Here are a few free Twitter tools you can integrate easily on your WordPress blog to optimize your social networking activities.

1. Twitter Tools - This WordPress Twitter plugin provides a couple of cool and useful functions. The main one is the ability to automatically tweet your blog posts to your Twitter account. Other options include using Bit.ly to shorten URLs, add hashtags to the tweets and to post a daily or weekly digest of your Twitter tweets on your blog.

2. Tweet This Plugin – This WordPress Twitter plugin adds a Retweet button to each blog post so visitors can easily tweet your posts through their Twitter accounts. You can also set the plugin to automatically shorten URLs and to send new and upcoming blog posts to your Twitter account. The nice thing about this plugin is it keeps track of how many people retweeted your post using the button so you can see at a glance how popular the article is.

3. TwitterLink Comments - The producers of CommentLuv also created a WordPress Twitter plugin that allows a commenter to add a link to their Twitter profile each time they leave a comment. Let’s face, if people see they can get an extra link that will promote their projects, they will usually leave a comment.

4. Twitter Widget - Twitter Widget by TwitterCounter is not a specific WordPress plugin but it might be nice to have on a blog. This widget tracks Twitter users who most frequently visit your blog. This is nice for creating a sense of community and for rewarding active users with a little publicity.

5. WordPress Greetbox - This isn’t a Twitter tool per se but it still is a great plugin. This tool detects where your visitor came from and greets them with a personal message that you define in the admin panel. So for example, if your visitor came to your blog by clicking a link on Twitter, they will be greeted with a custom message that says something like, “Hi Twitter user, thanks for stopping by my blog”. This is great for personally welcoming people to your home on the net.

There are many more Twitter tools for WordPress that you can use to create community and to help you manage your social networking. You are only limited by your creativity and imagination.

Twitter is just one way I drive targeted leads to my website. To learn how to use Twitter to generate business gain access to other marketing tools that will explode your sales go to RockYourBusinessOnline.com. Sign up for my free email tutorial on why 97% of home based businesses fail and what you can do to be a part of the 3% that achieve personal and financial success.

(photo credit: Mr. Boombust)

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3. Twitter Etiquette – Dos and Don’ts of Using Twitter as a Marketing Tool
4. Five Steps to Developing a Ton of Twitter Followers
5. What Does RT Mean on Twitter ?

UnTweeps

Unfollow Tweeps who do not Tweet often enough

Your Twitter Karma

Who is following you & who is not – Bulk unfollow

Friend or Follow

Who is following & who is not – Se more detail on each person

*TwitFresh (New one I came across – Awesome !)

Unfollow everyone not following you – happens within minutes (WARNING – does no take you to another screen or allow you to pick people. If you put your info in and hit submit then BAM they are all gone)

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5. Twitter Marketing – The Real Secret to Amassing Twitter Followers

*** A new tool I just started using and it is awesome! ***

This tool allows you to schedule RSS feed for content from your favorite sites, RT your favorite people and either schedule specific time or add to rolling schedule. New feature to help you find people to follow ! Definitely check it out !

(Click the image to get a better look a the features.)

(Click the image to get a better look at the features.)

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5. What does # Hashtag Mean on Twitter & Why Do People Use Hashtags?

Two great tools to help identify people with like interests & tracking for your business.

TweetBeep

TweetBurner

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5. What is # FollowFriday on Twitter?

I remember my first Friday on Twitter. I was completely confused & had no idea what was going on? Why do I see #FollowFriday? What does it mean?

Every Friday people will send out their favorite people and recommend that others follow them. Many times you will see tons and tons of tweets like this….

#FollowFriday @Terry_Allison @ckinney @mmangen @williger @David_Kaufer @MirrorFinish @Mastocytosis @westham999 @AnthonyTilghman @Msbbp404

#FF @DeanBenninger @MyGreenSide @billbudgets @teamarete @EcoFan @amous @eQuin2010 @ArwenTaylor

After a few Friday’s I felt like my eyes were going to roll back into my head. Friday’s had now become chaotic & almost stressful for me. I had so many followers and it was too much to try and recommend them all & how was I ever going to keep up with it?

I found an awesome tool to make Follow Friday so much easier. The Twitter Tag Project, which allow you to scan the last 200 tweets, count the dups, and return your most active friends.

The results will display: (you hit tweet and that is it) – So Easy!!

Latest update & breaking news about Follow Friday:

Many more Friday’s went by before I started to realize that my eyes were still rolling in the back of my head. The tweets all day long looked the same to me. It all looked like a bunch of noise & was not really following any new people on Friday. That is when I decided to do things very different then everyone else on Twitter.

