Using a Twitter search as a source

There are a number of ways you can use SocialBro to search within Twitter to find new people to target e.g. customers or influential people. These searches include searching within the whole of Twitter using filters e.g. to find people interested in a subject, adding a word as a source/ monitoring a hashtag and an advanced search using “Twitter operators”. Firstly we will talk about performing each kind of search and then what you can do with them.

Using search all Twitter as a source

Search all Twitter allows you to search for active users and filter them according to your needs.

Firstly select “search all Twitter” from the left navigation bar.

You can then use the filters to find users related to a word, in a specific location or users who are influential, have a large amount of followers, tweet regularly ect.

You will then be presented with the users who match these criteria and can control which order you view them in using the button below:

From here you can then send users a direct message, follow users, add them to a list, edit tags or notes and create an individual best time to tweet report using the buttons shown below.

To perform these actions for multiple users, drag and drop a box over them and select the options from the bottom of the page. This is useful for adding users to lists, following multiple users or creating a best time to tweet report for a select group of people.

Monitor a Hashtag/ word

Your next search option is to add a search as a source or monitor a hashtag. This is useful for monitoring who is talking about a subject in real-time e.g. a product or an event and then adding them to a list, following them, creating a best time to tweet report ect. To do this select either of the options shown below:

Then make sure the source type says “Twitter search” and enter your Query (the hashtag or search).

You can then refine your search using the filters shown earlier.

The results of your search can then be displayed in the dashboard:

- All Members of the search
- Members of the search that you follow
- Members of the search that follow you
- Members you don’t follow:
- Tagcloud of the members’ bios

As with all sources, all the information that appears in the dashboard is accessible from the sources menu (the left drop-down menu).

You can then select a group of users e.g. “members not followed by you” where you can use the filters and perform the actions explained in the “search all Twitter” section.

You can also view detailed stats about the users tweeting the hashtag. Select “insights” from the toolbar on the dashboard:

Or the following icon:

You can then see the location of members, their interests, the time zones they are in and many more stats, providing you with information on targeting and engaging with them.

Please see the video below to view the process:

Performing an advanced search

There is the option in Twitter to perform an advanced search to find tweets by, to or about a user, tweets containing certain words, tweets that are positive or negative ect. SocialBro gives you the ability to use your advanced Twitter search as a source and view stats about the users returned in the search. This will be helpful when wanting to find users talking about one of your products in a positive or negative way to enable you to respond to their tweets or for example wanting to see who is talking about your competitors and possibly target or engage with them.

There are 2 options available to you when performing an advanced search. The first involves the following operators:

Operator Finds Tweets……

Twitter search Containing both “twitter” and “search” (default operator)
“happy hour” Containing the exact phrase “happy hour”
love OR hate Containing either “love” or “hate” (or both)
beer -root Containing “beer” but not “root”
#haiku Containing the hashtag “haiku”
from:alexiskold Sent from person “alexiskold”
to:techcrunch Sent to person “techcrunch”
@mashable Referencing person “mashable”

Snow since:2010- 12-27 Containing “snow” and sent since date “2010- 12- 27”

ftw until:2010-12-27 Containing “ftw” and sent up to date “2010- 12-27”
traffic ? Containing “traffic” and asking a question
hilarious filter:links Containing “hilarious” and linking to URLs
news source:twitterfeed Containing “news” and entered via TwitterFeed

Select “monitor a tweet” from the toolbar:

Then input your desired search using the operators in the table above. For example if we wanted to find out who was asking questions about SocialBro, we would enter “socialbro ?”

You can then view the people who match your search on your dashboard. These people have asked questions about your brand so you could use this as a way of improving your CRM if for example they were not asking the questions to you directly.

If you select “all members” or “members not followed by you”, you can select individual users to follow, add tags or add to lists or drag and drop a box over all users and use the buttons at the bottom to perform the same actions. You can also use the filters on the left to filter according to influence, number of followers, how active they are on Twitter ect.

You can also view detailed stats about these Twitter users by selecting “insights” from the toolbar. Here you can view the location and languages of users as well as information such as their interests, useful for targeting and engaging with them.

The other option you have when performing an advanced search is to perform a search in Twitter and then copy and paste the results into SocialBro.

To do this, firstly go to: www.Twitter.com/search and select “advanced search”

Then fill in the form with your desired search criteria:

You will then be presented with the tweets users have posted that match your criteria. At the top of the screen you will see your search written in “operators”. Copy this search.