Using TweetDeck as a Segmentation, Research and Trend-Watching Tool

Twitter may seem vapid and mundane to you right now, but the applications that support and enhance Twitter are serious trend-watching and segmentation tools no marketing professional can ignore.

I first learned about TweetDeck from noticing Guy Kawasaki’s tweet postings.  At the end of each Twitter post (on the actual Twitter.com site as well as Twhirl - another desktop supporting application).

I pay attention to where tweets come from because each application does a little something different.

In Web Sites People Read, Deborah Chaddock Brown mentioned my recommendation of TweetDeck and I thought I’d expand on that today.

How to Use Tweet Deck as  Segmentation and Trend Watching Tool

As you can see in the picture -TweetDeck is NOT discrete.  It can take up your whole screen.  Personally, I don’t use it all the time.  I prefer Twhirl because Twhirl is a little desktop window AND it allows you to re-tweet and that’s something I like to do.  But re-tweeting is another subject.

The super feature that TweeDeck offers us marketing strategists is the ability to create real time search category columns.  For example, say you’re interested in “Cuil,” the new search engine that’s been launched.  At first, I didn’t know what Cuil was or how it worked or what was unique about it that might make it better or complementary to Google.  So, I created a search in TweetDeck on “Cuil.“  TweetDeck created a column which then funneled everyone who had written a tweet which contained the word “Cuil.” 
Now, I could check out what people were saying, reviewing the function and features, comparing and contrasting, and sending links to more useful information.  In a matter of 10 minutes – I had a really good idea of what Cuil was and had gotten enough “coaching” to try it and see what I thought.

Another example might be to search on a competitor, company name or person’s name that you are interested in.  Now you can see what people are writing about them and follow relevant links.

How about a product or an application? 

The point here is that you can get up to speed on certain topics fairly quickly.  And you can start identifying trends and patterns you may not have noticed before.

What to do Next or Differently

1. If you haven’t tried Twitter – stop procrastinating.  Just because it asks a silly question – doesn’t mean that it brings back silly answers.  Just get on and register and start using it.  It’s important to start learning and taking up twitter real estate or you will be struggling to catch up.
2. Be sure to pay attention to where tweets come from.  When you see where a tweet has come from and you don’t know what it is – search on the term and see if it is something that might have value to you.
3. Always remember it’s always about getting the job done.  We have always had the need to communicate information.  We started with carving stones, writing on paper, typing on typewriters, messaging on computers and phones, video and now who knows what’s next.  As marketers our job is to be able to choose the best channel – you can’t do that if you don’t know what’s out there and how it works.