5 Free Twitter Tools Which will Make You A Pro

Most celebrities are on Twitter. Some like Amitabh Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh and SRK are avid users, while others like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Amir Khan use it sparingly. But they are all present there.

Then why is only about 15% of India’s remaining internet population present on it? And why do brands (read their agencies) fail to capitalize on this awesome tool to establish their online reputation?

Well, for one, many brand managers don’t understand how Twitter functions. They simply bombard the platform with self promotional tweets and expect a hoard of followers. Even now, most people consider their Twitter success to be directly related to the number of followers. Secondly, because of the vast amount of content being shared on Twitter, users can feel all at sea. Making sense of things on Twitter can be quite a task.

Twitter is not a self promotion platform. If you’re self promoting without adding value, you’re doing Twitter all wrong. Twitter is about being there, listening to conversations, making sense of them, providing your inputs and using posts which you read to come up with content marketing ideas. And fear not, it is really easy to do once you get the hang of it.

Free Twitter Tools as good as Paid Ones

Here are 5 free tools which enable you to become an effective Twitter user:

Bufferapp: This is one of the most popular free tools for posting on social media (especially Twitter). Renowned as a post and tweet scheduling tool, Bufferapp also lets you tweet instantly in case you are unable to access Twitter. Links tweeted are converted to bitly links by default, though you can choose to revert to the original URL. The analytics tool is handy for tracking the performance of each tweet sent from Buffer. So if you see that a post has done well in the past and are short of ideas, you can re-share it after a month or 2. Alternately, you can make use of Bufferapp’s suggestions if you’re looking for content to tweet. Plus you can tweet an article via Buffer right from your browser. Simply install the extension and click on the icon if you want to share an article. Also, if you select a specific quote from the article and click on the Bufferapp icon, the app intelligently tweets your link with the selected text as the headline. Cool huh? People also use this tool for scheduling posts on Facebook, but the Facebook’s inbuilt scheduler feature is more useful and effective for their platform. You also cannot view real time Twitter updates. For that, you have the option below.

Hootsuite: I can’t stop raving about this tool. Apart from scheduling tweets, Hootsuite also makes it convenient for you to track feeds related to your subject on Twitter and Facebook. Simply enter the keyword(s) in Hootsuite’s search box and click ‘Add Stream’ on the tab where the results show up. These streams can also be of lists formulated by you (more on lists in point 5). Your feed is updated real time, ensuring you stay well informed on everything happening in your field. Respond to questions of people, which establishes you as an expert in your field. You can also generate ideas for content marketing material by reading people’s conversations. Plus, you can not only RT a tweet, but also manually RT after adding your comments in it, just like the mobile Twitter app.

Pullquote: Ever read a quote online and liked it so much that you want to tweet it? Well, Pullquote lets you do it beautifully. Simply install the extension in your browser and use it when you want to tweet a quote from a page. The tool converts the quote into a picture and share it. You also can crop a photo and share it, adding your comments in the tweet. Pullquote is a great tool to awesome content on Twitter pictorially. The only drawback, however, is that you cannot tweet a link. For sharing a link along with the image/quote, you can take help of the tool mentioned below.

Bitly sidebar: bit.ly links, when shared, look way cooler than the conventional abc.com/xyz…. But you already know that, right? Additionally, bit.ly links can be used to track how many times your link has been clicked on. Once you’ve tweeted a link, simply compare the number of times people have clicked on the link versus the number of impressions. While it may not be an accurate figure, it may give you a rough idea of how effective what you typed while sharing the link was. More clicks (even if it hasn’t got RTs) means your ‘copywriting’ idea worked, and you can try replicating that for other tweets too. Bitly links are not accepted on some popular social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Blogadda, etc. For those, you can use the article’s original URL.

Twitter: What good would a social platform do if it cannot have some inbuilt features which make it awesome? 2 features which we must make use of in Twitter are Search and Lists. The Twitter Search is as good as Hootsuite in providing you with tweets which are related to your subject of interest. Also, if you want to know how a specific article is being discussed on Twitter, merely paste the article’s URL in the Search box. For instance, if you want to know what people on Twitter think about this article, simply copy the link and paste it in Twitter’s search box. Also, Lists is a kickass feature to get feeds from people from a specific field. So if you want to stalk the competition, you can create a list of them, keep it private and keep a tab of their tweets. On the other hand, if you want to share insightful tweets of influencers in a field related to yours, create a public list and add them to it. Let others also refer to your list and know how awesome you are.

