Our Workshops team has put together an awesome Social Media Workshop this next Monday in Santa Clara. This workshop is not a repeat of last years content but focused towards people at all stages of social media proficiency to help them learn to utilize, socialize, and monetize their business online. Come join us for this great presentation.

https://www.kintera.org/AutoGen/Register/Register.asp?ievent=422806&en=eqIDITNFIbKKL0OuH6IILQMCKkJLJTOCIeLLJ5NHLdKNKVPzFiKRK3PALhJ3F

Tags: facebook, linked in, social media, twitter, workshop

As I was preparing to write my first blog post for Women in Consulting there were a number of possible topics vying for attention. However, the one that seemed most pertinent as a starting place was this.

Being passionately interested in social media I read and talk about it a lot and it struck me what a confusing topic it is for most people! There are so many different social media tools that it’s mind boggling, and unless you’re right on top of the subject it could be very disheartening to figure out where to get started.

Most people assume they need to be blogging, using Twitter, Linked In and Facebook but there are many new tools such as FourSquare www.foursquare.com that are gaining traction and finding a place in both B2C and B2B marketing campaigns. What to do, especially if you have resource constraints?

It’s tempting to panic and think you need to implement each of the more popular techniques such as Facebook simply because everyone else seems to be jumping on the bandwagon but I recommend a more studied approach. Social media may be very trendy but we shouldn’t forget that traditional marketing techniques still play an important role.

That’s why, before taking the social media plunge, we should get back to basics and remind ourselves who our audience is. Do they embrace social media and if so, where do they “live” online? Finding this out will entail googling some keywords and topics that would be of interest to your targets to find out where they congregate.

Once you get a handle on what communication method they favor you can select the most effective way to reach them. You may find that they prefer forums, which was the case with a colleague’s client, in which case your best efforts with Twitter and the like would be wasted. Being absolutely sure about where your audience communicates allows you to leverage the 80/20 rule and spend your precious time on one or two activities that will ensure maximum return on your investment.

What do you think?

Tags: facebook, linkedin, social media, traditional marketing, twitter

Do you remember the pit in your stomach that would form when you faced test questions in school that you couldn’t answer? Maybe you felt anxiety as you glanced at peers who were busily writing or turning the pages of the test while you stared at your page, feeling helpless.

Perhaps you wrote answers that were part fact, part educated guess, in the hopes of getting partial credit.

Or maybe you whizzed through, only realizing near the end that half your answers were wrong because you had repeated the same incorrect assumption.

Figuring out how to use social media to promote your brand and expertise to generate bottom line business results shouldn’t be a best guess or leave you feeling lost or anxious. Neither is it wise to breeze along assuming that what you’re doing is right. Least of all, you shouldn’t avoid it because it’s too daunting or assume that social media doesn’t really matter to your business.

The truth is, social media is here to stay. The strategies, techniques and tools will undoubtedly evolve over time, but the bottom line is that you need to be in the game and need to know how to play it well before you fall critically behind.

The May 17 workshop, “Generating Business Via Social Media,” is designed to give you a comprehensive and in depth understanding of how to develop an integrated marketing strategy that incorporates social media and how to use the three big social networking sites—Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook—properly and optimally.

At the end of this intense six-hour workshop, you will have the knowledge to develop and execute a sensible social media strategy for your business. If you already have one, this workshop will help you calibrate your efforts. Six hours of time for that kind of payoff. I think it’s well worth the investment.

This will be a hands-on and interactive session. I highly recommend that you establish an account on each of these sites if you haven’t already done so, bring your laptop and be prepared with questions you want to ask our expert presenters. The speakers will provide several demos and are prepared to dynamically adjust their presentations to address your knowledge level, questions and issues.

