How Twitter power users get things done on Twitter with their thousands of followers.

45 Power Users’ Twitter Productivity SecretsPhoto Credit: Garrett Heath

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Phyllis Mufson avatar Phyllis Mufson, @phyllismufson: My Twitter productivity (and enjoyment) leapt when I signed on to TweetDeck and began using its’ column function to organize my followers by special interest groups. I recommend it highly – or other similar services like Seesmic. I also make a lot of use of the ‘Favorites’ function. When I have a few free minutes in the day, I ‘favorite’ tweets with articles, videos, etc. that look interesting, and then have a stockpile of interesting material to explore when I have free time.
Susan Joyce avatar Susan P. Joyce, @JobHuntOrg: For me, TweetDeck/JobDeck make Twitter manageable and more, because they can be added or removed instantly, shuffled around to be always on screen or not – 

  • Create up a Group of my career friends, so I see their latest Tweets in a column.
  • Follow a good list, like one for world-wide news organizations, one for US business news, etc. to get the latest news across the globe in a column, and TweetDeck turns the list into a column of Tweets
  • Turn a search into a column of Tweets, like #encorecareers or #jobsearch or #jobhunting (I have all 3, plus a few more).

If I were job hunting, I’d create:

  • a Group for my target employers
  • a Group for the thought leaders in my industry or profession
  • a Group of the top career people to follow (like you and me, of course)
  • a Group JobHuntOrg list of employers-recruiting, the list of job-postings, the list of recruiters, job search experts, etc.

TweetDeck allows me to follow 16,000 people and turn all that Twitter “noise” into useful/usable information. I certainly still miss a lot, but it has allowed me to expand my universe enormously. I just counted, and I have 15 TweetDeck columns going right now. I fire it up before I open a browser or email, now. Wow! (Of course, maybe I spend too much time and energy on Twitter, but I LOVE reading all the information that flows by me!) Use whatever of the above fits and is appropriate.

Rosa Vargas avatar Rosa E.Vargas, @resumeservice: Make a private list to follow your favorite pple and you can DM them once in a while to say hi. Good virtual relationship building. Also, you really should follow back as many as you can as they will RT you and appreciate the follow. I use to be too selective. Now, I have more RTS but distill with a private list. Schedule Twitter time (really) + write down great tweets that come to mind when off line for later + monitor hot RT trends
Alison Doyle avatar Alison Doyle, @AlisonDoyle: Sign out. It’s important, especially when job searching, to balance the time you spend on social media with other job search activities.
Willy Franzen avatar Willy Franzen, @willyf: Follow fewer people. You’ll have a more manageable amount of content flowing through your feed, and you’ll build better relationships.
Dan Schawbel avatar Dan Schawbel, @DanSchawbel: my top Twitter productivity tip is to use SocialOomph to schedule tweets for throughout the week so you can concentrate more on marketing and communication, rather than publishing valuable content every day (because it will happen automatically).
Rachel Levy avatar Rachel Levy, @bostonmarketer: “Get in and Get out” — Go on Twitter, update your status, reply to a few people, RT a few tweets, and GET OFF! Don’t leave Tweetdeck open all day, or else it will suck you in. I use TwitterGadget (Firefox gadget) for quick checks through out the day to see if someone sent me an @reply.
Alexandra Levit avatar Alexandra Levit, @alevit: Only tweet at certain times of the day. You’ll avoid heavy traffic and manage to get other work done in the process!
Rebecca Thorman avatar Rebecca Thorman, @modite: Enjoy your real life so you have interesting things to tweet about.
Jennifer McClure avatar Jennifer McClure, @CincyRecruiter: Use TweetDeck or a similar tool to group people that you’re following and set up searches for keywords & mentions. Helps to focus attention!
Susan Strayer avatar Susan D. Strayer, @DailyCareerTips: best tip is to proactively reach out. i look for people frustrated about job search and ask how i can help. engage, engage, engage!
Miriam Salpeter avatar Miriam Salpeter, @Keppie_Careers: Use a Twitter app to help organize your incoming tweets. Set searches for hashtags or topics of interest & particpate in the conversations.
PongoResume avatar Jen, @PongoResume: Set up searches in HootSuite or TweetDeck to reach out to people who are asking questions that you have expertise in…being helpful is key!
Jeff Lipschultz avatar Jeff Lipschultz, @JLipschultz: U need not actively recruit follwers–let ur following grw naturlly. It will take longer 2 get a large number, but u’ll have a qulity group.
Chandlee Bryan avatar Chandlee Bryan, @chandlee: Budget your time. When you login, know when you’ll log out. Use lists–they are islands in your stream. Star favorites. Tweet as much from others as you do of yourself–sharing is contagious. Log out. Connect face-to-face w/Twitter friends.
Cindy Kraft avatar Cindy Kraft, @CFOCoach: With so many resource tips, Twitter minutes can turn in2 hours. Bookmark favs 2 read during a specified chunk of time. Then get back 2 work.
Andy Headworth avatar andyheadworth, @andyheadworth: Use List function on Tweetdeck. Create a list of people you want to follow with interest. ALL their tweets can be seen whenever you logon.
Applicants, @applicants: Be consistent. Don’t tweet 50 tweets in one day & disappear for a week. Consistency on twitter is as critical as everything else.
Heather Huhman avatar Heather R. Huhman, @heatherhuhman: Use a 3rd party app, like TweetDeck, & devote a certain amount of time to Twitter each week. Don’t go above or below that number!
nghafouri avatar nghafouri, @nghafouri: I’m a freelance marketing consultant and manage 4 corporate Twitter streams. Here are my favorites applications to make Twitter more manageable: 

