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There are conversations happening and questions being asked about your industry. The trick is finding them in an efficient way.
In this episode of Inbound Now, HubSpot's social media and digital marketing podcast, we share some advanced Twitter search tips to help you wade through the Twitter fire hose to find relevant conversations and filter out useless noise.
Runtime: 12:25
1. Use Advanced Search Modifiers
Using Search.twitter.com is a great way to start learning the advanced search queries Twitter has to offer. Click on the advanced search link to see a ton of options and start getting rid of some of the noise.
Four awesome search modifiers for Twitter are:
- keyword ? -http
- keyword suggest -http
- keyword recommend -http
- keyword anyone -http
The -http gets rid of all the auto-posts from blogs and people's RTs, which can be helpful when you are looking for statements and questions(?) around your keywords (a.k.a. conversations).
Here are some other examples of other common search modifiers, courtesy of the Twitter application, HootSuite:
2. Leverage InboxQ
InboxQ.com helps you take your monitoring to the next level by providing a browser plug in/extension that notifies you of any new conversations happening around one of your advanced search strings.
You can add questions to a to-do list to answer later, or forward them to a colleague and help them connect with relevant Twitter users.
3. Set Up a Listening Station
You need to set up a place to centralize all your queries in one place. I prefer to use HootSuite, TweetDeck, or Sendible for this. HubSpot also has a pretty nifty social media tool to help keep tabs on conversation.
Regardless of the tool you use, centralizing information in one place is critical to saving hours of time and your sanity.
Key Point: The tools you are using aren't as important as the smart searches you are using to find the useful needles in the proverbial Twitter haystack.
4. Find Relevant Tweeters in Your Space
Followerwonk.com is a great site to scan Twitter bios for relevant keywords. It may take a little digging, but once you find some influential people in your space, make sure to start following them and connect.
It never hurts to have an influencer on your side, and they can be instrumental in helping you spread your messages when the time comes.
Reach out in a genuine way and start sharing their content on a regular basis. Give, give, give, before you ever try and ask for anything. (This is the Golden Rule in social media).
What other tactics do you use to monitor, find, and participate in relevant industry conversations on Twitter?
Would you like to see a particular marketing mastermind on the show?
Inbound Now is currently in booking mode for upcoming episodes! Is there a certain topic you would like covered or an expert you would like to see come on. Contact me on Twitter @DavidWells or drop me a line on our contact page.
To view more episodes of Inbound Now, click here.
Free Ebook: How to Use Twitter for Business - An Introductory Guide