Tweetips is so glad to be back home at Indiesmiles!

By now you’ve set-up a Twitter account and are actively  posting tweets on  Twitter;  you are probably wondering “what’s next”? How do I get more people to follow me?

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Tweetips is back! The place where you can find perfect tools and tips for utilizing Twitter to it’s full potential. Since Tweetips article’s are geared towards Indie shops you may not want to miss any of our articles. If you haven’t read our other Tweetips, check out those posts too!

I’m always looking for fun toys to use with Twitter, I was happy to stumble upon this site. Crowd status:

I enjoy cool graphics along with usability, and this neat site fit the bill!

Simply put, it will allow you to set up your own “Crowd” by picking a unique crowd name. If you find a name that no one has used previously, it’s yours! Of course I chose Indiesmiles and just added a few other accounts on Twitter to display how the screen will look.

Now, you need to be live on Twitter for this to work. So go ahead, sign-in to your Twitter account…and find some names of folks that you would like to be included in your crowd. The reasoning is that if you are literally chatting with only 3 or 4 of the Twitters you follow, for one reason or another. You can add JUST those Twitters to your crowd and send along the link. Now you’ve just become a “click” so to speak and can only see each others posts, just remember everyone else that follows you will see your posts…you just won’t see theirs in the Crowd status screen.

The uses are endless…but I do see that this would be great for a few Indie shops that normally would be in the forums to stay in touch. I also see this useful for Etsy Teams to stay in touch and to talk shop. It’s also nice to receive some craft tips from a couple other Twitters, to talk about a specific craft show or to just be alone so to speak within your group.

One fun website that I thought was more informational then use as a tool is Tweetzine.

A cool place to find some of the best Twitter news, anything from postings by celebrities to some of the best links on the net.  Also a great spot to find more Twitter tips & tools. So if you are looking for the best RAG of the Twits…Tweetzine is it!

Last but not least is my favorite Twitter tool, this is super cool for spreading the word about a product or to promote your blog and or website, without annoying your fellow followers. It’s called Pagetweet.

How exciting is this? With this tool you can add a special message/link to any link that you are using to spread the word on Twitter (or other social network!).

So imagine this, you see a cool link on a “how to” on making a certain craft item and you go to spread the word to those who follow you on Twitter. Before you go ahead and shorten the url, try this. Go to Pagetweet ……and add the url of the page you were just going to post on Twitter. Then go ahead and add the note that you would like displayed on  the top of that page. For example, if I’m promoting a Job Hunting tip that I read on the internet, I also can add a link to Indiesmiles at the top of the page I was sharing. So go ahead, try it! Use the short url that pagetweet creates and while you are spreading the word on Twitter, your message will appear at the top of that site! Cool right?

You can also use this in the various Indie forums. You want to show off a new listing of the awesome jewelry you just listed. Go to Pagetweet and put in the URL of the listing. Then put in any message you would like to be seen at the top. A couple ideas would be to  put in your blog or website, or lets say your sending a link to your Etsy shop…you could also display the link to your Artfire shop on the top of that page. Now the viewer will not only see your new listing but they will also see your message  url and have the ability to click on that link as well.

This does need to be  completely self-serving, you could put any message you would like on top of a website. Perhaps help promote a friends new product listing, a charity site, a quote of the day, whatever you decide to put at the top of any website…..the sky’s the limit!

Here is a sample post I created using this tool:

Job-hunt using Twitter! http://p8g.tw/?6M7

Welcome to Tweetips! A few weeks ago, we presented an article with an introduction to Twitter, this is the 2nd in that series. Surely you’ve at least visited Twitter, whether you’ve been addicted from the start or still feeling your way around; you can get some good tips here. You’ll probably want to read through them all, since some are great marketing tools for Indie shops and others are just plain fun!

I’ve spent the past couple weeks, using Twitter Tools to gain an awareness for not only this article but to improve my own knowledge of what is useful for business and personal twittering. (is there such a word as twittering? Hmmm).

Love to add buttons to your website, this site Twitter Buttons is a must!

One of the tools that I find we cannot live without in Twitter is
Twitter Karma, it was designed by a gal in NJ and quite simply put, it will allow you to organize your tweets! First of all know that once you follow 2,000 people Twitter will “shut down” your ability to follow more people until you have more people following you. What do you do? Easy, delete some of the people that you follow that just aren’t mutual, Karma will do that for you! It displays the avatar of the people you are following, the people that follow you and whether or not it’s mutual. So, just click on those you want to delete, and you’re off and running again. Is it shallow to stop following people that don’t follow you? That’s another article all together! When you visit Twitter Karma, make sure to click “Whack’! You will use your twitter account info.

Now, you will love this fun tool. It’s basically for twitters, it’s a Twitstamp (http://twitstamp.com) who also have a blog – now that would be a great poll! I would say that the majority of Indie shops also have a blog or a website. So if you are one of them, Twitter Stamp is so very cool. It provides you with a code to post on your blog and visitors will see your latest Twitter!

Here’s ours:

If you Twitter with any degree of seriousness, Twellow(http://www.twellow.com/) is a must! If you want to read about a twitter before you follow them, this website will be a great benefit. You can search various Twitters by category and key words. So as an Indie shop, for example, you are probably interested in following other independent shop owners that are into the arts. Reading through all the profiles gives you a better feel about the twitter you choose to follow. You must sign up and add your twitter account to Twellow to be included in the directory. Many new twitter tools will be powered by Twellow, so it’s a must have for any Twitter account!

This tool, Tweet Burner (http://tweetburner.com/)
is a must have if you want to post a url of an item from your Indie shop. First of all, it will shrink your url (like tinyurl) but it takes it a few steps forward! Imagine now shrinking and posting to Twitter in one website! Not only that, but it will let you know how many people have clicked on your link! For most Etsy sellers this is really important since we have no other way of tracking where are views are originating. So, shrink a link, post a link and then track a link. Nice!

This is the most exciting Twitter oriented website yet!! Twittad is one of those sites where, when you once visit you may be wondering “what exactly is this?” So, let me give you a couple tips. First of all you can agree to list your site and if someone wants to pay you for it, allow another twitter to advertise on your background. How much can you earn, well they have a formula for you. Now this isn’t one of those spammer websites that have gotten a bad name, this is only an ad on your twitter background. If you sign-up think of yourself as running your own billboard on the internet! So check it out, click here:

There are numerous tools and tips for Twitter that could take a mountain of blog postsl so check back with us monthly for a continuation of “Tweetips for Indie Shops” some are websites, blogs and there are tools that require downloads. I’ll be researching more of those and presenting them right here. So check back soon to see my next post on Tweetips!