TwitterWatchDog.com

Skeeter recently brushed up on the point of using hashtags and keywords to reach more people in his article Mistakes to Avoid, at least reach quality people and not wallflowers (you know, the ones that rarely tweet, or could still be figuring out Twitter, or might even be brewing up a spell of spam.)

What I would like to do is share on how to focus on that more, connect, and actually influence those followers.

1. Finding followers – quality followers. These are the ones that are truly interested and want to connect on some level with others. Keywords and hashtags only go so far. In order to find quality followers, you should dig deeper by reading through profiles.. Places like Twellow are great, and you can look up keywords and hashtags on the Twitter search. Also, websites like Mashable, TechCrunch, WebProNews, other popular blogs, and even here at TwitterWatchdog, some people actually leave their Twitter username. If they have said something that catches your eye, you might want to follow them because they are the ones more likely to be quality followers.

2. Connect with followers. Auto DMs (automatic direct messages) are not always great to use. Some of the followers might not have followed you if your Auto DM is not something that relates to the topic they had stepped into and decided to follow. So, if you do Auto DMs – try using a general message that attracts them to know about you. For example, you could try a Twitter landing page on your site that says “Welcome Tweeps” and introduces yourself. The page could direct your visitors to either a blog, or certain places you think your visitors might be interested in seeing. For example, Graham Smith (@imjustcreative) has a nice landing page with a video introduction.

Of course, it is difficult to keep up with everyone if you have a lot of followers. The key is to make the effort. Try asking thought provoking questions, tweet interesting articles, and make an effort to read other’s tweets. While you might not respond to them all, you can respond to the ones that could bring in others to the conversation.

3. Influence followers. So, now that you have found followers, and then connected with them, you now need to influence them. Along this process, with finding and connecting, you have built yourself as a trustworthy person. Whether you are selling your product or just trying to get people to read your blog, you need to become a person that people see as very knowledgeable in your niche. That is what the leg work was before you became influential. All those blog posts with powerful information that you wrote, tweeted, and received feedback will pay off on some level. Eventually your followers will retweet and even recommend you. This is what you want to work on by producing quality work while also being consistent as a person. If you are all over the place, it is difficult for your followers to know what you want them to learn or even buy.

This is a process that you will rinse and repeat many times over, but will find one thing: you will build solid connections that will last.

Do you use this process? If so, how has it worked? If not, do you have a process that has worked for you?

Follow Nile Flores on Twitter – @blondishnet

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For a while now a number of us have wondered….. how will Twitter start making money?
Well, guess what? Twitter has a new revenue stream in place…

As reported today by Steve Monfort on Nasdaq.com

Twitter’s search agreements provide a new revenue stream

Twitter’s search agreements provide a new revenue stream Social media website Twitter announced that, thanks to recently inked deals with search sites Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Bing, it will turn a profit for the first time.

Twitter posts, or “Tweets,” will appear on Google and Bing search results as part of the deals. Bing, owned by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), was the first search engine to sign a deal with Twitter, the third-most-popular social networking site in the country. Google followed shortly thereafter.

While none of the companies involved disclosed the deals’ value when they were signed in October, sources revealed to Bloomberg that the Google agreement will net Twitter $15 million and the Bing deal is worth $10 million. The combined $25 million will push Twitter into profitability for the first time since its founding in 2006.

Twitter’s revenue model was nonexistent until this fall. The company sought to attract as many microbloggers as possible by offering free accounts with unlimited Tweets. The strategy worked, according to comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR): an estimated 58 million people use Twitter every month.

After reading the article by Steve, I was happy to hear that Twitter was not charging the twitter users.

Kudos to Twitter, Google and Bing for reaching an agreement and working together.

The new ways of partnering up and doing business goes against the old traditional ways of doing business. As long as it doesn’t create a monopoly over the rest of us, it only makes sense. I am seeing this happen more and more in today’s world of business. Maybe it’s something that more of us should consider or adopt no matter what size business we have.. what are your thoughts?

10 Easy Steps with training videos, live calls and a complete support system to help you succeed faster with Twitter

Follow me (Al Ferretti) on Twitter @alferretti

Follow Skeeter Hansen @skeeterhansen

-by Skeeter Hansen

I have made some of these mistakes on Twitter and see others making these mistakes as well. You don’t have to be perfect but you should make the most of your time on Twitter.

Here 4 important Mistakes to Avoid

1. Not Setting up your Twitter page properly:

Make sure you have a decent photo that people can connect with. This is one of the first things I look for before engaging with a new person. Like you, my time is valuable and I scan photo’s because it’s easy and fast, if someone doesn’t have a decent photo I move on to the next one.
Use your name instead of your @twitter username in the name section. I like to use a persons name when sending out tweets. Having a name is a great way for people to connect with you on a first name bases.
When filing out your bio use quality words, these words are searchable through many of the 3rd party tools that integrate with Twitter. Focus more on key words then sentence structure will give others a greater chance of finding you.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Follow me on Twitter @skeeterhansen

Follow Your Pal Al Ferretti @alferretti

Christmas Day I was over my head with company and a 30 pound bird, potatoes, desserts…etc. My family wanted to help and they went scrambling looking for cheese cutters, carving knives, salad servers, etc.
Sadly, all of those implements reside in two “junk drawers” in my kitchen. They opened them and rummaged through the mess to find what they needed.
I was so embarrassed, and I’d been meaning to clean them up and empty the extra screws in there, the nutcracker that had begun to rust, etc.

So, as soon as I was done with the all that food preparing, I measured those two errant drawers and went to Bed, Bath & Beyond to buy drawer organizers and all shiney new cutlery. It felt great, just looking there…not for company…but for myself. I even threw away the spatula that had lost the handle.

Somehow it brought to mind Twitter, and maybe it was time to clean up my followers too (I often get on these cleaning jags).

So, I sat down yesterday, and decided to clean out my followers by “unfollowing” people who don’t follow me, haven’t tweeted in months, have some old account.

I went up to: http://friendorfollow.com and typed in my name. It showed a hand patting a rabbit and said that if I was popular it might take a while to find all the people I follow, that don’t follow me back. So, I left it running and went out to a party.

When I returned I found that there were over 1400 people I followed like that. I even found that Al Ferretti (I’m President of his fan club) had an old account I had there. One by one, I went through the tedious task of unfollowing people who hadn’t tweeted in months.

I also found people I thought liked me, but weren’t following me (maybe my red pictures popping up got on their nerves). Made it through about 340 and felt great.

I’d made a dent in cleaning up my Twitter followers.

I like to do this, because it gives me room to start picking people of quality, ones I can learn from, talk business with and enjoy.
So, maybe you might want to give it a try. It feels great…and let me know what you think about the process by leaving a comment below or sending me a tweet
Out with the old. In with the new. Happy 2010!

Follow me (Lois Geller) on Twitter

Use Twitter the right way with a step by step Training and Support System

Let us take just a moment to begin this new year and decade by saying, thank you.
Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to serve you. It’s truly an honor and privilege to have this opportunity. For that, we are truly grateful.

Here are 15 gems (that we gathered) to not only live by but to live better on and off of Twitter in 2010 and beyond.. Read the rest of this entry »