Topics to be covered include:

• Characteristics and challenges of social media channels

• How to develop an integrated marketing approach and utilize social media for your business

• Developing a targeted approach for finding the right people to follow on Twitter and generating the right followers

• Strategies for what to tweet and when

• Best tools for organizing Twitter activity and measuring success in meeting your business goals

• What it takes to have a complete LinkedIn profile

• How to strategically build out your network, successfully connect with people and establish trust

• The best LinkedIn tools and how to use them

• How to build a company profile

• How to build your online group—groups and answers

• What Facebook can and can’t do for your business

• Differences among Facebook personal profiles, groups and fan pages, and which makes most sense for your business.

• Best practices for fan pages

• Understanding the Facebook newsfeed algorithm and why it’s so critical

• How to integrate and leverage social media channels

Please don’t miss this opportunity to prepare your business to pass the social media test.

Sign up now. Register at the Kintera web site by May 1 to receive the early-bird discount.

Tags: facebook, integrated marketing strategy, linkedin, social media

Whether you have an established Facebook business page or are planning to launch one soon, here are five tips to make your page more effective.

1. Provide content helpful to your audience

This sounds obvious, but I see many business pages that spew company messages that are not at all helpful to their fans. Don’t be one of those companies. Think about your audience.  Are they coming to you as a resource? Do they want special offers/discounts? Put yourself in their shoes. Or better yet, ask a few fans/potential fans. Links to other’s relevant information are ok, but try to provide as much original content (blog posts, tips, videos, etc.) as possible.

2. Post regularly, but not too often

There is a fine line between posting enough to satisfy fans and achieve viral benefits, and posting too much and annoying fans. You want to post enough that users see your content regularly and come to view your page as a helpful resource. And, you want to give them plenty of opportunities to see your content and comment, thus sharing with their friends. If you post too often, or with irrelevant content, users may decide to stop being a fan of your page. For a very small business/consultancy, I think 1-2 posts/day is a good rule of thumb.

3. Use images whenever possible

In very informal tests, I have found that posts with images elicit more interaction than posts without images. Use your own images, or grab images online.  Subscribe to sites including Shutterstock and iStockPhoto that offer free or low cost stock photos or search Google Images for images with Creative Common licenses (be sure to note that there are several licenses, and in some cases images can only be used in some circumstances, or require giving credit to the author). Try to use relevant and enticing images whenever possible. 

4. Manually post blog feeds

A blog can be your best source of original content. There are several ways to automate blog posts to your Facebook wall, which is certainly handy, but I think it is better to post manually at this point. The reason is that in my opinion you want to post an accompanying image (see tip 3), include a short summary/teaser (tip 5), post at opportune times (sometimes blog articles are posted late at night, but it might be better to hit the Facebook page during the day), and attain SEO benefits. None of the current solutions I have researched (Facebook Notes application, Networked Blogs, or Social RSS), can do everything mentioned. Every case is different. It may make sense for you to automate, but in general I recommend manually posting blog feeds at this point. 

5. Encourage fans to interact

Some audiences are very comfortable on Facebook, and to these audiences commenting and posting comes easily. Other audiences are not as used to interacting and need some prodding. If you are speaking to the latter, help them get more accustomed to interacting by posing questions, and letting the group know you value their thoughts and feedback. When you are just starting your page, it is also helpful to ask friends and colleagues to post to get the ball rolling.

I hope these tips are helpful. If you have comments or other tips, please share!

Tags: facebook, social media, social media success

By now virtually everyone knows that social networking needs to be a strategic part of marketing. Twitter is a quick and easy way to get started. You can get work leads, increase your customer base and enhance your reputation by better serving your existing customers, and connect with potential partners. But it’s not without its pitfalls.

When using any social media, the cardinal rule is: Don’t antagonize! Creating hostility is most decidedly NOT the way to brand yourself or market your services or products.

Below is a list of the most common practices that I see your followers may find objectionable:

1. Spamming

You may think that you’re not spamming, but if marketing is all you ever think about, you just might be perceived as a spammer. Even if your ultimate goal in using Twitter is to promote your business, you’ve got to shift your attitude. Stop marketing, stop pitching, stop selling. Customers want to interact with you and with each other—they don’t want to be sold. Instead, think about how you can be part of the community and benefit others. Refrain from tweeting too much about your company and the services you offer.

