Special Update, BrightEdge SocialShare Study: Tracking Social Plugin Adoption and Trends

Today, BrightEdge released a special update to their SocialShare report that analyzes the popularity of Facebook plugins and highlights the level of influence that the Facebook “Like” button has over viral discovery and distribution. The report findings also indicate a shift in the integration of user interest graphs into broader marketing and branding strategies.

The new “Read,” “Watch” and “Listen” buttons announced by Facebook today will provide increased insight into user interest, and give users the ability to more accurately reflect real-life social behaviors that are more complex than just a “Like” or a “Share.”

“Changes to Facebook social plugins show how significant these features have become on the Web today,” said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge. “Very few features have achieved the massive scale of adoption that Facebook ‘Like ‘and ‘Share’ buttons now see across the Internet. And the usage of these buttons is unprecedented in the history of the Web.”

Facebook is now offering increased relevance with which to measure and take action on this social signal stream. This is a key opportunity for marketers to capitalize on the increased site traffic that social signals drive in order to rise above the competition.

The updated BrightEdge analysis examines and analyzes the front pages of the world’s 1,000 most trafficked websites. The compelling findings indicate that we are on the verge of a new, user-driven marketing landscape, and companies must adapt quickly in order to succeed. Please visit: http://www2.brightedge.com/social-share-September-2011-FBSpecial for more information and to view the full report data and findings.

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BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 9/16

This week Facebook had some pretty exciting updates to their Friend Lists API, as well as a new feature that allows people to “subscribe” to public RSS feeds. Twitter also had a big announcement with their unveiling of their analytics platform. Mostly, this week was about the integration of social signals into search, and how this is becoming increasingly important for SEO strategy. Read on for more…


facebook-adds-subscribe-button
Facebook has added two new features, part of a slew of recent updates as they battle it out to remain the top dog in social media. Users can now Subscribe to friends’ or other users’ updates, much in the way we follow people on Twitter. A new View Shares option on posts also allows users and pages to see post shares in a popup window.


Social media accounts for one out of every four minutes that U.S. users spend online, four out of five people in the United States who access social media sites, and three out of four Internet users globally, according to a report released Monday.


Let’s consider the stages of a successful SEO campaign. Now let’s look at those stages in more detail…


Social media can be a great promotional vehicle for sharing your content and helping it reach an extended audience beyond your direct network of fans, followers, and subscribers. But are you missing out on some low-hanging fruit to make sure you give your content what’s necessary to help it spread?


The Web is filled with interesting data, but for most it’s not easily mined. The search engine Blekko launched a tool Wednesday that reveals coded information embedded in Web pages. It reveals patterns or strings, such as sites that discuss and review Lady Antebellum’s latest album, as well as the number of Google +1s, Facebook Likes or Twitter tweets related to Apple’s rumored intention to spice up MacBook for the holiday, for example.


Two announcements from Twitter offer benefits for users and advertisers as much as promise for Twitter investors. Promoted Tweets are now appearing in the feeds of those who don’t follow the advertising brand and yesterday Twitter unveiled a publisher analytics platform to evaluate Tweet button and t.co wrap data.


ads-4-sale-aol-yahoo-microsoft
An unlikely trio took a blood oath to join forces and take down the mighty Google, who snatched the display advertising crown from Yahoo in Q1 of this year. Executives from Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL shared the plan with a group of top Web publishers and ad buyers in a presentation over dinner a couple nights ago in Manhattan, All Things Digital reported.


It’s the dream. To be able to log into AdWords and instantly find the changes you need to make. Well that’s the trick that long-time paid search managers have been using to allow them to keep an eye on so much material so easily.


Google made further inroads into the travel category Tuesday with the quiet launch of Flight Search, a web-based tool that lets you find and book flights.

We hear a lot these days about how companies need to be more socially aware, and by that I don’t mean in their philanthropic efforts, but around what people are saying about them in social media. As so many companies have learned the hard way, it doesn’t take much for an unhappy customer to organize an army of similar-minded people on Twitter. The case that always comes to mind is when in 2008 mothers got mad at Motrin, giving Johnson and Johnson a headache.
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BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 9/9

This week’s search recap was all about social, social, social. From Twitter partnerships to social signals effects on search to holiday gift searching it seems that search is adapting to people’s increasingly connected social networks. Read on for more…


data cake

1. 10 Ugly SEO Tools that Actually Rock

SEO is easy. Graphic Design is hard.