  • Twitter Karma: Let’s you manage followers/following. I found it particularly useful when I hit the 2k following roadblock with my clients. I’d use it to identify people who weren’t following me back and then unfollow the ones who hadn’t posted in a long time.
  • TweetFunnel: FULL DISCLOSURE: I consult for TweetFunnel and have helped market and develop the product. But even if I wasn’t working for them, I would use this app because is makes my life SO much easier. I can manage multiple accounts and multiple tweeters per account, stockpile content, schedule tweets, track clicks and do pretty much everything I need to from one interface. Keyword monitoring alerts send you an email when the keywords you’ve set get tweeted. This one feature has saved me so much time combing through Seesmic and Twitter.
  • Seesmic Desktop: This app is great for monitoring for @replies, etc. because of the pop up notifications. It’s also what I used for keyword monitoring before TweetFunnel added this feature.
Adrienne Bailey avatar Adrienne Bailey, @AdrienneBailey: Use Tweet Deck to set up separate ‘search-term’ columns for terms/names you are typically on the lookout for. Then, spend about 5 minutes every hour reading an engaging with those actively participating on Twitter. This limits the amount of time you spend scrolling through your Twitter feed. I personally monitor trends and my clients Twitter handles through Tweet Deck, being organized and utilizing the tools available makes it all seem less over-whelming. Thanks and please let me know if you need anything else.
Recruiting Animal avatar Recruiting Animal, @animal: Take other people’s postings & make them better.
Jessica Levin avatar Jessica Levin, @JessicaLevin: Tweet 3 times a day. 5 minutes in the morning, 5 minutes at lunch and 5 minutes in the evening. You Tweets should be a variety including article that you have read or written, replies to other or tweets. A nice mix of information sharing and interaction can go a long way.
ShaelHorowitzGreenMkt avatar Shel Horowitz, @shelhorowitz: I check in briefly several times a day (using TweetDeck, mostly).Big impact w/ small time commitment.
Cheryl Harrison avatar Cheryl Harrison, @CherylHarrison: Groups groups groups. Segmenting Twitter followers into categories (media, bloggers, industry, friends) & prioritizing
Barbara Safani avatar Barbara Safani, @barbarasafani: Reciprocity-Be diligent about sharing strong content from other peeps that promote your content.
Ronnie Manning avatar Ronnie Manning, @RManning_Mynt: use a 3rd party app like TweetDeck which allow you to update/ add/ search topics / categorize users to topics of interst
Scott Stadum avatar Scott Stadum, @IdealistScott: Working with Idealist.org, we use Twitter in a number of ways. We actually have a team of four people that use CoTweet to manage the incoming thoughts, ideas, requests and comments – 

  • To promote surveys and get feedback
  • To interact with crowds during both Idealist graduate school fairs as well as volunteer workshops…we’d post thoughts and questions and interact with the people that respond
  • To interact directly with our uses in a customer service capacity
  • To promote grad fair and career fair events
  • To promote jobl istsing and volunteer events

In July I attended CrisisCamp in Washington, DC and used Twitter to track thoughts and notes from my session. I would organize the tweets using Google docs into an outline and then thought it would be easier if I published the Google Doc to Twitter and gave access to everyone from my session to help with the notes. Within minutes of posting the url to the #CrisisCamp hashtag, I have eight other attendees adding thoughts, notes, photos and helping to clean up the outline.

