So if you haven’t already heard, Twitter has recently bought over and now has the rights to their very own web analytics company, Smallthought Systems. Through this, it is likely that Twitter will soon offer their own analytics service and this recent business move has brought the issue of Twitter analytics to the forefront.

There has been an ongoing debate as to whether acquiring a Twitter analytics package or system is worth it as many feel that free tools and general knowledge will let you do your own analytics for free. There is however a few Twitter analytics packages that will help you track as well as store and save all your related Twitter information under one roof.

I’m fairly new to Twitter myself, but luckily I’m surrounded by a team of Twitter veterans (well, as long as the social site has been around) who have been able to give me some handy Twitter tips and tricks to help me in getting going and making the most of this awesome social and business tool. This article takes a look at the 5 Important Twitter Tips that will help you make you presence known in “Tweetville!”

THE 5 MOST IMPORTANT TWITTER TIPS

Twitter Tips 1: Personalize your profile

When you set up your Twitter profile, be sure to make it personal and human. People really want to connect with other people, that’s what it’s all about. If they get the feeling that they’re simply interacting with an anonymous business owner, or a few different people operating a single business profile, they’ll be less likely to interact. This is one Twitter tip you don’t want to forget. In your Bio, promote yourself rather than your SEO Agency. You can always promote your business this personal profile.

I have to admit that I do not use real time results as much as I should. When I decided to write this post, I searched a few terms before I was shown a real time search results section (I had to resort to entering “Tiger Woods” into my search – there is no doubt I wouldn’t find up to date reports on that). I have no doubt that there are times when I conduct a search and ignore the real time results, not out of spite, but merely because I forget that they are actually there. This is my search results routine but is it yours?

As a copywriter at MediaVision’s South African office I often find myself contemplating the implications of being in the online industry in a third world country. Of course the beauty of the globalised internet age is that it doesn’t matter too much where in the world you are, as long as you have the right clients, and a working computer and functional internet connection, which I sometimes take for granted.

In a country where less than ten percent of the population has access to the internet it is crucial for businesses to analyse their market and its internet usage trends, if indeed they are online. Since social media and micro blogging are increasingly becoming indicators of a business’s online activity, the most recent statistics for Twitter use in South Africa provide some interesting insight into the subject.

Today I read this post about Access Agency, a cool company with cool ideas; and this post which is an analysis of a recent Twitter campaign by upmarket South African retailer Woolworths.

I’m sorry if I am so two thousand and late right now but I have finally started to understand social media! I had an epiphany, the penny dropped, the switch went on. And I didn’t even know it was off in the first place! So while I am well aware that this is probably old news, I’m writing this post for anyone else who may still be in the dark.

Of course I started using MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others as soon as they became popular. And of course I told anyone I knew who owned a business or managed a project that they needed to get involved and use the channels to promote their brand.

With 400 million users worldwide, Facebook are clearly the leaders of social networking amongst the online community. Twitter are in a not-so-close second place with a comparatively small “following” (pun intended) of 18 million users. With this many people subscribing to online social networking, it was only a matter of time before online giant, Google, came to the party in anticipation of getting a nice fat slice of the social networking cake. The secret weapon that they’ve been teasing us about for the last couple of months was revealed yesterday and goes by the name of Google Buzz. The question that everyone is asking after day one is: “Will it stay? Or will it go?” I played around with Google buzz yesterday, chatted to friends (online of course) and did a little bit of research into the general online public’s reaction to Google Buzz. This is what I found:

Why do you need to know about online personal branding? Well, because Imogen Heap wore a Twitter dress to the Grammys last night, obviously.

Heap’s outfit demonstrated once again that the internet and social media continue to penetrate popular culture and our lifestyles at a rapid rate. While most stars opted for designer couture on the red carpet, the British singer wore a neck piece with a wireless router embedded into it which enabled a live Twitter feed, and her bag was a small television set.

Throughout the Grammys the outfit displayed pictures and videos sent in by Heap’s Twitter followers, enabling them to join their favourite artist at the awards show in a unique way. Despite being deemed a fashion fail, the ‘Twitdress’ is an interesting landmark as it hints at the possible movement of internet technology from our desks and briefcases to our actual clothing.

With the recent advances in real time search brands now need to monitor their online reputation more closely than ever before. Coming from a past where the corporate website was the sole online showcase for a brand, 2009 showed us that the search engines have a definite interest in MyFaceFlicSpinTwit, with public views now appearing in the index in real time. This presents a dramatically altered landscape for brand managers and PR agencies in the way that they manage their online presence.

2009 saw a mad dash for the social media real estate and even then uptake was tentative and haphazard, with many companies taking a stand just for the sake of it, simply because of all the buzz around social media, but without actually knowing why they needed it or what the return on the time invested was going to be.