2. Twitter Renews Deal With Bing; Google Deal Remains MIA

Twitter and Bing announced that they have extended their deal that allows Bing to tap into Twitter’s information in a cutesy exchange on Twitter itself. As for Google, which Twitter’s been on the outs with since July, Twitter says there’s no similar happy news to report.

3. Google’s Groupon Competitor Now in Five New Cities

Google Offers, which is challenging the likes of Groupon, is expanding into five new markets, in contrast to the recent move by Facebook to shut down its Deals business after only four months. Google is now operating the business in eight markets. Being added today: Austin, Boston, Washington, D.C., Denver and Seattle. Offers can be received by subscribing to a daily email or by viewing them on the Google Shopper app for Android.

4. Twitter Grows as Traffic Source

A tweet button on a website can drive seven times more link mentions, along with the referral traffic that can accompany those mentions, according to research released by BrightEdge, an SEO marketing platform. The research analyzed 4 million randomly selected tweets to track how users share and interact with social buttons and links.

5. The 5 Keys to Conversion Rate Optimization

While search engine marketers are frequently vulnerable to obsession with data points, such as unique visits and rankings, the success of any SEM program will ultimately be judged by bottom-line revenue.

6. Why “Second Chance” Tweets Matter: After 3 Hours, Few Care About Socially Shared Links

There have been various studies suggesting that if someone doesn’t see a tweet or a Facebook post within a few hours, they’ll never see it at all. Now link shortening service Bit.ly is out with another. After three hours, Bit.ly has found, links have sent about all the traffic they’re going to send. So start thinking about doing “second chance” tweets, as I call them.

7. Yandex Rolls Out Infinite Scrolling as ‘10 More Answers’

Russian search engine Yandex has changed the 10 blue links experience for its users. Starting Monday, Yandex unveiled a new experience, with a new twist on the infinite scrolling concept.

8. Do Social Signals Drive Traffic?

So, I set out to do an informal correlation study, looking at how Tweets, Likes, +1, and our own internal social metrics – Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down – impact Unique Pageviews (UPVs) over two sets of data. The first set is the Top 50 posts (by UPVs) for the first half of 2011. The second set is all main-blog posts after the launch of Google+.

9. Ad Smart: Mobile Searches Rise During Holidays

Google predicts consumers will conduct 15% of Black Friday Web searches on mobile devices this year. The research suggests that 65% of consumers will use their mobile device to look for a business to make in-store purchases.

10. How to Find Link-Worthy Data

You might be a little tired of hearing ‘content is king’.  And it’s increasingly difficult to make content stand out online.  But a few sites are leading the way with their innovative use of data.  There’s the Guardian Datablog, Information is Beautiful and the ubiquitous OK Trends to name but a few.


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BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 9/2

An infographic showing the growth of social media since its inception was by far the most clicked-through link of the week. There were some updates to Google search tools, and updates on their algorithm change. BrightEdge also had two exciting announcements: we rolled out our collaborative SEO tool, and released a study that shows data and trends in social share plug-in adoption. Read on for more and enjoy the long weekend!


Say what you will about the tidal wave that is social media: it’s over-hyped, a fad halfway through its 15 minutes, that <insert social network, platform, app> surely won’t be around in a few years’ time.


google-maps-voice-search-speak-now
Google has added voice search to Google Maps for Chrome browser users, allowing users to ask for directions verbally and more find hard-to-spell locations. The addition is part of the ongoing integration of voice-recognition technology.


Here are some of the things we do at GPMD to generate a broader set of quality prospects. Using these practices, we’re able to identify a huge
selection of relevant, high quality blogs and industry websites within different sectors.


BrightEdge has developed a module for its search engine optimization platform that allows company employees in one place or worldwide locations to collaborate on SEO campaigns. The goal, of course, is to rank higher in organic search listings.


