Twitter Week

by Jack Humphrey on Dec 30

Can you tell I’m on a Twitter bender?  I can’t help it.  I blew it off for the most part this year because there were so many tools and so many people talking about it that I just got burnt out on it before I gave it a real chance.

So, this week is shaping up to be Twitter Week on FTR.  Here’s what I’ve been playing with today:

TweetDeck: I know all you Twitter experts are laughing your butts off, but I wasn’t lying when I said I was ignoring all the tools people were raving about in 2008.  This one is freakin’ awesome and, at least I finally saw the light and downloaded it. Having your DMs and @replies show up alongside your friends tweets is a MUST for effective and prompt communication and relationship building.

The Art of ReTweeting: Excellent article on the art and function of retweeting.  Read about the viral nature of the retweet here.

Check out another great article on the 4 Stages of Twitter.  Learn what your follow to follower ratio should be and why.

Here’s and excellent article by Copyblogger on How to Use Twitter to Grow Your Business.

Note: Since I started working hard on Twitter this week I’ve gained a TON of new followers.  Just by being more active, but by also following the Twitterati and other people I’ve been adding this week and @talking to them.  (More places to find heavy Twitterers to follow:  TwitterCounter and Egos on Alltop.

Finding new people to follow and why

I discovered TweetGrid tonight and started searching for my name, my products, and my site names to see who in the Twitterverse has been Tweeting about me.  I followed them all.  Took some time, but it is a good feeling to reward people who talk about you or your site/products with a follow.  Generated some @replies for this work and stronger relationships with fans.

Not big enough for people to talk about yet?  Then use it to find the people talking about things having to do with your interests.  Follow ‘em!

WordPress Plugin

I haven’t installed it yet or even know the name, but I am seeing a lot more bloggers including a new comment feature which allows you to put your Twitter ID in and link to your Twitter account from comments you leave.  Saw it most recently on this post today from Maria Reyes-McDavis.  Check out the guy on the top of that list!  :)

Anyone have the name of that plugin?

Using TwitterFeed

If you are going to post your blog to your Twitter account, use something like Blog Post: in your settings so that the Tweets from your blog look like this: Blog Post:  Twitter Week [link]

I put the cryptic FTR: when I signed up several months back and kept getting questions from people about what the heck FTR meant!

How lame am I for having a Twitter post as possibly my last post of the year?

Tagged as: twitter followers, twitter marketing, twitter tips, twitter tools

  • http://www.web-biz-today.com Kent@Social Media Marketing

    Hey Jack, welcome to 2008!! I mean…. thanks for the new resources you found. A couple look like keepers. You might look at Tweetree that Twitterati mentioned. Cleans up the stream well.

    Kents last blog post..Authority Black Book of Social Marketing

    • http://www.jackhumphrey.com/ Jack Humphrey

      Better late than never! Imagine being able to re-live the week you finally saw what everyone was REALLY excited about with Twitter. Now you jealous? :)

  • http://www.howtomakemyblog.com HowToMakeMyBlog.com

    To add Twitter Field to your comments section, use the Wp-TwiTip-ID plugin from:
    http://www.fiddyp.co.uk/wp-twitip-id-plugin-add-a-twitter-field-to-your-comment-form-easily/

    Hope this helps…
    Marko

    HowToMakeMyBlog.coms last blog post..How to grow the number of your Twitter followers

  • http://problogservice.com Deeter

    That plugin you are looking for is WP-Twitip-ID found here: http://www.fiddyp.co.uk/wp-twitip-id-plugin-add-a-twitter-field-to-your-comment-form-easily. It’s not a super quick install but the instructions are sufficient for most WP hacks.

    • http://www.jackhumphrey.com/ Jack Humphrey

      The Deeter comes through again! Thanks man.

  • http://gohealthygo.com Karen Miner Hurd

    Hey Jack-
    Welcome to the Twitterverse! I love Twitter. In fact it’s now my favorite social media tool. Tweetdeck made all the difference for my Twitter experience. I have also added followers by using Tweetbeep. Tweetbeep allows me to track my keywords and join conversations I would otherwise miss. I use it for retweet material and blog posts too.
    @LongevtiyCoach

  • http://www.KenEnglish.wordpress.com Ken

    Happy New Year!

    Recommendations are always appreciated. I am grateful for the link to ‘The Art of ReTweeting.’ I’ve been reluctant to send interesting items onward do to the general fear of looking stupid. Now, I can cast off the chains of fear and move boldly into the unknown.

    By the way, the BlogTalkRadio Show is great. Content is always meaningful.

