Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Wonderful World of Twitter



I love Twitter.  It is the best free marketing that we have in our digital world for clients currently.  As a communication student this means Twitter is just one of the mediums that we need to constantly learn and adapt with.  I love exploring how social media can enhance representing a client.  I’ve made a list of six tips I try to incorporate into my Twitter account. 

Blair’s Top 6 Tips On Twitter:

1. Try to stay up to date with current events and tweet them as they are happening.
            Last summer there was an earthquake in Columbus.  I felt it but I didn’t know what it was.  I logged in to Twitter and saw a few posts reporting it was an earthquake. I tweeted one myself. The earthquake was reported on Twitter faster then the local news stations.

2. Don’t just follow the companies and brands that you like, interact with them. 
            For example if I get frozen yogurt at Yagoot, I’ll send them a quick tweet to know how awesome it tasted. It’s a great way to introduce your followers to new things and it is also a way to personalize your Twitter.

3. Photos and links are your best friend.
            Words are great but we all know the saying, “a picture is worth 1,000 words.”  On a medium where your words are limited (who can say everything they want to in 140 characters or less anyway) a photo can fill in for the words you don’t have room to say.  This is the same with a link.  You can put a shortened link in your tweet that might take your followers to the facts and your tweet can just be an opinion about the news.  Pictures and links are the best way to personalize your tweets.       

4. Follow your friends but keep it professional.
            I’ve let those people who choose to interact with me on Twitter know that the professionalism of my account is important to me. I think it’s important to show that you have a human side and talk to your friends but there’s no reason to talk in a way that you wouldn’t be proud of.  Before I tweet anything I think whether I would be happy if it got retweeted.  If I would be embarrassed, I don’t post it. 

5. You can connect your Twitter with your LinkedIn but still control the posts that get posted.
            This was important for me because I did not want every single tweet that I submit to go to my professional LinkedIn account.  I keep my Twitter professional but my LinkedIn is even more professional.  I was taught at a Public Relations Society of America meeting how to set up my LinkedIn and Twitter so that only posts with #in will go from Twitter to LinkedIn.  I usually do this with relevant articles that I find on PR or other professional news.  This has been one of the best discoveries.  Not only is my LinkedIn staying current and active so that it appears in searches but it also stays clean.  I don’t post as frequently to my LinkedIn.  I was taught that once a week is good, but usually I only post when I find a quality article.    

6. Put screen shots of your tweets in you portfolio. 
I think that people forget that these are samples of your writing too.  In this social media savvy world they might even be more important samples of your writing.  Saying that you know how to use social media in an interview is different than being able to show examples of your sample tweets.  I try to keep some that have been retweeted and replied to.  At a recent interview I took a screenshot of the tweets that I had replied to for that company.  I showed them the conversation and explained how I was already following their projects.

The bottom line that I try to remember with my Twitter is to be myself.  I try to personalize my tweets as much as I possibly can.  I want my twitter to be a way for my followers or maybe a future employer to start to get to know me.  I try to be creative while maintain a professional account.    

Anyone else have some cool Twitter tips? Share them here.  Or follow me @BlairBlu.



No comments:

Post a Comment