One of the biggest challenges in analyzing conversions to your website is figuring out which channels contributed to a goal conversion. A new change to Google Analytics now allows you to see when multiple channels contribute to a goal.


Those who’ve been involved in search engine optimization for any real duration know that there’s no one Google algorithm to keep up with. In addition to having a couple world-breaking changes per year (Google Instant and Panda being the most recent), there are constant minor changes that change how search works. However, Google recently discussed how those many minor changes are created, tested, and implemented. Knowing this process will help you gauge exactly how seriously to take different types of changes.


Google has released a new snippet format that extracts details from long lists and displays them in a bullet-point. The snippet format replaces meta descriptions and is used for sites that give categorical listings


A new report from SEO firm BrightEdge reveals that having a Twitter share button, like the one on the right, on your website can help drive up to 7x more exposure via social media.


BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti talks about how an e-mail exchange with Nike led to his idea for promoting social content across the Web.


Many years ago, Google stated ten points on their Corporate Philosophy page
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September BrightEdge SocialShare Report: The Marketing Benefits of Social Buttons

Today, BrightEdge released its September SocialShare report, with the finding that web sites that have a Twitter share button on web pages drives 7x more exposure to those pages via social media. This information demonstrates an enormous social marketing opportunity, yet currently less than half of the top 10,000 websites use Twitter share buttons on their web pages.

“It’s clear that social sharing buttons can drive real social traffic that will inevitably drive sales, brand awareness or even affinity but it’s also clear that many brands are not taking advantage of this simple, cost free tool,” said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge.

Sites that take the modest step of simply installing social plug-ins significantly lower the barrier for viral sharing, which can lead to greater exposure to millions of additional consumers. “These are simple, free tools that can drive real ROI for any site,” notes Ryan Sarver, Director of Platform at Twitter.

Each month, the SocialShare Analysis, powered by the BrightEdge SocialShare Engine, provides an important window into the ways social tools are used by the world’s most popular brands and allows marketers to see the true impact that their social strategies have on SEO and the value it can garner for campaigns and for consumers. In this latest edition the SocialShare engine examined over 4 million tweets and 10,000 web sites.

 Please visit http://www.brightedge.com/social-share-September-2011 for more information and to view the full report.

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BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 8/26

This week’s top search stories included some recaps of last week’s Search Engine Strategies conference, Bing’s advice for SEO fundamentals, and some new Google updates. Read on for more details…

Microsoft is systematically killing off the mystery of Bing-Yahoo optimization. In addition to a post on quality content that we covered previously, Bing has now told us the 18 fundamental things that webmasters need to know about search engine optimization.


Cindy Krum, CEO of Mobile Moxie and author of “Mobile Marketing: Finding Your Customers No Matter Where They Are,” has spoken at numerous SES conferences around the world. And mobile was once again a hot topic at SES San Francisco this year – mobile marketing was named by many speakers as a key component of the future of search.

In his session on Advanced Keyword Modeling at SES San Francisco, Bill Hunt from back-azimuth.com drilled down to the molecular level to analyze how your keywords and snippets match a user’s search query, and more importantly, that user’s intent.


Many things have changed in our little search world since that time. I thought it would be valuable to review that research to see what’s changed, but also identify a few things that needed a bit of a refresh. (Side note: Thank you to Julianne Zhang who was one of our many great interns this summer for helping compile this data!)


Google is experimenting with a new look for their search page. This alternate version has an independent scroll-bar for the left-column options and features a slightly cleaner overall design.


The six month anniversary of Google’s Panda update passed quietly yesterday – guess everyone was too distracted dealing with the latest tweak to the algorithm to  notice. The only article I saw was by ZDnet reporting that HubPages CEO Paul Edmondson says SEO doesn’t work (seriously guys, three exclamation in the headline?).




Google is one of the front-runners in the bidding war for Hulu, with bids expected to be anywhere from $500 million to $2 billion, according to various reports. Amazon and Yahoo are also top candidates to buy Hulu.

