In the quest to use Twitter for local marketing, many requests flooded in over the past month that we add the ability for local advertising. Of course, the only way to do this is to permit only those Twitter users within the vicinity of a given metro area to actually tweet the link. But, that now has raised a question: what level of certainty do we have that a Twitter user in Indianapolis, IN is being followed by other Indianapolisians?

So, with the initial launch of a very tediously-created local advertising feature, at the cost of much hair pulling and cursing Google Maps API, we delivered local ads. Now, I need to figure out if the yet-unsatisfied twitter advertisers from whom I have been contacted are indeed a loud minority--a squeaky wheel, if you will--or in fact presenting a concern worthy of more consideration. And I need your help...

Imagine that you needed to advertise locally... say it was a garage sale, a local restaurant, or real estate listing. Knowing what you know about Twitter, which of the following best describes what you see as a viable solution:

• I would be willing to pay for tweets from anyone in my area, realizing they may have followers outside the area, but that risk is acceptible.
• I would be willing to pay only for clicks where the IP address of the clicker could be geo-located from the area of my business.
• I would be willing to pay for national exposure, understanding that even those who don't live in my area might share the info with those who do.

Or, if you have any other relevant input, by all means do share.

Labels: Advertise, API, Local Advertising, Real Estate, Twitter, TwitterMLS

I'm gushing. I can't lie. Today I have two announcements that are the most exciting announcements since the launch of BeTweeted back in April. The first, of course, was a prerequisite for the second, but it's been a long time coming anyway. What is it, you're wondering. Well, if the title didn't give it away, here goes:

First, Twitter advertisers now have the opportunity to localize their ads. This means that new ads can be location restricted and only Twitterers with accounts in the required area can tweet the link. Some of our earliest advertisers wanted so badly for localized targeting, but we just weren't able to deliver it yet. Well, the technology has come together and it's awesome!

Second, (drum roll please) TwitterMLS.com. TwitterMLS is a new service targeted directly for Real Estate agents who want to share their listing son Twitter. Now, of course, you can see why localization was such a priority. Agents can post a link to their online listing or virtual tour website, tell us the city/state where the listing is at, and then have other Twitterers in that same area tweet the listing to their followers.

These developments are just the beginning of an all-out effort to lead the way in innovative Twitter advertising services. You can help. The development task list is written by none other than you yourselves. What do you want to see next?

Labels: Advertise, API, Local Advertising, Real Estate, Twitter, TwitterMLS

Now, I don't want to diminish this accolade, but I do tend to like shiny things. My friends can't take me fishing anymore because I get very distracted by the spinner baits. I have a new favorite app every week.

But, yesterday I was introduced to a new Twitter application called Twibes. It's a very simple concept based on aggregation. However, it builds a social network on top of a social network. I can no join a "twibe" for, let's say, marketing. There, if I post any tweets with the hashtag marketing to my ow Twitter stream, it will display in the Marketing twibe stream. There's no extra action taken.

It's more than that, though. No doubt, many people will jump right in beleiving the value is in the broadcast... it's not. This is the ability to search for people and build new relationships based on interest. If you're looking for a group of Twitterers to tweet with who are interested in Jack Russel Terriers, you can find them... you can follow them.

My current twibes are Marketing, Advertising, and of course, Hunting. What's your twibe?

Labels: Advertise, API, Social Media, Twitter

I've seen some pretty cool twitter apps in my day... and I've seen some really crummy ones. The API is getting better every day, and yet we're still seeing mainly low-effort stuff coming out. What if someone as innovative as Biz Stone decided to build on the already amazing platform an equally amazing app? It might look something like this:

1. A Twitter-Based Chat Room.
   This would be managed by a unique hashtag, most likely, and in order to join the chat you'd simply start hashtagging your tweets appropriately. However, with an app that reads these hashtags (and likely also generates them) the public convo can become a manageable beast.
   
2. A conversation tracker.
   I'm sick of having to visit my old tweets to figure out what in the world someone is replying to. If I could view ongoing conversations in unique windows, much like AIM, I would love it. I know, someone will say "why not just use AIM." Because, you dolt, I like using Twitter. This is where all my friends are at!
3. Tweet Deck Multi.
   This one's pretty simple, and I can't wait until it's out... I love tweetdeck, but I also have several Twitter accounts to manage. If they'd get on board with multi-account management, it would be the best app ever.
   

Labels: API, Social Media, Twitter

Since the API on Twitter is open, there's no shortage of apps out there. I've come to discover two things. First, nobody whose serious about Twitter operates without at least 2 apps to manage their activity (unless your Colin Clark, who is a self declared minimalist). Second, however, is that no two people use the same combo. Everyone has their favorites.

So, here are my top picks. I use these at minimum once a day:

1. Huitter.com - particularly their mutuality tool.
   This tool has been very helpful for me to manage my followings vs followers... (i.e. those who don't follow back get unfollowed automatically). And, by automatic, I don't mean i have to check them off a list first, it's truly automatic.
   
   
2. Tweetdeck
   This has been a staple since I was new to Twitter. I must admit, now with more than one account to manage, it's becoming less and less of an asset for me, but I still enjoy it's ease of use and search capabilities.
   
   
3. SplitTweet
   On top of just loving their graphics and interface, this has been a recently adopted tool that's made all the difference in my multi-account Twitter management.
   

I'm interested to know your top list. What do you use?

Labels: API, Twitter