I have been enjoying using CoTweet for the past couple weeks after pleading for beta access.  As I am the point guy on Gist’s beta program, I try to grant quick access to those who make the effort to reach out or make some noise about the product so was happy that after a couple of tweets I got access from the CoTweet guys.

My Twitter needs focus on the act & engage dimension of the aforementioned listening framework (I will post more broadly on that shortly).

I needed to main things from CoTweet:

1. Manage multiple Twitter accounts through a single interface
2. Some marketing capabilities in the product (list management, analytics, etc.)

CoTweet delivers on both allowing me to set up a couple accounts – @Gist & @RobertatGist in my case and use them together. 

One really cool feature of CoTweet is the ability to write a tweet and schedule it for sending at a later date.  Really helpful if you are promoting something or want to share the same info multiple times over a couple days.

I also like the fact that you can see analytics on the links you share (and can shorten through the interface).  How many clicks, where they clicked from, etc.  Cotweet also allows for searching and capturing query results as an RSS feed – which I can add to my Google Reader for easy review and action.

I look forward to continuing to use the product and to seeing what comes next.  I’m also a fan of Tweetdeck and their most recent release allows for both multiple account management and the ability to post to multiple accounts simultaneously.  It is a slick AIR application vs. Cotweet’s web-based one so we’ll have to see how the cloud vs. the client battle shapes up.

This two part post is about "listening" to what is being said on-line and the more complicated aspects of acting on something once you've heard it. I'll focus on listening first and will follow up with one on action & engagement here shortly.

So, what the heck am I talking about? You may be aware of this thing called the Internet and there are a lot of people on it. Not only are they consuming content, they are creating content with increasing frequency and ease. Yes, this includes Twitter, blogs, blog comments, and everything in between.

It sounds a bit trite at this point but there really is a conversation going on and you need to be listening to it in some way as part of your marketing efforts. It's not just about your product or brand but about what people need, what they are unhappy with, where your competitors are falling down, where a new entrant is eating you alive, or where one hater has decided to make it their mission in life to bring your product or service to its knees.

All of this plays out every minute of every day in as little as 140 characters in a Twitter status update.

A note of caution – it is loud so be prepared to turn the volume down a bit with tools, process and methodology.

Here is what I use and what I would recommend using as a starting point. I am sure there are other tools & techniques including one that might do all of this in one product. If it exists, please let me know.

1. Identify 'where' you'd like to listen – Twitter chatter, Linkedin Questions, news outlets, competitor's websites, blogs, blog comments, etc. I'd suggest anywhere you can although you will get some overlap.

2. Identify what you are going to listen for – keywords can create huge false positives especially if it is a frequently used word….like 'Gist.' One note here is that although unique names are easier for you to listen for, it is also easier for your competitors to keep tabs on you so keep that in mind during your next branding/naming session.
3. An RSS reader is your key interface (I use Google Reader)
4. Use Twitter Search to build searches on Twitter content and select "Feed for this query" in the upper left and drop it into your preferred RSS reader
5. Use Google Alerts and select to receive these keyword alerts as RSS feeds
6. Use BackType to monitor blog commenting content and enter search terms as above one by one and select Feeds->Search Results
7. Use Digg and search for keywords/themes then subscribe to these results as a feed
   

Also, check out Tweetdeck to watch Twitter posts (you can set up search terms in this app by clicking on the magnifying glass in the upper right).  The benefit of Tweetdeck is the ability to act on what you have heard by replying publicly, replying privately, or "retweeting" (sharing) someone's post.  More on action and engagement coming shortly.

This framework should give you pretty complete coverage of the on-line conversation and is a must have in any marketing plan.