Used prudently, tools like TwitterFeed can be of great benefit to businesses wishing to expand their Social Networking activities because they ensure you Tweet consistently – even if you are busy in your business, away on vacation or unable to be active for personal reaons.
It is amazing how fast time can fly by. If you have long gaps when Tweeting you will start to lose Twitter followers, especially among those saavy enough to know about tools that search for inactive Twitter users by the amount of time since their last Tweet.
An easy way to not only maintain a consistent level of activity
and also increase Retweets is to use TwitterFeed.
We recommend identifying blogs that are of consistently high quality that are always on topic and using TwitterFeed to have their new content immediately sent to your Twitter account.
Choose blogs that do not post too often – once a day or less works well. We configure TwitterFeed to use Titles only because using descriptions can generate poor quality Tweets.
Use a prefix of New @UserName or a post suffix of Via @UserName
so the blogger receives the Tweet too – and will possibly share it.
There are two benefits to doing this:
1) If you search on your own Twitter username (which is a good practice so you can see who is talking about you) you are much more likely to see new content from your favorite blogs in a timely manner.
2) What you find most interesting is likely to also be of great interest to your followers who are likely to RT (retweet) and share these posts and benefit you, your business and the blogs of those you share.
I am NOT recommending fully automating
your Twitter account because interaction is key!
I am suggesting that backfilling your Tweets with high quality content of interest in your niche is a good way to ensure a consistent presence at Twitter.
Like many other great strategies I have learned over the years, Kristi Hines is the source of the specifics of this strategy. Read more about why she also does this and some pros and cons in her post about using TwitterFeed to feed blog posts to Twitter.
Want some excellent tips on how to use Twitter? Read Jeremiah Owyang‘s How to Use Twitter.
UPDATE March 2, 2011: Article Marketing expert Ron Cripps started using this strategy and messaged: “Your twitterfeed tactic is awesome! Here are my stats and I have only put about half in from your feed account so far.
I shared the list of quality blogs I have in my TwitterFeed account in this new post Top Marketing Blogs on GrowMap reading list because Twitter no longer displays the source of your tweets so my followers could not determine what blogs I was feeding.
Before you start, make note of how many followers you have, how many lists you are on, and your Klout and PeerIndex scores and you will have a great case study on how effectively you are growing your (or your clients’) Twitter accounts. If you like this strategy wait until you use my other Strategy to Increase Twitter Followers.
If you ever want to pause one or all of your feeds, you can edit the feed and uncheck “active”, or click “plain list view” and click the pause icon. Special thanks to @twf_support for that tip.
This post and many others are linked from
Twitter Best Practices
Everything you need from getting started videos and posts
to advanced Twitter strategies for influencers all in one place!
Gail Gardner
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Twitter: PiyushRegatta
says:
Hi Gail,
This is a old post, and but i need to be clear here. Automation wont really work with hashtags, so is there a way around it or it is better to stick to tweeting yourself?
What about networked blogs? It also helps automating blog posts to twitter.
~Piyush
Twitter: GrowMap
says:
Hello Piyush,
When we use hashtags for fed posts we can only choose what is normal for that blog. For example, since SocialImplications.com only publishes posts about social media, I could use #smm for their posts. Another blog might be primarily for small businesses so I could use #smallbiz or #smbiz.
There are many similar strategies. Networked Blogs is one of them. So are triberr, dlvr.it, JustRetweet, and ViralContentBuzz. They all make it possible to drive more traffic from Twitter to your content.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Bloggers: How to Fix Your Bounce Rates
why not work.?
Hi growmap,
Great post on using twitterfeed. I heard a lot about using twitterfeed for automated twitting before I came across this post, but you shared a bit different approach compared to what I’ve seen.
When I followed your plan, I go stuck on step 3 as I couldnt’ find Twitterfeed on your twitter page – have you abandoned this idea after all or..?
By the way, great blog, I am pleased I have found it.
Anton would love you to read ..Effective Tips on How To Increase Website Traffic – Part 2
Hi Anton,
Since I wrote this post Twitter changed what they display and you can no longer see the Twitterfeed or Hootsuite or Tweetdeck or whatever shortener indication that used to be visible.
I haven’t abandoned that plan at all and I would be glad to share what blogs I am feeding to my GrowMap Twitter account with anyone who asks. I can probably copy the list view and send them to you.
growmap would love you to read ..Small Business Internet Marketing: Where to Start
Oh, thanks very much for the kind offer, that would be great if you could email me the list of blogs. [Hiding your email address so you won’t get spammed – bloggers can see your email address when you comment so you don’t have to share it IN the comment.]
