Hootsuite’s New Auto Scheduling Feature

I don’t know about you, but fall is the busiest time of year in our house! That means less time to spend on Twitter, Facebook, my blogs, etc.  That said, there are many tools available online to keep your online presence going when you are running around town or jet setting (smile).

Hootsuite has been a longtime favorite of mine…they offered Facebook business page scheduling before Facebook even offered it! I also like that their dashboard allows you to post to Twitter and Facebook at the same time or separately, sending in real-time or scheduling in advance. 

Hootsuite has a new feature called AutoScheduling (no space) that I just had to check out for you. Super simple…I’ll break it down for you below.

How to Use Hootsuite's AutoScheduling Feature:

1. Compose your tweet or status update as usual.
2. Click on the scheduling icon (it looks like a calendar).
3. Change “off” to “on” in the “AutoScheduling” box.
4. Click “autoschedule”.
   
   

What happens next? How far apart will your tweets or status updates be scheduled?

I did a quick test at 4:30 today…auto scheduling two separate tweets.  The first was scheduled for 5:10 pm, the second for 5:45 pm.  So, around 40 minutes or so after I scheduled, and then another 35 (or so) minutes apart.  I'm sure it will vary a bit. Pretty handy, and a time saver if you don’t want to think too hard about what to send out and when. 



When is it not a good idea to use?

If you’re promoting an event or sending time-sensitive tweets, it’s still preferable (in my opinion) to schedule manually or send in real-time.

Hope this info was helpful!

Laura is a marketing professional and blogger who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Brands Doing it Right: New Header Space on Twitter

In my last post, I shared details with you about the new header space on Twitter.  Today I have a few screengrabs to share with you to get your creative juices flowing if you haven’t taken advantage of the new space yet!

1. Real Simple Magazine
Love the simple header design, and would expect nothing less from this great brand! Lemons are genius, as is using the magazine cover for their profile pic.  I’d normally shy away from this, but it makes a lot of sense in the new design!

2. Mashable
Mashable did something that didn’t occur to most of us – they choose a solid-colored block for their header background.  Of course, it’s no mistake the color is mashable blue.  If your company is known for a signature color, perhaps the header space could be used to reinforce that brand. Or, you could even crop the background from your website to fit this space or go with a simple pattern.

3. National Aquarium
I love how The National Aquarium uses the header space to showcase what they do best with a striking photo. 

 

4. Starbucks
Just as you’d expect from a big brand, Starbucks delivers in the space with a carefully-selected photo.

5. Ryan Seacrest
I’m sharing this example for those that want to be witty enough to allow the header space and profile photo to literally fit together into what appears to be a single image.  We saw a lot of this when the cover photo rolled out on Facebook.  So yeah, you can do that here, too.


6. Charlotte Russe
I love how the composition of this photo works so well in this space.  It was likely cropped with the new header in mind – love that.

Laura is a marketing professional and blogger who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.

 

How to Customize New Header Feature on Twitter

Did you know there is a new feature on Twitter with a rather simple name (called a “header”, seen above) that gives you even more room to customize your Twitter profile page? It launched this week (9/18/2012) and is a great space to further enhance your personal or biz brand!

Prominently located on the top right-hand side of your profile page, the header space measures approximately 464 pixels wide by 232 pixels tall.  In other words, significantly larger than your profile photo size (in fact, as wide as your tweets displayed on your profile). 

This tutorial is going to walk you through the simple process of customizing your Twitter header.  After all, the more opportunities you have to set yourself apart on Twitter, the better. 

How to Customize New Header Feature on Twitter

1. Go to Settings>Design when logged into Twitter.
   
2. Look for “header” area on right-hand side of “design” page.
   
   
   
   
3. Upload your header image (the space measures 464 X 232 when cropped, but Twitter recommends you start with an image larger than this so you can scale up or down and move around within the space. 
4. Change the overlay color to black to allow your bio text to be more legible.
   