2. Using an inappropriate photo

I’m sure you already know that you must have a photo on your Twitter site or no one will take you seriously. It’s best to put up a picture of yourself rather than your pets or something abstract. (I confess that I have a picture of my cat on my Twitter site, but I’m promoting my cats, not myself.) Use a professionally taken, close-up photograph of yourself. I see too many pictures where I can barely make out the person. Is it a bird? A horse? A human?

You can also use your company logo as the icon instead of a personal photo if that’s what you’re promoting. If you want to add a personal touch, you can also put a picture of yourself on the sidebar. In fact, that’s a prime piece of real estate for including more details about yourself or your company.

For some examples of highly successful Twitterers, see: http://twitter.com/savvyauntie (about 12,300 followers) and http://twitter.com/chrisbrogan (some 123,233 followers).

3. Sending ho-hum tweets.

You don’t have to write scintillating prose, but you do want to your tweets to be interesting, fun, or valuable to your clients. If your tweets are consistently boring, people will tune you out.

How you tweet depends on whether you’re representing your company or trying to brand yourself. Either way, do use a distinctive voice. With Twitter, you can sound casual, even a bit playful or offbeat. But remember, even if your tweets sound light and spontaneous, don’t forget that anyone can read them.

4. Sending mostly one-way “broadcast” tweets.

Remember that you’re supposed to be engaging in conversations. I remember one amusing spoof video clip on Twitter that made the rounds a few years ago. It showed a young man traipsing up and down the streets yelling out his thoughts and opinions about everything, while completely ignoring everyone around him. It was amusing in that it’s exactly how some people behave on Twitter. Don’t be like him; don’t add to the noise. Listen to the conversations around you. See what people are interested in. Be a resource. Try to answer some questions in your field of expertise. Offer tips, useful information, and third-party links.

That doesn’t mean you can’t tweet promotions or information about your organization. You just have to make sure that you have a good mixture of tweets. Include occasional personal updates as well. Revealing little glimpses of yourself  helps people feel connected and authenticity to your voice.

5. Using the default Twitter background.

So this isn’t a cardinal sin. But surely you can do better than that. An extremely successful consultant I know uses one of the free backgrounds that Twitter offers. That’s enough to get you started. But there are so many options out there, why settle for that? Give your site a little pizzazz by customizing it. You can use free resources like Twitbacks.com and www.twitdom.com. Others, like www.twitterbackgrounds.com offer both free and custom-designed backgrounds.

Tags: consultant, network Twitter, social media, spamming, Tweets

I just finished reading an interesting post on Copyblogger by Sonia Simone. I love people who aren’t afraid to question the status quo or express an opposing viewpoint to acceptable practices. I love it even when I don’t agree with them, because it keeps the conversation going, ensures we don’t get complacent, and pushes us to explore all the avenues.

The mantra in social media is to invite feedback, engage in conversation. Sonia isn’t advocating ignoring comments. Rather, she suggests we should:

• Focus on where we want to go
• Develop a “red velvet rope policy”
• Ask ourselves “Is this person my customer?” whenever we receive a negative remark.

It’s an article worth the read.

“Are You Getting Dangerous Feedback from Your Readers and Prospects”

Tags: Running a Consulting Business, social media, social media lessons, Starting a Consulting Business, Top Consulting Tips

As my term as president of Women in Consulting comes to an end this week, I find myself reflecting on all the incredible experiences I’ve had throughout the last two years.

We celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2008 with not only a gala event, but a new look & feel for our website and a new blog. In 2009, we expanded our social media presence to include LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

We expanded the reach of our organization, with strong and vibrant satellite groups in San Francisco, the East Bay and North Bay/Marin, as well as the South Bay and Peninsula.

We created a mentoring program and offered workshops to help consultants grow profitable businesses.

