Twitter, the micro-blogging behemoth shows no signs of slowing down, top stories in tech still revolve around the social-savvy users networking platform of choice as it becomes are more important tool both for communications, entertainment and business. Indeed the business realm is one where there is much debate surrounding the benefits of Twitter can it really be used to build customer relationships, shore up brand awareness, distribute marketing messages, and ultimately, drive revenue.

Although every B2C worth their weight now has a Twitter account, many are still confused as to the best way to harness it in a way that influences bottom line. What is known is that social media is incredibly time intensive, one of the reasons why many businesses are reluctant to invest heavily in this area. Luckily for tentative marketing bosses, there are many tools on the market that can help; here are a few tricks that make tweeting less laborious:

1. Schedule

There are many Twitter scheduling tools out there, but one that has risen to the fore in recent months is ‘Buffer’. Buffer facilitates the scheduling of Tweets at predetermine times throughout the day. Stacking up your tweets at the start of the day means you can let your account run in the background with out having to maintain it. Just be sure to respond to @ messages!

2. Automate

Automating tweets is considered as a spam tactic by many, but it can be incredibly useful when you are short on time. There is a tool out there that can do all your tweeting for you. Twitter Feed allows you to add a number of RSS feeds into your account, so every time a new blog post is published on these feeds, a tweet will be published on your account. Hashtags can be added before tweets go out.

3. Curate

Curation is one of the most powerful activities you can carry out on Twitter. It is not strictly necessary to create your own content in order to get noticed, gain followers and drive traffic, if you can be a trusted and respected curator within your niche, you will have the chance to spearhead your community. Being a curator means retweeting news as it happens, so you are a go-to source in your industry.

The number of Twitter tools and techniques out there is growing everyday and keeping a sharp eye on the social media community around the clock is the best way to keep abreast of these developments. Natural Twitter accounts are the most trusted, but a bit of automation never hurt anyone!

About: Joe is a Twitter enthusiast who has recently been tweeting about various things including Pippa Middleton, Camping Equipment and SEO!