By Alyssa Udall (@udallyss)

Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites have become a major tool for bloggers around the world.  These sites help bloggers increase awareness, loyalty and traffic to their blogs.  How do they do this?  By posting tweets that describe a certain blog post and include a shortened link in the update.  Here is an example of a tweet that was in my home stream this morning:

This type of update is called a teaser.  It entices your followers to click on your link to read more about whatever it is you’re talking about.  Your teasers should be carefully crafted in order to create the most effective tweets.

Here are some qualities of succesful twitter teasers:

They ask a question (i.e. “What’s the deal with Twitter Lists anyway?”)

They use strong words that catch the eye (i.e. vampire, CNN, H1N1, bacon… use your imagination!)

They talk directly to individuals (i.e. “Do you have a custom logo to brand your business?”

They’re weird, original, personal and quirky (i.e. anything that @s***mydadsays tweets about–[insert profanity warning here])

Once you start crafting some teasers and trying them out, you should keep track of which links receive the most clicks.  This will tell you how you’re doing and what type of teasers are most enticing to your followers. You can do this by using a third-party Twitter application like CoTweet or HootSuite, which use URL shorteners like bit.ly and ow.ly.

As a final tip, make sure you leave some space leftover in your teasers (including the link) so that your followers can retweet you.  When someone retweets you, your entire username (plus @ and “RT”) will need to fit in the tweet, so make sure your teasers are short enough to allow this!

By Alyssa Udall (@udallyss)

Having to manage multiple Twitter accounts, business and personal, I’ve come across my fair share of Twitter applications that allow you to Tweet from somewhere else besides the twitter homepage.  These third-party apps are extremely useful for frequent Tweeters because they come with tons of cool functions that Twitter doesn’t have yet,  such as the option to schedule Tweets ahead of time, view all your Direct Messages, @ Replies and Updates at the same time and the ability to Re-Tweet with just one click.  However, as is always the case with new technological innovations, the industry is constantly bombarded with “new and improved” applications and technologies, so keep checking social media news sites like Mashable to see what’s new!

Here are the best Twitter applications I’ve found:

1.  TweetDeck

TweetDeck is a desktop application that is great for beginning Twitter users.  A few of the nifty features of Tweetdeck include the live search feeds, the ability to customize your API usage and frequency, built-in URL shortening devices and a customizable layout and theme.  You can also use this platform to update your Facebook status and view your home streams.  I used TweetDeck for quite some time, until I discovered the ability of some applications to schedule future Tweets… which TweetDeck does not do.

2.  HootSuite

HootSuite is a web-based application that has recently revamped their system to include some awesome new features.  HootSuite allows you to tweet from multiple accounts, schedule tweets and view “click” statistics from the links you post with their built-in ow.ly URL shortener.  With the customizable layout, you can arrange your HootSuite account to display updates, messages, mentions and other categories from multiple accounts in organizational “tabs.”  This ability has greatly increased HootSuite’s utility and is great for both professional and personal usage.

3.  CoTweet

CoTweet is designed for professional business use and is used by such brands as Ford, Starbucks, Jet Blue and even Twitter itself!  CoTweet allows you to configure multiple Twitter accounts, schedule tweets, organize users and even add “notes” and assign “tasks” to administrators.  With a built-in bit.ly URL shortener, you can track the statistics of your links.  One of the most nifty functions of CoTweet is the ability to select to view your updates, messages, etc from all Twitter accounts or one specified account.

If you’ve just started using Twitter for both personal and business needs, these Twitter clients are a great way to become more organized and efficient.  Because we all have our own personal preferences, you should try out each program to see how it works for you.  Don’t be frightened by the advanced tools on some of these clients!  You can hold off on those until you become more acclimated with the way Twitter works.

In the mean time, follow our updates on Twitter: @submitsolution.  Happy Tweeting!