Conclusion

A common mistake which many of us make is not tracking our Twitter platform’s performance (read effectiveness). We pepper the platform with promotional tweets and Twitter contests for our clients, most of which result in negligible conversions. Twitter is a far more effective digital message spreading platform than any other - Facebook, LinkedIn or Google Plus. It can help portray our brand as a thought leader in its field and convert viewers to followers, then buyers, and ultimately into loyalists. Using the tools above, you can listen to conversations on Twitter, create and promote terrific content and track your engagement levels. Effective use of Twitter will also give a content writer a whole bunch of ideas for the next corporate blog post.

I haven’t added many tools like Seesmic, TweetDeck, etc. to the list. I’ve found the above mentioned 5 to be most effective. Do you know of any other tools which have been missed? Do leave a note about them in the comments section. Also do share this article with others so that awareness about how Twitter works continues to spread.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

This guest post by the 1st Twitter celebrity I've known - Atul Vhale. While he is an avid social media user, he has faced some tiny issues while starting to blog. Read on and let him know if you have experienced the same.

To Blog or not to Blog?

You know what I dislike intensely? When one of my colleagues comes and pats me on back and says "Bro! When you'll write a blog post, I'll announce a grand party in office."

Trust me, there have been billion dollar ideas in my mind but all disappear while watching.........

The moment I sit down to write and some cheap yet hot model pops up in my mind, the whole situation gets nasty!

I often visit cafés during weekends with the intent of writing but end up with having a couple of coffees with some hot legs. Hate it!

I may have announced on Twitter that "I'm gonna write a kick ass blog post tonight" but have woken up next morning at friend's house watching Hangover IV. I didn't like that movie though.

One night, in my dream, I wrote a blog post on Indian Economy. If only one of my jealous room mates wouldn't have woken me up before I hit 'Publish', that post would have gone viral!

Does it happen to you too or is it just me? Tell me your scene!

image Courtesy: Google Images

Honda Amaze - Test Driven for a Whole Day

I hadn’t given the Honda Amaze much thought just yet. We don’t see as many of them on the road as the Swift Desire or the Verito. Maybe because the Amaze was launched just this year. Honda had finally added a diesel horse to its Indian stable and that created quite a buzz. But as I said, I hadn’t formulated an opinion about it. That was until I drove one.

Honda invited a few of us auto enthusiasts and Twitter addicts to drive their Brio and Amaze from Navi Mumbai to Aamby Valley City, Lonavla, and back. You don’t get such opportunities often and so sane people don’t decline. Well, I’d like to think I’m sane.

Honda Amaze VX

I had never driven the car nor had I been inside Aamby Valley. This event would let me do both. I got to drive the highest variant of the Amaze – the VX (petrol) both ways. The 1^st thing that struck me on getting in was the air conditioning. It was so powerful that I leaked more water than I drank during the day. In fact, as evening settled in, my friend sitting at the back asked us to turn the A/c off. And mind you he’s the guy who complains why rickshaws don’t have air conditioning. That speaks volumes for Amaze’s in-car cooling. It’s especially useful in India where the summer is boiling hot and winter is just a word. As you start driving, you notice how nimble the car is. As one who drives compact hatchbacks (Santro, Polo and Swift), I thought I would have to be careful lugging a car with a boot around. But you don’t feel the weight of the boot or the extended wheelbase at all. It didn’t strike me until the end of the day that I had been driving a sedan effortlessly. The bootspace and rear leg room in the Amaze borders on levels of 'obscene'. The tallest and widest of people can sit comfortably. And you can load 2-3 dead bodies in the boot and still have space for luggage. Of course, smoothness doesn’t need a mention. That’s expected from Honda; Honda and refinement are synonymous.

Amaze-ing bootspace! Don't you agree?

As we hit the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the 1.2 litre powered Honda finally got to stretch her legs. There we got to experience how planted the car is. It isn’t often that you average 130 kmph in an entry level sedan packed with 5 people and camera equipment. The expressway has a many fast sweeping bends, which the Amaze lapped up with Amaze-ing stability. I didn’t have to lift my foot off the gas. Plus the car did a top whack of 145. Bet she would’ve gone faster if the load was lesser.

