In 2010, we will see a big push by Twitter to help small business understand and embrace social media. There are hundreds of Twitter applications out there that help you manage the way you use Twitter but if you are a small business owner, you don’t want to deal with thousands of Twitter apps, you just want to use the one that will work for you and help you manage and market your small business profile on Twitter. Apart from managing and marketing your small business on Twitter, it is also important you monitor Twitter for latest trends and check the pulse.
You want to use all the Twitter applications the way Pros do, right? Below is the list. Did I mention all these services are free?
Managemet
CoTweet – With CoTweet you can manage one Twitter account while allowing several employees to contribute. Each person maintains their own identity and their activity can be monitored. The service is one of the best of its kind and it will only improve, you should be on CoTweet if you are serious about Twitter reputation management.
HootSuite – Best web based Twitter client to help you manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets and measure your progress. Use the ow.ly URL shortener to track clicks and get stats.
Tweepler – Manage your Twitter followers in a simple yet efficient way. As a small business owner, your goal should be to follow active Twitter users and not bots or “run on” Twitter users. Tweepler helps you archive followers in follow or ignore buckets and saves you time by giving you detailed stats that eliminates the need to visit each follower’s profile.
Monitoring
Monitter – It is true to its name, lets you monitor what the community around your small business is talking about on Twitter. You can enter your business name and even find out without registering what others are saying about your business. You don’t have to register to use any of the features on the website. You can also add the RSS feed for the location and the keyword you would like to monitor to your favorite RSS reader.
Tweetbeep – It is like Google Alerts but for Twitter. Tweetbeep tracks Twitter conversations that mention you, your business or your products and services. Alerts are sent to you via email every hour. Basic service is free, you have an option of signing up for a premium account with no ads and alerts every 15 minutes.
Marketing
twtQpon – Create coupons for your small business services or products and share them with your Twitter followers. Posting coupons on Twitter is a sure way to get re-tweets and generate buzz.
This list is not comprehensive, I will be updating it every time I find something new, interesting and useful. Be sure to bookmark this post so that you don’t miss out.
