Did you know that you can grow your Twitter following in less than 15 minutes per day?

Social networking is a party that many corporations have been late for, and quite a few businesses aren’t yet capitalizing on sites like Twitter.

Worse yet is the company that gives a half-hearted effort to building a Twitter page only to find that all they hear is crickets.

Like anything on the Internet, you can’t simply build a page and expect users to find it—you have to actively find them. Twitter is no exception, and finding Twitter followers can be a challenge—unless you use Tweet Spinner.

Tweet Spinner is an innovative and powerful software product that manages the higher-end functions of Twitter so you don’t have to—things like handling followers and friends as well as rotating and changing your profile design.

Build a targeted following

Tweet Spinner is loaded with all sorts of amazing features and automated functions, but its best features are definitely “mimic” and keyword following.

Keyword following is a powerful capability that allows you to input a series of keywords that apply to your company. Tweet Spinner then automatically follows those people who frequently post those words.

What this means to you as a Twitter user is that you’ll essentially be able to troll Twitter automatically for targeted traffic, a job that would otherwise be extremely labor intensive.

Mimic following is a similar function. This clever feature allows you to identify a person or company that has a great following—one that could be valuable to your business, such as a competitor. You can then use Tweet Spinner to follow all the people your competition follows, thus instantly building a healthy stable of targeted followers you can reach out to—all in less than 15 minutes.

Tweet Spinner has a host of useful features.

• An automatic de-spammer that rids your account of annoying bots, spammers, and people who don’t follow you back.
• A tool that archives your messages
• Automated rotation of your profile
• Follower management and analytics

Tweet Spinner also contains some pretty fascinating artificial intelligence such as the “prune function” which gives you suggestions as to who you should unfollow.

The followback function, which identifies users who are following you but you aren’t following, is important to prevent alienating potential customers in a social media world where mutual following is encouraged.

Tweet Spinner is available in both free and paid subscription versions, and it’s a powerful tool for someone who wants to build a good following with very little effort.

Identifying relevant keywords for your website and blog is a critical part of any complete SEO strategy.

While you can use Google’s keyword tools for some basic keywording purposes, adding a program like Market Samurai to your toolbox could help you achieve better website rankings as well as boost pay-per-click advertising ROI.

Market Samurai: A Product Review

What worked

Here at CORE, we recently had the chance to evaluate Market Samurai.

This software allowed us to identify what markets are worth targeting, which should be avoided, what keywords to focus on for fast results, and which markets show high levels of competition. The tool also helped us calculate our chances of achieving front-page rankings for a keyword and what topics to cover in our articles.

How it works

Market Samurai pulls its results from Google Keyword Generator, which allows you to enter a few relevant keywords to get to your desired results. While Google Keyword Generator is another good option, Market Samurai provides a number of extra tools that you can use to filter through the results more efficiently.

We also used Market Samurai’s keyword recommendation tool to filter a search term list according to factors like number of daily searches (on a specific keyword).

It will also reduce your list of keyword options according to words “around” those that you select. So if you’re selling heart rate monitors, you can use the software to compare effectiveness between terms like “heart rate,” “heart monitors,” and “monitoring heart rate.”

Updates

Market Samurai is constantly updated to ensure currency and relevancy, and it allows you to find complementary products to advertise on your own site. So if you’re already selling high-end executive desks online via a pay-per-click marketing campaign, the software can help you decide whether desk chairs and lamps should be added to the lineup.

The vendor also recently restored some of the functionality that was removed from its product due to Google restrictions.

Previously, the columns SEOTC (the number of results that contain a keyword in the title tag) and SEOUC (the number of results that contain the keyword in the URL) were taken out because they were causing a sluggish keyword research process.

The metrics have since been restored, and users are now able to use a “check” option to obtain SEOTC/SEOUC data for all keywords.

How it Stacks Up

In comparing Market Samurai to other keyword research tools, we found Market Samurai to be up to par—or better than— its competitors.

Wordtracker, for example, allows you to cherry pick the most promising keywords for your online marketing campaigns and claims to provide you with more related keywords than any other free tool (up to 300 per search).

Keyword Country is another site that helps you uncover every possible relevant keyword and pinpoint profitable keywords out of them, while Keyword Spy is an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and PPC (Pay Per Click) keyword research software tool that helps you unveil the most profitable ad content and keywords in use by your competitors.

