT it. For example, tweet, “Hey, @neilpatel, KISSmetrics is a fantastic tool. I love it!” and I just might RT it.
- Use simple words – The average number of syllables in a retweet is 1.62. It seems that people prefer simple tweets to complex ones when it comes to retweeting.
- Use hash tags – I’ll explain below the science behind hash tags, but it’s enough to say right here that about a million to two million tweets include hash tags…meaning your tweets are more likely to be seen if you include a hash tag, thus causing more retweets.
10 healthy habits of Twitter power users
You might think that power users are slogging it out on Twitter for 18 hours a day. That’s simply not true. They have habits like the rest of us and they are healthy ones that you should copy.
- Schedule social media time – Twitter power users don’t Twitter all the time. In fact, they’ve created a schedule based upon their routine. Maybe you tweet in the morning, at lunch, during breaks and in the evenings. Use a timer to keep you from spending all of your time on Twitter.
- Use Twitter to track news – Power users have learned that they can get the best and most relevant news simply by looking at their Twitter stream. This saves them from having to watch the TV or read newspapers.
- Share content across platforms – You can improve your influence on tweets by sharing content across different social sites, drawing people from Facebook or Instagram to Twitter, for example.
- Split time with social sites – One thing about using social sites like Twitter is that you don’t get to take the content. A smart Twitter power user recognizes this, and so doesn’t invest all of his social capital in Twitter, but other sites as well. It’s okay…Twitter won’t mind.
- Know your audience – Avoid sharing content that your followers will not find interesting, relevant or useful…and avoid sharing content that is too popular or has been shared multiple times in other places. Show your followers that you are on the cutting edge.
- Tweet the same content more than once – Twitter power users also know that it’s okay to submit the same post more than once since not all followers will have seen it the first time. And it’s not necessary to say, “In case you missed it.” Just tweet it.
- Use Google Reader – Or any RSS reader for that matter. Create folders for different content topics so that you can scan for relevant headlines quickly to share.
- Attend Tweetups – Get out from behind your desk every month and go hang out with local people during a Tweetup. Better yet, set one up yourself every month. And when you are traveling ask if anybody wants to meetup for drinks.
- Tweet like a madman during events – When you attend a conference, break your tweeting regular tweeting schedule and tweet like a madman. This will make you the go-to person who seems to know what’s going on.
- Mingle without tweeting – Great power users know how to meet people face to face while resisting the urge to tweet every ten minutes. If you can’t fight the urge…excuse yourself, go to the restroom and tweet. But make sure the other person isn’t on Twitter, too.
10 iPad apps for Twitter users
From my experience, Twitter power users are usually heavy-users of technology. So to no surprise they own an iPad. But which iPad apps should you use? Well, here are ten to help you decide.
- Twitter for iPad – This is the first choice for obvious reasons…since it is the official app from Twitter. It has every possible Twitter feature you can think of and includes multi-layers that allow you to open profiles and URLs.
- Twitterlator – This app is cool because of the inline photos from your friends’ tweets and a full view of chat sessions. However, the app doesn’t fill the 9.7 inch display of the iPad, so it seems small…especially at $4.99.
- Twitepad – Twitepad is an app that uses the multi-column approach that TweetDeck uses, but the UX is a little different, as well as the tools for posting and organizing your feeds. It costs $1.99.
- Tweetings HD – This is a great app like TweetDeck but with one major flaw…you can’t click on a link in the timeline. You have to click on the tweet, which opens in a new pane, and then you can click on the link. That’s a pain…and is it worth $3.99?
- Osfoora HD – This app is great because it fills the entire iPad screen…and is elegant to look at and use. Along with the features you might expect, it also includes Instapaper to save content to read later. It’s only $2.99.
- Twitterific – It’s a great Twitter app for the iPad, and it provides some features its competitors don’t, like clickable links and profiles in the main stream. It’s free version is basic, but you can upgrade for $4.99.
- Flipboard – This app is perfect for consuming information, but not even close when it comes to being as robust as the other apps on this list, lacking many of the advanced features, like geo location or engaging followers in Flipboard. But the good news is, It is free.