Hillel Fuld avatar Hillel Fuld, @HilzFuld: Choose a Twitter client like Tweetdeck, use Twitter lists to categorize the people you follow, and always leave extra space in your tweets so people can retweet you.
Jonathan Fields avatar Jonathan Fields, @jonathanfields: Batch your time. Use a client like tweetdeck to categorize who you follow. Jump in, don’t catch up.
Susie avatar Suzie, @AceConcierge: My platform of choice is Tweetdeck- 2nd would be Hootsuite. Creating lists are also value added, enabling me to further filter the “noise”. I also use search columns to help keep in touch with many of my followers. Of course it is never easy to engage w every1 as the amt of followers expands but the dialog/conversations do lead to engagement outside of Twitter to help deepen the relationship. So I don’t exactly have just one tip. :] I do respond to every @ and DM. It is part of social media and for me, simply being real. I def could spend some time. 140 characters keeps us concise and little more direct.
Aaron Lee avatar Aaron Lee, @AskAaronLee: Ask and you shall receive =) Works for me =)
DrMollie Marti avatar Mollie Marti, @DrMollieMarti: Get 1 BIG task done before 1st am session. Set a timer (one fav is American Pie song – 8.5 mins). Include a RT in each session!
Monica Hamburg avatar monicahamburg, @monicahamburg: Lists can be very useful, and private lists can be a great way of checking out a group of people you’d like to get to know better and with whom you’d like to establish a stronger relationship. For instance, if you’re a restaurant owner and there a few online magazines/bloggers you’d like to communicate with – segregating them into a private list, just for your eyes, allows you to see what’s going on – and get you into the conversation, at a glance.
Bill Vick avatar Bill Vick, @BillVick: Networking is like a road with two directions. You have to give “group savvy” & valuable information, not just self promotion. I use a number of tools to help me manage my twitter (and social media) experience. Two of the better ones are:1 – HootSuite 

A great and simple posting tool that feeds to Twitter, Facebook (via Ping.fm) and LinkedIn. Not only will the Hootlet menu item parse and shorten the URL but it will capture the heading if available. It supports immediate and timed, or send later, tweets. HootSuite also has rudimentary statistics on tracking tweet/re-tweet activity.

2 – NutShellMail

I receive a twice a day comprehensive report and overview of my twitter activity, new and un-followers, reacap of my lists activity and a recap of my Facebook activity. It’s free and a must have.

Dawn Bugni avatar Dawn Bugni, @DawnBugni: My best weapon in my Twitter productivity arsenal is a kitchen timer. I so easily get sucked into conversations, reading articles tweeted by my colleagues or following interesting threads to hear varying points of view, an hour or two slips away before I even know it. I finally broke down and moved the timer from the kitchen to the office. I use it to time intervals between times I can check the Twitter stream – 20-30 minutes focused, uninterrupted writing earns a short Twitter break. Or I set the timer for the time I can spend on Twitter before re-directing my attentions back to client work. The social interaction and knowledge sharing is vital, especially for solopreneurs. But moderation is key. Too much of a good thing is not good.
Tim Tyrell Smith avatar Tim Tyrell-Smith, @TimsStrategy: Create a Twitter list of your target companies. Call it: “Great Companies In (City)” or “Best of (City)”. Now you can easily keep track of each company, re-tweet their ideas and perhaps build a relationship with someone who works there.
Jason Alba avatar Jason Alba, @jasonalba: twitter productivity tip – don’t read the first page of Twitter… 🙂
David Benjamin avatar David Benjamin, @DaveBenjamin: Provide value in different ways. Some might need advice, others suggestions. Sometimes it’s as simple as making someone laugh who is down.
Hannah Morgan avatar Hannah Morgan, @careersherpa: Follow great people! Gr8 = inspiring, cutting edge, trenders, inside your field, outside your field, make you think, make you scream!
Ruhani Rabin avatar Ruhani Rabin, @ruhanirabin: Search and list the right people on right topics.. use the right tool .. retweet useful stuff..
Blair Semenoff avatar Blair Semenoff, @Flipbooks: “Your Tweets are a reflection of you. Don’t waste your time ReTweeting irrelevant information” ~B
davidtheprguy avatar davidtheprguy, @davidtheprguy: Develop many sources of great information of interest to your followers and share them freely, whether or not you wrote them.
Sally Falkow avatar Sally Falkow, @sallyfalkow: Here are my tips: 

