There are a lot of ways to connect with customers now. Social media has become the closest thing an online marketer or business owner can get to a face-to-face interaction. So it’s important to take those connections seriously and make sure you’re catching all comments and answering all questions. But like we said first, there a lot of ways to connect and it’s easy for a tweet to get lost in the status updates, emails, gchats, instant messages and blog comments. But now there’s help.

Tracking Tweets

There are a few FREE applications you can sign up for that will help keep track of Twitter. Each has it’s own spin on it, but the main service is monitoring Twitter for when your @username is mentioned, and then sends you an email with the tweet. This way you can keep track of questions, comments or complaints without having to watch Twitter 24 hours a day yourself.

Try Twitstra

Twitstra is a Twitter app by jaapvee, so the sign-up is through Twitter. All you need is an email address for the notifications to be sent to. Since you have to be signed into Twitter to get the app, it automatically knows what your @username is.

Pull more with Pu.ly

This app offers a bit more. Besides the @username mentions, any @reply or direct messages are monitored and emailed to you. You can reply via your email to the messages, and Pu.ly will transfer the first 140 characters to a tweet for you. It’s a little like being signed into Twitter, without being signed into Twitter.

Catching Keywords

Twilert and TweetAlarm expand the @username service to include keyword monitoring. With TweetAlarm, after signing up, you select the keywords you want watched, then whenever a word is used, you receive an email with the tweet, and a thumbnail image of the tweeter. You can also set a list of users to ignore, so your inbox doesn’t get packed with notes from people you don’t care about.
Twilert offers the same but with timing options, so every day at 2pm EST you’ll receive an email updating you about the keyword use. You can also choose to receive the updates every 15 minutes. Twilert sends you a list of the twitters that have tweeted the keyword or mentioned your @username, and a links to view the full tweet or reply to it.

Being better connected is great, but it can also feel like a full-time job. These four apps can help you stay social while staying on schedule.