- Echofon Pro – This is a great app for the iPhone and it is equally great for the iPad, providing everything that makes an app great, plus a feature that allows you to respond to multiple tweets with one reply. Whether that’s worth $4.99, you’ll have to decide.
- Twitrocker – You’ll have to shell out $4.99 for this app, but it’s worth it. You get all the best features plus your login is stored on Twitter OAuth rather than in the app and you get an “unread” feature on your lists. Download the free Lite version to see if you like it.
- TweetDeck – This free app is probably the best Twitter app across any platform—iPad, iPhone, Mac, or PC. But what makes it really stand out is it allows you to swipe between columns…speeding up access to DMs, replies, lists and search lists.
10 Ways to be more interesting on Twitter
Nobody wants to follow a boring Twitter user. The cool thing about Twitter is you don’t have to always create the interesting content…you just have to know how to share it!
- Be bold – First things, first. Don’t be afraid to share your thoughts, opinions, ideas and your life on Twitter. I don’t recommend sharing what you ate for lunch…unless it’s something bizarre. Bad morning? Share it, but with a twist that shows people something unusual.
- Post less – While interesting people do tend to have a lot to say…sharing every single thing on your mind or what you come across on the web will push away some followers.
- Flesh out your profile – Your Twitter bio is a great place to show how interesting you are. Make a list of the things you love and hate. Explain what you did in the past, what you are doing now and what you want to do in the future. Whatever it is, share it. Do not have an empty bio.
- Use the 1/9 tweet rule – Most people use Twitter to promote. If that’s you, get in the habit of sharing 9 posts not about you or your business for every post about you or your business. This way you don’t spam people.
- Share your opinions – I love to follow and read other people’s opinions…seeing how they think and what makes them so interesting. Do the same thing and you will come across as somebody with real depth.
- Write a blog – Twitter is great for sharing sound bites, but sometimes there are days when you need to expand on that sound bite. For example, tweet that you are angered by Google’s new privacy policy and then push your followers to the blog post you wrote about the topic.
- Share links – A great way to show people you have depth is to share with them what you are reading. You don’t have to focus on one topic, you can share things about your hobbies, photography, dogs, iPhones and politics. The right followers will pick up on it.
- Ask questions – Although this is an old one, it must still be mentioned. Sharing a link alone is interesting, but sharing a link and asking a question about it gets people to actually participate in the discussion with you. Plus, people find it interesting when you ask for their opinions.
- Share pictures – Using either yfrog, Instagram or Twitpic, post pictures on Twitter that you take throughout the day. Post pics when you are at an event or traveling to a new country. And most importantly avoid sharing pictures that are tasteless.
- Share videos – I’ve found this to be one of the best ways to engage my followers. I guess people love to watch videos…
10 ways to maximize Twitter usage to promote your events
If you are an event marketer, host a local conference/tweetup, or just speak at conferences, then leveraging Twitter can get you great exposure. Here’s what you need to do:
- Create a hash tag for the event – A hash tag is nothing more than a string of characters with a hash mark # before. Think #socialmedia or #Pubcon. If you want to learn more you can use these tools to find the best hash tags, but keep in mind that just because you create a hash tag for your event or session, it doesn’t mean it will work. McDonald’s learned that the hard way.
- Create a Twitter icon on the event web site or page - If you have a dedicated website or web page for the event or your speech, put a Twitter icon on there to encourage people to start following you.
- Include Twitter icons on event registration pages - Make sure your Twitter event and hash tag promotion continues through all of your interior pages, including your registration pages and the “thank you” for registering page.
- Include Twitter profiles for speakers of the event – Put Twitter profiles next to bios of all of your event speakers so that people can start to follow them, too. It’s never too early to start promotion of your event.
- Include Twitter icons in promotion emails – You should include your Twitter profile and the hash tag for the event in any emails you send out. This goes for any marketing material, whether it is online or offline.
- Embed a Twitter feed – On your event site or speaker page embed a Twitter widget that streams all of the tweets/hash tags from the event. Then encourage people to start tweeting using the hash tag before the event starts to generate interest and excitement in the event.
- Create a contest to drive retweets for the event - Contests should include some sort of prize for the best tweet and most tweets. Tell event goers to tweet things they would like to improve about the event so you can try and correct it in real time. In addition, you can get creative by introducing a contest where someone explains in a tweet why they came to your event. Make sure everyone knows that they have to use the hash tag.
