Tweetdeck is a powerful listening tool; Twitter is pretty much useless without Tweetdeck. There are three primary benefits of using this free service:

1. Tweetdeck allows you to segment all the people you are “following” into smaller sub-categories.
2. You can monitor what is being said about any specific term such as your name, your company, your industry, etc.
3. Tweetdeck enables you to learn about any specific topic that you are interested in by again monitoring some specific terms.

Like everything else, it takes discipline to set it up after work hours, discipline to check in on it every so often after work hours, and discipline to contribute to the community regularly (via SocialOomph after work hours).

The first technique is what I call Friend Feeding. It eliminates all the noise of all the people you are following and allows you to target specific types of people that you want to follow up with like Past Clients, Important Prospects, Team Members, Potential Recruits, College Buddies, Industry Experts, family, etc.

The way you do this is to click on the search button at the top (designated by the magnifying glass) and then in the window that pops up select the icon of the three people standing in a line (Group) and then give the group a name. Where it says “filter” type in the Twitter handle (name) of the person you want to add to that group. If you don’t know their Twitter handle, then you might have to go onto Twitter.com and click “find people” and search for the person by name there first. You can add as many people as you like to any group; a brilliant follow up technique which allows you to more effectively manage your communications.

The second technique is what I call Term Targeting. As the name implies you simply create a separate stream that looks for important terms that you should be monitoring. I, of course, monitor terms like discipline, stairs, take the stairs, motivational tips, sales tips, etc. I also monitor my name spelled out, and my twitter handle spelled out (Tweetdeck should come standard with a stream for “mentions” which would be the same as this but I’ve found that it still sometimes misses mentions). In addition, I monitor my various company and brand names and suggest you do the same.

To set this up just click the search button  (magnifying glass) at the top and type in the targeted term you want to monitor. This allows you to monitor what is being said about you and about specific key terms that you want to be “in the know” on.

The List and Learn is done the same as targeting a term but you target a phrase that describes a topic you are wanting to learn about such as Twitter Tips, Discipline Insights, Investment Strategies, SEO Strategy, etc.

In real life it takes discipline to be a great listener. The same is true online. It takes discipline, focus, and resources to be a great listener online and that is what Tweetdeck empowers you to do. The Take the Stairs philosophy applies to the digital world the same as the real world. Oh, and remember the Avatar rule: “If you suck in real life, you will suck online.” :0)

Join motivational speaker Rory Vaden’s Take the Stairs Tour:

Click Here

See you in the stairwell,

Rory Vaden
Take the stairs – Success means doing what others won’t.

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