As you probably have noticed, I have been on quite the Twitter kick lately. Twitter is a powerful tool that allows marketers to take a lot of guesswork out of building a brand. As such, I have been exploring many different programs to help and automate the tedious parts of Twitter and give more time to networking and relationship building. You may recall I talked about Twitter Hummingbird and its features just a little while ago. Now I’m going to explain Twitter Bird Feeder.

First Impressions of Twitter Bird Feeder

The people at PaceSys Software stopped by and left a comment on my Twitter Hummingbird Review post saying they believed their program mopped the floor with Hummingbird. So naturally I had to check out Twitter Bird Feeder. I was disappointed they didn’t offer me a free full version of the software, but life goes on.

The trial version allows you to follow and unfollow 250 people before it stops working. I’ll tell you first off that’s all you need. I was hooked instantly and bought it right away. These $175 programs really start to add up. Here are some of the best features Twitter Bird Feeder has:

Manage Accounts

You can add, manage and update unlimited accounts with Bird Feeder Pro ($175), the version I have. Bird Feeder offers a cheaper version of the program for $59.95. This version limits you to 5 Twitter accounts.

Twitter Bird Feeder Manage Window

Follow by Search

Unlike Hummingbird, Twitter Bird Feeder allows you to search and follow people with more precision. You can do the normal search and follow through Twitter’s search but can also select to follow by location.

Right away you’ll notice some neat features to the left on the program where you can select to skip people still rockin’ the default picture on their profile. Also, Bird Feeder has a built in time delay for following people, allowing you to have a more natural or delayed approach. Along with that, if you leave the program running, you can schedule Bird Feeder to automatically follow and unfollow people at a set time (handy while away from the office for a while).

Follow By Search

Follow by People

I follow people the most with Bird Feeder by selecting to follow the friends or followers of people I know on Twitter. If someone is a friend of one of my friends, chances are he or she would follow me back. You can choose to follow a person’s friends by newest or oldest. Again, using a time delay or set time and only following those without default images.

Another option is to follow by people’s usernames, first names or last names. This is really handy in the event you want to follow 1,000 Heathers or every Josh on Twitter to rub it in that you are the only real Josh . I actually use this feature a lot.

Unfollow People

Like Twitter Hummingbird, you can protect people you want to stay followed to even if they aren’t following you back. Then we see some improvements over Hummingbird with Bird Feeder such as unfollowing a specific number of people, time delay, scheduling and the ability to unfollow people after so many hours or days. For instance, @therealjosh is at a point where I can follow 1000’s more than are following back. This gives people more time to follow me back in return because I unfollow people every 3 days.

Having the ability to unfollow people by length of time and/or by newest/oldest is a huge improvement over Hummingbird. This feature alone would be enough to justify the switch from Hummingbird to Bird Feeder. Like most programs on Twitter, it remembers who you have followed and unfollowed as to not follow them again. But be very careful when switching from Hummingbird or another program to Bird Feeder. You might get your account suspended by re-following many of the same people again. Oops.

Account Tab

This is pretty straight forward. You can view your account stats and update your tweets.

Conclusion

I would recommend buying Twitter Bird Feeder over Hummingbird in a heartbeat. It is a little cheaper and has many more features. Plus, if you use less than 5 Twitter accounts you’ll save a ton of money. Twitter Bird Feeder also has an affiliate program that offers up to 25% of sales. Although this is not as good as Hummingbird, you can feel better about the program you are offering to others. I will be switching my endorsement to Bird Feeder over Hummingbird. I’ll continue to promote both and rank for those terms, hopefully persuading people to pick Bird Feeder.

I hope you saved some money and time by reading my reviews of these programs and making a more informed decision on what you want to use to help automate Twitter. Tell me your thoughts about Bird Feeder if you have used it before.

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Twitter continues to be a very useful and powerful tool for communication. The old euphemism, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” no longer applies online. On the Internet, it is who knows you. Twitter is the tool that allows many people to find you and get to know who you are. Here are a few tips to help your business leverage Twitter.

search.twitter.com

Use search.twitter.com to find out what people are saying about you and/or your brand. Search.twitter is as close as it gets to knowing what people are thinking. People talk about all sorts of things online and on Twitter. With this search feature you can quickly get the pulse on any subject matter. After you find out what people are talking about you can start to engage in conversation with them. Add them as a friend or @reply to them with your thoughts. Twitter is the equivalent to the court of public opinion, so what they are saying is exactly how people feel. If what they are saying is inaccurate, help guide the conversation to some press releases or other info showing the falseness. *Don’t beat them over the head with the truth, simply help to show what is correct.

