Here’s how it works: log in to Hootsuite, and in the left hand column you’ll see an icon that looks like a bar graph. Click it, and you’ll have access to the Report Builder. Click “create new report” to get started.

You can choose a built-in reporting template, or create one from scratch. The drag and drop interface lets you customize to your heart’s content, and you can add in the different elements you want to highlight from Twitter, Facebook, and Google Analytics. Some of the more customized options require you to spend “points” – the Owl’s currency. Pro Users automatically get 50 points per month, and you can add more points on an a la carte basis as needed. Don’t worry, free users: there are still plenty of tools for you to implement as well. You can also opt to have your report sent to your inbox on a regular basis, should you want reports delivered to you or your team.

In all, this service makes things a little easier to get under the hood and pull together data from disparate sources. But it doesn’t do away with the human element – actually taking a look at the data, analyzing it, and making strategic choices based on the results. Yes, the Owl is pretty cool, but he can’t replace you…yet.

Measuring your Twitter presence turns out to be a little more complicated than Facebook. Instead of just one, there are several tools you can to use to get a good picture of your progress to date. Below, I list some of the tools I use (and each name is a link to that service), and summarize the service(s) they provide.

The Tools

Hootsuite: Dashboard for managing your Twitter presence. It can also be used to manage other social media tools (LinkedIn, Facebook) but I find that it is most effective for Twitter. Hootsuite includes a built-in URL shortener. Provides user stats such as language and home country. Lists your most popular tweets, and greatest advocates (users who retweet your content). Hootsuite, a previously free service, recently converted to a paid model. I find their new service and pricing menu a little overly complicated, but it still provides the useful services I’ve come to value.

Twitter Counter: Graphs the number of new followers of your Twitter account over time (see example below). Creating a graph for a time period of up to three months is free; six months or more requires you to send a tweet from your account lauding their services.

HashTweeps: Lists the number of times a particular hashtag was tweeted, the user(s) who tweeted it, and how many times that person tweeted it. Use this for measuring your institution’s hashtags.

WhoUnfollowedMe: Notifies you when users stop following you, which may help you better assess how your tweets are coming across to your followers.

Don’t forget to capture tweets that you want to highlight in your report – good conversation threads, positive feedback, etc. Copy and paste the text and the user who said it into a spreadsheet or database for future use. This is a similar tactic to the one I described in my earlier post about Facebook.

Analysis

Much of what I mentioned last week about analyzing your findings in Facebook applies to Twitter as well. Here’s what I said with a few updates for this week (changes in italics):

Take a good hard look at what the numbers and the comments are telling you. Ask questions such as:

• Which tweets were more popular? Which ones weren’t as popular? Why do you think that is?
• Which days of the week and time of day had more response than others?
• Who retweets you most frequently?
• What kinds of tweets cause people to unfollow you?

Asking good questions about what you’ve found will help you draw smart conclusions on your findings. Use those findings to set new goals. What new things will you try? What will you continue to do the same? What will you abandon entirely?

Next time, we’ll talk blogs – how many people read yours, and are they really reading it?

Note: Thanks to Andy Shaindlin of Alumni Futures for first telling me about HashTweeps.

Check out our Diigo group. We plan to add more resources to the group during the conference and after it is complete.

Follow the backchannel with the Twitter hashtag #CASEsmc10 – listen in on what you’re missing.

See the photos on our Flickr group. We just have placeholders there for now, but will add more photos once we kick off.

See you next week!

Teamwork: Use your colleagues, friends and family for new ideas. What’s new? What’s interesting? What do they want to hear more about? Use these questions as a way to brainstorm and get new ideas for content.

Keep a List: Store your ideas in a Google doc, as draft posts, or even written down good old-fashioned paper. Circle back to them when you feel stuck.

Keep Your Post Pantry Well Stocked: Start writing out posts in advance; they’ll be ready to roll when you feel like you’ve got nothing to say. Choose subjects that are not time sensitive, and can be posted days or weeks in the future.

Plan Ahead: This can be tough, but planning your posts a week or two in advance can help you feel less manic. It also insures that your content is part of a cohesive strategy, not a one-off without clear direction or purpose.

Tune in to the Conversation
People are talking about you behind your back. Its up to you to find out if it’s good, bad, or otherwise. Search sites like Twitter for your brand, school or group and get a sense of what’s being said in real time (for example, here’s what people are saying about Trident Layers gum on Twitter). The conversations you tune in on will help you judge how current communications initiatives and goals are being received, and help you adapt your approach accordingly. If there is no conversation…then you have another problem on your hands.

Use Your Audience as a Resource
Your fans already have a vested interest – they know your brand and product best. Solicit them for feedback and get new ideas and advice. Sites like My Starbucks Idea and Vitamin Water’s Facebook presence are examples of the ways you can solicit feedback and participation from your biggest fans and advocates.

Research Key Players
Sites like LinkedIn give you a direct channel to connect to and learn more about people. These could be individuals you don’t know yet but want to, or people you’ll be interacting with in the future. LinkedIn can give you valuable information: who you know in common, professional and educational background, groups and interests. These points of reference can be very helpful in a fundraising meeting, job interview, or on a sales call.