I am really amazed how lively your blog is, congratulations! )))
I posted comment just yesterday, and today and there is dozen new after mine – truly awesome! )))
Anton
P.S. By the way, I don’t know if you noticed, but I think that ‘John who offers pariuri sportive’ and ‘josh who offers Knee surgeons richmond’ may be not real people, look like semi-automated comments to me.
Anton would love you to read ..Effective Tips on How To Increase Website Traffic – Part 2
Hi Anton,
The list was so long and compiling it as links would take so long that I decided to turn it into a post that I published today. See the Top Marketing Blogs post I’ll put in CommentLuv in this reply.
growmap would love you to read ..Top Marketing Blogs on GrowMap Reading List
Thanks Gail, I’ll check it out!
Anton
Anton would love you to read ..Effective Tips on How To Increase Website Traffic – Part 2
Gail, when I started showing up as tweets from your Twitterfeed, I should have know there would be a helpful tutorial. I should have read this first. LOL, as I have to go edit all those new feeds!
Thanks for the proper information.
Cheers,
Mitch
Mitchell Allen would love you to read ..The Ho-hum Blog Reset of 2011
LOL… I guess maybe I should let bloggers know when I’m feeding their blogs – especially now that you can’t see the Twitterfeed indication on the tweets on Twitter.com any more.
One new tip is not to worry about how many as long as you choose wisely. I am currently feeding more than sixty blogs and haven’t had any complaints yet. Some of them publish rarely so they don’t impact much but others publish once a day or so. (I intentionally leave out any major blogs that publish more than once a day.)
growmap would love you to read ..PageRank Down? How to Improve Site Load Speed
I can not believe there are so many people commenting on your blog.
There are not a lot of bloggers who are as welcoming to small business as I am so it doesn’t surprise me. Some tips for you:
1) Put a Twitter username not a URL in the Twitter field when commenting.
2) Fix the Twitter link on the Asbestos Removal site.
3) When commenting, your comments need to be specific to the post they’re in or they are highly likely to be deleted – and many bloggers will report them as spam which will get you blacklisted by Akismet.
4) In blogs like this one that use KeywordLuv put a name in the name field in front of your keywords like this:
Bob @ Asbestos Removal
Many only feel friendly towards comments with names. See How to Use KeywordLuv.
growmap would love you to read ..Blog Outreach Guest Posting Opportunities
Hi Bob,
Your twitter link on the Asbestos Removal site is still incorrect. Change it to an actual Twitter account. If you don’t have one yet use my Twitter Best Practices post for how-to posts and videos.
growmap would love you to read ..Are You Accidentally Exposing Your Twitter Account to Hackers?
I just signed up for my twitter and it has been working for a month now. II am really checking out things to maximize my twitter since it doesn’t have much of applications and other stuff like facebook.
I have a twitter account and i use it regularly for getting buzz. You also can try.
It will increase your traffic. I have learned from here the benefits of twitter accounts.
I have too a twitter account but not work.
I’ve just read a nice article about Google using twitter as an important ranking factor in their algorithm. I think we all should use twitter as a branding and seo strategy.
Dictionar Englez Roman would love you to read ..Nationalitatea
I installed a WP plugin called Tweet Old Post that will retweet old posts from your blog based on certain settings. It is pretty cool for getting some extra traffic out of twitter. You can use the su.pr shortner also so your retweets pass through Stumble-upon.
Steve would love you to read ..Top 10 Online Tools to Grow a Business
Hi Steve,
Now that you’ve used it for a while how do you like it? I RT older posts in reply to questions or as the mood strikes me but I don’t automatically RT anything.
How much control over what the plugin retweets?
growmap would love you to read ..Twitter- Increase Your Influence with Twitter Lists
Great article and I will look into twitterfeed but the plugin Steve talks about is something I can definitely use. Rather then loading up daily tweets this makes life a lot easier. I love the way you can exclude categories.
Thanks growmap for writing the article and getting Steve to share this plugin.
Nik would love you to read ..Being An Event Organizer Is Great If You Like To Be In Control
Hi
I am new in twitter and i think this tool help me for twitter.
Lot of thanks
[Edited to add the @ symbol between the name and keywords so your links are best for you.]
sumiya would love you to read ..SEEGER HOMES- INC
I have a twitter account and i use it regularly for getting buzz. You also can try.
It will increase your traffic. I have learned from here the benefits of twitter accounts.
