Post other stuff
After you get a little more advanced, you may decide you have other things to say. You can post voice, icons, and other wonderful things, but start with pictures.
Tool 5: TwitPic. If a picture is worth a thousand words, and Twitter only gives you 140 characters... well, you can see where I'm going with this one. Supplement a boring diet of text-heavy tweets with visual documentation using TwitPic. Upload a photo and tweet directly from the site.
Get organized
Tool 6: Twittercal. A helpful app for staying organized, Twittercal allows you to send messages directly to your Google calendar by sending a quick tweet. Book meetings on the go!
Measure
So, you want to know the value beyond the cordial conversation you have with others? What's this providing me in traffic, engagements, or ROI? I can't say that Twitter or anyone else has that completely dialed in, yet, but here is a start:
Tool 7: Cligs. Much more than a URL-shortener, Cligs offers some interesting insight through analytics that track clicks as well as geographic information. Have fun figuring out that three people from Finland clicked on your link.
Learn things
To me, the most inspiring aspect of Twitter is that you can really learn things from the masses. What is popular in your industry or your personal interests? You can find it on Twitter; the trick is to distill things to a manageable level. Here are a few ways to keep on top of things:
Tool 8: Twitscoop. If you like tag clouds, you will love Twitscoop. It is a handy tool for uncovering the top trending topics on Twitter.
Tool 9: StrawPoll. Looking for quick insight? Desperate for once and for all to figure out which came first? The chicken or the...? Struggle no more! Just set up a poll through Twitter using this easy tool and ask away. It's great for customer insight and fun to use.
And the final tool: @icowboy. That's me. And, yes, self-deprecatingly I just called myself a tool. The reason: I feel that your best tool in the Twitter toolbox is to follow others, engage in dialogue, and provide value in some small way to those that follow you. You're talking to people, to brand loyalists, or to fans. Treat them with respect by learning from them as well and acknowledging them when you do.
Feel free to follow me and consider me a friend (in the Twitter sense). Check out who I follow or who else is following me. It is a surprisingly small community, and you might recognize a few more tweeples there who you may want to follow as well.
Fearless Twittering!
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Reid Carr is president of Red Door Interactive.