Two weeks ago, I shared the first half of a “Do-Not-Do” list for SEM neophytes that I crowd-sourced from fellow SEM geeks on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. And now, the rest of the story…


A study by PageLever, an analytics tool for Facebook, showed that search engines are major traffic drivers for Facebook pages, making up 34% of all external referrals.  Google was the leading search engine sending 27.57% of all external traffic to pages.  This study analyzed 1000 pages, with a minimum of 10,000 fans each.

The social-powered Web browsing service StumbleUpon now claims to drive more than half of all social media referral traffic in the U.S., according to new data from StatCounter.
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BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 8/19

This week’s top stories focused on the expansion of the search landscape: from social to mobile to technical0- with tips for SEO strategies in each space. There are also some handy tips for dealing with Panda updates, maximizing keyword ROI and creating strategic landing pages. Plus– check out some coverage from this year’s SES Conference!


Admittedly, I’ve been a little negative about “mobile SEO” in my last few posts, but that’s only because I believe “mobile SEO” really shouldn’t be seen as a separate product, just another channel to assist your SEO strategy. Let’s look at a market that really isn’t suited to mobile conversions and look at ways to make it work with your current SEO campaign.


This past week, Google began displaying more information under sitelinks appearing in organic search, now providing a description under links as well as the url for the sitelink page. Additionally, up to 12 sitelinks may appear under the top organic listing. See an example by clicking here.


Was SEOmoz affected by Google’s Panda Updates? It depends how you look at it. Since the first update hit in February of 2011, organic search traffic to SEOmoz has increased by 49%.
SEOmoz and panda


LinkedIn has been experimenting with new social ad formats that tell users when members of their network follow a given advertiser. LinkedIn has given users unprecedented control over whether they’re included in these social ads, and has recently made a retreat on how the ads are presented.



What a way to start the week. The company that once said it would never build its own mobile phones, Google, wants to buy mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility. The technosphere has gone into 5G coverage over the news. Here’s what I’ve been finding interesting and some thoughts.


Landing pages are frequently pushed to the back burner when creating digital marketing campaigns even though they can often have the single greatest impact on the campaign’s success. This is particularly surprising considering landing pages have been a frequent topic that’s been written about and discussed for years.


Google announced they are now incorporating Google + posts and information directly in the search results.
Here is a picture:

Google + Results



Susan Bratton, co-founder and CEO of Digital Life Media, opened SES San Francisco 2011 this morning with her keynote Conversion Triggers. Packed with tools and real-life persuasion marketing lessons, her presentation included a particularly sexy case study using her “Revive Your Drive” product.


Every culture has its own mythology, most of it originally based in fact. However, even as facts change, the mythos behind them fail to budge. In the geekily obsessive world of SEO, it’s no surprise that some once-true SEO myths have stuck around long past their prime.  Here are some nefarious SEO fables that people (hint: possibly you) still believe and waste money on.


As Internet marketing professionals, we often partner with clients in highly technical industries. Developing an effective keyword strategy can pose to be a great challenge when content and search terms involve specialized terminology. A top-notch, detailed keyword research report will help steer your strategy in the right direction. Keyword research reports can be used for writing content, meta data, PPC ads, website development, and branding strategy. Hopefully this guide will assist you in discovering the correct keywords to deploy in your keyword strategy.
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BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 8/12

The second week of August brought some exciting search stories: from tips for better PPC, the history of Google algorithms, to the use of social media in the London riots. Read on for more…

1. 5 Plus Google +1 SEO Tips from Googleplex in Mountain View

One of the sessions not to miss at SES San Francisco will be Timothy Jordan, Developer Advocate at Google, who will be discussing Google+ and the Google +1 button.

2. New Twitter Analytics Tool Helps You Decide Whom To Follow

Twtrland is a new service that converts Twitter streams into detailed profiles to try and make it easier to decide whom to follow.
Simply plug in the Twitter handle you want to analyze, and Twtrland will build a profile for you. (See mine above.) The profile includes info like how often the user is retweeted, how many times she or he tweets per day, a breakdown of tweet content (plain tweets, pictures, @replies, etc.), most-retweeted tweets (Famous Words), top followers and a sampling of tweets.