5. Save and review your new design.

Things to keep in mind when uploading your new Twitter header:

• The image you upload will have your profile photo and bio layered on top of the space.  That mean’s nothing too busy, and avoiding text unless you are a Photoshop wiz.
• Since the text on top of the header space is white, your best bet is to go with a darker image. 
• Opt for sleek, understated designs.  You already have your profile photo and background working for your brand.  Although the header space is great real estate, things can get a bit busy pretty fast. 

Did you find this tutorial helpful? Tweet me @lauracatherineo with your new design! I'd love to see the image you chose to customize this space.

Laura is a marketing professional and blogger who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura also runs an Inspired Living blog, LauraCatherine.co and can be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.

 

Twtvite Updated – Sleek New Features

Twtvite has gone through a major update since I used it last.  In fact, I’m so impressed that I wanted to share with you here.  “Twtvite” (pronounced Twit-vite) allows you to easily create and share tweetups with your followers on Twitter (and beyond).  You can create a tweetup on the fly or plan one well in advance.  If you haven't planned a tweetup before, you may want to read this post first.

In the past, you could add a logo and small banner to your Twtvite event invitations, but the rest of the invite was pretty generic. I’m sharing a screenshot of the tweetup I just created on their upgraded site, plus details on the upgrades below.  If you’re in Charleston, be sure to join us for the September Charleston Ladies Who Lunch tweetup on 9/14 (info).

Click photo above for full-size look

Twtvite Features I love:

• Customizable background adds a sleek look – upload your own or use your twitter background.  I matched the background below to the background from the Charleston Ladies Who Lunch website.  Great for branding!

• Nice, wide header across the top – perfect for your logo or just about anything (measures 940 pixels wide by 100 pixels tall for those designing the graphics)

• Large event photo (600 pixels wide) space just below the header – Perhaps my favorite part! What a difference it makes…
• Event hashtag prominently placed in red (top right) – love it

• Easy RSVP options (plus feature to RSVP for others who may not be on Twitter)

• As always, great Google map, RSVP count and (perhaps new?) invite views

• This was there before, but I still love the event “wall” – a play on Facebook, but still nice!

Ready to create your own Twtvite? Just visit www.twtvite.com and login with Twitter. Then, follow the simple steps to create your event in minutes. (Tips on planning a Tweetup here).  I use the free version and it has served me well.

Laura is a marketing professional and blogger who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.

 

Valuable Tweets That May Be Costing Your Business Money

If you’re an avid Twitter user, you likely scan your “mentions” and “interactions” on Twitter on a daily basis (if not more frequent than that). But, if you tweet for a business, you may be overlooking a valuable tool on twitter. 

Not to sound alarmist, but there may be conversations happening on Twitter right now about your business that you aren’t aware of.  Compliments, complaints, questions, you-name-it.  How is this possible? 

Reasons you may be missing tweets about your business:

• People often assume your Twitter name instead of looking it up.  If your business is ABC Sign, most will assume @ABCSign instead of a variation of that, like @ABC_Sign or @ABC_Sign_Co or @1ABCSign, is your Twitter handle.  

• People may not use your Twitter name (“handle”), but instead may simply type in your business name, such as “ABC Sign.”

• Others may hashtag your  business name instead of using your handle (example: #ABCSign)

How can you get involved in conversations/tweets about your business on Twitter when people are not using your Twitter handle? There is a simple solution, called the “search” (or “saved searches”) tool.  Tutorial below.

How to Create a "Saved Search" on Twitter

1. Go to https://twitter.com/#!/search-advanced.

2. Complete the “exact phrase” search field. 

Important Note: Don’t fill in the “exact phrase” and “hashtag” fields in one search.  Instead, save as separate searches.

3. Select “English” from the language if you wish.

4. Click “Search” (example below)

5. Any tweets related to your search will appear.  You may be surprised to find more than a few! Or, perhaps there aren’t any recent tweets.  Either way, you’ll want to save the search by following the next step.