The Verdict

Market Samurai will help you stop attracting time-wasting tire kickers to your site, and it will target the keywords in your market that real buyers are using right now.

The site’s keyword tracker solutions help you discover exactly how to beat the competition and get front-page rankings in Google for high-traffic keywords in weeks or days—not months or years.

Finding the right keywords to market your company and its website online can be a time-consuming challenge that, without careful attention, could also cost you money.

A software program like Market Samurai is worth the investment because it will help you find terms you may have overlooked and refine your SEM. By helping you to generate a higher level of useful competitive market intelligence, you’ll draw in greater numbers of more qualified prospects.

We here at CORE give Market Samurai a thumbs up.

This week in C-NOTES:

How to Get a Boatload of People to Pin Your Products to Pinterest
How Search, Social Media, and Content Accelerate Your Business
Help Your Employees Become Strategic Thinkers

If you want more useful resources and links than the eight we highlight in our weekly roundup, follow @corebizstyle on Twitter.

This week in C-NOTES:

3 Ways to Fix Your Broken Marketing
6 Things Comedians Can Teach You About Public Speaking
Networking Tips: Go From Awkward to Awesome
10 Winning Lessons From Maverick Entrepreneur Mark Cuban

If you want more useful resources and links than the eight we highlight in our weekly roundup, follow @corebizstyle on Twitter.

This week in C-NOTES:

7 Timeless Business Lessons You can Learn from Hollywood Screenplays
Marketing Tips: Build Your Brand on LinkedIn
5 Tips to Convince Editors to Say “Yes” to Your Guest Posts
How to Become a Blogging Superstar

If you want more useful resources and links than the eight we highlight in our weekly roundup, follow @corebizstyle on Twitter.

This week in C-NOTES:

50 Great Thoughts on Success
What I Learned About Great Meetings From Steve Jobs
12 Essential Tools For the Content Marketer

Managing a workforce is difficult enough, but doing it virtually can be downright challenging.

Luckily, technology has made the virtual manager’s job a lot easier. Combine the Internet with the collaborative qualities of the cloud and you wind up with a plethora of productivity and community tools to choose from.

Here are 12 virtual tools you’ll want to check out and add to your own management toolbox:

1. Skype 

A virtual communication tool that lets you make both voice and video calls for free online, Skype is a popular too for managers who are on the road, or whose workforces are out of the office a lot. Upgrade your account to Skype Premium and you can run video conference calls with up to 10 people (compared to 2 with the free service); have your own phone numbers; and use tools like group screen sharing. Connecting with employees and managers is also easier with Skype, which allows you to “see” if someone is online and ping them to ask if they can chat. You can also use Skype to record calls and send large files to one another. As an added bonus, Skype offers an IM service that helps you communicate with employees without having to call or email them.

2. Dropbox 

There’s nothing more exasperating than getting that “file too large to send” error message when sending important documents, graphics, and video files to your co-workers, bosses, clients, or business partners. Dropbox is a good solution to this never-ending problem. The free (for up to 3GB of storage space) online file storage service allows you to collaborate with anyone you choose to via the cloud. You can give people access on a folder-by-folder basis, allowing you to share documents with the team members who need to see them. For $99-per-year, you can upgrade to 50GB of storage space.

3. Basecamp 

If your online information sharing needs go beyond simple file sending, Basecamp may be an even more robust alternative. Basecamp is a web-based project management and collaboration virtual tool that allows users to mange to-dos, files, messages, schedules, and milestones. Pricing starts at $20 per month and the company offers a 45-day free trial.

4. Google Calendar 

If you haven’t signed up for your free Google account yet, do it now for at least one main reason: the calendar. It allows users to share virtual online calendars with specific people and groups. Set up one calendar for company and project deadlines (so that everyone knows when tasks must be completed) and then set one up for your own personal use (to create some work-life balance).  Attach files or docs to your event so you have the right materials when your meeting starts. Calendar sharing makes it easy to find time with the people you work with and the smart scheduling feature suggests meeting times that work for everyone. Create an event calendar and embed it on your website or set up appointment slots so customers can choose the best time for them.