Once we reached Lonavla, I got my wish. The camera crew got off. No more camera, no more restrictions... just the Amaze, my friend and me. I’ve always loved the road from Bushi dam to Aamby Valley because it’s filled with twists, turns and slopes. You get to test the limits of a car/bike (or yourself). And the Amaze didn’t disappoint in handling. The front end entered every corner with confidence and the car went exactly where she was directed. The ABS offered one of the best feels while braking, allowing me to complete turns shuffling between the brake and throttle. We also took the car off-road a little, and she was fine there too. The McPherson struts and Torsion beams hauled the 965 kg vehicle decently over stones and gravel. The height adjustment option of the driver’s seat was a blessing at this time, giving me more visibility of the road (or gravel). Priced between 6-8 lakhs on road Mumbai, this is the perfect entry level sedan. It has everything a family can want.

The only drawback of the vehicle is the sluggishness while accelerating. The car takes a few moments to gain momentum, as if the engine has a turbocharger with some lag. Lifting off from the 2^nd gear is difficult; you have to use the 1^st gear if you’re standing still. The people at Honda say this is a rev happy vehicle, and she did sound throaty at high revs in lower gears. But you wouldn’t want to push the car to 6k revs in the 2^nd gear. Plus, like the Honda Civic (which, sadly, Honda doesn’t plan on bringing back soon), the gear lever feels woody. Not like the Hyundais or the VWs. But I guess that’s trademark Honda by now.

We had a great time at Aamby Valley. The city is a township in itself. Beautiful roads, plantations, houses similar to those in Bali and auditoriums... but that’s a different point altogether. We were given a presentation on some ‘Wow’ aspects of the Brio and the Amaze. It’s amazing to know that while the Brio is more spacious than the Maruti Alto, it has a shorter wheelbase. The management of Honda were patient in answering all our questions. Lunch was great too, contrary to mediocre food dished out at most events. And then there were the events. The slalom course challenge in the Brio and Filled Tumbler challenge in the Amaze. Glad to say that yours truly won the Filled Tumbler challenge, spilling a mere 100 ml of water while driving through the cones. The event was perfect. Hats off to Anmol, Songita, Diwakar, Subesh and Shweta from Bloggers’ Mind and to others for organizing an awesome event. The challenges were designed around the strengths of the cars. It was an event focussed on showcasing the abilities of the car instead of just creating hype. It was great to meet and interact with Shivani san, Shakeel san, Siddharth san, Sen san, Aneesh san and others from Honda. They were warm, approachable and hospitable. As the saying goes “You meet the nicest people in (a) Honda.”

The Badge Idea - Coz You Deserve Better!

Your badge is your identity. It is all about you. Unfortunately, in today’s mass culture, badges lose their uniqueness. Every badge looks just like the other. So what differentiates you from someone else?

Nikhil has a solution to this problem is mass-customization – in form of ‘The Badge Idea’. Whether it’s a snap, a bio, a slogan/quote, or your website link – or even all of them – The Badge Idea (TBI) makes each badge stand out. Conceptualized in 2013, TBI’s USP, though, is the presence of a theme. You can have a badge with your own theme – one that defines you. Whether you’re a sport lover, a foodie, a coffee addict, a geek, a marketing professional, a social media wiz... let the world know about it through your badge.

Nikhil’s aims to provide badges for tweet ups. It becomes easier for Tweeple attending tweet ups and events to introduce themselves to others. Not just their names and company names, but also aspects which they’re passionate about. He also provides badges for events and corporate functions. The event’s theme can be incorporated onto the badges, giving them a different touch. Scannable bar codes can also be printed.

Simply log onto the website and fill the form, which asks for what you want on your custom badge. You will receive a preview in your e-mail, and only after your approval does the badge go into printing. You can even gift these badges to loved ones or friends. Plus the badge will be delivered to any address across the world. 

For now, you will have to bear the courier charges for addresses outside India. Pay via cash or bank transfer.

The Badge Idea - Your badge is all about YOU

The Badge Idea will soon incorporate a payment gateway on the website itself. So you will be able to pay online. Also, as earlier stated, Nikhil aims to start providing badges for events too. Corporate entities and event management firms will get badges customizable for their events, something which delegates will enjoy wearing.

