Advanced Twitter Tips

Now that you're all set up, let's get into some advanced Tweeting tips and applications that can really power your Twitter usage up.

Twitter Backgrounds
We discussed earlier about setting up your Twitter background so that it didn't just look like the default Twitter page. Leaving it like that shows a lack of care on your part. You need to distinguish yourself from the crowd and that attracts more followers, or at the very least impresses people with your professionalism.
Now if you're a bit of a Photoshop whiz, then you can do your own background, full of bells and whistles and load it up to your Twitter profile. But if you're not, or you just want to save time, then there are some sites out there that will do them for you automagically. To find these sites, the best thing to do is to simply Google “twitter backgrounds” and you will find quite a few sites offering this service for free.
My personal favorite is Twitbacs at http://www.twitbacks.com/ where you can get some great backgrounds.
However, that said, if you want to do your own fiddling in Photoshop, you can get some great layouts in PSD format from http://www.twitterbacks.com/

SocialToo
SocialToo at http://www.socialtoo.com is a useful automated tool for Twitter. At Social Too, you can set your account up to do some autopilot things for you.
First of all, you can set SocialToo up to automatically follow everyone who follows you. This can take the drudgery out of checking all your new followers and then going and adding them to your own list in order to reciprocate.
You can also set up SocialToo to send an automatic Direct Message to people who follow you. Don't do it! Automatic Direct Messages are absolutely hated by most of the Twitter community, particularly experienced users because they can pick them a mile off. It's a sterile and rude way of starting out a relationship with new followers.
The backlash against this has largely been caused because many newbies, and some old hands too, were setting up an auto Direct Message that basically said, “Hello, thanks for following me. Now go and visit my sales page at http://..... “. I'm sure you get the picture. I can't think of any worse way to start a relationship with a new follower on Twitter. In any sort of business, you build relationships before you try and sell someone something and this is even more relevant in the social media space.
SocialToo will also provide you with an email every day of all your new followers and those that have unfollowed you as well.
Another function of SocialToo is that it will automatically unfollow anyone who unfollows you. Personally I don't think this is a bad thing. If people aren't interested in you any longer, then are you really interested in them? If you really want to keep the updates from someone, just go and follow them back when you see their name on your unfollows email each day.

TweetLater
Tweetlater at http://www.tweetlater.com is a fantastic tool to use with Twitter. It allows you to schedule tweets for various times of the day. So how can this be of use to you?
Well you need to remember that the Twitter audience is constantly changing and the tweetstream occurs quite fast. The more people someone follows, the greater the number of tweets appearing and they won't read them all, I promise you. It just isn't possible. By using Tweetlater, you have a much greater chance of catching people's attention throughout the day and in different time zones.
Let's say you have written a post on your blog and you want to drive some traffic there. Rather than tweeting the link and subject once, you can do it every hour for 24 hours if you like using Tweetlater. I'm sure you can see the power of this in terms of driving traffic or getting noticed.
There is a free and a professional version of Tweetlater. Start out with the free version and then if you need it, upgrade to the professional version when you are ready.

Twitterfeed
Twitterfeed at http://www.twitterfeed.com is also a very handy tool. It is far more secure to log into than the other sites I have mentioned as it uses Open ID which is a bit of a pain. However, it is worth persisting with in the absence of an alternative tool.
What Twitterfeed does is that you can set up your blog to feed directly via RSS to your Twitter account. So every time you make a blog post, it gets tweeted automatically on your behalf. You can use this in conjunction with Tweetlater with the first post coming through Twitterfeed and then subsequent ones at times you specify via Tweetlater.

SplitTweet
SplitTweet at http://splitweet.com is a great tool if you have a number of accounts on Twitter. Rather than switching between them from time to time in order to Tweet, you can set an account up her for free and bring all of your accounts under the one roof.
Splitweet will display the Twitter feed from all your accounts at once, or you can turn individual accounts off and on. When actually tweeting, you can pick an account to tweet to, or you can do a broadcast message across all your accounts at once.
Some very flash technology this and very useful for handling multiple accounts.