5. ShoeBoxed 

When you work virtually, those receipts, notes, and collected business cards can stack up quickly. Use the ShoeBoxed online receipt management virtual tool to upload your receipts by mailing or e-mailing them to the designated recipients. The company offers free and paid plans (the latter starts at $9.95 per month), and also includes a feature that allows for business card scanning. Your data is secured by SSL encryption (used by online banks), backed up on multiple servers and available on a 24/7 basis online. Compatible with QuickBooks, ShoeBoxed is a great paperless solution for managing important slips of paper.

6. Yammer 

Ever wish your company had its own social networking platform? Yammer can help fill that gap. A Twitter-like utility that companies use to communicate securely online, Yammer is a communication tool, motivational tool, and social network dedicated to your own firm. Use it to connect people across your company; share status updates, ideas, announcements, links, files, photos, polls, events, and praise; create dedicated team workspaces for a project, department or cross-functional group; brainstorm ideas; and develop and share content.

7. HootSuite

HootSuite is a social media dashboard with more than two million users that helps you manage and measure your social networks. You can update all your social profiles, schedule future messages and tweets, track your brand via mentions, and analyze your social media traffic. Launch marketing campaigns, identify and grow audiences, and distribute targeted messages using HootSuite’s unique social media dashboard. Streamline team workflow with scheduling and assignment tools and reach target markets with geo-targeting functionality. Invite multiple collaborators to manage social profiles securely, plus provide custom reports using the comprehensive social analytics tools for measurements. HootSuite can be used with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and new Google+ Pages, plus a suite of social content apps for YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr and more.

8. Evernote

Collaborating online in an efficient and cost-effective way got easier when Evernote came on the scene. With Evernote, all of your notes, web clips, files and images are made available on every device and computer you use. Save everything cool and exciting you see online and in the real world to an Evernote page. Snap a photo, record some audio and add it. Save entire web pages to your Evernote account with nifty browser extensions. Keep all of your itineraries, confirmations, scanned travel documents, maps, and plans in Evernote, so you’ll have them when you need them. Consolidate information from anywhere into a single Evernote file and then share it with colleagues or employees.

9. BizPAD 

Having a hard time keeping track of your to-do list and delegated tasks? This applications helps you maximize your productivity, systemize your business, increase your business value, and streamline communication with your team. Create a project folder, identify tasks, assign them and then allow team members to see, update, and track progress all with BizPAD.

10.  Filocity 

Manage your documents more efficiently online with Filocity.com, a cloud storage application that allows you to organize and store all of your documents in one secure online file management system. Upload, edit, share and access anytime from anywhere in the world at any time. Filocity customers have complete organizational control over all their business files, email, and documents. They can get to everything to do with any client, case, patient, project or personal files instantly, and no longer have to waste precious time searching and hunting through cabinets or files, standing at copier or faxes or carrying flash drives.  All files are safely locked away encrypted and HIPAA compliant.

11.  GoToMeeting  

The days when teams sat around conference tables hashing out ideas are long gone. In today’s virtual work world, GoToMeeting fills the void by offering easy-to-use desktop sharing/web meeting space. Hold web conferences and conduct online meetings with anyone, anywhere. The company offers an “All You Can Meet®” flat-fee, subscription based model that enables individuals and businesses to use online meetings more often, resulting in increased productivity and a quicker ROI.

12. GoodToDo  

If you are worried that important tasks will be overlooked if they aren’t written down – and if you don’t have time to write all of them down – check out GoodToDo. After signing up for the service, all you have to do is send an email to them (or forward one from your inbox) using the date or day (such as “tomorrow”) as the “to” email address, and it will automatically appear on your to-do list. This is a particularly useful virtual tool for managers whose to-do lists stem from emails. Simply forward them over to GoodToDo. You can also receive a daily email reminder via the online application, or check out the mobile application, to manage your tasks.

With these virtual tools, you’ll never again be caught without a critical presentation, lose track of who was responsible for key tasks, misplace new product or service ideas, or lose touch with traveling team members. By centralizing idea sharing and tracking in cloud-based applications, your productivity and organization should dramatically improve.

What are your favorite virtual tools?

This week in C-NOTES:

Social Media: 40 Ways to Build a Loyal Audience
The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs
15 Business Lessons From Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

If you want more useful resources and links than the eight we highlight in our weekly roundup, follow @corebizstyle on Twitter.

Blogging

The Real Secret to 1000 Blog Subscribers in 60 Days or Less – You can still cultivate connections with powerful people and get yourself a 1,000 new subscribers in less than 60 days. Let me show you how!

