TweetBrand is a free mini application launched just over one week ago that allows you to brand your tweets with a company name, your name, tagline, or message of your choosing and link that branding right to a specific web site or landing page.
This majour breakthrough allows you to take back the valuable impression space on each tweet from Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, Ping.fm, Twitterfeed, and other companies promoting themselves on your tweet.
Listing your website on the tweet saves your followers, or potential followers a step or two in getting to your website, thereby increasing traffic.
TweetBrand is the tip of the larger iceberg, a product (to be named soon), which will launch the third week of January 2010. Both applications are part of the company MarketMeTweet.According to Tammy Kahn Fennell, Co-Director of MarketMeTweet, “our product, will be the ultimate Twitter marketing application.” she says.
The product, will combine some of the very powerful features of Socialoomph (like scheduling multiple tweets, automatic link shortening, and basic management to organize friends and followers) with TweetBrand’s ability to brand tweets from multiple users and multiple brands.
The titanic revelation here though, is the product's ability to follow key words or key phrases in real time with the application on your desktop, and auto-reply once with a specific phrase. It will also track how those keywords are performing measured by which tweets are turning into followers, potential customers, or buyers.
Yes, it’s an automatic conversation starter for Twitter. A robot engages people with an @reply and then you take over the conversation as a live person.
It’s powerful call centre-like technology for Twitter users like those automated telephone systems that phone you. When you pick up and say “hello” there is a pause and then someone comes on the line with you, surveys you or tries to sell you something.
Say you sell sneakers. You may do a phrase search for "Nike 701". Bob in Nebraska tweets, "Deciding if I should buy the Nike 701.” You will use the product to reach out to him and say something like, "Saw u tweeted about Nike shoes, do u use them for running?" or "I own Nike 701 and love them."
Tammy says, “our product will cut through the clutter and allow conversations to happen. You will be able to add “negative” keywords to filter out subjects you’re not interested in.”
Let’s say you are in the antiques and collectables business. You would set up “German figurine” as your key phrase to follow. Then, you would write and automate a specific reply to that keyword tweet. “I saw you tweeted about German figurines, which type do you collect?” If there is a response, you now have a conversation to get personally involved in.
Tammy Kahn Fennell knows it works. From Long Island, New York, she is also the owner of Vintage Rare Stuff, a business she operates with her father. The technology has allowed her niche business to get out in front on Twitter. No stranger to E-Bay, Tammy says, “I’ve been doing the collectables business for five years. One year ago, I started to understand the power of social networking, Twitter and blogging. Collectibles Corner T.V., a web T.V. show, was my first step away from dealing with physical antiques and collectables and doing more internet stuff.”
While helping some people manage their sites, she met Alan Hamlyn, her business partner who is based out of England. His company is a website design and development agency Wuup Media.
Tammy says, “I said to Alan that I love Twitter and I’m getting lots of interviews to my shows. He said that if I could think it, he could create it.” So they developed the product and tried it for his business. “All of a sudden he went from 10 followers to 1000 followers. So we said, let’s form a company. Now, I handle all the marketing and he does all the development.”
Alan is twenty-one years old. Tammy says of Alan, “He is so incredible, a boy genius. He is wise beyond his years.” Alan and Tammy have created the application face to face on webcam using Skype. She’ll be seeing Alan for the first time in the flesh in April 2010. “I feel like I know him and his whole staff. We’ve toured each other’s offices on Skype.” Tammy says.
Along with her father, Tammy also works with her husband in the antiques and collectables business. Her husband is from England and the two of them recently had a baby boy. Tammy says, “My husband and I are firm believers that people should make it in this world. It’s a cool world if you use ethical Twitter marketing. You can use this tool to make connections. Oh, and we’ve banned words like "it" or "the" to keep spammers out. I hate people who spam on Twitter, it drives me nuts.”
Pricing for the product will start at $14.99 and up per month for a personal account. Professional unlimited accounts will be available too. Tammy says, “Updates will be included free. We will have a feedback section directly from the application. We want the community of users to tell us what they want and we’ll build it. We don’t think those other brands like Tweetdeck, will allow you to brand your tweets anytime soon, so get on board and support us. Within the first two months, we may add statistical link tracking.”
MarketmeTweet.com has an Affiliate program with a 40% payout. In one week, they have seen more than one thousand downloads of their TweetBrand free product and Tammy is scheduled for various internet blog site interviews.
The Market Me Tweet blog will keep you updated on new feature launches and Beta tests. Follow them @marketmetweets on Twitter.
Do you think branding and automatic reply technology on Twitter is a good thing? Or do you oppose it? I would love to hear your point of view. Please post your comment. There is a link in the footer of this blog.
Thanks for reading!
Courtenay Pitcher, Twitter Conversation Starter

