ResumeBear Blog |
Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:12 AM PDT  If I knew then what I know now, this is what I would have done differently along the way. Here’s my advice for all of the Twitter Newbies out there: 1. Take a peek at the ever-helpful Twitter Glossary. What’s a DM? An RT? A hashtag? What are all of those pound signs in front of words? Why is everyone talking about #FF and what is it anyway? What’s a Twitter handle? The glossary clearly defines the basics of the Twitter vernacular and will help make the Twitter learning curve much less daunting. 2. Complete your entire profile – bio, avatar, location, etc. No one wants to follow someone with an egg as their profile pic and no info in their bio. Why should they follow you if you don’t even clue them in to what it is that you plan to tweet about? It also makes you look like a spammer or Twitter bot. Complete your entire bio (it’s not perfect, but here’s mine) and tweak it as you develop your Twitter voice. Tell people what you’re all about and give them a reason to follow you. (Remember, if you have no followers, then you’re talking to yourself in an empty room… there’s no one there to hear you!) Completing your bio tells folks that you’re ready to roll. 3. Tweet consistently. Now that you’ve completed your profile, folks will just follow you in droves, right? Not so fast… You may gain followers, but if you don’t tweet fairly consistently, you will most certainly lose them. You should tweet at least a few times every week, preferably a few times a day. You can do this in under 5 minutes a day to start. Find stuff to share – a cool online article that you read over your morning coffee, retweet an interesting post that someone else shared (giving them credit, of course), answer someone’s question, ask a question yourself, etc. A complete bio with zero tweets (or no tweets in the last few weeks) is just as ineffective as having an egg for your profile pic. 4. Subscribe to some cool blogs, feeds, etc. that are relevant and interesting to you. Mashable, TechCrunch, The LinkedIn Blog (duh!), CareerBuilder’s The Work Buzz, etc. are some of my faves because I tweet about technology, social networking, recruiting, careers, etc. Find the ones that speak to you and reflect who you are in the Twitter world and share some of the posts / articles that you find most interesting. It will give you a fantastic springboard for developing some consistency in the content and frequency of your tweets. (Here’s a GREAT article on finding great stuff to share on Twitter. Tells you what some of the Twitter superstars recommend and where they find their content to share.) 5. Create more original content and don’t just retweet all the time. In the beginning, I just retweeted other people’s stuff that I found interesting. This is still a pretty good strategy for beginners who are getting the swing of things, but creating a little original content and sharing your own ideas once in a while is the best way to create your own voice and develop a targeted and loyal following. Share your thoughts. Give pointers. Talk about something that inspires you, gets your blood boiling, confuses you, etc. Whatever it is! Just be original once in a while. (Most people do it the other way around, but I ended up creating this blog after joining Twitter, just to inspire me to create my own content a little more. It’s turned out to be a really fun experience!) 6. Read the article / blog post (the whole thing) BEFORE retweeting the link. Okay, we’ve all done this… admit it! The title looks interesting and relevant so you go ahead and retweet it, fully intending to go in and read the article at some point (you swear!). Unfortunately, the content isn’t exactly what you thought it would be and you end up sharing something that does NOT reflect your thoughts or who you are. Oops! I did this in the beginning and got called out for it. Another time, I read most of the article and had to run off to a meeting, so just tweeted it out before finishing. The last paragraph contained some pretty controversial thoughts and, had I read it through, I probably wouldn’t have retweeted it. Or, at the very least, would have put a disclaimer comment in there or something. Oops! Another example of learning things the hard way… haha. 7. You don’t have to follow everyone back. I used to think I was being rude unless I followed back every single person. Not only did this create a lot of extra stuff to wade through in my Twitter feed (spam, posts in foreign languages, deals on car washes in Skokie, Illinois – haha), but it also made it a lot harder to build relationships and engage with folks who had similar interests as me. I often think of it this way… would this person ever have a reason to retweet my content (or vice versa)? If not, then we probably don’t have enough in common. Just my two cents… 8. Engage, engage, engage. Don’t just tweet and retweet. Respond to folks, start up a conversation, thank them for retweeting you, share your opinion on stuff that they post (respectfully, of course), get the dialogue going! Social media should be just that – social. When you engage with folks and begin conversations, you will make Twitter friends and enjoy the experience so much more. (Maybe I should make this one #1 on the list. It is probably THE most important one, in my opinion…) 9. Make lists to organize your friends and followers. It’s a great way to recognize folks (everyone loves to be listed) and it shows that you understand them and appreciate the content of their posts. I have lists of techies, social media aficionados, recruiters/career advice folks, San Diego tweeps, etc. Those folks will often “list you back” and you’ll get more followers who have similar interests as you. Again, this drives meaningful conversations (in 140 characters or less, of course!) and creates a much more interactive and fun Twitter experience. There are sites like Listorious and Formulists to make this process much simpler and even automated, if that’s your preference. 10. Don’t be a one-note / spammer / advertiser / job blaster. When I was brand new, I just used Twitter to share open jobs at my company via my LinkedIn status update (checking the little blue bird Twitter icon). I was a job blaster only and I had very few followers. Who can blame them? Who wants to just read about open jobs? Boring. Shake it up a bit! If you are a recruiter, there’s a lot more that you can talk about – the job market, the economy, the latest and greatest at your company, interview/resume/networking/jobsearch tips, career advice, etc. You should also feel free to sprinkle in other things that show who you are as a person – your hobbies, your interests, your passions, etc. You’ll expand your Twitter audience and meet lots of cool people who share these interests with you! 11. Say thank you. A lot. Twitter is a pretty upbeat, positive place. People are quick to show their appreciation and gratitude toward others, unlike anything I’ve seen in other forums, social or otherwise (even real life)! There’s a lot of gratitude being expressed and if you show your appreciation for others, you will quickly feel it back and see what I’m talking about… Thank others for retweeting you, listing you, adding you to their #FollowFriday tweets, etc. They will love you for it and you’ll find the Twitter experience that much more fulfilling. Trust me on this. Stacy Donovan Zapar San Diego, CA, United States Most Connected Woman on LinkedIn ~ Blogging about Social Media, Networking, Technology, Recruiting, Job Search Tips and Life in Sunny SoCal. Pay it forward!  |
Posted: 02 Jun 2011 07:06 AM PDT  Of course, "Stars: They're Just Like Us!" has a certain celebrity appeal. Who wouldn't want to be Natalie Portman or Oprah? We'd all love glamorous careers and enough money to buy four houses and a small country. But the alternative to movie stardom isn't necessarily a 9-to-5 office cubicle job. Behind every job are 50 more opportunities. Now-dinosaurs like Myspace and LiveJournal served as the initial building blocks for Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Biz Stone of Twitter. No Joe Schmo delves into the heart of local communities and finds out the essentials about their careers. Although the job market is brighter than it's been in years, it's important to keep your mind open to outside-the-box opportunities. We admit, some jobs we highlight — like dog food tasters — aren't extraordinarily appealing. But those dog food tasters might offer some of the most valuable career advice. They're not necessarily featured in the Forbes 500s, and you probably wouldn't recognize them on TV. But their stories and career paths are just as worthwhile. This entry was posted by http://nojoeschmo.wordpress.com About nojoeschmoMegan Hess recently graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in magazine journalism, international relations, and Chinese studies. She enjoys NYT crossword puzzles, creative Halloween costumes, and the occasional latte. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Resumebear Online Resume To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