- Encourage speakers to tweet about event – This is probably a given, but encourage all of your speakers to tweet about the event. You may even consider running a contest just among the speakers for who tweets the most. Consider offering a prize to incentivize participation.
- Showcase tweets on blog – On the event website/blog, publish a transcript of all of the event tweets from the previous days and after the event is over.
- Analyze the data – If your event and hash tag promotion was a success, you should have a ton of data to sift through. Look for trends, ideas and tips on how you can make the event better in the future.
10 ways power users get more Twitter followers
Whether you want to be a power user or not, getting more followers is probably high on your list. These ten strategies have worked for me… and will work for you.
- Create a follower goal – One of the best ways to motivate you to attract more followers is to set a goal. Write down how many followers you want in a year, then break it down by month, week and day…and then get to work!
- Share remarkable content consistently – Power users find and share content that is useful, funny, practical, interesting and profitable for their followers. This includes links, RTs, videos, photos and podcasts. Do this consistently and your follower numbers will naturally grow.
- Guest post – I’ve had some great success picking up followers simply by writing content for other blogs. Depending on the size of the blog, you can get from 10 to 100 new followers from one post. Just make sure in your author bio you include a link to your Twitter profile.
- Catch and release – This tactic involves searching for a topic on Twitter that is relevant to what you do, and then following 100 people who’ve interacted with that topic. You can repeat this process endlessly, removing those who don’t follow you back.
- Target follower with your bio – Write your bio with facts that describe what you do, and explain who you would like to follow you. Make sure you include a link back to your blog.
- Use tools – Use web tools like WeFollow to help you find followers. Directories like Listorious.com are also a good way to find new followers, too.
- Engage – Followers naturally gravitate to power users because they use Twitter to not only share content…but interact by replying, RTing and giving you props. This is what has made some of the power users I mention below so popular.
- Use hash tags – You will pick up new followers when you use hash tags since people see what you are interested in as they search through these tags since you show up in popular hash tag searches. And by the way, if you see a hash tag trend…try to jump on it!
- Go where people hangout – What I mean by this is you need to attend conferences, events, seminars and local tweetups. You’ll meet people at these events and if you bond, you’ve likely got a new follower who may eventually recommend you to his or her audience.
- Promote your Twitter account – Power users recognize that they can promote their account by attaching it to email signatures, embedding an icon on their website and even putting it on business cards. Twitter is universal enough that people will understand what it is.
10 Twitter metric tools for power users
Being a Twitter power user means you care about what you tweet and about how influential each tweet is…and how influential you are. There is no point in being a power user unless you want to be the best, right? That’s means measuring your success. Here are ten tools to do that with:
- Twitter Counter – Tracking over 10 million users, Twitter Counter is a pretty standard Twitter analytic tool, giving you a snapshot of follower predictions and daily stats. And starting at $75/month, you can attract high-quality followers through their follower program.
- Tweetstats – If you want to break your tweets down by hour, TweetStats is your tool. You can also see tweets per month and your reply statistics. Free tool.
- Tweetreach For marketing and PR professionals who love to see how far their message is reaching, TweetReach will deliver. It’s simple to use and plans start at $84/month.
- Twitalyzer – This is some serious Twitter search analytics. From automatic daily updates to Custom Data Range reporting to Competitive Account Tracking, you will up your social game with this tool. You can start with a free trial.
- Trendistic – Whether you are looking for things to blog or tweet about, this search tool will help you find out what is trending on Twitter.
- Twitter Grader – This ego-pulling tool will show you how influential you are on Twitter by “grading” your profile, tweets, followers, RTs and replies. Good way to measure improvements in a complete social media campaign.
- Klout – Klout is another social media tool that measures your influence…this time it does it over all of your social media networks, Twitter included.
- Simply Measured – Are you an Excel junkie like me? With Simply Measured you can take your social data and create beautiful reports in Excel.
- Sprout Social – Sprout Social is a one-stop shop for all your social media tracking needs, including Twitter. Extensive reporting capabilities that allow you to isolate single site performance.