I decided that it is all about creating value & that each person deserves to know a little about that person & why they should follow. I also decided that I would make #follow recommendations every day of the week & not just on Friday. This way the recommendation would really stand out apart from all the noise.

Now my recommendations look like this….. (Some of my Favorite peeps )

@Terry_Allison Great friend who does Joint Ventures w/ Authors, Speakers, Trainers, Real Estate and Niche Experts for Promotion/Profit.

@ckinney Good friend. Always engages- very helpful here on Twitter & She markets a Carwash Magazine. Take time 2 get 2 know her..

@mmangen Great girl – My friend. Does Bookkeeping & Property Management Virtual Assistant. QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Excel Queen.

@williger Darren is a tea drinking, guitar playing, low-carb eating, wine making sales maker who writes 4 MyLowCarbPages.com – Luv it !

@David_Kaufer awesome guy -good friend to follow – Great Tweets – He is a marketer, entrepreneur & Passionate #Green advocate

@MirrorFinish Frank is super guy. Always here to help & he tweets to help keep your car and boat like new. Mobile detail biz

@Mastocytosis An incredibly brave women & great person who is always helpful. Follow her & learn about her cause to raise awareness….

@westham999 Really great guy who always engages and is very helpful to me. He mixes it up with music & fun.. Be sure to follow

@AnthonyTilghman He is a great guy who always engages & here to help.

@Msbbp404 Awesome – always engages and RT’s – truly a wonderful person!

@DeanBenninger He is a great guy to know. Always engages here on Twitter & very helpful person. check him out !

@MyGreenSide She is awesome lady… Mother & wife — I am learning great #green info from her… check her out

@billbudgets Jessica is very cool girl. Good friend to have. Always helping others & she takes the stress out of bill paying…

@teamarete He is Entrepreneur, Bringing 25+ years of business development experience to the home business industry. Super guy to follow!

@ecofan Super guy & father. Always engages. He is an Entrepreneur that LOVE’s Alternative Energy. check him out

@amous He is a super guy who really helps out & engages on Twitter. He is holding the famous bunny on twitter #amousbunny – check him out!

@eQuin2010 He is super cool & helpful. He engages and RT’s. Great friend to have. Check him out! Has new #green biz too!

@ArwenTaylor She is great & engages. She also writes articles for people & does SEO. Internet savvy girl.

@davorado Great guy who does magazine design, media, & publishing. He is all about Sharing, learning, and meeting new people. #follow

@AmericanWomannn My fun & passionate friend & the lady who started #Hunkalert & #babealert. She is always on here & will engage!

Those were just a few of my favorite peeps on Twitter. There are so many wonderful people that I have connected with that I wish I could name them all.

I now keep a word document with all the people I feel deserve to go on my list & then I will recommend them throughout the week & even promote their business. I continue to add more and more people that I feel add value & are worth tweeting about on Twitter.

I think people deserve to know why they should follow others and those you recommend deserve to be in the spotlight!

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2. Use Twellow to Find Your Target Market on Twitter
3. Twitter Marketing – The Real Secret to Amassing Twitter Followers
4. Five Steps to Developing a Ton of Twitter Followers
5. How to Add RT/Retweet Button on Your Twitter Page

http://www.twitterlocal.net – This is a great way to connect with local people and to market your local business. It is also a great way to find peeps for your local “Tweet Up” events too!

TwitterLocal

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Twitter content can be grouped into several categories:

Informational – These are tweets that tell the reader an interesting fact or relay a piece of information. These are generally accompanied by links to articles found on blogs and online newspapers that expand on the subject.

Tips – Twitter users like to share nuggets of advice that has helped them navigate life a little better. Tips range from dating advice to productivity to what store is having a sale on shoes.

Quotes and Observations – Oftentimes these tweet are quotes from well known thought leaders but can also include original observations about life which are condensed to 140 characters.

Conversation – This is the normal back and forth talking that happens when people gather together. Tweets either start a conversation or respond to an ongoing one.

Retweets – This is the sharing of content posted by other Twitter users which the poster feels would interest his/her followers.
Self-Promotional – This category includes the selling of products and services as well as links to personal websites or things the user is involved in.

What Makes a Good Mix?

The honest answer to this question is that it depends on your target audience. If you are using Twitter for your online political magazine, then the bulk of you content will be informational with some Conversational and Retweets thrown in to round things out. On the other hand, if you are tweeting for personal networking, then you’ll probably be posting a lot of Conversational tweets, Retweets and probably even Quotes and Observations.

It is best to monitor the feeds of people you want to network with on Twitter to see what they are posting. This will give you an idea of the type of content they are attracted to which will help you fine tune what you are offering in your Twitter stream.

