Social media remains an integral element of modern PR campaigns and a strong case can still be made for using the platform Twitter. It remains one of the “big three,” along with Facebook and LinkedIn, as the top social platforms that companies turn towards to help broadcast a variety of messages or company updates (Instagram is arguably a close fourth). Launched in 2006, Twitter is a well-established tool for many companies. Its content is an ever-flowing stream of posts that make concise statements and often drive traffic through links. For those companies that only use Twitter, or choose to post by separate platforms for one reason or another (instead of using a single platform to link social media accounts), there are a variety of online tools available to improve your Twitter usage. Tweetdeck is one of them.
Created, developed, and released by Twitter itself in 2008, Tweetdeck is a free online platform that links to your Twitter account and allows the viewing of multiple streams of information at the same time. Here are what we consider to be the top benefits of enabling Tweetdeck:
Streams
The standard Twitter profile includes a Homepage from which users view an ever-changing (often rapidly updating) stream of tweets from the entities that they’re following. Tweetdeck includes the ability to set up customizable streams. These can be filtered by user or keyword and offer a more manageable flow of information. From the PR perspective, we like to set up streams to follow keywords, journalists, or publications relevant to our clients.
Scheduling
Another benefit of using Tweetdeck to manage your Twitter profile is the ability to schedule future content. At a busy time of year, the potential to schedule out numerous tweets related to a single campaign all at once can save time that is better used for other activities. The scheduling tool allows photos to be included as well. As an added benefit, this feature will also help you identify which times resonate best with your audience, manage tradeshow posting, or get even content out on a weekend without having to post in real-time.
Multiple Accounts
A third advantage of using Tweetdeck is the ability to link multiple accounts. If you’re responsible for monitoring and managing more than one Twitter profile, Tweetdeck offers quick and easy ways to toggle between accounts when liking/posting. The streams and scheduling both support multiple account management within one login and through a single dashboard view.
Tweetdeck is just one of hundreds of social media platform management tools, but as a free option for managing Twitter that has been honed over the years, it tops our list. Regardless of which solutions you use to navigate social media, social platforms as a whole have inarguably risen to prominence for PR and marketing strategy. We encourage you to always take advantage of the access these platforms give your voice as you continue to seek the attention of your target audiences.
Caroline Haley authors the column “Caroline’s Cloud” and is Vice President, Outreach & Operations for Milldam Public Relations.
