I tried earlier this evening to twin up my facebook and twitter accounts, so I could share my twitter tweets with my newly formed NorthSouthMedia page on facebook (perhaps if your interested and want to hook up – you can become a fan here).

Now, I can integrate my facebook updates simply with twitter, however, when I go though the same process on my twitter account…

Which when clicked leads to this page, a 404 error page on facebook.

Just wondering if twitter were aware that facebook removed their app and why?

I’ve searched the web for any info on this and came up with a big blank nothing. Has anyone else seen this recently? Love to hear from you.

Blatant Push For Fans on NSM facebook page coming up ***********

You know if you want to connect with NSM on facebook then just click the following link : www.facebook.com/NorthSouthMedia : it will be an experience that you’ll, probably, remember for the rest of your remaining days

Twitter can be an effective tool for promoting your business online. As with anything in life – you only get what you put into it. So, with that in mind, always remember that Twitter is no golden egg but with a bit of effort on your part it could turn into the goose that lays the golden egg for you.

Here is a list of top twitter tips that I have used and advised various businesses to start using to help them getter a better realisation on how Twitter can be, if used correctly, a powerful marketing tool for their business.

Posting to your Twitter Account

Keep it relevant with links : Linking out to certain links when posting a tweet, always ask yourself, “Is this worthy of me telling people about it?” If you are just posting links without any concern, your followers will soon stop clicking and in some instances your followers might decrease.

By all means submit links but don’t just rely on Twitter as a link bank. If you find a followers link worth value then retweet what they have just posted – it highlights that you are interested in your followers and that the conversation isn’t just one way.

Keep an eye on trends : A great way to measure what people are interested in real time is Twitter trends. Dependent on your industry or creativity levels, this is a great way to promote your business/service/product if you can find a relevant angle.

Don’t be afraid of using #hash tags : Getting found on Twitter Search can bring added traffic, followers outwith your own timeline. Don’t get carried away with #hash tags but again try and make them relevant to your tweet and what people might be searching for.

Don’t be afraid of posting the same tweets over again : There is no rule to say you are only allowed to post a tweet once. Remember, you’ll be adding new followers to your account on an almost daily basis, they might not have seen your tweet that drives good traffic.

Also you can use the repeat tweet to test new search parameters with different #hash tags.

Think about using twitter tools : Trying to manage your account from your web page can be messy, especially once you start having more than a few hundred followers. Using browser or desktop tools such as TwitterFox or TweetDeck is a wise move. It makes managing your account much more simpler, you’ll wonder why you never started off with them from the beginning.

Tips for Following on Twitter

Auto following tools : Personally, I don’t recommend using auto-following tools. It may take you longer doing it the manual way and building your following count over a time period but your timeline will be filled with accounts you have personally vetted – adding greater value to your Twitter experience.

Run culls on your account : This should be a weekly or monthly priority for any self respecting Twitter account. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who run the follow/unfollow game only to boost their own credibility.

Using tools such as Friend or Follow will highlight to you those parasitic accounts that are only interested in building their own followers list.

Check a followers timeline before you follow them : It makes more than perfect sense to always look up the person before you follow them. Blind following is a bad habit to start and can have you following spammers that will turn your timeline into a non-relevant noisy mess.

It doesn’t take long to check out a potential followers last 10 tweets. It is your timeline after all, give it some respect and vet who you want to follow – you’ll get a better experience from Twitter by doing so.

Simple Rules for Followers

Try and answer replies : Those followers or other Twitter users who @ you are your lifeline to making Twitter a success for your business. Again, dependent on the size of your account try and reply to them – if you can.

Word of warning, however, sometimes Twitter accounts do this as a ploy to increase their own visibility or they might also have some other tactic at play. A lot of the time simple common sense can be applied to see who is genuine and who has a game plan.

Retweet followers tweets : Some say the currency of Twitter is the ReTweet (RT) and their not far wrong. If you click on a link within your timeline and you think the information is worthy then by all means please RT.

I normally find the best model for a RT is using the following layout …

Title or Description : url … #hash tags (if appropriate) … ( RT @username)

This layout, I first noticed being used by @pageoneresults and it makes for a perfectly readable RT and I have found it has a better chance of being read than any other layout.

Measuring your Twitter performance

URL shortening & analytic services : It is difficult to monitor just how successful your Twitter business account is growing. Adding followers is one way, but how much of a reach is your tweets actually achieving?

Using URL shortening services such as bit.ly offers you built-in analytics as to how many impressions your tweet achieved and also, more importantly, clicks. You can also see which country your clicks came from and if your tweet was ReTweeted.

I do have a spreadsheet that I use to help manage business accounts – if anyone is interested in receiving the templated version then they can use the comments section and I’ll email them it over.

Promoting your account : Like all good business marketing your Twitter account should also be seen as essential. Have it on your blog/site/business cards/company lit/anywhere you deem necessary. You never know where your next follower/potential lead/sale may came from.

Happy Twittering!

You can follow me on Twitter by clicking here.

The time is fast approaching for Twitter to start making money from its popular micro-blogging platform. Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, talked of generating revenue in the fourth quarter. The way that Twitter chooses to monetise the site will no doubt be an interesting one. As many have been guessing and scratching their heads as to how this could be achieved and still see Twitter retain its popular status and continue to grow in user figures.

Stone, implied that they would be looking to add services for businesses, which might include a paid-for analytics dashboard to help businesses monitor their tweets and also what others are saying, helping with interaction.

Stone went on to say that the paid services would be limited at first and never mentioned how much revenue they could generate. Although in the interview (source), Stone did say that Twitter, itself, was looking to increase its staff from 65 to 100 by the end of this year.

You just cannot keep Twitter out of the headlines right now, can you? If celebrities and talk show hosts ain’t mouthing off about tweeting here, there and everywhere it’s Newspapers, crammed with micro-blogging sections in the hope they can accumulate back some of their lost readership and traffic that Twitter has swallowed. Now, hot on the heels that ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation) is launching it’s own Twitter TV slot giving followers of the stations @Nightline account the chance to interact and discuss topical events. But up until now, all that was just picking up speed, because Twitter is about to go stellar…

Astronauts are now Tweeting from Space! The crew aboard space shuttle Atlantis’s, high-risk mission to service the Hubble telescope, are keeping their followers updated.

Astronaut, Mike Massimino, has said he will use his Twitter account : @Astro_Mike to tweet from Space. I have already followed him, not that I’m even thinking about communicating with him, but just so that I can see my first ever Tweet from space when he does. Sad? Yes, probably. But 227,616 people are also onboard for this huge event.

Atlantis is due to come into contact with Hubble, on Wednesday afternoon.

Update :
At just over 9pm GMT, Astronaut, Mike Massimino a.k.a Astro_Mike made the first ever tweet from space and his following has jumped to 234,069 … Now all we need Mike to do is post a picture onto TwitPic from the Atlantis space shuttle and watch Twitter go into hyperdrive.