We expanded our Leaders Network to provide a venue for seasoned consultants to meet and exchange thoughts and ideas with their peers.

We expanded our profile in the community–partnering with a wide variety of organizations and associations, including the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, the Association for Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP), FountainBlue, Astia, IMC NorCal, NorCAL BMA, and others.

We provided benefits to our community from groups like People OntheGo, SD Forum, Cubes & Crayons, Vertical Response, MarketingProfs, Egnite, WeMeUs, Zoomerang, and PR Newswire. And we continued our partnership with Million Dollar Consultant Alan Weiss and the Society for the Advancement of Consulting.

We held silent auctions to benefit Girls for a Change and collected donations for the Georgia Travis Center in San Jose.

Not only did we offer a top-notch set of outstanding speakers for monthly programs, but we launched teleseminar and webinar programs as well.

We continued to offer outstanding value to members and affiliates through our renowned mail list and other resources.

In fact, through the worst recession in nearly a century, we grew our community to be nearly 500 strong–with our ranks of full members swelling by nearly 40% this year.

And we did all this as an entirely volunteer run organization, with over 100 consultants taking on pro bono consulting roles for WIC.

Why, in a time when many organizations are struggling or even closing their doors, is WIC thriving? Because in addition to everything I’ve already mentioned, one of the most important things WIC provides is a strong, collaborative community–a place where consultants can come to learn as well as to socialize, to build their businesses as well as to connect with colleagues, to share experiences and develop referrals, to grow as individuals as well as part of a bigger whole.

For all of these reasons I feel extremely lucky to have had the privilege of guiding this organization over the last two years. And I feel extremely confident in turning over the reigns to the extremely capable and passionate Avery Horzewski to take WIC to the next level.

Thank you to all of you who are a part of WIC. WIC is community and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with each and every one of you. Here’s to more wonderful WIC happenings in 2010 and beyond!

Tags: collaboration, consulting, Growing a Consulting Business, linkedin, mentoring, networking, social media, twitter, WIC's 10th anniversary celebration, women in consulting

I’ve been tweeting for about five months now and loving it. It’s become a regular part of my day and work life and I’ve gained boatloads of insight, access to information and more, which I wrote about earlier.

I’ve noticed a somewhat disturbing trend in some tweeting though, something that brings me back to Business Communications 101 with a heaping dose of Internet Etiquette 101: you are your own PR team, and anything you put on The Internets can and will come back to haunt you. Or at the very least, could leave your followers with a less than golden impression.

Case in point: I’d been following a certain tweeter’s posts since Day 1 of signing up for Twitter. This person has a rather ascerbic style which I didn’t particularly like, but I found enough of her tweets interesting (at first) that I decided to keep her on my follow list.

Over time, what seemed at first to be a slightly sharp personality felt more and more like negativity. When I tweeted about a very fun evening I’d had out (a somewhat rare personal tweet for me, I keep it strictly business, for the most part), she promptly tweeted back with a cutting remark, trashing what I’d tweeted about. It was then I decided that was enough.

Oversensitive? I don’t think so. Had it only been that one tweet, I’d agree with anyone who said that. But it wasn’t. It was all of her tweets. Rarely a positive or helpful thing did she have to say. A lot of griping though. A LOT of griping.

I should mention that — thanks to TweetDeck, a must-have app for Twitter lovers — I had even moved her out of my ‘favorites’ in order to get less exposure. She was a prolific tweeter, so the influx of bad vibes was pretty heavy. Nonetheless, I understand the power of networking and there were aspects of her presence in my circle that I valued.

On the day she totally trashed my tweet however… she tipped the scales and I decided that her value wasn’t worth all the negativity I had to wade through to get to the good stuff. Did she mean it that way? Was it something I’d misunderstood? Well, at this point, it didn’t really matter because my overall perception of her was that she was not someone I wanted to communicate with. Life is short, and all that.

I removed her from my network. And proactively searched for lots of other tweeters. And found so many, with such useful, funny, insightful and enthusiastic things to say. And I haven’t looked back. And tweeting is fun and worthwhile again.