Twitdom
Twitdom at http://twitdom.com would have to be the greatest site relating to Twitter. It is a repository for all Twitter related applications and it is just absolutely amazing what there is in there.
At the time of writing, Twitdom had nearly 500 Twitter related applications in its database. Quite amazing when you think about it that there has been so many third party applications written and is a pretty powerful indication as to the value of Twitter. It also indicates the confidence of the market in that Twitter will become very much the mainstream.

Friendfeed
Friendfeed at http://www.friendfeed.com is an automating tool you can use in conjunction with Twitter. Friendfeed is a bit of a hub if you like where you can set up links to all your other accounts. Friendfeed collects information from those accounts and publishes it in your Friendfeed feed.
Although Friendfeed is a topic almost in itself, I mention it here particularly because of it's ability to link your Twitter and Facebook accounts among others. If you have a Facebook account and you link it and your Twitter accounts in Friendfeed, then what will happen is that all your posts in Twitter will be posted on your wall at Facebook. It means you are running two social media accounts via one and saves you time.

Your Twitter Karma
Your Twitter Karma at http://dossy.org/twitter/karma/ is a really useful site for having a look at your followers and who you are following. It's great for managing your account from a followers/following perspective.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem to load a fair few times and can be unreliable, but when it is working it's great. It shows you all you all the people you are following and all those that are following you. Underneath each avatar it tells you if you are following them and if they are following you. You can also sort by people that you are following who aren't following you back. This is great for management as you can decide whether or not to unfollow them.
By checking the boxes, you can actually do a bulk unfollow of a heap of people at once as opposed to going to every individual Twitter account and clicking on “unfollow”.
You can also list those that might only be following you and decide if you want to follow them back. Again, this can be done in a bulk manner.

Grader on Twitter

Grader is on Twitter as @grader, but also online at http://twitter.grader.com/ and is a site of some interest. As you get going on Twitter, you can get “ranked” by Grader on a score out of 100. It is based on some secret algorithm apparently so people can't game the system.
Apart from that aspect of Grader, you can have a look at who the top Tweeple are in a particular area or even by topic using the search function.
When you use the search function, it will list the Tweeple by their score in descending order. For example, if you search for “gardening” on Grader, you will get a list of all the top 100 people interested in gardening on Twitter. You can see their “bio” from their Twitter account and if you click on their Grader score, it will take you to their Twitter account from where you can follow them. Naturally, you must already be logged in to Twitter yourself to follow anyone.

Mr. Tweet

Mr Tweet at www.mrtweet.net is another way of gaining new followers. All you have to do is follow Mr Tweet on Twitter and your tweets will be monitored for content and then you will get a Direct Message from “him”. You then go to the site and login and you will get a list of suggested people. You will also get a list of people who are following you that you aren't following so you can then follow them if you choose.
It's a really nifty little site and worth registering at.

Twellow

Twellow, at http://www.twellow.com is another great way of finding people to interact with. People here are categorized into all different areas and you can search for those with similar interests to your own.
The main page shows you all the categories, which then have sub categories as well. You just click on a category and the list of people in that area are displayed.You don't have to be registered with Twellow to be displayed, but at the time of writing there were nearly two million people showing on the site, so you will have plenty to choose from. By all means though, register yourself and set up a profile so others can find you.
When you click on a category, Twellow displays a list of people in that category and they are ordered by the number of followers they have. If you are already logged into Twitter via the web, (not Tweetdeck), you will be able to follow people directly from the screens where the profiles are displayed.

Some Good People To Start Following On Twitter

Here are just a few people that you can start following straight away. They are included because they are great exponents of Twitter and you will learn a lot simply by watching their tweets. You will see their style of using Twitter and can emulate the good points and leave out what you don't like in developing your own style. They will all follow you back too usually, so you will build your own follower base. All these people have large follower bases which they have built by being active, engaging and providing value to others on Twitter.