How to Get More Traffic to Your Blog with Corbett Barr - Smart Passive Income friend and confidant, Corbett Barr from ThinkTraffic.net, joins me in a unique, hi-def video interview where I ask him a number of questions about getting more traffic to your blog, especially if you’re just starting out or you’ve hit a plateau and need to get off of it.

Marketing

Game of Thrones: 6 Sales Lessons - What do you need to know before going into battle for a big deal? The HBO hit has a few lessons that might apply.

Putting the Social Back Into Social Media: 40 Ways to Build a Loyal Audience - Your content could be truly useful and valuable. But without one critical element, you could find yourself writing to the wind for years. What is that one element? And how do you use it to build an engaged and responsive audience?

58 Ways to Create Persuasive Content Your Audience Will Love - Would you like to become a better writer? Would you like to create content that people will remember, tweet, and plus? How about content that inspires your audience to click, subscribe or buy?

5 Ways Businesses are Using Facebook Timelines - Are you wondering how businesses are creatively using Facebook’s Timeline features?

Leadership Skills

The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs – The real lessons from Steve Jobs have to be drawn from looking at what he actually accomplished. Here are what I consider the keys to his success.

15 Business Lessons From Amazon’s Jeff Bezos - What does it take to create the world’s largest online retailer, amass a personal wealth of over $18 billion, and be chosen as Time’s Person of the Year? Better ask Jeff Bezos.

Learning to Flex Your Leadership Muscles – To be a great CEO, you’ll need to learn how to be a great leader, not just a great manager.  Here is a blueprint to make it happen.

The Lost Steve Jobs Tapes - A treasure trove of unearthed interviews, conducted by the writer who knew him best, reveals how Jobs’s ultimate success at Apple can be traced directly to his so-called wilderness years.

These are the links we think matter the most this week. What are yours?

This week in C-NOTES:

4 Ways to Use Twitter For Customer Service and Support
Why Your Marketing is Missing the Mark (And How You Can Fix It)
10 Lessons for Extraordinary Performance and Personal Excellence

If you want more useful resources and links than the eight we highlight in our weekly roundup, follow @corebizstyle on Twitter.

Blogging

A Systematic Approach to Writing Successful Blog Posts - You can work hard on building a blog without having defined your “success,” but if you do, how will you know if you’re progressing successfully? In this post I’m going to show you a system for creating successful blog posts, every time.

10 Lessons Seth Godin Can Teach You About Blogging – While many people view him as “America’s greatest marketer,” there is a lot to learn from him about blogging. Let’s explore 10 of those lessons.

Seven Link Building Mistakes You Ought to Avoid - If you were looking at your Google Analytics around the dates of March 21-23, then there is a good chance you saw some changes to your site. Some significant changes have been made through those updates that can affect your link-building strategy…so let’s explore those changes.

Marketing

Why Your Marketing is Missing the Mark (And How You Can Fix It) - We want to be happy. We want to have our lives improved, either through the addition of something positive or the subtraction of something that causes stress and hassle. ??Are you doing that in your business?

4 Ways to Use Twitter For Customer Service and Support - Do you have customers? Are they on Twitter? Are you using this amazing tool to support your customers?

5 Top Google+ Tools and Apps For Marketing Pros - Are you looking for Google+ apps and resources to enhance your marketing? This article reveals five categories of tools and apps you can employ to greatly enhance your Google+ experience.

Leadership Skills

10 Lessons for Extraordinary Performance and Personal Excellence - Learning from the best is one of the most effective ways to infuse successful strategies into your career. Here are 10 lessons that successful CEOs can teach you about getting results.

12 Ways to Attack Any Challenge - Stuck in a rut? Need to accomplish the impossible? Step right up. Here’s how to get started.

These are the links we think matter the most this week for extraordinary performance.  What are yours?

Learning from the best is one of the most effective ways to infuse successful strategies into your career. Here are 10 lessons that successful CEOs can teach you about getting results:

1. Put the customer first.  In PriceWaterHouseCoopers’ most recent Global CEO Survey, the accounting firm found that 85% of technology CEOs are confident in their ability to boost their firms’ revenues over the next 12 months.

   Despite the challenging economic conditions, these CEOs cite customer demand as the driving factor behind those increases. In fact, 84% of them say meeting customers is the activity on which they would most like to spend more time.