What is particularly unfortunate for this consultant is that she is someone I would have potentially hired. She is well-respected, talented and probably does her job very well. But what would working with her really be like? What if something went wrong on the project? Her overall down attitude gave me a lot of insight into how she really ticked, and I didn’t like what I saw. So not only did she lose a follower… she lost future jobs.

With the rise of social media tools such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., I am seeing what I call the ‘Do All — Tell All’ mentality. Because there is some gray area between personal and business usage of social media tools, I believe there is a danger of forgetting the basics of good business communication. If we’re not careful, it can be really easy to let a little loose and say and do things we wouldn’t have dreamed of doing before Social Media gained the foothold it has firmly wedged for itself in the world of marketing.

So… be careful, Tweeps. Keep it positive, informative and helpful most of the time. Occasional bellyaching is okay (and can be good, if done well), but if the majority of your posts in a 24 period (or longer) are negative in tone, you might want to take a little break and realign your tweets with a different outlook that presents your most attractive face to the public at large. You never know who might be paying attention.

Tags: attitude, business communications, etiquette, networking, social media, tweeting, twitter

There’s been a lot of press in the last few months about ‘Twitter Quitters’ and the 60% of users that stop tweeting after about a month. And now, there appears to be some indication that Twitter usage has flatlined, although time spent on Twitter in the last year has grown a whopping 3712%.

A lot of people have tried Twitter and a lot still don’t get it. Many perceive it still as way to broadcast what you had for lunch or simply to brag about your latest achievement — but those of us who’ve stuck with it are probably in there for the long term. As this wise blogger posted, it takes time to get it. (Be sure to read the comments in that blog post too; you’ll get a good sense of the various reactions to Twitter.)

Me? I’m sticking with it, definitely. I had a few ‘hmmm…’ moments when starting out, but I think this is to be expected with any new communication medium. Perhaps in our ‘more now’ society, and the ease of so many Internet-related applications and tools, we are expecting it to be easier. But as with many endeavors, sticking with it can have some real advantages.

Like any networking, Twitter is not an immediate pay-off. Just as you wouldn’t walk into any networking meeting and expect to get business (although it can happen), you shouldn’t tweet expecting to garner any immediate ROI, either. Like any good networking, you’ll need to spend time (and definitely more than a month) growing and cultivating your following/follower list to start to see the real value.

As Hutch Carpenter points out in his post, it’s about finding your stride on Twitter. Some get it immediately, for others it takes more time. If you’re going to try tweeting, I recommend committing for at least 3 months. Even if you think you have no idea what to say, at least start following others and read along until you feel comfortable enough to start tweeting. It really does take time and I think chances are high that as a business user, you’re going to see benefit within that 3 month period.

Following is what I’m getting out of Twitter already, in the short time that I’ve been tweeting. And by the way, I don’t tweet everyday, and I don’t tweet a lot. A good day for me is probably somewhere between 5-10 tweets, sometimes a lot less. And sometimes, nothing at all. I think it will increase in the future, but for now, I’ve taken the pressure off of myself to be a ‘power tweeter’ and am enjoying what I’m getting from Twitter for now — which is definitely enough to keep me coming back.

Accessibility
An amazing number of high-level and accomplished people are on Twitter already. And most likely, at least a few of them are in your field of work. To have access to their daily thoughts, interests, rants and raves is exciting, informative and instructive all at once. Also good: the potential to connect very genuinely with these people, and the possibilities that lie therein. You can tweet them directly, and they just might answer back. Probably more so than if you sent them an email.

Information
Staying ahead of the curve is a challenge no matter what your field of expertise. And key to staying ahead is information. In the three months I’ve been on Twitter and started following people whose tweets I like and work I respect, I have gained access to a plethora of sites, articles and general information (both business and personal) that I may not ever have stumbled across before. It can be overwhelming, but once you get used to picking and choosing what to pay attention to, it’s actually wonderful to have so much information coming effortlessly to your desktop every day. And if you’re an info/news junkie, you’ll love it.