6. Drop down the settings tool on the right-hand side of your results and a “save search” option will appear.  Click on it.

7. Your search is now saved, and you can easily scan this saved search by clicking on the search magnifying glass on the top right-hand side of any of your screens on Twitter to reveal your saved searches.  Highlight the search of your choice and your results will appear.

I’ll also be posting a Hootsuite tutorial on creating and saving searches if you tweet using that platform instead of directly on Twitter.

Laura is a marketing professional and blogger who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Communication Behaviors in the Multicultural Marketplace

In 2011 with our national online data set we summed the number of hours per week that different cultural groups spend on different communication activities in English and in another language. These included:

●     Listening to CD’s

●     Listening to the radio

●     Listening to MP’3’s on any device including an iPod or mobile phone

●     Listening to music on television

●     Using social media like Facebook or Twitter

●     Listening to Internet radio like Pandora or Last.fm

●     Talking with friends

While these are not all the communication activities a person can engage in, the list should be a good indicator of overall communication activities by different cultural groups. The graph below reports the total number of hours per week reported in the average by each of the cultural groups in English and in another language. Clearly, the other language used would be almost universally Spanish in the case of Hispanics.

Average Sum of Diverse Communication Behaviors

The results are quite striking. Hispanics in general spend more time per week in the communication activities measured, and those Latinos who answered in Spanish (HS) reported spending more than 60 hours in media and communication per week, almost double the amount of time than non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). What is particularly salient is that the amount of time Latinos who prefer Spanish engage in English language communication is almost the same as non-Hispanic Whites. These Latinos are on “double communication duty.”

It is also important to emphasize that while Hispanics who prefer Spanish spend at least half of their time with English media and communication activities, they still spend the other half with English language communications. So it is not one language that is dominant for these online consumers, they split their communication world in two.

Hispanics who prefer English (HE) spend about 25% of their time with Spanish language media and communication, and they are the second most communicative group of all, with more than 50 hours per week. The third most communicative group is that of African Americans (AA) with about 43 hours per week, followed by Asians (A) with about 38 hours per week. Non-Hispanic Whites reported the least amount of time per week engaged in communication activities. A next posting will break down each of the activities. Here, however, the striking overall differences in amounts deserve some discussion.

The sheer amount of time spent on communication by Latinos in general should be of interest to marketers as these consumers should be especially available to receive commercial messages. We have known for some time that Hispanics are more welcoming of marketing messages, but this analysis substantiates the amazing communication openness of Hispanic consumers.

Further, marketers that produce entertainment content should find here substantiation of the enormous potential of this Latino audience. Social media use and personal interactions not only serve for the reinforcement of social ties but they also spread the word about marketing efforts.

In this case as in others we have reported earlier, we find that Hispanics and minorities in general tend to be more communicative than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. This should give some food for thought to marketers who think that their future still resides in the so called “general market.”

The data for this study was collected during March 2011. This online sample was comprised of 500 respondents per segment, for a total of 2,500, based on quotas by gender, age, and geographic location. DMS Insights managed the sample and data collection and they graciously contributed their effort to the academic program of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University. Melanie Courtright, previously with DMS Insights championed this effort. She is now with Research Now and continues to support our research. This study was conducted by the faculty and students of the graduate Multicultural Marketing Communication course offered by FSU.

Are You Twitter Listing?

By now, you're likely tweeting away! Whether you're a twitter newbie or a veteran, Twitter lists will prove to be most helpful, especially as you grow the number of people you follow on Twitter.
Someone recently asked me how I seem to find goodness-filled tweets when I'm following 4,000 people. My answer: Twitter lists.

Thank goodness, I had enough insight when I was new on Twitter to create and use Twitter lists. Sure, it was somewhere between follower 1 and follower 1,000 that I realized how essential the lists would prove to be.  Yep, there were a few long days where I had to back-track and list each person I was following so that my streams were super-organized. 