   Apple is an excellent example of a company that stays focused on its customers. They have created a working partnership with its customer base by letting them design applications through their App Store. Putting the customer first – determining what they want to buy – can significantly improve your company’s potential profitability in the short and long term.

2. Develop a consistent leadership style.  Steve Jobs regularly delivered on what he promised. And, if he didn’t think he could achieve it, it didn’t get announced or shared publicly. That was his leadership style – underpromising and over-delivering.

   Being consistent in his actions and words helped to strengthen his CEO brand and build his reputation with key stakeholders. Over the decades this commitment evolved into a consistent leadership style, which shaped Apple’s strategy, marketing, and product development. This alignment further solidified Apple’s brand image as well as his own CEO brand.

   Decide what you want to be known for as a leader and then determine how that reputation can be transferred to your business.

3. Open the door to your office.  You can’t get results as a CEO if you don’t have the support of the people around you – from the warehouse worker all the way up to the C-level executives. James Sinegal grew Costco into a discount powerhouse by maintaining an open door policy, inviting all employees to collaborate, share ideas, and offer up growth strategies.

   Keeping your office door open signals your personal openness to idea sharing and internal collaboration: something every employee values. The fact that you are willing to spend time talking with them makes them feel appreciated.

   You build a stronger company with a steady stream of new ideas.

4. Have vision.  Steve Jobs was a true visionary. He was also focused on results. He wanted to change the world and how people lived, and he achieved that goal with every product he introduced. His vision became the beacon of his CEO brand and where people turned when they wanted something new. Steve Jobs used his vision to be a game changer.

   What would you like your business to change about how people live or work? Being a breakthrough thinker is a valuable attribute for all CEOs who are striving to get results.

5. Focus on both short-term and long-term objectives.  Daily tasks are a must-have for all leaders, but it’s also important to develop – and share with your team – long-term objectives for your company.

   What are those short-term tasks building toward? Become preoccupied with the short-term consequences or tactics and you will lose sight of what the company’s future could become. If you’re going to build the company, you have to have a long-term view five, ten, or even 15 years out.

6. Empower leaders.  Don’t just take the company by the reigns and expect to be able to lead it to greatness on your own.

   Empower those around you to become excellent leaders, too, and you’ll wind up with a team that’s not only focused on results, but that also is capable of achieving them on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

   You want people in your company influencing others, from customers, to clients, to the community. The more leaders your company has, the greater your impact on the company.

7. Learn from your mistakes.  Costco’s Sinegal says his philosophy in running Costco was “not to make the same mistake five times.” Borrowing a page from his book, remember that mistakes are both relative and inevitable. Your business will never grow or become successful if you aren’t innovative about how to expand its reach or boost your bottom line.

   You’ve got to take risks, and with risks come investments or efforts that don’t work out. Use mistakes as learning tools instead of simply adding them to your “failure” pile.

   Convey that message to your team as well. They need to feel comfortable taking risks and proposing unconventional ideas knowing that they won’t be penalized if the results aren’t what they had hoped for.

8. Know your tolerance levels.  Know where you stand on issues and make sure those around you are aware of those tolerance levels. This will help your team ferret out the areas where they can innovate and excel while steering clear of those opportunities that will waste your time … and theirs.

   Communicate to your managers and staff on where you stand on certain issues that are particularly important to you – don’t just leave them guessing. If you’re committed to becoming a greener organization, be clear about how green. Setting expectations and limits will help your company move forward in a targeted way that has a better chance of success.

9. Hire smart.  It’s been said that you are only as good as the people around you and nowhere is this statement more true than in the business world – and in particular, at the highest ranks. As a leader you must recruit top talent.

   Have the self-confidence not to worry about whether they will pursue your job. To get those individuals to stick around, you have to cultivate your team to success, stoke innovation, invite collaboration, and reward individuals for their efforts.

10. Execute your plan.  Having a headful of great ideas isn’t enough. You have to select the best of the best ideas, create plans around them, and then execute on those plans.

    “All too often we confuse great strategy with a plan that isn’t well executed,” says Virtual Instrument’s Thompson. “I would take a well-executed plan any day over a well-developed strategy. Even if the strategy isn’t perfect, a well-executed strategy is better than a perfect strategy poorly executed. Leaders need to focus on the execution side.”

No matter what your current position is within your company, you can apply what top CEOs have learned to improve your performance.

How do you succeed within your organization?