3. Why search and email are still more important than social

Few dispute the importance of social media today, but a Pew Internet survey conducted in May 2011 and released yesterday is a reminder of why marketers shouldn’t let social become too big a distraction.

4. Announcing: The Complete Google Algo History

Okay, deep breath. I AM SUPER EXCITED… Sorry, let’s try again *breathes into bag*. I am very excited to announce SEOmoz’s first “living document”, a complete history of named Google algorithm changes, from “Boston” in 2003 to Panda 2.3 (or whatever the kids are calling it these days). Why don’t you check out this sneak peek while I try to calm down…

5. Exploiting Tomorrow: As New Virtual World Features Develop, Security Struggles To Catch Up

August marks the month of the annual Second Life Community Conference (this year held in Oakland, California), during which the things one expects from a convention generally happen. This includes keynote speakers, big speeches, and a general sense of what and where the platform is headed in the next year.

6. What’s In a Good PPC Report?

Whether you’re an in-house or agency PPC professional, chances are you’ll need to provide regular reports on campaign performance.

7. London Riots: Twitter Traffic Surges in the UK [STATS]

Traffic is surging to Twitter and major media websites in the UK as the London riots enter their fourth night.

8. Digg Launches Newswire, a Social News Curation Tool

Digg launched a new social news discovery function called Newswire on Monday.

9. Six Ways Content Strategists Can Get Along with SEOs from the Beginning

In the realm of content strategy and SEO, there is nary a website launch that isn’t marred by the occasional squabble over which is a priority. Putting emotions and disciplines aside, we all know content and SEO are equally important. Obviously they are so equally important that one doesn’t exist without the other.

10. How Your Social Data Will Power Walmart’s E-Commerce Revolution walmart

Walmart is planning to launch several new projects this holiday season based on the technology it acquired from the social media startup Kosmix back in April. Kosmix’s platform previously powered multiple services, including a Twitter search site called TweetBeat, a health vertical called RightHealth and a homepage where users could search the Web by topic. But the core of what Kosmix was building was something called the “social genome” –  a way to organize the content in social networks in order to connect people with the information that mattered to them.

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BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 8/5

This week’s search stories discussed search tips and tools for a successful SEO strategy, top Twitter trends for July, and some more details about how Google updates are affecting page rankings. Read on for more…

1. Google launches SEO-friendly Instant Pages
If you’re using the new version of Google Chrome that was released today, you may notice that you can access the top organic results for a given query faster than usual. This is because Google has announced announced that its Instant Pages feature is available in the latest version of Chrome, and content marketers may find the feature rewards their efforts.

2.Top 10 Twitter Trends Last Month [CHART]Twitter Chart Image

July was a month of escapism punctuated by tragic real-life events, if the month’s list of top trending topics on Twitter is any guide. At a time when kids are out of school and escaping the heat to an air-conditioned theater or a climate-controlled living room, it’s not surprising that entertainment topics dominated the list.

3. Even In-House SEO Superheroes Need Tools

The SEO landscape has changed dramatically over the past 10 years. In 2001, you could get by simply doing keyword research, making a couple on page site tweaks, and ranking for some keywords. You were an SEO guru by doing this 2001.

4. How Will Google+ Affect SEO?
By now you’ve probably heard about Google+, the latest social networking craze and most recent effort by Google to take on Facebook and Twitter. But did you know that it could affect how your business’s website gets found on Google’s search engine?

5. Google Updates PageRank Yet Again!
It is not even a month since the last Google toolbar PageRank update which took place July 18th in reaction to a bug with the PageRank update on June 27th or so.

6. 5 Steps to Building a Search Persona
It’s easy for online marketers to become distracted by the search engines and forget the real reason they’re doing SEO in the first place: the customer. Customer demand is the driving force behind search and must be the foundation for your SEO strategy.

7. Making the Case For SEO in a Social Media World
Sometimes we get to doing something for so long and are so involved in telling people how to do something, that we forget that there are still people who need to be convinced they actually need to do it.

