Though we have some fairly sophisticated tools for monitoring conversations on Twitter, I haven't really seen people digging into these platforms and maximizing their benefit. And, it may be that there are so many that it is difficult to know which application should be used for what. One way to make that determination is to know what your objectives are before you search through the options.
Today, I am thinking about conversation monitoring and engagement. There are multiple clients that will show you your friends' feeds, replies and dm's. TweetDeck also let's you track global searches and has a panel for TwitScoop.
And Twitscoop has a feature that is exactly what I need.
The first thing you will see is a topic cloud with a list of keywords. Now, if you need information about something that is happening right in the moment, this is the place to be. Trending topics can be about most anything, including earthquakes, presidential elections, and, as evident from this picture, Hondas.
Most of my communication is more specific, and not generally a current events topic. That makes this page front page less helpful for me. I suspect that most people have this problem, so they abandon the whole application without delving in a bit further.
But, on the right hand side of the page, there is a search box. You can put in any topic of interest to you and search to see who's saying what and when. I entered the word "gardening" and these are the results.
The first thing you see on this page is a graph displaying the past 6 hours of conversation involving this term. You can also switch views to see the past day or three days. Below that, there is a list of who is tweeting what and when.
This is great information on a couple of levels. One, you can follow and engage like-minded people which is always a great strategy for online business development. Two, you can use this to verify and modify your current list of keywords. And three, you can use this to identify when the conversation is occurring.
It is the third option that gives you an opportunity to engage in a real-time conversation about your topic. Whether this means joining in and commenting on someone else's tweets or starting a rousing discussion of your own, using this feature allows you to teleport in to the precise moment when a potential customer is open to conversation.
Clearly, if you swoop in and shove a marketing message at them, they will be less than pleased. But, if you offer pertinent, helpful information, they might a) start following you, b) ask for a resource or c) think you are incredibly clever. After a while, this kind of engagement leads to referrals and market pull. Tweeple recommend that others follow you. They send you questions asking about their challenges. The start to become a part of the community that surrounds your business. And that is a great way to build loyal customers.
Consider using a conversation monitoring tool to increase the effectiveness of your engagement. If you have tried it already, I would love to hear about your experiences...
