AlterNation Episode 6: Twitalytics

Welcome to AlterNation! Today we're talking about tools to make Twitter easier to use, and more powerful for you.

[powerpress]

Management

Twitter's website may be fine for the average user, but it isn't that handy for someone looking to use the service for business. We suggest using HootSuite to manage your account or accounts. With HootSuite you can Tweet from multiple accounts, follow keywords and brand mentions, and schedule tweets.



Monitoring


You want to know how much traffic the links you put in Twitter are getting, and what sort of content your followers like and don't like. The best tool you can use is Google Analytics. While Analytics isn't quite as simple as Bit.ly, and requires being plugged in to your website; the information it provides is priceless. Completely accurate data on where visitors are coming from, how much time they spend on site, and what content they look at is available once you activate Analytics.

Link Shortening

An integral part of using Twitter is making long links short so that you have room to explain them. While there are many link shortening services, we recommend Bit.ly. Bit.ly features a number of statistics that allow you to track clicks on your links, and even lets you add custom names. This helps make shortened links a little safer looking, as some people hide viruses and behind shortened links. Remember though that it is almost never acceptable to post only a link with no context, it's looks suspicious and will also likely not have a lot of traffic.

Alerts
For non smart phone users, FeedTwit with send you text messages of your @ responses.

Resources:
Oneforty.com, an apps directory with recommendations.
Twitdom.com, a Twitter apps directory.
Smashing Magazine: 99 essential Twitter tools and applications.
Google URL builder tool

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