10 Twitter power users I admire
This post wouldn’t be complete without a top 10 list of power users you should follow, watch, study and engage (because they will engage back with you). These are the pioneers and leaders in the space who’ve taught me everything I’ve known. I’m very grateful for their hard work.
- Robert Scoble @scobleizer – Easily one of the most recognized names on Twitter, Scoble tweets about technology and brags about his interviews with over 3,200 geeks.
- Jeremiah Owyang @jowyang – Top social media industry analyst at Altimeter Group, Jeremiah is a very active Twitter user who shares a ton of information about social media.
- Kevin Rose @kevinrose – The founder of Digg posts about his newest ideas and projects, as well as sharing Instagram photos and testing out new web tools.
- Pete Cashmore @mashable – Like he needs an introduction, but Pete is the founder of Mashable who doesn’t hide behind his account—he gets in the middle of the action!
- Guy Kawaski @GuyKawaski – Author of many popular books and former chief evangelist for Apple. Guy shares a lot of content about everything. Great source.
- iJustine @ijustine – She claims to be a video game lover who makes a lot of YouTube videos, but iJustine also has her hands in all things technology…with a Twitter tech list you need to check out.
- Daniel Brusilovsky @danielbru – He’s only seventeen, but he’s got passion for all things technology, founding Teens in Tech Network. I love his passion.
- Chris Brogan @chrisbrogan – He’s probably one of the more popular social media experts and speakers out there. From Twitter to Google Plus… he shares insights on social media daily.
- Dave Morin @davemorin – Dave is not only a great photographer, but the founder and CEO of Path. His replies and RTs easily outpace his own tweets, showing he’s very engaged. A must follow.
- Fred Wilson @fredwilson – A great venture capitalist, blogger and Twitter power user. Even though he has over 200,000, Fred still engages actively with his followers.
And of course I can’t put everyone on this list…so who would you put on this list?
Conclusion
Twitter is really a great way to connect online, build relationships and close deals. And just because this post is huge, it doesn’t mean it’s difficult or complicated to leverage Twitter.
My advice to you is to start at the top and slowly work your way down this list. It takes time to become a Twitter power user. But you will eventually start to see your influence on Twitter grow. The cool thing is that your influence will grow across the web as well.
So other ways can you become a Twitter power user?
This amazing course will teach you, step by step, how to double if not triple your traffic over the next 30 days.
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Paying for retweets sounds absolutely insane. That’s like paying for Myspace friends.
I agree with you. I am not a big fan of it, but I see a lot of users doing it these days. The retweets they are getting are irrelevant and are from spammy users.
It’s always better to get natural/organic retweets.
Totally agree – what’s the point in paying for followers who have no interest in following you?
Really great article though Neil, thanks for the good read!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
Agree 100%, you’re paying for useless numbers that will have no measurable impact on your bottom line.
Yep, it is better to spend the time and effort into finding things that your followers will want to retweet.
I also agree, paying for retweets is just wasting those money. Better, tweeting something valuable content, as they can get concentration of other users and likely to get retweeted.
BTW, this is really an incredible article. All are going to be helpful, as I am planning to use tweeter more
I need to memorize few points from here, have completed reading 50 points, and complete study on all 100 points after waking up. Going for a sleep and many many thanks for this article.
I really appreciate it. It took me a VERY long time to write…
I also agree that paying for retweets is not worth it. It is much more important to have quality followers that like your tweets and are ready to retweet them if necessary.
Yep, quality is better then quantity.
Hello Niel. Thanks for this great list. I have… um… about ten of the tools you have here that I use. I liked the power users and know Chris Brogan around the way. I have also been following iJustines’ career for a while. B.t.w. Where did she get her break from?
Not sure where she got her break from. She has been around for years… it just happened over time I guess.
I guess that she got her break by being persistent and confident in her capacity.
That is definitely what got her there.
Thanks for the fantastic content Neil. Having such a round-up of resources is always helpful. I particularly liked Tweroid, timing is something really under-considered so I’m sure it’ll help me reach out to my current network more. One thing you touched upon is that Twitter is a global network, thats the beauty of it. I love interacting with people far away who I’ve never met before, so this may help. Cheers.