A lot of people have already ordered and received badges from TBI, within timelines promised. And they’ve flashed them on Twitter. iTannu, AnahitaIrani1, CarpeDatAss, Muskurahatein, NashiliAnkhein, KishMish, naiyatweetz, LunacyRedefined... the list goes on and on. These badges are a whiff of fresh air compared to the simple, staid and similar ones available everywhere else. A theme, a snap, a slogan, a website link and everything else that defines you goes onto your badge – your identity. If anything, this concept is going to scale up real quick. So go ahead, get your own badge. And tell me you loved it. It’s hard to believe you will have any other opinion.

6 Ways to Increase Traffic To Your Blog

Which blogger doesn't want more traffic directed to his blog? A rookie blogger can get about 20-30 hits daily while a pro blogger can get anywhere between 600 – 6000. We promote our blog posts on Facebook and Twitter, submit our posts on Bloggers, Digg & more and comment on others’ blog posts –all in attempts to direct traffic to our sites. While these methods are 100% correct, there are other sites which we can leverage to increase traffic on ours. Some of those suggestions (tried and tested by me) are listed below:

1. Pinterest: Most of Pinterest’s visitors are women. Most pins are about cats, fashion, jewelry, cars and recipes. But that doesn't mean Pinterest can’t drive traffic to your website. Create a board containing pictures of the ones in your posts, and provide links to the specific articles. If your blog has a theme, even better. Create a board according to the theme and post pictures from your articles with links. This will ensure it doesn't appear as blatant advertising of your blog while you reap the benefits of at least a 20 – 30% traffic spike.
2. SlideShare: Yes! SlideShare. The site which lets you upload PowerPoint presentations. Make PPTs of your posts and upload them. Remember to add links (clickable) to your articles in the last slide. This offers two benefits –readers will be enticed to read your articles if your presentations are interesting, thus increasing traffic. And you will improve your presentation skills. But make sure you prepare presentations out of your post and not publish the whole article in slides. No one will read your blog then.

   

   Get the Traffic You Deserve

3. StumbleUpon: Most of you must already be submitting your links on this site. But those don’t, please start immediately. StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that finds and recommends web content to its users. Your posts will show up in categories which you have classified the articles under. This means your content will be made available to a vast number of relevant and interested readers. This will not only increase traffic on your site but also reach out to relevant readers.
4. Blogadda: There are numerous websites which allow you to submit your posts. But not many of them can lure readers to click on your links as Blogadda can. Through its Tangy Tuesday and Spicy Saturday picks, this site shares the choicest of submissions with its readers. And people read those posts – intently. So if your post is good enough to have been picked by them, rest assured, traffic and comments on your posts will shoot up. I've witnessed about 100% increase in visits on posts which featured in Tangy Tuesday on Blogadda.
5. WriteUp Cafe (WUC): This site is relatively lesser known as compared to the internet giants. But it is a great platform to share your links and connect with equally enthusiastic bloggers. Present partial write ups of your posts and provide links to your blog for the remaining article. Thus, readers who find your write up interesting will visit your blog to read the rest (and comment on it). Also, WUC tweets the links which have been submitted on it to its 600 odd (and growing) followers, increasing your article’s visibility.
6. Google+: A lot of us have forgotten about Google+. Or we’re disillusioned – we were told it’s going to be the best social networking site ever, right? Wrong! Google+ as a social network was a Trojan Horse to introduce the ‘+1’ button and that matters a lot! Every time your article is +1-ed, Google’s advertising search engine is fed, allowing them to match more targeted ads. Plus, it tremendously improves your rankings. Won’t Google want to promote its platform more? So every time you get a +1, or your circle expands, your search results on Google+ improve. After all, that’s what everyone is gunning for, right?
7. Bonus tip: Use the e-mail feature on the Blogger and Wordpress platforms smartly to reach out to a wider audience. I’m not talking about those who have subscribed to your blog by e-mail. You definitely have a list of 300+ e-mail contacts, right? Using the e-mail feature, you can let these contacts know that you've posted a new article. A 10% conversion means a minimum of 30 hits to your site. And that’s a lot of traffic (unless you average 600+ hits per day).

Notice that nothing has been spoken about SEO per say here. That’s because Google has started rewarding quality content with Panda & Penguin – its latest algorithms. Remember, you can use tricks to increase traffic on your website, but the best traffic is the one that keeps returning. Steady traffic can only be achieved once you've got enough readers visiting your blog repeatedly, wanting to read what you have to share. So before you indulge in SEO tricks, meta tags and keyword research, focus on improving your content. Everything else will gradually fall into place.