Posting quality content on Twitter is the best way to stand out from noise and attract followers looking for substance. Using Twitter effectively is just one way I generate traffic to my business and increase sales. To learn other methods of marketing that will take your business to the next level, visit RockYourBusinessOnline.com.

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This a a great little tip to add a RT button to your Twitter page. No more cut and paste. Just Follow these simple steps…

2 Steps to get the RT button:

1) download this

2) download this

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If you are truly brand new on Twitter, then you are probably wondering what in the world does # this mean? You will see it for #FollowFriday also known as #FF, #music, #jobs, #MusicMonday, #ecoMonday & much much more.

#Hashtags are used for trending topics on Twitter and as a way to make categories. These categories can be searched by using the search tool on Twitter. It is pretty cool because many people put themselves in categories like #green, #eco, #health, etc.

This is a great way to find people with like interest or participate in something fun happening on Twitter at any given time.

There is also another cool thing you can use the hashtags for if you have a group of friends or maybe you are all at a cool event ? Let’s say you are at an event and you decide to use the hashtag #rock23, then you all tweet and use this #rock23 hashtag so you can see what everyone is saying about the event.

If you want to see what is happening right now on Twitter and all the #Hashtags being used then check out this site… http://www.hashtags.org/

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Rock on Twitter Rock Star!

The Real Secret to Twitter Rock Stardom

Marketers who sell Twitter programs that claim to increase your Twitter following emphasize the need for you to be a good Tweeter. Even in my previous articles, I talked about the dos and don’ts of being a good Twitter community member. However, through my time on Twitter I’ve come to understand that being a good tweeter is only a small part of the equation.

If you look at any top ten Twitter list, you will notice that most people on the list are famous for other things besides being a Twitter celebrity. In fact, their fame came long before they decided to join the social networking community. A good example of this is Oprah. The day she signed up for a Twitter account, she had tens of thousands of people following her and she hadn’t even written her first tweet! Those people followed her to Twitter because of her stardom and not because of anything she did on Twitter.

Now you don’t have to be a mega superstar to get the Twitter followers you want. But you do have to understand that having a popular Twitter profile is less about posting tweets at the right place and the right time and more about raising your visibility and selling yourself as someone worth following on Twitter.

The Twitter Two Step

Getting more followers on Twitter is a two part process. The first part involves getting found on Twitter. After all, people can’t subscribe to your feed if they don’t know about you. The second step entails convincing people you are awesome and that following you would bring about world peace. Okay, that’s exaggerating things a bit but you get the picture.

Tips for Getting Found on Twitter

Market your Twitter Profile – In addition to putting your Twitter profile link in as many places as you can (on your website, in your email signature, other social networking profiles), use other conventional marketing tactics to raise your visibility on Twitter. Organizing a contest or offering free premium content to Twitter subscribers are both great ways of getting people to notice you.

Hashtag Your Tweets – Hashtags are Twitter’s tagging system that aggregates all the tweets marked by a specific keyword. They are called Hashtags because of the hash mark (#) used to turn a keyword into a clickable link that pulls up other content similarly marked. Research hashtags that your target audience follows and tag your tweets with them whenever possible.

Use Keywords – People also use Twitter’s search function to find tweets on topics of interest. Research regular keywords you think people in your target audience would use to find information on Twitter and sprinkle your tweets with them.

Participate in Memes – The Twitter community has a number of hashtag memes going on at any one time with the most popular one being FollowFriday. Observing the trending topics is a fantastic way to find these memes.

Talk to People – Put your party face on and strike up a conversation with your fellow tweeters. Showing interest in others is a sure way to gain Twitter followers.

Tips for Selling Yourself to Visitors

Build a Good Brand – Your overall presence on the internet will greatly influence whether or not people follow you. So you want to work on building a strong and consistent brand in the online community as a whole.

Your Bio – Don’t leave your bio space empty. Fill it with something interesting that hooks visitors’ attention and makes them want to get to know you better. Tell them about your business and your quirky interests.

Personalize Your Profile – Use a custom background that includes a picture of you (or a representative avatar) and your contact information. Use Twitbacks to design a background that reflects your tastes and personality.

Post Quality Content – Last but not least, make sure you have quality content that people will want to follow you for.

Gaining more Twitter followers is a challenge anyone can tackle as long as you have the right moves. I have been effectively using Twitter to promote my home based business. To learn about other marketing tactics that will take your business to the next level, visit RockYourBusinessOnline.com.

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1. Five Steps to Developing a Ton of Twitter Followers
2. Twitter Etiquette – Dos and Don’ts of Using Twitter as a Marketing Tool
3. What Does RT Mean on Twitter ?
4. Create free, customizable Twitter backgrounds using TwitBacks.com
5. Twitter Etiquette & List of Recommended Tools