Use Twitter Direct Message on an individual basis

There are tons of programs and services out there that will allow you to send a messages to all of your followers at once. There are a few drawbacks to this approach most of which come from the impersonal approach of messages. People know when you are talking to them directly or if they are one of a hundred. Unless you are trying to get out an urgent message like 4 hours left of a sale, avoid using Twitter direct messages. Instead, send out a message with that person’s name and that you are there to engage in conversation with them, you are there to answer their questions, you want their business or whatever you are aiming to do but be upfront with them. Don’t switch and bait users with kind works and tons of ads.

Post Twitter updates consistently

If you are there to engage in conversation, do it. Even if you only post one or two things a day on Twitter, do it every day. You will establish a sense of time and commitment to the idea of open conversation and people will know that you are approachable and willing to participate. As your following grows, each of these posts will spark little conversations of their own, increasing the number of people who know you. The hardest part of having a business is keeping all eyes on you, the same is true online. When you stop posting and participating, so does your audience.

Sell on your site, not on Twitter

The best possible way to leverage Twitter for sales and visitors is to engage in conversation with those people. As trust and rapport build between you and others, you can safely direct them to your site or business offering them sales, promotions, discounts and so on. Do not stuff your twitter comments with affiliate links or direct people to spam sites. People will catch on quickly and stop listening to what you have to say. Nothing is wrong with promoting your own sites or services as long as you are being upfront and honest about it.

Update your Twitter background, picture and info

Nothing screams spam and fake more than a Twitter account with a stock Twitter background and thumbnail image. Take the few minutes to design a nice and consistent background and thumbnail to match your brand, this shows that you are taking Twitter seriously and are willing to invest time into it. Most spam accounts on Twitter have generic backgrounds and thumbnails and are much less likely be followed in return.

Have fun and be original

Be yourself. People can tell and they like it. I would rather 50% of people love me and 50% of people hate me, than to have 100% think I am OK. When you’re OK, you’re unremarkable. Don’t feel bad if you can’t follow everyone back and you ruffle a few feathers. It’s the same in real life as it is online. You can’t be everything to everyone.

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The other day I wrote a post about a different Twitter marketing idea where you can help automate your Twitter process via the Twitter Hummingbird Review. Here is another cool and interesting way to leverage Twitter and help automate the sharing of cool and relevant information. StumbleTweets.com is the StumbleUpon for Twitter, tapping the Twitter API information to find tweets with links in whatever category you so desire.

Back in the day I used to love using the StumbleUpon toolbar to kill time at work and bounce around the web. With StumbleUpon, people submit articles for others to vote on whether or not they like what they see. Voting on StumbleUpon is done by giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down. The articles with the most thumbs-up votes will get more traffic from StumbleUpon.

As for StumbleTweets.com, you can use it to find tweets that apply to you and not just some random web pages. If you are into marketing like myself and you search marketing on StumbleTweets you will be shown tweets with links that have marketing in them. Then you are finding and re-tweeting (RT) tweets related to your niche or likes and are able to one-click and share those with your followers.

You can save a ton of time by using StumbleTweets’ one-click Follow and one-click RT features. Chances are if someone tweeted about a marketing topic or post he or she might be interested in the same thing as you. With one click you can follow the person who tweeted the post to begin with along with RTing the post again to your own followers. Again, you are saving time and managing all of these actions from the same spot.

Search really specific things to RT to others. Want to just find some twitpics related to marketing? Or funny Craigslist ads? You name it, if it has a link the chances are great you can find it and RT it.

If you are into saving time and RTing cool and interesting things to your followers, StumbleTweets is here for you. Try it out and if you don’t love it in a matter of minutes you get a full refund

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Through them I learned about SEO (search engine optimization) and Internet Marketing that not only paid the bills but put me in a better position to determine the path in which my life went. It is very rare that I go out and look for clients. In fact, I haven’t really at all. Usually people find me through my blog here or one of my other satellite sites. I primarily focus my attention on ranking web pages in the search engines so people will find them. But ranking pages isn’t all I do.

I also help businesses determine what results they want from an online marketing campaign and execute that for them. Their marketing needs and desires can vary greatly from wanting to start a comprehensive marketing campaigns including search engine ranking, social media marketing and other direct marketing approaches. I help them come up with different marketing ideas that fit their needs. For example, they might want a unique approach to solving their problems or to reduce their advertising costs.