8. SEO Consult gives their top ten tips for Search Engine Optimisation success
The Internet is always growing and always evolving. While that promotes ingenuity and dynamism in professionals within the SEO industry, it can often leave those who can’t afford to invest the time in search engine optimisation in a perpetually fragile position.

9. Link Building for Ecommerce Sites – Targeting the Right Anchor Text
While search volume data can help you make more informed decisions when choosing keywords for link building campaigns, it is important to be driving traffic through terms that not only bring in more traffic but convert well. Targeting anchor text phrases that have above average conversion rates will provide a higher ROI on your link building efforts than focusing only on search volume.

10. The Need For Speed

One important measure for SEO is the speed at which your site loads. Google looks at this measure, among many others, to help determine your site’s ranking. Many small and mid-size websites struggle with this because they don’t have the internal know-how to manage site load times, so they often inadvertently bulk up load times when adding tracking codes and advertising units and everything else modern websites seem to demand.

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BrightEdge Weekly Search Recap – 7/29

This week’s search roundup featured a lot of tips and tricks for improving your SEO, and incorporating social signals into your overall strategy – from link requests, to local SEO, to keywords and retweets. Check out below for these handy tips as well as some more interesting info about Google’s new updates.


1. SEO Tips For Search Engine Optimization

Having a website is an integral part of business today however achieving search engine rankings takes much more than just building a pretty site with pictures. Only a few short years ago a couple pages and some relevant keywords may have propped your placement up pretty high but today only the lucky few achieve any kind of substantial ranking without a lot of hard work.

2. Why Your Link Requests Are Failing Fail Stamp

Picture this: You walk up to a local business, walk through the door, up to the first person you see and say “Hi, I’d like you to put this sticker on your window because I sell products that people who come to your establishment might like too.” Said sticker is an address to your business. Think it will be successful? Probably not.

3. Google Directory Has Been Shut Down

Google’s Directory, a relic of eras past, has been removed – with essentially no fanfare. This shutdown is part of a broader effort to focus in on a smaller but more powerful range of services.

4. Websites Selling Google +1’s, Will Google’s Results Be Gamed?

For sale: 50 Google +1 clicks, $19.99 or 250 Google +1’s for $69.99, or 2,000 for $359.99 (currently unavailable due to high demand!), all from phone verified Google real people (no bots!) from different IPs, drip-fed over a couple of days. Totally untraceable!

5. Local SEO: 10 Tips for Ranking in Your Area

Any business of any size can benefit from search engine optimization (SEO). Geo-specific optimization in particular can make a small investment go a long way, as well as ensuring more relevant people click through to your pages.

6. Successful SEO Tactics: Keyword Selection SEO Tactics Keywords

The world of organic search has evolved dramatically over the past 10 years, as has the search engines results page (SERP) itself and the SEO tactics required to achieve success in the space.

7. 5 ways to get more retweets [infographic]

This handy infographic shows you five ways to make your tweets have more impact!


8. YouTube Video Optimization from A to Z

With the explosion of computer technology, the Internet has become the primary source from which the average Joe receives news. Good, old-fashioned newspapers and television as information sources are nearly extinct. Reading articles online wasn’t enough for Joe, so he moved on to a more entertaining, mobile method. Now he absorbs all his information from videos. Joe is a really smart dude now. He learned how to prepare a mind-blowing platter of sushi this morning; followed by a Portuguese lesson on verbs. Right before bed, he watched the highlight reel from last night’s ball game.

9. SEO Strategy: How to Capitalize on Your Competitor’s Mistakes

If you aren’t the marker leader, sometimes the best time to grab traffic and customers from your competition is when they screw up. You may notice that when your competitor makes a big mistake they generally don’t want to address it publicly, or if they do they only want to talk about it in abbreviated terms, which, for a juicy story, may not be enough for the general public.

10. 6 Must Have Twitter Time Saving Apps and Tools [Video]

Twitter apps and tools enhance twitter’s awkward interface and limited analytics.  Twitter is growing slower than other social media networks but it is still a necessary part of the holy trinity of social media.  It is a necessary evil in your marketing arsenal and these twitter tools give you the ammunition you need deal with twitter more effectively.

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