A good majority of us utilize Twitter in order to promote our business. Most of the time this includes websites or affiliate links we may be trying to shill. The problem is we are usually sending out the tweets about or URLs we’re looking to promote. Twitter has a tendency to shorten URLs now so it has become difficult to promote a website properly.

But now there is a tool that allows you to see who (other than you) is promoting your website for you. The ability to do this requires you visit BackTweets (essentially back-linking from Twitter).

The steps are beyond easy to use & there is even some intriguing tools involved.

• If you go to BackTweets you can search for who’s tweeting about any URL you’d like to see.
• The results will even show you the Twitter shortened URLs regarding your domain names.
• If you sign up you can even receive updates any time a new result is found for your search term; much like Google’s results allow.

This tool can help you in a large number of ways:

• People who are promoting your website for you on Twitter are people you want to follow & interact with.
• Read the tweets including your URL to respond to any customer service issues.
• If you are a large company you may employ individuals to promote for you on Twitter & as a result you can easily check on whether or not you’re getting your moneys worth.
• If no one has ever tweeted about your website; then you need to determine what you need to do in order to get more attention.

Most Twitter users seem to be individuals who are simply using it to interact with other people or business individuals who are looking to expand their brand. But literally anyone can use Twitter; even churches & we’re going to offer a number of ideas that churches can use on Twitter.

1. The most obvious thing a church can do on Twitter is to promote upcoming events. If you’re having a pot luck dinner; send a tweet about it. It can even work for other events such as CCD courses, viewings, funerals or bus trips. Essentially any aspect of the church that may do an event can be promoted on Twitter.
2. Send out tweets to prepare church goers. If you’re singing certain hymns & reading certain bible verses at an upcoming mass why not tweet about them? Doing so can potentially have church goers prepare for their weekly worship or entice new members based on how much they may like the hymns or passages.
3. Others send tweets on Twitter about random bible passages. Churches should do the same in an attempt to attract more discussion in the community amongst the community.
4. Send out tweets about prayer requests.
5. Note website updates or advertising opportunities in the weekly bulletin.
6. Send tweets about what church members have read about their faith; whether it be books, magazines, articles or anything else.
7. Use Twitter to expand the church’s possibilities; such as donations or renovations.

Anyone who has ever created a blog before of any kind is aware of what an RSS feed is, but for those who aren’t aware a RSS is Really Simple Syndication. An RSS feed allows users to subscribe to blogs or websites & be contacted when new information or posts are produced. They receive (in most cases) only a text based email of new content that has been produced.

The most common RSS feed used with a blog is Google’s Feed Burner. While there are tons of other options out there this one is generally considered the most powerful due to its analytics involvement or implementation. In other words you can find out what pages your subscribers are looking at.

But most website creators & blog users know nothing about RSS feeds & simply allow the little orange button to appear on their page without knowing what it means. Any time there is a generic RSS feed button on your website it is acting as an easier way for visitors to your website to bookmark your page.

One of the most powerful tools combining Twitter & your RSS feeds is twitterfeed.com (not affiliated with Twitter). Not only does twitterfeed.com allow you to configure your Twitter account to serve as an RSS feed, but it also allows Facebook & LinkedIn integration as well. Rather than having to drive individuals to your website & asking them to signup or subscribe to your RSS feed you can now use your RSS feed to attract the hundreds of Facebook friends you already have or the hundreds of Twitter followers you may already have.

Simply signup for twitterfeed.com. Then list your blog or RSS feed URL. Finally link any account you have whether it be Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn & watch them serve as a RSS feed that does all the work for you. And what is great about this option is even if you have multiple websites you can add their feeds onto twitterfeed.com & send out content all over the internet.

Since we spend a lot of our time creating new content for our viewers we assume you’re doing the same & can appreciate an automated system like this that helps us with promotion through Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter.

Most of you use Facebook as much as you use Twitter; especially if you are in the marketing or business fields. Facebook can serve as a promotional tool just like Twitter. I’m sure you’ve seen the Facebook posts that were simply Twitter posts & wondered how that Facebook user did that. Well, it wasn’t magic; there are a number of ways you can go about tweeting on Facebook.