  1. Use a tool like Tweetdeck and keep it open on your computer
  2. Use AllTop to track intesting news in your space. Or use your RSS reader
  3. Tweet good content with the link
  4. Follow those who mention you or retweet you and engage with them
  5. Always give value – tweet good content
Jacob Share avatar Jacob Share, @JacobShare: Get into a routine. For example, every time you go on Twitter, start by responding to direct messages and replies. If there are many, make 2 passes- on the first pass, respond where it’s quick & easy. On the 2nd pass, respond to the rest i.e. the tweets that require more thought or research. This way you improve your chances of still being on Twitter when people respond to your responses.

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If you have over 1000 Twitter followers, how do you get things done? Tell us in the comments.

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Jacob Share

Job Search Expert, Professional Blogger, Creative Thinker, Community Builder with a sense of humor. I like to help people.

This Post Has 20 Comments

  1. Melissa

    Well, I’m not at 1,000 followers yet because I have been ascribing to Jeff Lipschultz’ practice of letting it grow naturally. I agree that it has led to a better quality following, great connections, and enlightening discussions.

    All great suggestions from the panel!
    .-= Melissa´s last blog ..Slow and Steady =-.

  2. Darren Scott Monroe

    Twitter doesn’t grow on trees 🙂

    Great post

    Melissa you will be waiting forever. Jeff is wrong I stand behind that. You gotta get out there. Now that doesn’t mean just follow anyone but connect with people strictly in your niche and grow 🙂

    The only way you grow is to grow your people and following 🙂
    .-= Darren Scott Monroe´s last blog ..Online Business Ideas for Developing a Lifetime Customer =-.

  3. Denny McCorkle

    I have better learned to use hashtags for branding my tweets. This makes it easier for others to discover them. I also regularly search favorite hashtags for potential retweets and the likeminded to follow.
    .-= Denny McCorkle´s last blog ..Enjoy a Creative Bounce with Simple Fun =-.

  4. Patricia Erickson

    Great advice! It certainly makes sense to “DM” to build relationships but remembering to “get in and get out” is great time management reminder.

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  6. Marie Journey

    Well, I tried the organic approach and my twitter stream grew into a hot mess. It was time to clean it up & focus in on people that had the same interests.

    1)Started with @TwitterKarma to clean out those that I was following that rarely posted or clearly had other passions
    2)I add people based on their content,interests, and activity: @TweepML was a big help
    3)Kept tabs on my twitter impact via @TweetReach which let me know how many RTs & who was helping me grow (These folks often had great content that I could share)
    4)Scheduled using SocialOomph for tracking per clicks for example, on Friday I had 1725 clicks w/average of 46.30 clicks per link combined accounts.
    5)Few people like all the things I do so I created more than one account & don’t mass send. My @Geek4Data folks don’t hear or want to hear about recruiting news, etc.

    Did the new approach work? My @mariejourney grew by 520 in under 30 days. Used the above to grow my corporate account @MarieSAPcareers from 0 to 422 in under 30 days. The biggest lesson I learned was: Having conversations was so much easier when the topics were of interest to everybody! *If you follow me ~ I’m a social media, data geek, vlogger, corporate recruiter, SEO fanatic, and #RollerDerbyGirl with a misbehaving #MensaDog & a computer #Vixen that has a mind of her own…which is why I have more than one account 🙂

  7. Natan

    A great productivity power tool is Tweet It In. It shortens Tweets as you type by forming contractions, abbreviating words, removing vowels, and shortening urls in real time. http://tweetitin.com/

  8. Jeff

    I like to use http://hashtags.org to follow interest streams. Not does it show content you need but it’s a great way to find new people to follow. I used to use TweetDeck but it was too intrusive so I switched to HootSuite and like it much better. It’s really a matter of interface and finding which one you like best so try different ones and use them for a while to find the one that fits with your lifestyle.

  9. Kate

    What an interesting interview.

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