Marketing Ideas learned in Fargo

1. It is always better when clients or potential clients find you.

Like I mentioned before, most my clients find me. I spend little time setting up processes for people to find me. Instead of me spending time finding clients, I can spend my time working. As clients and potential clients find you and explain their marketing problems, you are in a much better position to leverage because of the fact that they sought you out.

2. Don’t rely on one marketing approach.

It is easy to think that if something works well once it can always be replicated. The biggest advantage to online marketing is the ability to adapt and change when circumstances warrant it. It is very easy to fall into the trap that one shoe fits all and one client’s success will happen again. Change is good. Change happens all the time. Be prepared to change because it is inevitable.

3. Never put all your marketing eggs in one basket.

Much like the point above. Relying solely on Google for all your traffic and marketing is a scary proposition. What if Google changes and determines your system is flawed? What if Google doesn’t think you have its users’ best interests in mind? Google is a business and will do what is best for Google.

4. Google isn’t the only source of traffic online.

People are becoming connected online greater than ever before. I am seeing a trend that is increasing where people are relying more on each other for answers to questions than just Google. Now, with tools like Twitter and Facebook you can directly ask your questions to the people who can answer them. For example, you might post a question about Las Vegas hotels and what kind of deals they have. Many things take time to populate and be found online. The time people are willing to wait to find an answer is shrinking incredibly.

5. Match expectations with reality; anyone can promise the moon.

Sure, it is easy to say you can solve all of your client’s problems, but usually you cant. It is very important that you are real with your clients and what you can perform for them. Give realistic expectations of time frame and results. Fargo Internet marketing is easier than marketing in New York on a local level but nationally the game changes considerably.

6. Don’t except every job or opportunity that comes your way.

It is extremely easy to want to take every job that passes you by, but don’t. Taking the jobs that are smaller or easier usually turn out to be anything but. It is extremely rare for me to accept a proposal less than 5 figures. In fact, I avoid it. I look for clients who understand the potential power of Internet marketing and want to establish a long-lasting relationship with me. I am not looking to rank your web site for your business name. I am looking to establish a broader relationship that borders partnership.

7. Don’t work for a paycheck, work for people.

Working for a paycheck will only get you a paycheck. The funny thing about paychecks is the fact that they never refer business to you. If you genuinely care about your customers and want to see their problems solved, paychecks will come in abundance. But working for the Almighty $ is going to be a constant struggle.

8. Find an unique approach to solving a client’s problems.

Potential clients are looking for solutions for their problems. When you find those solutions you have earned a client for life. 99% of the time it is a matter of finding what other successful businesses are doing and approach that with an open mind. I am not saying to copy what others are doing because you cannot change the foundation of a business overnight. Rather, look at their approach to solving a problem and analyze the key characteristics they used to solve that problem. In between the lines you will find a solution that will work for your client the same if not better than what worked for them. Could be price, uniqueness, customer service, quality or any number of things.

9. Fire your clients.

Every now and then you need to fire a client. Either fire them or set a new guideline for interaction between you and them. If they don’t like the new terms they fired themselves. It is not worth the headache or dread of dealing with a client. Life is too short for dealing with crummy clients all the time. One client can cause 80% of your problems. If that is the case, dump the client. The same should be expected for you and your business. That’s life.

10. Know your own limitations.

Sometimes I can’t possibly take on a new client. If I did I would only diminish my relationship with my current clients. This isn’t always the case but sometimes I just have to say no. This is usually easy when the proposal is smaller than my baseline but unless I want to hire and train others, I can’t always take new clients. Thankfully we are in a growth and expansion phase that allows us to not only better serve our current customers but frees up space for more customers.

Conclusion

I feel that Internet marketing is the greatest job in the world for me. I love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. I adore my clients and enjoy working with them every day. I am sure the feelings are mutual. It is a pleasure to work with some of the brightest personalities in the business both here in Fargo and across the world. I hope you gained a bit of insight into my world as a Fargo Internet marketing agent and perhaps learned a little too. If you would like to contact me, please visit my contact page or media / consulting page.

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(You can watch the video by clicking here) Teen smoking has been a problem for years. Local, state and federal governments attempt to curtail teen smoking everywhere. If I were to run a teen anti-smoking campaign, this is what I would do. Who knows if this marketing idea would work better than what is currently in place, but it sure can’t be much worse.

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Update: (6-16-09) If you’d like to use a program with more features and much cheaper visit my Twitter Bird Feeder Review.

