In my previous article, I discussed why comedians should be using Twitter to help build a fan base and communicate with their followers. Hopefully, I provided a few ideas on using Twitter in creative ways. Every ‘Marketing 101’ class explains how critical it becomes to measure your marketing efforts. As you learn more about the Twitter community, a few questions you might ask yourself:
- I’m communicating via tweets, but who is my audience?
- How can I measure the results of my tweets?
- Are there tools to manage Twitter effectively?
The year I started using Twitter, I was not aware of this application’s full potential. After a few months, I wondered if tweets held any value. Based on my two years of working and testing various 3rd party Twitter based apps, I came up with my “masters list. ” My research was based on reading blogs, joining technical discussion groups, and plain ol’ trial and error.
Listed below are some of my favorite applications to help ‘demystify the awkwardness’ of using Twitter. Test them based on your needs, and discover which tools can help manage your Twitter goals. Most of these applications are free, so the only thing it will cost you is time.
Contaxio.com (www.contaxio.com)
This application provides a lot of information with minimal effort. After logging into their website, you can review:
- Who’s following you
- Who are you following
- When is it mutual
The interface for this application is so simple that using it becomes a breeze. I’m a huge fan of the export feature, and its ability to export Twitter data into a spreadsheet. If you’re creating and managing Twitter lists, it can handle that task too!
Bit.ly (www.bit.ly)
Recently re-vamped to include additional features, bit.ly is serves two primary functions:
- Shorten your URL
- Track how people are finding the URLs you post
After posting a link using bit.ly, you can review your historical data for it. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know where your comedy fans are based? How about the number of people who clicked on your link? All of these details and more are provided from this website.
TweeetReach (www.tweetreach.com)
This is one of the easiest tools to measure your presence on Twitter. After typing in a Twitter handle (i.e. @waynemancomedy), a list is provided with various statistical information including:
- A summary of your Twitter history
- The total number of Twitter accounts reached
- The number of tweets sent (including re-tweets, and a list of the most popular tweets)
- A list of contributors who are reading and responding to your tweets
NOTE: The free version has a limitation to display the last 50 tweets, but that should be more than enough to gauge your Twitter activity.
Truetwit (www.truetwit.com)
Cyberspace is filled with ‘bots’ (aka automated accounts) designed to follow any Twitter account. Using Truetwit allows you to ‘validate’ each follower. The application will send a custom tweet message (design by you), requesting your new followers to clink on a single link to prove they are a real human being. Not everyone is willing to do this, but you will learn to appreciate the fans that do.
TweetChat (www.tweetchat.com)
Tweetchat is designed to conduct interviews using Twitter. There are hundreds of topics available, and you can score an interview by asking questions. Inquire if someone would like to interview a comedian on any subject. I had the pleasure of being included on a TweetChat for Udoci Life Coaching.
Tweet My Events (www.tweetmyevents.com)
Most comedians will post their event on Facebook, but neglect to post it on Twitter. Tweet My Events is great application to promote your shows, AND they will re-tweet your event using their accounts. Imagine the exposure you could gain by creating a useful hashtag (i.e. #laughDC) with your comedy show postings? One of the most useful features is the ability to schedule Twitter updates (so you don’t bombard the world with your show updates). I’ve had a lot of success using this application.
I will give an honorable mention to Tweetdeck. I’ve been using it to schedule my tweets (especially for the #FF posts), but I’m testing HootSuite as a replacement application.
This is by no means an extensive list of the possible applications for Twitter. The goal of this article is to understand the marketing advantage of using Twitter as a comedian. Getting the word out about my shows, articles, building a fan base, and sharing local newsworthy items are my primary goals for Twitter. If you have other tools that you are currently using for Twitter, I would like to hear about them.
© 2012 Wayne Manigo
Wayne Manigo is a comedian and co-founder of DC Comedy Writers Group. He is the creator of “Addicted to Comedy,” and the ‘brainchild’ behind the annual comedy conference, Starting Stand Up: A Comic Beginning. He also produces the show, Bellylaughs in Bethesda at Caddies at Cordell.