    Kens last blog post..December 31st: More than the Last Day of the Year

  • http://scottdig.com scot

    You may also want to check out yonkly. It’s the first “create your own” microblog to integrate with Twitter: http://yonkly.com

  • http://joerobertson.com Joe

    Hi Jack

    Good info and timely for me. I was on the Web Success Diva’s site and it looks like she is using a plugin for twitter from here
    http://alexking.org/blog/2008/11/13/twitter-tools-151

    Joe

  • http://reduceyourweightchallenge.com Scott@reduceyourweight

    Jack
    since you are on a twitter roll there is a new program in beta for twitter. It is in the vernacular of today off the hook. It aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter by taking an abundance of information i.e twitter feeds, and breaking it down into more manageable bite size pieces.

    It is really cool, sharp or what ever term you would like to use. You may be aware of it and if so follow me on Twitter anyway and if you are not follow me and I hope everyone that reads this will follow me as well. Follow Me On Twitter

  • http://reduceyourweightchallenge.com Scott@reduceyourweight

    I read this but missed it at the top and to put it in my comment. TweetDeck is awesome. Totally! Cannot out do the fox. You beat me to it.
    Follow Me On Twitter

  • http://www.web-biz-today.com Kent@Social Media Marketing

    Started using Tweetlater in the last couple of days. Not completely set up over there yet but appears to be a good tool. Getting ready to dive into TweetDeck and add a twitter plugin! 2009 is off to a busy start. Watching you on twitter and hope to have some good interaction there.

    Kents last blog post..Google Friend Connect

  • http://www.twitterattraction.com Angie A. Swartz

    Good news for you, you’re still considered an early adopter on Twitter! So even though you didn’t write a post until the end of the year, you can still say your wrote one before 2009! You’ve mentioned some great things in your post. You also might want to check out the first book written about Twitter, The Twitter Revolution written by @coachdeb and @warrenwhitlock. Warren also broadcasts at http://www.twitcastradio.com. Additionally, @joelcomm has a new book coming out in February, Twitter Power on Twitter for Business that I can’t wait to read. I’ve been addicted to twitter since September when I attended Blog World Expo and the whole conference was run using twitter. If you were tweeting, you couldn’t stay up to date on the conference. It was amazing. I’ve also been writing fun blogposts about my “Affair with Twitter” on http://www.sixfiguremomsclub.com. Yesterday, my partner, @alanunderkofler and I launched, http://www.twitterattraction.com, as we see endless opportunities for businesses who want to use conversational marketing to attract and maintain customers. We hope you’ll come visit us. I’ve stumbled your post and I’ll be back for many more traffic reports! Hope to see you on Twitter!
    @aaswartz on Twitter

    Angie A. Swartzs last blog post..Free Twitter Backgrounds

  • http://foliovision.com Alec

    Pretty late to the party, Jack.

    I think your point about substantial posts and less social media fluff applies to Twitter as well.

    Let others do tweet your horn.

    Alecs last blog post..Using the Search Regex plugin for WordPress successfully

    • http://www.jackhumphrey.com/ Jack Humphrey

      Alec – Actually not so late. Let’s not forget there are only 5 million ppl on Twitter. 4.5 million of them seem to be “social marketing experts.” Compared to 140 million at Facebook, Twitter is only the geek’s hangout right now.

  • http://www.itsallaboutthealmighty.com Rob

    Jack I love your I tweet Do Follow Me? badge. Was this custom made or did you use some service/plugin to make it?

    Robs last blog post..A CHRISTIAN’S NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

    • http://www.jackhumphrey.com/ Jack Humphrey

      Rob – I grabbed the badge from a site I lost the URL for. I used Google to find it. Try “twitter badges” “twitter buttons”

      I then did a very unprofessional hack job on it to include my Simpsons avatar on the left with GIMP. I recommend spending more than 3 minutes on this task. :)

  • http://www.MarketingProfessor.com Travis Campbell

    Jack-

    Good stuff, and great timing. I like Kent’s spunk! (his comments) ;-) I went to a local networking meeting this week, and was hit with the reality that the average business person just heard of Facebook, let alone Twitter.

    Thanks for your leadership.

    Travis Campbells last blog post..One More Reason Your Business Should Be On Twitter

    • http://www.jackhumphrey.com/ Jack Humphrey

      Travis – that smells like opportunity to me! :)

  • http://www.itsallaboutthealmighty.com Rob

    Jack I love your I tweet Do Follow Me? badge. Was this custom made or did you use some service/plugin to make it?

    <abbr></abbr><abbr>Robs last blog post..A CHRISTIAN’S NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION</abbr>

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