Tweroid is a great tool to try out. Use it to figure out the best times to post your tweets and you can increase the amount of interaction on your account. I enjoy being able to connect with people worldwide as well. Twitter gives us a chance to make some interesting and helpful connections.
These are some awesome tips, a friend recommended this article to me and I’m trying out Buffer right now. I use Hootsuite for accounts I manage for clients but I think Buffer will be great to grow my personal Twitter account.
Thanks Matt,
Let me know how you like Buffer.
Attending events and webinars help a lot. They definitely help in reaching your goal towards becoming a power user.
Yep, attending events is a great way to make connections. As well as learn from and meet other power users.
Meeting other power users seems a bit difficult but we can try.
It’s possible, you just have to put in some effort. Anything worth while, takes a bit of work.
From events we can able to learn lots of new things from the experienced person.
You can. Try to attend as many as possible. I used to attend over 50 a year.
Fantastic post Neil!
Now question is how do we get you to follow us
Keep up the amazing content.
I wish I could follow everyone… I actually need to reduce my following count as I follow way too many people which messes up my stream.
Thanks for the great List and great source of info NeiL, Some Tips were really new to me , Looking forward to know more.
No problem Sushen, glad you found some new and useful tips here. Look forward to having you come back for more!
Hi Neil,
This is a great resource. I did not know most of the apps you mention here and I will keep them in mind.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks David,
Definitely give some of them a try and see how they work out for you. Let me know if you have any questions along the way.
EPIC!
One question…. why not include the Buffer button in your share bar? I love Buffer, use it daily, but it is so much easier when my favorite sites have the button
I have to add it… just waiting for my developer to do so. He has some other big things that I need changed/fixed first.
For example the current sharebar sucks and I want to use my old one. But there is some error in WordPress that doesn’t let me do so.
Awesome information Neil! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to checking out a bunch of these tools.
Thank you Harrison,
That is great, let me know how you like the tools you try out!
Another bad post.
Neil…this stuff is like your course…nothing to do with what you are REALLY doing promotion wise.
Your Google ad banners are EVERYWHERE…why not talk about that stuff?
All you are trying to sell to sell is basic “write 100 posts and they will come crap.”
Talk about media buying…which is what you are doing big time…stop insulting everyone.
Patrick
Hey Patrick, a lot of the stuff I am doing costs a lot of money. And from my surveys I have put out over 83% of Quick Sprout readers want information and tips that don’t cost money.
I dont agree with Patrick. Though I have seen Neil’s google ad banners but still I would say he is educating people with great hard to find stuff..
Thanks, I appreciate your support.
Great tips and tricks. Love all the suggestions, applications, etc, boy if you can’t benefit from Twitter after this great article you must not have read it.
Thanks Tyson,
I appreciate your support. Glad you enjoyed it.
This is fantastic information right at your fingertips forTwitter. This will be my guide and something I can share with my friends who want to learn about twitter.
Great job!!
Thank you.
Thank you Leticia,
Sounds good, let me know how these tips work out for you.
Wow this is great tweet info!!! It is amazing to know that there are so many great ways we can take advantage to get the most of our tweet experience. Great post!!!
Thanks Jude,
Twitter is definitely an amazing site. Even better once you learn different tricks to utilize it to your advantage.
@ Patric I’m sure Neils traffic doesn’t just come from google add banners, I’ve been reading his blog for about 6 month now and always come back here all the time to find inspiration and get tips.
Like any blog, my traffic is split up between search, referrers and direct visitors.
Thanks for coming back.
This is truly one of the best Twitter posts I’ve came across. In depth, yet simple ways to master the platform.
I have to check out most of these new resources, but gotta say Buffer is my favorite app out of the ones listed!
Bobby
Awesome, thanks for your kind words Bobby. Definitely look into some of the other sites listed and let me know how they work out for you.
Really, you have very nicely described the ways to become a twitter power user. Your information is very informative and easy in understanding step by step, how the Twitter is powerful if the right way we use it.
Thank you, happy to hear you found these tips helpful as well as easy to understand.
Good one Twitter Tool ideas sharing here.
Keep it up Neil.
Thanks,
I will definitely keep at it.