Ange Recchia aka @angesbiz
Ange Recchia here better known as @angesbiz on Twitter and many other Social Networks. I'm a Social Media and SEO Consultant/Coach for WebVision2020 Pty Ltd and write about Twitter at http://socialnetworkingnewsdaily.com/ I also love to write about Personal Development at http://angesbiz.com You should follow me because I am on the most incredible journey of my life at the moment, I love to meet new tweeps and share interesting links while engaging in conversation. In other words, I like to be Social!
Follow Ange at http://twitter.com/angesbiz

Ric Raftis aka @RicRaftis
I am a Business Coach, Internet & Affiliate Marketer and Web Designer who loves Twitter & Joomla. I am also a Cagora Community Partner in 5 Worlds. I am also a Geek! Follow me and I will follow back. Engage me and I will answer. I love to meet new people and make new friends and Twitter is a great way to do it. I also run the Help Via Twitter site at http://www.helpviatwitter.com where you can get answers to all sorts of questions on the Forum where you aren't restricted to questions of 140 characters.
Follow Ric at http://twitter.com/ricraftis

Mike Wesely aka @Mike_Wesely
Hello, I sure hope ur having a "Twonderful Day". Mostly Smart People Follow Me!!! If You're Not, You probably Wouldn't Like Me Anyway. Also, if your Smart, you should go to and watch http://TwitTalk.tv, were we teach people how to use twitter more effectively. Check Out the Achieved shows at bottom. If for some reason You get bored there, Liven up your day by going to http://VideOptin.com. Oh but most importantly, say hello to me using the @Mike_Wesely at the beginning of your post. I always try to respond. That is the Respectful way :-)
Follow Mike at http://twitter.com/Mike_Wesely

Michele Price aka @ProsperityGal
Twucess twith http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TwitterToday, you learn twit tip and we showcase Tweeps every week, who you are and what you do so you can build a strong networking well. I am a heartfelt business woman who shows you easy ways to connect and succeed, oh I cook a mean pot roast too, giggle. p.s. love to tweet inspirational quotes to get you to thinking in a focus that takes you where you want to BE.
Follow Michele at http://twitter.com/prosperitygal

Wayne Mansfield aka @WayneMansfield
After many years as a Internet Marketer I have come late to Twitter. My business is the staging of seminars in Australia, NZ, India and the Middle East on business and personal education. Twitter is someting else... there is a level of engagement on Twitter that allows the meeting new people. To get the best from Twitter, I always follow you back and try yo respond to your messages. Fun is Twitter and you will see the banter betyween myself and quite a few people. Real friendship are built on Twitter. Retweeting is the ultimate compliment to the posts of others - when you RT RT you are sharing inspiring words - great quotes are vitamins for the brain....I retweet good tweets all the time and enjoy a good quote or two. Make sure you say hello so we can get to know each other.
Follow Wayne at http://www.twitter.com/waynemansfield

Ivy Clark aka @IvyClark
I'm a freelance web generalist (web designer/developer/information architect) passionate about usable web design and I guess I'm geeky as I love new toys. My hobbies are varied depending on my mood - gardening, nature walks, jewellery making, scrapbooking, surfing the web, reading or just basking in the sun . I'm still relatively new to Perth, having moved here from Singapore just 6 months ago, so I'm really enjoying the newness and excitement that everything brings . I love making contact with like-minded folk and love how we can share ideas, knowledge and learn from everyone we connect with in Twitter.
Follow Ivy at http://twitter.com/ivyclark
Well, that should get you going with a few people and there is a good cross section there of people and styles.

Gaining Followers on Twitter

You need to first be aware that rushing out and following a heap of people can make you look like a potential Twitter spammer. Build your following base slowly. As time goes on, if you are chasing quantity, then you will be able to add more at a time, but initially I would suggest you stick to 50 for a start. The reason for this is that when you follow people, they will most likely follow you back. Many people don't do this automatically, although some do, particularly in the internet marketing space. Some people will actually go and look at your Twitter home page to decide if you are worth following or not in their eyes. This is where your profile and the settings that you took all the trouble to do will stand you in good stead.

The Big Decision

It is probably time now to make a big decision as it will affect the way in which you use Twitter considerably. That decision relates to quality versus quantity. If you are into marketing, then quantity of followers will be important to you. It's like building a list. But if you want to keep things personal, then quality of followers will be what you need. Either way, the next step will be to find some people to follow.