6 Tips What To Use Twitter For

 

1. Modeling your profile
With profile I do not mean the profile you setup in XING or LinkedIn, where you add professional experience and your skills. I mean the information somebody gets, when searching for your name on Google. The goal is to ensure that in that case on the first few pages the topics on which you have expertise and authority show up. When searching in twitter or in google for these topics your name should be listed. In order to achieve this goal twitter is very useful since tweets have a high priority on google. Decide which topics you want to promote. Write tweets about these topics. Post links to blogs, reports etc. about it. Define #tags or use already existing ones (eg. #leadership). Make sure to use always the same #tags and always to add it to your tweets.

2. Promote your blog
Twitter is an excellent tool to promote your blogs. Its one of the best way to promote your skills and topics on which you have expertise. With blogs about interesting topics you generate real value for other users. Therefore tweets linking to your blog will be retweeted more. More people will follow you and more and more people will read your blogs and your other tweets. Linking to your blogs is also a great way to learn more about your followers. In Wordpress and Blogspot you have a statistic functionality. You can see when and where from people read your blog. You can find out, which topics they like better than others. When having written a new post, tweet the link several times. In the first week a few times per week and then for some time once a week.

3. Make new contacts
Look at your followers profile. If you like the description and you find their tweets interesting write them a tweet. Get in contact. Add them to one of your lists and follow their tweets on a regular base. If you get to know each other that way and you feel both could benefit, the next step is to connect on XING and LinkedIn.

4. Research on specific topics
Looking for topics on Twitter is usually more efficient than searching on Google. The best way to find decent information is to use #tags. After a time you will find #tags which are used by many twitter users, when writing about a certain topic eg. #pmot (abbreviation for project management on twitter). In comparison to google you have the possibility to make a comment on the tweet or ask questions. Usually the originator will come back to you

5. Poles
Twitter is a great place to make polls. Of course the more followers you have, the more sense these polls make. There are several sites which allow you to setup a poll. You then just have to link to this poll on twitter.

6. Ask questions
If you are looking for an information and do not find it, write a tweet asking for it. If you wanna know how people feel about something ask your twitter followers. If you have a question you can not answer, give it a try an put it on twitter.

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What You Can Do with Social Media And What You Can't

...or what you should do with Social Media and what you shouldn't

Getting in touch with Social Media beginning 2006 (XING) I thought its only another way to store contact information. I assure you, it's far more.

Let me share a story, which shows an example where using Social Media is not adding value. 
I used to work at an IT consulting company with 200-300 employees. We had a coffee area which I thought was a great place for networking and get to know new colleagues. There was a guy who I met regularly there. Even saying hi, seemed to be a terrible hassle for him. It seemed he wouldn't have greeted me If he could have avoided it. You can imagine my surprise, when I received a contact request on XING from this guy “Dear Marc, I would like to stay in contact with you like this??? For crying out loud, you should have talked to me in the cafeteria in the first place!!!!

What happened after this? I added him because I did not want to be rude. After leaving this company I have never heard from him . No personal contact, no message in XING. So I don't know what he does now, and I don't care too much either. Based on our Xing interaction I'd rather would not offer him a job or recommend him, nor would I ask him for a job etc.

The conclusion: Social media is (only) an instrument to leverage your networking activity

If your networking activity (meeting people, talking to people in the real world etc.) is ZERO, then all the effort you are putting into your Social Media activities will only generate little benefit. You hardly ever will establish a sustainable relation only by filling in a profile and adding contacts. 

Some Do's

• Ask yourself, what skills and knowledge you have to bring others a benefit. (What)
• Define which people would appreciate these skills and knowledge (Who)
• Be clear how to ensure your assets are transparent and credible eg. writing, holding speeches, diploma, certification (How)
• Where will you present these assets, eg. speeches, writing in newspapers, blogging/social media (Where)
• Define which Social Medias you want to use in which way in order to serve you best. (Which)

...and some Don't s

• If you add some contacts you do not know yet (..and yes you should do that) add a good reason to your message why you want to add him. Why should somebody, who doesn't know you, want to be connected, when he just gets a generic system message?
• Do not make it your first priority adding all your colleagues, who work for the same company. You have much better ways to interact with them while your working there, above all when it is not a company with thousands of employees. Of course it is important to add them if you should leave.

If you find this post valuable please +K my influence in Social Web on @klout