Example: Out of 4,000 people, nearly 500 are Charleston marketing and public relations professionals.  And I have them all in their very own list.  That means at any time of the day or night, I can jump over to that list (on my computer OR phone) and see what's going on with these talented peeps.

Same goes for artists...I have close to 200 artists whom all took "Flying Lessons" with Kelly Rae Roberts in their own organized list.

Twitter gives you up to 20 lists of your very own.  Think about how your followers break down (do you tend to follow authors, inspirational folks, house and home peeps, jewelry makers, mommy bloggers, tech bloggers, etc?) - make lists and start listing! And if you're late to the list party? Trust me, it's worth adopting lists today, and even going back to list your tweeps.

Need a tutorial on how to create a Twitter list? I'm reposting a link to this updated tutorial, previously shared on this blog but still very handy.

Are we following each other? Tweet me @lauracatherineo and tell me you read this post.  I'd love to meet you!

Enjoy!

Laura is a marketing professional and blogger who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.
 

New Look for Twitter Announced

Do you tweet? If you follow my blog regularly, you know I'm a huge fan of twitter.  In fact, I've made nearly ALL of my friendships in Charleston through the beauty of Twitter.  So much so, that I co-founded a Tweetup group with Liz Deloach and Melissa K.  I also count Twitter as a blessing, since I met Diane Gottsman  and Jacqueline Whitmore there. 

If you've tweeted for some time, you're used to design changes and new features every now and then.  I have always enjoyed the upgrades and am hopeful that the latest round of changes are great improvements. 

Here's a quick video that Twitter shared to walk people through the latest changes.  It's here for those reading by email.  Enjoy, and thanks to Ashley Caldwell for tweeting about the changes.




Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Twitter Tuesday Tip: "Browse Interests" Tool

Let's talk about finding new tweeps by using the "browse interests" tool.  Last "Twitter Tuesday" we talked about growing your network on Twitter by using the "who to follow" and "others like you" tools. If you missed the post, it's over here. 

First, how do you get to this tool?  You click on "view all" just below the "who to follow" suggestions on your home screen on Twitter.  From here, click on the "browse interests" tab. This is where you can click on the category that most appeals to you.

One of my suggested interest categories was "art & design".  I can click on "view all" next to "art and design" and Twitter has a list of 59 tweeps who fit into this category that I may be interested in following.



Today's exercise: Explore the "browse interests" tool on Twitter to connect with a few new and interesting tweeps today.  Time spent: approx. 15 minutes.

Good Luck!

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Two Twitter Tips to Share on this "Twitter Tuesday"

Today's "Twitter Tuesday" Tip is one you can easily execute in a manner of minutes! Let's talk about the "Who to Follow" and Similar to You" follow suggestions on Twitter. Both are great tools that are available to you via Twitter that will help you grow your network.

First, the "Similar to You" feature on Twitter:

Have you noticed the "similar to you" feature on twitter? If you visit your profile (and are logged in), it's just below your following/followers numbers (example below). By default you should see 3 people below the "Similar to You" header. Click on the "view all" just next to "similar to you" and you'll find a full page of suggestions for you. Some you may already follow, but others could make great new follows!

Next, the "Who to Follow" feature on Twitter:

From your "home" screen (not your "profile" screen), you should see a "Who to Follow" feature just below your following/followers. Click on "view all" for the full page of suggestions.

Both of these tools are great ways to connect with new tweeps who share similiar interests with you!

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

How to Publish Your Own Paper.li Online Newspaper

Have you visited http://Paper.liyet? According to their website,

“Paper.li is a content curation service.  It enables people to publish newspapers based on topics they like and treat their readers to fresh news, daily.” 