These were my suggestions. Why don’t you share your tips to increase traffic? They will help a lot of readers (including me).


image Courtesy: Google Images

The Flipside of Blogging...

Why do we blog? To make our voices heard, to connect with people and of course, for the feeling of satisfaction when others read what we write. The final write up makes us feel proud of our work; we love publishing our articles and publicizing them on Facebook and Twitter. And someday, someday we will have 20-30 genuine comments on our articles (this is strictly for men. Many women bloggers end up with 50-60 comments on their blogs).

The flipside is the pressure – the pressure of writing articles which people enjoy reading... constantly coming up with new topics. See I’m no poet or story teller. I don’t often write on conventional topics. I relate incidents that catch our eye to daily life. Sometimes this leads to a problem that I’m currently facing – Writer’s Block! I’m sure most bloggers face it. It’s that phase when a writer can’t think of what to write; he feels like he’s staring at a brick wall. No inspiration, no ideas, nothing. Yet, the pressure to keep writing so that his blog doesn’t stagnate.

But that’s ok I guess. It’s all part of the package. You can’t always write good articles. Some will be average, others crappy. So I keep writing, like we keep moving in life even if we have bad days.

I keep reading articles and books. The brain isn’t pressurized to come up with inspiration. Ideas are allowed to crop up anytime – in sleep, while driving, cooking or reading. The important thing is that one keeps writing. Too often we’re guilty of wanting to do something so well that we skip deadlines. The same happens in blogging. It’s not necessary that each article be a masterpiece. So keep writing. Traffic, visits, comments and followers will follow. Cheers!

Your turn now. What do you do when you suffer from Writer’s Block?

The ICC Champions Trophy 2013 Winners

This post is dedicated to my favourite team – the Indian Cricket Team. It’s come late; a week after they’ve won the Champions Trophy 2013. India is now the only team to have won the 20, 50, and 60 Over World Cups and the Champions Trophy. The only team that can match them is West Indies, but them winning the 50 over World Cup in the near future looks farfetched.

This trophy is even sweeter because of the lack of big names. The big 3 (Sachin, Sourav, Dravid), Zaheer, Kumble, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Gambhir... no one was part of the team. Yet it went on not only to win the Champions Trophy, but stay undefeated throughout (7-0). Remember when the Aussies started sliding downhill? When they lost McGrath, Warne, the Waugh brothers, Gilchrist, Hayden, Fleming and others.

Until a few days before the tourney started, the Indian media was busy slamming Dhoni for holding a stake in some firm. Match fixing allegations had surfaced in the IPL, and while everyone sympathized with Dravid, they chastised Dhoni and said his team should be disqualified. We conveniently forgot that he captained our team to the 1^st ODI series victory in Australia after almost 2 decades, the T20 World Cup victory, whitewashing the Aussies 4-0 at home (which was the last team that achieved it?), the Asia Cup and many other victories.

India - The ICC Champions Trophy 2013 winners

The Aussie and British media are die-hard supporters of their teams. We, on the other hand, are never satisfied. If India loses, that’s how we always play. If India wins, the match was fixed. Plus the media comes out with stories completely unrelated to cricket bashing its own players. And we lap it up like gluttons. Dhoni’s stake becomes the point of discussion in trains, on lunch tables, Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else. We care more about the IPL than the Indian cricket team. Come on guys... use your brains. Where do your loyalties lie? With your national cricket team (all of whom are Indians) or with your IPL team, ½ the side of which comprises of foreigners?

The media now is glorifying Dhoni. He’s on the front page of most papers. They’re publicizing how he built his biceps on a litre of milk every day. Suddenly Dhoni is God, while he was the Devil some days ago. Convenient? We lapped up their shit a few days ago. We’re lapping up their bullshit even now. Guess who’s the fool here?

We’re euphoric because the Indian team has won the Champions Trophy. But this feeling won’t last long. One mediocre series and we’ll be screaming for heads of our players again. Our memories of their bad performances outlast the good ones.

Dear fans, our team has achieved so much in the last ½ decade. All this while they’re on the road the most. They are humans too. They suffer from fatigue, homesickness; they miss their loved ones, monotony sets in... the list can go on. Please cut them some slack. The next time they have an average series remember all the good they’ve done. And for God’s sake, stop caring about how a cricketer does business. Their personal life is none of our concern. We must care about what they do on the field, and they are doing a fabulous job right now. Jai Hind.