You should use Twitterfeed to provide thoughtful, informative, on point post notification to your followers. Develop a process here and don’t just blindly set up feeds into your RSS feeder, spewing out a variety of posts with questionable value for your particular followers.
You should also regularly befriend new people on Twitter so that they will follow you and receive your TwitterFeed updates. TwitterFeed makes updating easy but it’s wasted if you don’t stay active on Twitter.Maximize your use of TwitterFeed by remaining active about your feeds on the Twitter site.
im also using twitterfeed it’s really good works fine
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Thanks for passing this along here. Great Info!!!
Well, with so many people now using phones to surf the Internet, it’s rather easy to update one’s Twitter regardless of one’s current location.
tweeter Feed is a great way to get your hands free, I mean I set up twitter feed a few months back and with that I provide constant updates on relative topics to my followers, since than I have increased greatly in the number of followers and re-tweets
Zarko would love you to read ..How to Start a WordPress Blog- 5 Step Tutorial
Hi Zarko,
Just today I was thinking I really need to set up more quality content in some of my secondary Twitter accounts. We do still need to interact but at least the accounts won’t be dormant or lose followers because we haven’t tweeted lately.
growmap would love you to read ..Join Bloggers Supporting Bloggers NOW
Twitter is for people that have a lot of time
unfortunately after I made my tweet account and I started following some people, I just didn’t log in anymore. It’s not like facebook. Any of you done the same?
Hi Andreea,
It isn’t so much that it takes a lot of time as it has to be a habit you get into. Anyone who needs to be easy to contact really needs to be active on Twitter. For individuals who don’t it is not critical.
Facebook is my least favorite Social Network that I force myself to use. The usability of that site is so poor that it frustrates people like me who want to be able to find what we want, get in and get out. Facebook is best suited to people who have a lot of time to wander around or don’t have any specific purpose for being there.
I would love to hear from people who use it what they actually do there and why they like it. I suspect they follow only a few people they know and like seeing what their friends and family share.
I will force myself to learn where Facebook hid everything eventually. I just hate to lose so much time to that learning curve.
growmap would love you to read ..Water- Blog Action Day 2010 – What We Can Do
I use Hootsuit to send my Twitter messages, because I do not have to be constantly on Twitter, and message can be send it whenever I wan.
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I think maximizing the use of TwitterFeed by remaining active about your feeds on Twitter can be more useful if you receive lots of prompt replies. Thanks for the info. Great share!!!
Great Info, thanks for sharing. Now i have more advanced skills to use on Twitter.
TWRPowerSystem would love you to read ..Home
Hi Michael,
I have many more strategies I hope to share soon. My challenge is always time and never lack of content that needs to be published to benefit more people.
growmap would love you to read ..Why the Economy is In Decline and What We Can Do to Improve It
Great article, I found that twitter is actually a good way to business based on subscription. Keep your users informed, announce updates. As a source of traffic it’s nothing. But tendencies of internet shows the will of consumers to participate and be engaged, so twitter is perfect tools that offers that opportunities.
[Link removed because the content is not suitable for mixed audiences.]
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Although this is a super cool tool if you are busy and don’t have time to check twitter all day long but still remain somewhat active. I wonder, how do you know that the blog you are using for twitter feed will only produce high quality content that your followers will like ?
I also know that some people don’t like people who retweet a lot of posts but as an overall this tool is great to use. I am using it myself, for some time now.
Alex would love you to read ..Curse Jet Spatiale 3D
Very interesting post. I am using the twitter account and checking the twitter daily. I still have problem, how i go identify the original followers. Twitter is one of the Best and large Social Networking sites and so much popular. This is nice post. Thanks for so sharing.
HI Gail,
Im using TwitterFeed myself and I think its one of those needed twitter tools to have. I know I can’t be at the computer all the time so I need some form of automation. But I’m careful not to spam by posting too many feed tweets. I do agree with you completely that posting quality content is better than some random content out of nowhere.
bryan would love you to read ..5 Inspirational Quotes That Will Make Or Break Your Business
This is a great tool when you also combine it with building relations
That is an interesting service you’re offering. I am sure it will be very popular among businesses to have someone else manage their Twitter account for them.
growmap would love you to read ..Join Bloggers Supporting Bloggers NOW
It is also a great tool for helping people find your blog when you do giveaways. That is what i am doing for mine right now!!
Works like a charm!!
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Hi Paul,
That would be a popular post. Many of us don’t really understand the giveaways very well and I can’t guess how you’re using TwitterFeed for that. The guest posts Kelli did were very popular here and on the other two blogs where I published them for her.