Update: There is now a 15% Discount Code “RECESSION” good until 5-31-09

Notice: This is a review of Hummingbird and is not intended to advocate any misuse of the program contrary to Twitter’s terms and agreement. This post also contains an affiliate link. So please, in your quest to make money, don’t forget where you heard about the program to begin with. On to the post…

Twitter is here to stay and becoming ever more important as a marketing tool. Twitter marketing isn’t anything new, but tools are propelling Twitter use to higher and higher levels. This post isn’t about how you should interact with Twitter members but rather how to get hundreds or thousands of followers.

The biggest goal of Twitter marketing is to get as many Twitter followers as possible in order to leverage those followers in conversation and conversion. A software called Hummingbird by Mesiab Lab’s is the best way I’ve found to manage my Twitter accounts. By using Hummingbird, I acquire the most followers without getting my Twitter account banned.

Hummingbird is a huge (HUGE) time saver and well worth the investment. The primary reason I started looking into programs like Hummingbird was due to the amount of time I was spending managing my Twitter accounts (be sure to follow me @therealjosh). Hummingbird has saved me hours and hours.

Here is a promo video (click to watch):

Hummingbird Review

Adding and managing multiple accounts

Hummingbird allows you to manage several Twitter accounts together. Adding in multiple accounts has never been easier. After your accounts have been added into Hummingbird, you can easily select which account you would like to work with by choosing from a drop down menu.

Following like-minded members

When I use Hummingbird to follow people on Twitter, I look for others who are like my target niche or myself. When I find a person with similar followers I have the option of selecting either his or her followers or the members he or she is following. Next I click the Follow All button and Hummingbird begins to follow every single person in those lists, including automatically forwarding to the next page and repeating the process. My guess is that you can automatically follow 1,000 Twitter members in 30-45 minutes.

Automatically unfollow Twitter members

Hummingbird has a great feature that allows you to easily unfollow all of those who either quit following you or never followed you back.

After I have waited 48-72 hours for people to follow me back after a Hummingbird follow run, I use the automatic Unfollow All feature to remove those who didn’t add me back. I wait a few days in order to give people time to see that I attempted to follow them and give them a chance to return the favor. I take into account that a lot of people only use Twitter at work and might be home during the weekend or on vacation.

Then I click on my own Following link through Hummingbird and select the Unfollow All button. This button works exactly the same as the Follow All button, just in reverse. Hummingbird then goes through your Following list and unfollows all of those who either quit following you or never followed you back. If you have ever done this process manually it can take an eternity. Hummingbird takes care of this process for you while you sit back and watch the magic or work on something else.

Hummingbird’s built-in safety features

In order to not get your Twitter account banned or marked as spam, you should never hit the same people twice. Hummingbird remembers who you have followed and unfollowed in order to skip those members if you attempt to follow or unfollow again. This way you only ever follow or unfollow a person once unless you manually do it. You will see that these people show up as red, and the program automatically skips over them. (seen in the pic above)

Don’t worry about hitting your follow limit for your Twitter account. Hummingbird will not allow you to follow more than Twitter will allow. After you hit your maximum number of followers for that account, Hummingbird goes through the motions without adding to your following number.

Hummingbird’s VIP list

A lot of times you may want to follow a member because you like that person or he or she is really popular or whatever. You can add members to your account’s VIP list so Hummingbird won’t unfollow them even if they aren’t following you back. Depending on what your goal or target market is for your Twitter account, you may want to use this feature. I personally don’t use it much, but it is handy.

Hummingbird’s built-in Twitter search feature

The most impactful part of the Hummingbird software is the Twitter Search function. With the Search function you can drill down and get the most targeted search possible for your niche. After you have done a search, you can click a button to automatically follow all the people in that search result. You can even leave the program running so that it will continue to automatically follow new people as they meet that specified search. You are able to set up the most targeted Twitter search possible, then automatically follow those people while you sleep .

I looked into programs like Hummingbird because of all the time I was wasting by managing my Twitter accounts. I ponied up the $200 for Hummingbird and haven’t looked back. I have easily saved that much in waited time. So no matter if you use my affiliate link or not, I have come out on top. I can now manage 4x as many Twitter accounts in 1/10th the time.

Hummingbird does offer an affiliate program that does pay out handsomely (approx $60 a sell). This explains the high cost of the program, but it only takes 3 sales to recover your initial investment into the program. I have already made my money back on the program and there is plenty of room to sell Hummingbird to other new and existing Twitter members. By using Hummingbird and pimping its affiliate program you can save time, but also make a profit.

Best of luck to killing it on Twitter and to your future Twitter marketing ideas. Also be sure to follow me at @therealjosh

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