10 Free Twitter Tools

Whether you see it as one of the best communication devices or the downfall of modern society, there's no doubt Twitter plays a role in most marketing departments. With the 140 character limit, Twitter is a good way to get information quickly and stay up-to-date on trivial and important happenings in the world. With over 100 million daily active Twitter users, it's definitely not a platform to ignore.

Aside from Facebook (and Pokemon Go), Twitter is one of the most prominent social media platforms. Because of the importance Twitter places on immediacy rather than ranking algorithms like Facebook, Twitter is more rapid-fire. Trending topics change quickly and are more ephemeral in nature than a Facebook post. Pinned and promoted tweets have more longevity than an organic tweet, but all leave marketers with the struggle of what to tweet and how to track success. These free Twitter tools will help you do both of those things effectively.

10 Free Twitter Tools

Twitter Search

Yes, simply searching trends on Twitter is an easy and quick way to see what is happening in real-time in the digital world. Twitter has several search operators that you can use to limit or expand your search with ease, which you can see in the diagram below.

Trendsmap

Trendsmap is a cool place to go and get a high level look at what is trending around the country at any given time. You can see variances from state to state, region to region. If you have several locations, it can be a great way to target your content in real time. Take a quick peek for free to see how it works and what it can do for your business. If it jives, subscribe for full functionality.

Hashtags.org

Hashtags.org is a quick way to analyze the performance of a hashtag, see prolific users and recent tweets. You can see what time a hashtag is most used, who uses it and related hashtags. This is a great tool to stay on top of current events and piggy-back your content/tweets on for more visibility.

MyTopTweet

By signing in with your Twitter profile, MyTopTweet quickly shows you your (you guessed it) top tweets by analytics.

Twitonomy

Twitonomy offers a fast analytics breakdown for yourself or any Twitter users you'd like to follow. You can rearrange the dashboard to ensure that the information most relevant to you surfaces first on your report. They also offer the functionality to download and export the data. I love this free Twitter tool because it shows you your most active users, most engaged and most influential. It's a good way to start doing some influencer research.

Twitter Analytics

Twitter Analytics is a free plugin you can add to your Twitter account by logging in to the Twitter Analytics page. The plugin illustrates tweet frequency, impressions, profile visits, mentions and added followers. It also shows who your top followers are, tweets that have gotten the most traction, media-rich tweets and top mentions broken down by month. I’m not a prolific Twitter user (in fact I’d say I’m pretty terrible), but this is a snippet of what the dashboard includes. My top engagement comes from a telecom company, so that seems sad, but the analytics are interesting.

Bluenod

This tool is only free for 14 days, so make sure that when you sign up for it, you've got some time to do a little research. Bluenod helps you target topic-related posts for your content marketing. It is also another good tool to use to identify influencers in your community. Bluenod shows you your community as a map, with each node acting as a Twitter account. The larger the node, the more Klout the user has.

Chat Salad

Aside from having an awesome name, Chat Salad helps you identify Twitter chats going on at any given moment. This is a good way to participate in content related to your brand, service or event.

Bitly

Bitly is not just the link shortening service your grandma thinks it is! You can shorten links with Bitly, and you can also measure and optimize the links you share. As per the ol' saas model, some functionality is free and you can upgrade for a chance to do more with Bitly.

SocialRank

SocialRank is another useful tool for influencer mapping and quick way to identify your most engaged Twitter followers. They offer a list of your most influential followers, most active and most engaged. As you can see, my most influential follower is a member of parliament here in Canada. Though I have a lot of respect for Bob Rae, it's clear I have a little work to do to become an influencer on Twitter.

Brands that fail with their Twitter marketing or other online reputation management strategies are often laughed at, but there is something we can learn from their failures. Most importantly: be authentic on Twitter or other social media sites. These free Twitter tools (alongside free stock photos) can help you engage and entertain your Twitter community, while tracking what works and what doesn't.