Speed
I can’t think of a faster way to disseminate or have access to information these days. The immediacy of Twitter is key to its success and there have been numerous instances of Twitter users coming to the rescue in one way or another for fellow tweeters.

Insight
Tweeting is a great way to get some insight and perspective into the personalities of the people you’re following. Some tweeters keep it strictly business, but many do not. And while it’s not the same as working together (virtually or otherwise), it can definitely give you information to consider as you’re deciding who you’d like to join you on a project — or not (!)

Antidote to Isolation
As a consultant, you may already be far too familiar with this one: isolation. After 11 years of running my own business, it’s what I dislike the most about being self-employed. Networking is nice, but sometimes hard to get because of distance, time or both. Twitter is no replacement for human interaction, but it’s not bad. I already feel a good deal less isolated and know that with a small amount of effort on my part, I can immediately reach out to a large community of fellow designers (and interesting non-designers as well) with my questions, comments and general instinct to share info and neat things I run across. It’s as fun as it is informative.

I orginally thought tweeting would only work for certain personality types. But now I see it as an indispensable business tool that any consultant would be wise to seriously consider and include in their arsenal of brand-building and self-promotion. You may not love Twitter, and you may not end up being a heavy user. But chances are that if you understand the power of networking and viral marketing, you’re going to ‘get it’ immediately. For the small amount of effort it takes to be on Twitter, the rewards are pretty significant.

Happy tweeting! And be sure to leave a comment about your Twitter experiences — both good and bad.

Tags: social media, social networks, tweeting, twitter

If you’ve read my previous recap/intro to Twitter, and I’ve got your attention — read on, this post will help you quickly get up to speed.

UI design of social media tools is a point of hot contention. Both Twitter and Facebook have been heavily criticized for the lack of clarity and consistency in their applications. Facebook recently embarked on a redesign that generated a firestorm of negative feedback from loyal users, and Twitter — in addition to have bandwidth issues that can cause the site to crash and leave those only using the twitter.com UI stranded — is notorious for having a confusing, ever-changing UI that has generated a plethora of other tweeting tools that many prefer to the actual Twitter site. The author includes herself in that latter group, btw.

What I find so interesting and fascinating is that these companies could have such serious UI/design issues and yet see exponential growth and popularity. What that says to me is: they are definitely on to something and social media is most likely here to stay. It may morph in the months and years to come, but I don’t think we’re going to see it die any time soon. Just today, Oprah signed up for her Twitter account. If that isn’t an indication of where Twitter is going, I don’t know what is.

So… while these apps were supposedly designed to be low-calorie and user-friendly, they can be confusing. Reading up on a few tips and tutorials before you jump in can get you tweeting better and faster without the frustration that sometimes leaves people scratching their heads over the Twitter/social media phenomenon. Following is what I’ve learned in my own Twitter experience in the last week or so, plus tips I’ve picked up from other Twitter users. I’ll cap this post off with the Mother of All Twitter Tutorials that Nancy Friedman kindly tweeted to me a few days back.

Twitter Tips and Tutorials

I’ve got my Twitter account, now what do I do? There are a number of basic features that you should immediately set up to give yourself (or your company) a good Twitter presence. Once you’ve created your account, hop over to ‘Settings’ and do the following:

1/ Add your name or company name to your profile. This is one of the first things users will see under your profile, so you want it to be correct. You may need to decide whether you are going to be tweeting under personal or company name. In my case, I opted to do a hybrid, using my company name in my twitter handle (elevatainc) and my personal name (Rachel Cary) in the ‘Name’ field.

2/ Add your twitter handle under ‘Username’. Correct me if I’m wrong, someone, but I believe that this field is auto-populated once you set up your Twitter account. From what I know of databases, it would certainly make sense to have it so.