1. Use the Facebook SelectiveTwitter app. This app allows you to configure your Facebook & Twitter accounts by entering your Twitter name into Facebook & granting it access. You must include the hashtag #fb in your tweets if you want them sent to Facebook.
2. Twitter App is another Facebook application that allows you to configure your two accounts, but Twitter App makes all your tweets viewable on Facebook. Twitter App though has a direct link to your Twitter account so any friends who may want to follow can.
3. Another application to consider is Smart Twitter. You must grant Facebook permission to both your Facebook & Twitter accounts for it to work properly. Then you may select what types of your tweets become visible to Facebook users.
4. Twitterfeed allows you to post Facebook updates on Twitter.
5. If you have a company fan page on Facebook it is also easy to connect to your Twitter account.
6. Programs like HootSuite allow you to post on Facebook & Twitter simultaneously if you so choose.

So why post the same thing twice when you only need to post it once for full marketability.

Most of our previous articles have focused around using Twitter in the business sense in an attempt to earn money or drive sales, but we figured we’d get back on track by suggesting How to use Twitter for raising funds for your company or organizations.

First, realize that this article will be ideas for fundraising regardless of whether or not your business is a non profit or not. The first step is fairly easy & something you’re going to do on Twitter any way in following people & getting people to follow you who are interested in the same cause as you. For example, if your company is looking to raise funds for the Susan G. Kolman group it is probably best to follow along with a number of those that are already following the group on Twitter.

Doing this allows you to understand why they’re so passionate about the cause & what limitations they have that may not allow them to contribute as much financially as your company may be able to. You can also start to gain knowledge from groups that have previously done fundraisers for causes & ask them for advice or have them help you prepare for the biggest turnout.

• Create a blog on your company website. The most commonly used way to do this is by simply adding a WordPress blog section to your current website. You can use numerous SEO tools to get your website noticed & programs like TwitterFeed will automatically send your new blog posts out to Twitter for you.
• Understand that listening is key. You can’t just immediately ask a bunch of people for money; regardless of the cause. If you come off as too dishonest or too demanding most people will want nothing to do with you.
• Make every detail known about what you’re planning. If your company is planning on raising funds for a cause it is best to get it every where you can. Work in conglomeration with other companies & make sure to get as much press as possible to drive your fundraising abilities up. Obviously not all of us can get a celebrity to plug our charitable needs, but there are tons of programs out there such as PRWeb where if you pay a certain amount your press release will find itself all over the web.
• Follow those who are interested in non profit charitable organizations. Following someone who works for World Wildlife Foundation will definitely be able to give you ideas as to how to fund-raise for a local zoo or similar groups they might have interest in.
• Determine your market & advertise accordingly. If you’re looking to raise funds for your company’s walk for the cure team it’s probably not a great idea to only go after individuals in wheelchairs as they may want to provide support in other ways. As for advertising you don’t want to waste your time on Twitter with individuals who are too far away to be able to embark in your projects if they are central to your area. A great way to advertise your cause is to find a magazine in relation to your cause & take an advert out in it. If your cause is the wildlife then taking an advert out in National Wildlife magazine is a great idea.

For any cause the best way to go about things is to drive more “customers” as the more individuals who are involved on Twitter or other wise can inform even more individuals into the cause growing your possibilities.

Most of us understand that Twitter limits us to 140 characters; so it is extremely important to understand ways that allow you to be more productive on Twitter. The following tips can help you whether your Twitter account is for business, personal or both. A number of these things Twitter makes very easy for us to do, but you have to keep them in mind if you use online tools to tweet.

