Even though it is not the behemoth that Facebook is, Twitter is still one of the best tools for marketers who want to engage with their current customers or who want to use the platform to reach new ones. The one problem marketers may have is that as Twitter grows, it gets harder to find opportunities, as they get mixed up in the increasing number of tweets sent out each day. Luckily for marketers and businesses, Twitter has an advanced search function that helps you find what you are looking for. Twitter’s advanced functionality is a powerful tool, and in this article, we are going to look at how you can take full advantage of it for your marketing success.
Twitter Advanced Search
Twitter has two types of search; one of them being the advanced search function. Twitter’s advanced search uses parameters that you specify and that let you narrow down what you are looking for. The advanced search page can be overwhelming if you do not know how to use it. The first thing to do is to access the page. You can do this by clicking the search icon on the left of the main pace and then clicking on advanced search on your right.
The page can also be accessed by going to twitter.com/search-advance directly.
All of These Words
This field lets you find tweets that contain all the words you enter. These words do not have to be the order you search them in, and this is also the default search behavior when using the normal search tool. When you want to search words that appear in order, such as high school backpacks, you need to surround the word in quotes, or else you will find tweets that contain those words but not necessarily in that order.
This parameter is useful when you have a broad idea of what you want to search but do not want to drill too far down. It can also be used to find what people are talking about regarding a particular topic so you can start your analysis there. Lastly, it is useful for when you don’t know what you are looking for and you need to search as broadly as possible.
This Exact Phrase
This parameter works similar to surrounding the words in the last parameter in quotes. This parameter adds the quotes for you, so you do not have to add them. It is great when you know what you want to search for or need to search for a quote or a full name.
The main advantage of using this parameter is that it removes most of the fluff and you end up with tweets that only contain what you are looking for and not parts of it or single words in your search.
Any of These Words
This parameter can be confusing because it separates all the words you enter with OR. This means that it will find tweets that contain any of the words entered. It is useful when you want to search for tweets that contain any of the specific terms you enter. For example, if you want to know whether a marketing campaign is working you can enter all the phrases and words you use in the marketing campaign to see if people are mentioning them and who is mentioning which phrases.
When using this parameter, you do not need to surround your words in quotes. When you do, Twitter will break the phrases up and search all words inside and outside the quotes as separate words.
None of These Words
This one is often forgotten but is very powerful when you want to narrow down your results. It is most useful when combined with other parameters to exclude the exact results you do not want.
Language and Location
Targeting is very important in marketing and searching by language and location can help you target the right customers as well as know how other brands and competitors are targeting the same people. Both of these types of searches are particularly important for small businesses that want to target leads in their local areas and who speak the language they are marketing in.
Filtering by language is straightforward as you can just pick the language from a list. As for the location, you can use the “Near” additional filter to find tweets close to your geographical location or use “within” to pick the distance within which to find tweets. The “within” additional filter just adds a radius around you and then finds tweets within that radius.
Searching By Sentiment
Sometimes it is not enough to know what people are searching for, but it is equally important to know why. Searching by sentiment often involves searching for happy or sad faces and punctuations within the words you would like to search for.
A search that combines words and question marks, for example, can yield tweets asking for more information about a product. Such a search can be a great way to find out what people need and what they are missing with a product or service. If you have the solution, then you can target these people as you already know the need is already there.
Searching by sentiment can also be a great way to mine for ideas for digital and content marketing strategies as you can create content around the answers people are looking for.
Search for Usernames
One of the best ways to track and discover leads on Twitter is to search their usernames. All you need to do is add either “to:” or “from:” before their username and you will discover tweets sent to the person or tweets set by them.
Combined with a keyword, this type of search is great for finding people who are interested in a certain topic and engaging with them.
Twitter advanced search is very powerful if you know how to use the different parameters as well as what to search for. You can also combine different parameters and words to drill down and find the exact tweets you need or the right types of leads who would respond best to your marketing.