3/ Add or change your email address. I think this field is also auto-populated but it can be changed/updated. Caution when updating email addresses: I initially set up several ‘elevata’ accounts and inadvertently got the email addresses mixed up. It took Twitter a while to get that sorted out. If possible, decide what info you’re going to use before sign-up and then stick with it.

4/ Time Zone: self-explanatory.

5/ Add your web or blog site url. Bet you wish you had that web site live now, huh? [wink] Consider this more incentive to get serious with your online presence.

6/ Add your bio. Note: here’s an area where the Twitter UI is confusing. If you enter 160 characters as instructed, your info will be cut off after around the 100th character or so. Keep it under 100 and everyone will see it. Also, very important: make this bio keyword rich. It will be used to find you in the future under Twitter searches.

7/ Add your location: self-explanatory.

8/ Choose your language (defaults to English.)

9/ Save your work and bam!, you’re already several steps ahead.

10/ Oops — don’t forget to add your picture or company logo/icon. Jump over to ‘Picture’ and upload an image under 700k (jpg, gif, png formats only) and Twitter will do the rest for you.

11/ Click ‘Save’ again and now you’re cookin’ with gasoline, as they say.

When I first started with Twitter, I thought it might be fun to brand my Twitter profile. It’s relatively easy to do and Twitter gives you 12 background images that you can use or play with using their color picker tools. You can also upload your own background image. Keep in mind it will need to tile and should be under 800k.

Since I quickly learned that I much preferred other Twitter apps to the Twitter UI, I decided to forgo this route. But if you want to have some fun with design and color, or you actually prefer the Twitter UI, then you should check on the ‘Design’ tab and play with the tools they have there. Pretty user friendly and the color picker tool in particular is a great idea as it allows you to create variations on the 12 design themes they provide.

If you’re really into decking out your Twitter profile, you might want to check out PimpMyTwitter for some low cost, custom design.

Okay, I’ve set up profile… now what? Now you need to find people you’re interested in following. Don’t be as concerned with who is following you to start. That will come in time. Often, those who you’ve chosen to follow will follow you back, particularly if you share similar interests.

You can start by using the ‘Find People’ feature on the Twitter site to look for names of people you know, or people you’d like to know and follow. Once you’ve exhausted that, use the Twitter Search tool to search for people again. You can also use Twitter Search to search for terms, such as ‘marketing manager’. You might be amazed to see who is on Twitter. More people/companies are joining every day, and you might just find that C-level executive and get some great insight into what they’re thinking and doing, as well as the opportunity to make contact.

Twellow is another fairly robust Twitter search tool that allows you to search by name or topic. You won’t be found on Twellow unless you sign up with them, but you search to your heart’s content without signing up.

Got my profile, got my following… what do I tweet about? This is the crucial element of Twitter and where many users find themselves doing a ‘huh?’ There’s already a lot of bad tweeting out there, so learn to Tweet the right way before picking up bad habits. If you’re thinking ‘but nobody cares what I had for lunch…’, um, you’re right, they don’t. So don’t break that rule. In general, you should keep tweets short, sweet and honest. Don’t toot your own horn too much, although calling attention to significant updates/accomplishments is okay. Remember that Twitter is more immediate and more permanent than The Internets. Avoid profanity and nothing confidential, of course. Also annoying: tweeting one-on-one conversations that should be left to Direct Messaging or IMs. There are more tips on how to tweet well in the WebDesign Depot link referenced at the top and bottom of this post.

I’ll post next on Twitter Apps. Personally, I’ve already switched to using TweetDeck for my tweeting and I highly recommend. But there are others, as well as other apps that you can use to enhance your Twitter experience. If you’re already a Twitter junkie and need a fix, be sure to check out the following wonderful post on Twitter. Chock full of Twitter info, including a glossary of terms and an extensive list of Twitter apps to check out: Webdesigner Depot’s Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter. Oh, and if you’ve got any great Twitter nuggets to share, please leave a comment or tweet me: elevatainc.

Tags: how to use twitter, professional development, social media, twitter, twitter apps, twitter tutorial