Twitter is great place to get more exposure for yourself and your business, but you have to follow right and steady way… instead of fast and spammy way. Concentrate on quality than quantity and you’ll see the difference.
Yep, you have got it. Take the time to do it right and you will have the best long term results.
Hey Neil great information. The different ways that you have shared over here has just inspired me and one day I definitely going to become a Twitter power user. Thanks so much for this great stuff.
Thanks Mack,
I am glad you found inspiration here. I hope you are able to reach your goal.
Best of luck
thank you Neil…This will definitely useful for my blog………Thanks again:)
Great, let me know if you have any questions along the way.
How did you get this information Neil that Twitter users are more generous in terms of donations. Also the point that on average twitter users spend atleast 12 minutes is really interesting. I do wonder at times how they calculate this time.
Through research. I didn’t collect the stats directly, but instead I found other people who already collected the information.
Great stuff Neil,
Out of everything that you mention the thing that stuck out most to me is the goal setting. I think it is one of the more important things you can do but probably the most overlooked. Also make sure that you plan time to tweet, if you don’t plan it in your day then it probably won’t get done. Also I would also add set a time limit, it is easy to become addicted to twitter and you could be wasting time that could be spent elsewhere, twitter is just one out of many social media marking.
Awesome, you have many good points. Goals are what set priorities and keep you focused. I like the idea of setting time limit on Twitter. However I would extend that to all social media sites any one can become addictive.
Wow – 4,271 words! That’s a huge to-do list, but very detailed and useful. It will take a while for me to digest it, but I have bookmarked it and will keep coming back.
Just wanted to ask one question Neil,… Considering that you are a successful busy entrepreneur, do you research and write the articles yourself, or have article writes do the job?
Each of your article is so well done and detailed. I love them.
I do all of the research and writing. Like this post took me many hours to write, but I split it up over multiple days as I couldn’t finish it all in 1 day.
I typically do most of my blogging while on the plane.
Thanks a lot. The most complete guide on twitter & tweeting, I have ever read. Awesome!
Great, let me know how these tips work out for you!
Hrm. Hundreds of RTs already. I know: I’ll pinboard and save this to delicious, then tweet it out later. *lightbulb* Sounds like a job for bufferapp…
Thanks Dave, I appreciate your support. Definitely may be a job for buffer.
Twitter fever still not that high in India.
Maybe one day it will be.
Twitter fever in South Africa also is not so high. My estimate is that 90% + registered users go on less than one a week.
It will be interesting to see if it grows over the next few years.
I actually had the same opinion as you – that twitter fever in South Africa is not so high – but I heard on the radio, just this week ironically, that South Africans are actually using Twitter much more than other countries lately. I looked it up as well, just to confirm, and I found that:
“The interesting report, ‘How Africa Tweets’, compiled by Portland Communications and media service, Tweetminster, found that South Africa, Africa’s largest economy, produced the most amount of tweets (more than five million) over a three month period.”
I still find this surprising…!
Yea, some people don’t like it, but it will catch on. Same thing happened with Facebook earlier on.
Amazing stats!!
Thank you so much for Twitter related software list.
I know only a few of them
Thanks, glad you were able to learn about a few different tools you have yet to use. I hope they are helpful to you.
Very powerful tips here . Tools you mentioned are new to me back tweet and some other i never used . Thank you for your twitter tips .One thing i realized on twitter is whenever i post quotes it gets retweeted many times , but no links tweet gets retweet
Yep, I have tested it and people tend to retweet quotes more then anything else.
Liked this article a lot but how much of this carries over to Google Plus? Obviously not the tools but does hash tags work the same way in G+ as in Twitter. Are they as effective?
I am not 100% sure. I would say a decent chunk carries over, but Google + is a big different as it is owned by Google and they can use it to affect search results more.
Holy Cow…Information Overload…Always entertaining to see the vast number of Twitter Tools out there…While most don’t survive, they’re definitely some handy ones available. I know this an all encompassing piece with great info, but I would suggest users keep it to 3-5 tools. Anymore, and it gets to be a little much. The three I use are: SocialBro, Tweepi, and TweetSpinner.
Good point… if you try to do everything instead of just picking a few things, you’ll never get anything done.
I also have a tendency to write really long posts instead of shorter ones.