I’ll put one of them in CommentLuv in this reply so you can see it.
growmap would love you to read ..How To Score A Mommy Blogger
Great post. I am sure I have heard of Twitter Feed before but I have never used them. I am using Hootsuite and this week my scheduled posts have not been going out so maybe I will try out Twitter Feed.
Danielle would love you to read ..Make Money Working From Home Part 3
I’ve been using HootSuite to tweet posts from some of the tweeters that I trust to bring useful and interesting information via Twitter from their blogs, since doing this I have noticed that my follower count has increased slightly and that my twitter influence is slowly back on the rise
Karen would love you to read ..GrowMap Anti-SpamBot Plugin For WordPress a Must For Any Blogger
Hi Karen,
Yes, Hootsuite and other Twitter management tools do the same thing. I just decided that it would be best for most new to Twitter if I only focused on one tool in each post.
Advanced bloggers like yourself can use these tips in whatever tool you prefer. Doing this made a very large change in my influence and reach and has increased how often I am featured in those new Daily papers on Twitter.
growmap would love you to read ..Probably The Best Blogging Course
I’ve also noticed an increase in the amount of Daily papers that I’m also included in lately, another great way to get our tweets out there
Karen would love you to read ..How To Search For Twitter Users by Location- Bio and Tweets
well twitter feed is the best thing and it really help full. but i like the thing interaction is the key. and people want to know what are you sharing what’s it’s importance.
Good Article. Thanks for sharing
Hi Gail,
Agree completely! I’ve noticed a big difference in my influence level – how often my links get clicked and RT’ed, since using a feature very similar to TwitterFeed in HootSuite. I’ve used TwitterFeed in the past and do like it a lot.
As long as we are selective in choosing which blogs to add to it, it can only help.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Tia. The more of us who share that we are on the same page, the more other bloggers and businesses will know whose advice they can trust.
It doesn’t matter whether we use Hootsuite or TwitterFeed or schedule posts in CoTweet or any other tool – the key is a consistent presence.
I agree that we must be careful what blogs we share. Fortunately in the blogging how-to and Social Media niches there are plenty to choose from – so many I may have to prune them at some point so I don’t overwhelm my followers.
growmap would love you to read ..How NOT To Monetize Your Blog!
Twitter is large social networking site. Twitter is the way to make lots of traffic on the blog. This is the best way to twitterfeed on the twitter. Thanks so much.
Great post! I absolutely love the fact that, if I’m sick or out of town, I know that my Twitter account is still active and I’m giving props to the bloggers I like the most by sharing their posts through Twitterfeed automatically. It’s definitely a win-win situation if you choose the right RSS feeds for your audience.
Kristi would love you to read ..Top 25 Blogging and Social Media Posts on Kikolani
Hi Kristi,
Thank you for taking the time to comment and especially for sharing your tips on the best way to set up TwitterFeed. I do hope my readers take the time to check out your Top 25 Social Media and Blogging Tips posts.
growmap would love you to read ..Building Traffic Using Anchor Text
I completely agree that Twitter has become an excellent medium to acquire a lot of traffic easily and speedily. Thanks for passing this along here. Great Info!!!
Good to know that you realize the importance of Twitter. It has become so ubiquitous that whenever I come across a blogger or business that does not have a Twitter account I wonder why.
Most businesses do not realize that they must provide multiple ways to connect with their public because all of the ways we commonly use are less dependable than most people realize.
We all need to learn to use closed-loop communications because many emails never arrive or are lost to spam filtering, voicemail does not always get delivered and we don’t see every Tweet. If we provide more than one way to be reached someone like me will let you know when what you count on stops working.
I never consider a message sent using any medium received until I get a response. I can only imagine how many people believe the other party snubbed them or ignored them when in fact they never saw what you sent. I hope they are teaching that is business schools these days!
growmap would love you to read ..Probably The Best Blogging Course
Maximize your use of TwitterFeed by remaining active about your feeds on the Twitter site. To do this, you’ll want to make sure that you respond promptly to any replies that your TwitterFeed posts get on the site.You should also regularly befriend new people on Twitter so that they will follow you and receive your TwitterFeed updates. TwitterFeed makes updating easy but it’s wasted if you don’t stay active on Twitter.
Hi Kim,
Yes, we still have to be active but at least we won’t get busy and realize we haven’t tweeted anything in a month as sometimes happens to business owners who are new to Twitter.
We do still have to stay active too, but using a feed will keep many from unfollowing you during periods when you are on vacation or too busy with personal or business concerns to log in.
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