1. Abbreviate any time you can! Obviously the 140 character limit prevents you from spelling out everything you might want to. Whenever possible attempt to abbreviate. For example, most people know “mktg” as an abbreviation for marketing or “acct” is an abbreviation for either account or accounting depending on how you use it. Also make sure to not spell out numbers on Twitter. In this same vein make sure to use synonyms for certain words. You can easily use the word great instead of spectacular when writing on Twitter.
2. Keep the links short. Twitter pretty much does this for you applying the same concepts of other sites that were created to shorten longer URLs. Due to the Twitter API you now never have to worry about this, but you may want to do so in your Twitter profile if your website name is extremely long.
3. Ask questions! Generally the responses you’re going to receive if you don’t do this are either spam messages thanking you for the follow (which a legit Twitter user doesn’t have time to reply to) or a spam message telling you to visit their website. Any time you post something promotion related ask your followers for feedback; as it will help you understand what they are looking for.
4. Understand the timing of your market. If you are a company that sells pools you’re going to want to tweet more from Memorial Day to Labor Day then at other parts of the year. Twitter can garner a huge following to your website & it is important to understand that. If you want mainly US followers it probably isn’t the best idea to be on Twitter sending tweets at 4am.
5. Promote your Twitter account. The more places people can see your Twitter account the more people will have a tendency to follow you. If you have a website that has 10,000 unique visitors a month & another website that has 100 unique visitors a month don’t assume that you should only have a Twitter feed listed on the website that has a big following. Make sure to put it every where you have the capability of doing so whether that’s just a regular blog or the eight websites you own.

I’m sure a lot of you started out on Twitter like me; wondering how people with no brand name or no success managed to have tens of thousands of Twitter followers despite offering next to nothing with their tweets. So I started exploring why these other individuals had so many followers despite not being worthy of a follow & I’ve found that there are tons of tools out there that essentially help Twitter users seem more popular than they are.

First, there is FriendorFollow where you can check to see if those individuals you are following are following you back. Generally this is only important regarding smaller Twitter accounts. For example, Conan O’Brien only follows one person & it isn’t you; so don’t get too crazy if not everyone is following you that you follow.

Then, there is WeFollow which is a personal favorite of mine. Essentially you can put in a search term & WeFollow will produce followers based on similar interest (the search term you put in). There is a similar tool called Mr.Tweet that others use to do this & view statistics as to how their Twitter account is running.

Another intriguing tool is Nearby Tweets. All of us have a tendency to dream big while on Twitter, but if you’re company is in a certain area it is best to have followers in that area. Nearby Tweets allows you to see those on Twitter in your area & those on Twitter who have sent tweets while in your area. These can both be important because your biggest sales are usually with those who are located within convenience of you.

These are simply the three I have felt offer the most to individuals. There are tons of other tools out there that will allow you to gain Twitter followers without doing much, but limit how much you spend on doing so; as most of the tools out there are free but some of them claim to do more than they actually do & as a result expect you to pay a fairly decent price for their tool.

But please keep in mind those at Twitter are fully aware of these tools that can net you tons of more followers; so please be cautious when using any of these tools that promise to give you 10,000 followers in one day. Twitter has a tendency to notice accounts that are essentially spam following as you would be. When they notice spamming they could go so far as to suspend or delete your account; so be smart with these tools.

There are tons of ways you can utilize Twitter to advertise everything pertaining to you. It is not simply limited to running a business & advertising for that business through Twitter. You can also use Twitter to advertise for countless ventures of yours. Below are some of the ways we have utilized Twitter:

• Promoting Online Sales: No I’m not talking about directing people to your website to buy whatever your company happens to sell. I’m talking about directing individuals to your Half.com, eBay, Amazon, etc. online storefront accounts. Generally the only other way people will even see your items is if they search for a specific item you’re selling.
• Promoting Blogs: Many of us have websites we run, but we also have blogs or actually use WordPress on our websites. Any time you create a new blog post you can easily send out a tweet on Twitter to promote it. It is a lot easier to do this using Twitter than other social bookmarking/media services.
• Career Connections: Most of us have a tendency to follow big corporations or companies. Following these entities on Twitter; assuming you’ve provided proper information, could potentially lead to employment with a company or learning new things about that company quicker than others.
• Affiliate Marketing: Twitter abbreviates website URLs due to limit in characters. As a result a lot of individuals have started to take advantage of this fact to gain money through affiliate marketing. Websites like Clickbank & Commission Junction allow individuals to take a link & use it to promote something in the hopes others will buy it. You can now easily tweet out these same links without most people noticing until after the fact.
• Link Sharing: A lot of new websites are produced each day. Most link sharing opportunities out there will not help you in any way. Places link Link Market make it seem like you can get niche link sharing opportunities, but this never happens. Usually when you sign up for these websites for free you will notice you get spammed with link exchange requests from companies that have never done anything & never will do anything. Link sharing on Twitter works because you’re only going to follow interesting things & people will only follow you if they’re interested too.
• Competition: By using Twitter you can see what the competition is offering & make your case accordingly. For example, if you’re selling paint supplies & follow the only other local paint supply store in town; why not take a peek at their sales & offer better sales? If other companies are limiting what they offer; why not branch out to include other items in your store that customers are interested in but can’t find?