Hi Neil,
You have put your knowledge and experience handsomely in this article and I am sure all the people who are using twitter will be thinking seriously to turn themselves into POWER USERs. Actually, your article gives me power to turn myself into power user too – lol.
I envision the better use of twitter is more and more practice with some continuance guidance from the experts like you. After through study of your article I guess it will take me at least 8-12 weeks to really get going your 100 tips but the result should be awesome.
Neil, do you have a guide to use twitter as power user in the light of your tips? and if so, would you like to share with us the highlighted points of your guide. You have provided all the DO’s on twitter do you have DON’Ts of twitter?
I don’t have a guide… but maybe I will create one.
I hope you become a power user soon.
This was such a helpful article, especially since i’ve stumbled into a career as a social media manager for realtors and lawyers. I will definitely be using this information for their sites. Also, using your tactics i’ll follow up by saying follow me on twitter @kenziesong
Thanks again!
Best of luck on becoming a Twitter power user.
Hi Neil great post, I have just started to build a Twitter base for my boss and branching out into social media for his company and you have given some excellent tips here, many of which I will share with our fans. Oh and by the way, Do you write blog posts in your sleep? You never seem to stop
Kind of. I wrote it on the plane… Which means I fell asleep for part of the flight and when I woke up I started blogging.
It actually took me a few plane flights to complete.
No Android love?
No.
Next time I will have to include Android as it is a popular phone.
Twitter is the best source to drive traffic hence we follow it up in right direction
Facebook, Pinterest and StumbleUpon are also good.
Can you please throw more light on Pinterest. I have also heard about plurk which is quite similar to Twitter. Have you ever got a chance to use it Neil?
If you check out my latest post you will find an in-depth guide to Pinterest.
The Marketer’s Guide to Pinterest
http://bit.ly/xgR9Ob
Amazing.. You have created an article on Pinterest. Thanks a lot
Yep, hope it helps!
Guy Kawasaki’s tweets are always enjoyable, most of them are a wise-ass yet useful look at things. And the McDonald’s link was killer. Very useful resource, this post.
Yea, Guy is a smart person. He has a lot of wisdom to share…
Is Twitter really getting that big. I personally dont use it, Maybe I should on a day to day basis to help promote my business. To me Facebook is still number one.
You should try using it. You can get a ton of traffic from it.
Man this is a brilliant article, brilliant I’ve sent it to people I know in the business. It is so well researched – “common sense isn’t common” in particular the 47% of people on twitter are on EST.
Brilliant.
Jake
PS I have data on “Digital Natives” in China I can share with you – that’s my way of saying thanks.
Thanks Jake! I put a lot of hours into it, so I am happy you like it.
Really informative tips. I always though a lot of people tweet just to market their product but not much people really look at other peoples tweet.. looks like there is a 50% audience after all. I need to seriously give a thought.
Yep, Twitter is a powerful tool that can be quite useful once you learn to utilize it properly.
This has in depth information about twitter. Checking out the tools for twitter now. Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks Catherine,
Let me know how you like those tools.
I have an twitter account but not much followers and also not finding an source to increase an traffic through it
Give some of the tactics above a try and see if they help you increase traffic. If you have a specific question feel free to ask and I will do my best to help answer it.
To be popular on twitter, just update often and find a specific topic !
That is one way to do it.
This is all getting too much for me, how to twitter properly and Facebook and blogging etc all to promote my business, don’t get me wrong, I want to promote my business but I just don’t have the time to keep up with all these social networks and their various nuances. I am now outsourcing all my SocioViral marketing to Magicbuz who have the experience and know-how to do it properly. Their conversationalists are experienced and are able to connect with people on a personal level.
Yep, sometimes it is necessary to outsource when you cannot or do not have the time to do it yourself. Thanks for the recommendation as to who you use.
Awesome, I have been using twitter for about 2 months now, and this should prove to be useful in ensuring my website gets exposure.
Thanks again
-Lee
Thanks Lee, let me know how these tips help.
I like Twitter as a tool but unfortunately Twitter doesn’t like me! My accounts are suspended indiscriminately, no email or reason given, even when the accounts are being used lightly or not used at all. I resent having to get on my knees and plead my case to have the accounts reinstated. They appear to have a high and mighty attitude.
