The number of adults who use Twitter daily has quadrupled over the last 18 months according to Pew Research. It’s no secret that many businesses are utilizing Twitter now to build their networks, engage with influencers and increase their bottom line. A good way to optimize your Twitter experience is by using Twitter search. Here’s how.
What is Twitter Search?
Twitter is a powerful real-time dissemination platform. With Twitter’s search engine you can see in real-time what is breaking in the news, what is being discussed across the globe, what discussions and chats are being held, what your competitors are up to, and what your customers are saying about you. Why is this important? Because Twitter is transforming how we get information and whom we get it from.
Why Use Twitter Search?
Are there important influencers that could help take your business to the next level and do they participate on Twitter? If yes, then you definitely want to be following them and looking for opportunities to interact. If your business is interested in knowing what’s happening when it is happening then you want to add Twitter to your search repertoire. If you rely only on Google you may be missing some great opportunities. Do you want to establish your business as a company that is an expert source in your industry? Twitter can help with that too.
The Mechanics
You can search directly from Twitter by typing in your search term into the search box on the upper right side of the screen. Another easy way to search is by using https://twitter.com/#!/search-home . You can search on any possible term and see instantly what is being said about it in real-time on Twitter. Want to know what’s happening at a local sporting event that your child is participating in? Chances are if you search on the event in Twitter you may be able to find a Twitter conversation about what is happening right now at the game.
In addition, you can also search on hashtags (i.e. #smallbusiness). Many Twitter users label their tweets using hashtags so their tweets can reach a broader audience of people to join in a Twitter conversation. For example, if I had a software business that was addressing the problems around big data I would search on #bigdata. Many entertainment programs and news programs also use hashtags to spread their messages further and be easier to track.
Advanced Searches
If you want to drill down even deeper into your searches you can use https://twitter.com/#!/search-advanced. By using advanced search you can hone into searching by words, people and or places. Advanced search also lets you search on sentiment of the tweets themselves as well as on questions and retweets, which will help you further refine your searches.