Since it’s official launch in 2006, Twitter has attracted over 200 million active users and is one of the most popular social networks on the Internet. Chances are you’re one of those users and you probably think you’ve got Twitter all figured out.

However, there are many more tools you can take advantage of to help you tailor your trends and attract more and more followers as you go. Just follow these 7 simple tips and hints.

1. Utilize the Activity Feed. It should be common knowledge that you should follow and be aware of the actions your competitors and other relevant companies are taking. Twitter’s Activity Feed allows you to do more than just follow their tweets. Under Discover > Activity you can see what your followers favorite and who they are choosing to follow. Besides that, it’s a superb way of finding new content and other users to follow, who hopefully you can convert into customers!

2. Subscribe to Lists. There are so many people on Twitter today (the 200 million we previously mentioned has probably accummulated another million since you've started reading), that your Twitter feed can become messy and crowded. Following customers, suppliers, peers, competitors, and relevant businesses means you’re seeing too many tweets per minute and the important messages may be getting lost in the clutter. Lists allow you to organize who you follow so that you can be exposed to the messages you want to see when you want to see them. Create lists for customers, industry influencers, and professional organizations.

3. Find more content with Advanced Search. Exhausted all your trending topics? Have “Twitter-block”? Advanced Search can help you find extremely specific, new and exciting content. Search for exact phrases, tweets by location, from specific people or tweets sent since a certain date. The “exact phrase” search bar can allow you to find precisouly what information you’re looking for, and maybe a follower or two in the process.

4. Download the Pocket app. Pocket is a web extension application that allows you to “pocket,” or save, tweets you want to read later directly from Twitter itself. Better yet, you can read your Pocketed tweets offline, without any wi-fi or 3G connection. So when you see that tweet that piques your interest right before an important business meeting or before you hop into bed, simply Pocket it and save it for the morning.

5. Tailor your trends. You’ve seen the “trending” bar on the side of your Twitter feed, but do you know exactly where those trends are coming from? Twitter gives you two options: tailored trends or trends of your choice. Utilize both. Tailored trends are automatically generated by Twitter based on who you follow and where you are located. This is important to look at because Twitter is basically handing you free content. However, it is also beneficial to keep an eye on what is trending globally, nationally and locally as well. This enables you to get a general feel of what is happening around the world, as well as provide you with an opportunity to be creative. For example, if “National Pancake Day” is trending nation-wide, then it might be a fun thing to tweet out to your followers!

6. Tailor your trends even further! If you tweet from the computer that you do any industry research on, it is a good idea to personalize your trends based on your website visits and search engine results. Under Account > Personalization, enable the option so that Twitter will do just this. For instance, if you have spent all day on ESPN, NBC Sports and MLB.com, Twitter will send you follower recommendations of sports teams, famous athletes and other users who visit the same sites. The fact that Twitter finds similar users for you is just too easy not to take advantage of!

7. Download your Twitter Archive. Launched in December 2012, the Archive allows you to download all of the tweets you have sent, starting from your very first tweet! Some of us may not want to see what we tweeted 4 years ago, now that we’re all Twitter pros, but it is an extremely valuable tool. On the right side of the Archive you can see graphs of all your activity and how your social media presence has grown since its conception. It also is a good way to go back in time and grab onto some old content that you can present in a new and fresh way!

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