For me, one of the biggest challenges in using Twitter for business (and from an agency-standpoint) is managing multiple accounts on a daily basis. It can be frustrating to try and “listen” to diverse conversations and respond in a timely manner.

I wanted to share some tools that I regularly use to manage multiple Twitter accounts and social media platforms:
1. Postling (www.postling.com) – to post to multiple accounts, across multiple platofrms
2. Social Oomph (www.socialoomph.com) – to schedule tweets
3. Tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) – for monitoring keywords and conversations

My dream is that someone will create a platform that combines all of this functionality so that I can become a lean, mean tweeting machine.

You’re so right, we often look at “what to do” and “why” with Twitter – and as a result fail to consider the “how”. The how is critical to success on so many levels, both business and personal.

Like you, it’s taken me years of revising my approach to embrace a flexible one that makes Twitter manageable and perhaps more importantly valuable. Third-party clients are a huge time – and sanity – saver. I’m not sure what I would do without TweetDeck – and still *cringe* whenever I’m forced into having to use the actual web version of Twitter, ek.

Used in conjunction with TweetDeck the additional element that’s really helped me with maintaining a digestible work flow has been focusing on two primary types of Twitter time management: one task based and the other time based. Both have been employed based on my needs, time availability and intended outcomes.

Task based at its simplest has been doing the following three things daily:

1. Check most recent @replies
2. Review most recent conversation threads
3. Respond to any new @replies or DM’s

Right now, I’m utilizing a more time centric approach based on my availability and goals. For instance, I set aside one to two hours daily as “Twitter Time” and use that to lurk, monitor, respond and publish. This time management breakdown is covered in greater depth (with a range of time options) during a comprehensive session presented to Cambridge, MA area nonprofits by Cambridge Community Television (full presentation can be found on SlideShare: http://bit.ly/avcc4F).

All of the advice above is super simple, but wonderfully manageable. I think making Twitter manageable and therefore more valuable is a very potent combination.

Though perhaps the biggest point, which you definitely hit on, is that the way people use and interact with Twitter has changed, is changing and will continue to change. Therefore people have to be willing to adapt and find new ways to make the work flow work for them, their clients and the goals that they are trying to achieve to ensure value and effective allocation/management of time. Establishing the work flow now will only ensure great adaptability and success later.

Thanks again Jonathan! Great topic, post and insight.

I think the most important point is the projection that most projects will fail if they focus too much on the IT solution, rather than looking at the wider purpose and goals from a social perspective.