There are countless other ways you can use Twitter to advertise, but these are the ones we’ve found have been the most used on Twitter by us. Your business can start booming if you start using Twitter in a variety of these ways.

Many of us use Twitter for our own reasons whether they be personal or professional, but I like most of you wanted to find out what some of the most common or best uses of Twitter were. Some of the things on this list will be obvious while others are not so obvious. But explore what we’ve dubbed the best Twitter uses.

• Keeping up with the Jones’: We’ve all heard that common expression before. Whether it be catching up with what your friends are doing or finding breaking news via various news outlets Twitter can help you keep up with the Jones’. Not only can Twitter break the latest news to you, but it can also make you aware of the latest trends. I generally don’t know about a movie until I see it trending on Twitter. But we’re talking about every trend; not just those in movies.
• At your fingertips, reviews: Most of us want to find out if a new movie or new CD or a restaurant is worth what we’d pay for it. The best way to find out these days is actually Twitter. We’ve all been there where we’re trying to find a review for something & the page takes forever to load due to all the unnecessary spam advertisements the website offers; so why bother? Simply follow a Twitter account that will offer reviews such as IMDB or Roger Ebert!
• Learning about your favorite team: Some of us have noticed over the years that ESPN has stopped bringing us actual sports news & instead brings us sports gossip. As a result Twitter is a great tool to follow along with your favorite team. It’s common to follow whatever teams you root for, but there is so much more that Twitter offers. You could potentially follow every player on the team you love (assuming they all have Twitter)! And that’s not all; most newspapers have beat writers who cover specific teams. For example, a team like the Yankees has beat writers for every paper in NY & NJ. And you can follow all of these beat writers for up to the date information on your team that may slip through the cracks elsewhere.
• Understanding what you don’t know: Most people have a tendency to use Twitter for private or personal reasons, but did you know of the educational value it brings? If you want to know an answer to something generally you will Google your question, but if it’s something you want to read about you can use Twitter. What topic are you interested in? Search for that topic & start to follow individuals in that niche group. You will notice most of their tweets are about what they do in some way. For example, if you want to know more about astronauts then follow NASA.
• Talking to friends: Email seems to be antiquated at this point with the expanding market of social media; so take advantage of this. If you know your friend is on Twitter send them a message rather than having to check how many cell phone minutes you have left, but keep in mind your characters are limited.
• Blowing off steam: We’ve all had terrible days we want to end. Twitter is a great way to blow off steam. Generally if you’re not famous you can post something & then delete it without anyone seeing it, but just because you delete it doesn’t mean it’s gone. So generally it’s not a good idea to blow off steam about your wife, your job or similar subjects as even if you delete the information it will get back to the people you don’t want to see it.
• Answer Bag: Most companies now offer a Twitter account for you to follow. Regardless of the size of the company it now becomes easier to reach them by simply sending them a tweet; rather than wasting time on the phone. This same idea applies to pretty much anyone; if you send them a message & they are on Twitter frequently the response time won’t be delayed.
• Blogging: All of us have a tendency to post links we find interesting on Twitter. We most certainly want our product recognized so a lot of us; especially in the SEO field will send out a tweet about our latest blog post in the hopes that all of our Twitter followers will read the post & possibly even retweet it for others to read. The simply tool known as Twitter can get us more & more readers & in turn more & more followers.
• Finding a Job: This is the most common use of Twitter these days. Many people are out of work & there are very few jobs to be filled. What can give you a leg up on the competition? Knowing every job that is available is one way. Continue to search for jobs in the traditional way & then hop on Twitter to search your town’s name with jobs after it. If your town is big enough where there will be more than a few job openings you’re in luck. If you live in a small town it’s best to search for bigger, nearby towns for more job opportunities.

Well, there you have it. We’ve once again suggested How to use Twitter in the best way possible. Now it is up to you to decide which of these you’re going to use Twitter for or how many you’re going to use.