I came across Paper.li many months ago but have developed an increased interest in the content sharing after being featured in a Twitter friend’s own paper.li online newspaper.  @SHUEDA (Greg Shue) publishes a “#CHS #Design Daily” using paper.li, and I have been thrilled to find myself as a contributor on several occasions (example here: http://paper.li/SHUEDA/charleston-design). The best part? It’s allowed me to meet new people and has helped grow my relationship with @SHUEDA and others featured in his daily paper.  A few weeks ago another Twitter friend, @ashleytcaldwell, released her own paper.li daily newspaper, The Modern Connection Daily.

Today I’m walking you through the process of creating your own Paper.li online newspaper.

I created three of my own daily papers:
The Charleston Marketers Daily,
The Dream Big #ArtDaily, and
the Charleston Local Business Daily.

These were so much fun to make, I imagine I’ll make a few more! The best part? Your daily paper is automated, and you can set up the daily tweet to run by itself as well.  I’d encourage you to create your own daily paper, especially if you’ve created lists on your twitter account.


How to Create Your Own Paper.li Daily Online Newspaper (It’s Free!)

1.       Visit http://Paper.li.

2.       Click on “Create a Paper”.

3.       Sign in with your Twitter (or Facebook) account.  I signed in with Twitter because that’s where I’m pulling my content from.

4.       Authorize Paper.li to use your Twitter (or Facebook) account.

5.       Provide your email address and click "continue". 

6.       Important! Instead of clicking on "Create Paper", we are going to customize your paper.  This will give you more control over the content and will allow you to customize the name of your paper.   To do this, click on "show me" under "Want to create a paper based on a specific topic or list of people?"
7.      Now, Create your newspaper by entering a Title.  Try to think of something short and sweet that will come across well on Twitter.


8.       If you have Twitter lists, add the Twitter List that is in line with the desired content of your paper.  For example, I have a Charleston Marketers list on my Twitter account with 450+ people in Charleston who are in marketing/pr/design/advertising.  When I created my “Charleston Marketers Daily” paper, I added my “Charleston-Marketers” list from Twitter as the content stream that would power the content of my paper. If you don't have Twitter lists related to the content you'd like to publish, consider pulling in twitter users another way (by keyword, hashtags, etc.)

9.       Select your language and click “Publish”

10.       Now it’s time to set automatic publishing to your Twitter profile and/or Facebook wall.  To do this, go to your paper from the “my favorites” at the top right-hand side of paper.li when you’re logged in.

11.       Then, click on “paper settings” below your profile at the far top right.
12.   Select the time of day (and time zone) when you’d like your paper to be published and click “save settings”.
13.   Click over to the “promote” tab and make sure “automatically tweet to all your followers” to publish your paper to your Twitter followers (max once per day).

Congratulations! You’ve just created your very own customized online newspaper.

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Do you follow @tiglu?

One of my twitter friends, @tiglu wrote an amazing post on “Getting the Most out of Twitter”.  Tim & I have never met in person, but have exchanged tweets back and forth over the past year or so.  I’m not sure how we found each other’s tweets, but I’m glad that we did.  Tim also shares podcasts, something that I have not done yet. 

I can relate to Tim’s post about people’s reactions to Twitter.  I am used to folks saying “isn’t that just a site where you talk about what you had for breakfast?” or something along those lines.   I usually answer that Twitter has evolved a sophisticated networking tool that connects people all around the globe.  I then go onto to say that nearly all of my friends in Charleston have been made on Twitter.  Wow!

Without further ado, hop over to Tim’s post! You’ll be glad you did!

Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

Video Post: Setting Up Your Background for the New Twitter

Happy "Twitter Tuesday"! I created a YouTube video on creating your very own #NewTwitter background.  This video was inspired by my tutorial post, which continues to be one of my top blog posts.  When Twitter moved to what they call the "New Twitter" or "#NewTwitter" format, the background changed a bit for users.  Although the overall space is the same, you'll find that you have a bit less space on the far left and right hand side of the page.  This is important to note, especially for those of us who placed photographs or text (like a phone number) in this area.  It may be a good idea to take a careful look at your background on Twitter and see if it's in need of some freshening up to better fit the new specs.