That is unfortunate, I myself am seen as spam on Twitter. I hope you are able to get your situation resolved.
Best of luck.
Wow ! Such a lot of useful information about Twitter at one place. Thanks. I am so much wiser about it now.
Awesome, glad you were able to learn from this post.
I am not a twitter power user. Actually I don’t know the tools on twitter much those hash tags, etc. I got to tweet something for the company once on my personal twitter profile. But I don’t have many followers. But thanks for this tips, advises on how to be a followed by. Mostly those who tweet a lot and joins the trend gets a lot of followers, because that’s really proven by very ordinary people like my friends.
Twitter is tricky and takes time to learn how to utilize properly. If you practice and read different tools and tips often you will soon get there. Let me know if you have any questions as you go.
Hi Neil,
Amazing post, on the section in 10 Reasons why twitter power users are so influential, it’s Jeff Bullas instead of Jeff Bulla
Thanks for pointing that out. I have gone back and fixed it.
That’s good that you say at the end to start with the first section and grow from there, using all of those would take a while, and congrats on putting together such a long and comprehensive post on the subject of becoming a twitter power user.
Thanks, it definitely may take a while but will be worth it in the end.
This was really helpful. Incredible aggregation of tools, resources & tips..must’ve taken you a while. thanks Neil!
Thank you Sarah,
Great to hear you found it helpful!
Nice one Neil.One point probably you missed out is recommending someone to change their handle/id so that it better reflects their tweeting habits and also whether or not to use real vs pseudo-names
@praxprasanna
You make a good point. It definitely is a smart idea to make sure you have a popper and appropriate name. Thanks for brining that up.
CNNFortune reported 100 million Twitter users log in at least once a month. Half of those, 50 million, log in every day. About 55% check in with mobile devices, while about 40% just check in without actually tweeting.
Yep, I am not surprised. Thanks for sharing those statistics with everyone.
Definitely the most comprehensive article which I’ve read on getting the most out of Twitter! Thank you very much for putting this together, I learned a lot from reading it and bookmarked it for future reference.
Thanks! I am working on a guide that is 25,000 words long for Twitter.
But how do you even get these authority figures to tweet or post about your content on Facebook or Google+? You have to build a relationship with them.
Yes, after you build relationships you can ask them for tweets or social plugs.
Hi Neil,
I have a question …Do you write all posts by yourself??
Hello Amit,
I do write my own post. Sometimes I have guest authors but it would say under the title if it is not written by me.
Hi Neil,
Love this post, do you think that when it comes to social media posts the competition is too intense due to it being such a hot subject? I am seeing less success from posts targeted around social media than posts about other subjects. What would you suggest for a social post to pick up traction? My latest is here;
http://www.mediawow.co.uk/2012/03/12-easy-tips-to-help-your-social-media-growth
Kind regards
Lee
Hey Neil, thanks so much for the wealth of information. I have been studying your Traffic System course for the past week, great stuff!
This article was very helpful but I’m wondering why use Buffer if you already use TweetAdder. Doesn’t TweetAdder allow you to schedule posts like Buffer in addition to other features? I think I may be missing something here, thanks again!
Wow, 100 ways indeed. I absolutely didn’t know lots of these that you mentioned. Awesome, Neil. Thanks for a great article.
Many people still feel Twitter is not relevant to their business. Sadly they are losing out on a whole lot of business by ignoring Twitter. I wonder if they will continue to do so as Twitter gets more popular,
Really amazing… I know i keep saying this on almost all your posts Neil but… it comes out with what a honestly feel. I never used a lot before my private twitter account because i had a hard time understanding why i would need to share with other people every little detail about my life. I have always been a quite reserved person. But since a entered the online business world i realized what a powerful and amazing tool twitter is. There is a whole science behind it and you with this post demonstrated your expertise on dominating this science. A very completed and details list of tools and how to take the best out of Twitter. I will follow your guidelines! Thank you for your long time spent writing this post!
How funny I was just saying I didn’t know how to use Twitter effectively! This article will keep me busy
I am going to use this advice on my twitter. It seems that Twitter is the only place where I am lacking in the traffic area. This is a great post! Thanks!