For those reading by email, the video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/lauracotero#p/u/0/ahGlPoVKTfI

All others may wish to watch below.  Thanks for visiting!



Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

My Klout Perk Arrived! Have You Created Your Free Klout Account Yet?

What is Klout? Klout identifies influencers on topics across the social web. I wrote about my experience with this service in this post last September. Since that time, they've expanded their services to integrate your LinkedIn and Facebook business page activity into your Klout score.  If you haven't created an account on Klout yet, I'd encourage you to do so! The process is super easy and they integrate your Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn info effortlessly.

Your Klout Analysis  Includes:

• Your true reach
• Your amplification
• Your network
• Your topic summary
• Your top retweets
• Most popular links shared
• Your influence "matrix"
• Your content analysis
• Who you are influenced by
• Who you are an influencer of

A Klout Perk
I received a notification from @KloutPerks that my "Klout" had earned me a goodie pack from the new TNT series "Franklin & Bash".  I wasn't sure what this was about but I thought it was pretty neat of Klout to offer this to a select number of their users.  There were no strings attached...just a fun thing all-around!

I wasn't sure what to expect, but there was a package waiting for me on my doorstep this week.  Here's what was inside. 

Great fun! I'll be taking the portfolio with me on my travels today.


Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

A Search.Twitter.com Real-life Example

I used http://search.twitter.com/ to make new connections this past week! A few weeks ago I shared a post and video with you about http://search.twitter.com (post here).
Search.twitter.com has to be one of my favorite tools offered by Twitter! I am posting again today about this great tool in the hopes that you'll take a few of my recent real-life examples and put them into practice for yourself. :)  At the end of this post, you'll find easy-to-follow instructions on how you can get started with this great tool.

Two ways I used search.twitter.com last week:

1. I have a love of the arts and am always looking to connect with other folks in Charleston who share this same appreciation.  I used search.twitter.com last week to find other twitter users within 25 miles of my zipcode who were tweeting about the Spoleto Festival.  I then followed those folks who seemed to be a match with some of my interests.  How did I determine this? Well, I visited her/his profile to learn a little more, and scanned recent tweets she/he made.

2. I visited with a local yoga studio last week and we started "talkin' Twitter". I used search.twitter.com to show this yoga studio real-time local conversations taking place about yoga.

 

image credit

I shared with this business that if they had a Twitter account, it would be totally acceptable for them to jump in with a friendly tweet offering a free yoga session to the persons in the yoga conversation. For example, if @username was tweeting about yoga, it would be fine to send that person in particular a tweet with a free session offer.  Of course, the stuido would tweet about plenty of other things, too (great yoga tips, photos from the instructor, upcoming events, etc).  And, they'd retweet a bit, too (yoga news from top yoga twitter accounts, retweets from students who just had a great session, etc.).
Now that I've shared two practical uses for search.twitter.com from my life in the past week, are you ready to get to searching?  Here's how...

How to Use Search.Twitter.com:

1. Visit search.twitter.com and click on "advanced search" <-- important

2. Fill in the keywords you'd like to search for, such as "art" or "fitness" etc.  I like to type my word into the field "any of these words" but you may prefer to use "this exact phrase" or "all of these words"...it depends on how specific you wish to be.

3. Be sure to complete the distance from your zipcode if you are looking for folks locally.  Otherwise, leave this blank.

4. I usually leave the date fields blank.  It doesn't seem to go too far back and displays recent tweets first so this step isn't really needed for most.  Then, click "search"

Here's an example of one of my recent searches for "spoleto" to give you an example of what your results may look like:



Laura Catherine Otero is a marketing professional and blogger in Charleston, SC who has been active in social media since 2005.  If you enjoyed this post, please consider subscribing to this blog via Email or  RSS. Laura can also be found on Twitter (@LauraCatherineO), Facebook, and LinkedIn.