Twitter. What is this twitter thing and how can it possible be an effective networking tool? The beauty and challenge of twitter is that you have 140 characters of space to communicate with. 140 characters to share your needs, share your help, share your knowledge, and share your unique self. It is a challenge and the community and conversations that are built on 140 characters is astounding.
I wanted to introduce an article, a book, and some food for thought about using twitter as a networking tool. First the formalities, if you are new to twitter or building a community, check out Joel Comm’s book: Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time
Alright, my two cents about using Twitter as a networking tool. Keep in mind the 80/20 rule here and give, give, give. Stay active in giving, not selling, and you will develop trust and credibility. Retweet (RT) others tweets that are interesting and add value, answer questions, connect others that are in need or share a common interest: bottom line - give, give, and give.
The twitter community is not responsive (positively) to spam and mass impersonal selling or networking techniques (who does respond positively to that anyway?). Instead I suggest keeping these questions in mind while engaging on twitter:
- What can I give and offer to others?
- How can I support others to be successful?
- How can I engage in friendly conversation?
- How can I best express my sincerity and generosity?
- How can I provide true value to others?
My suggestion? Follow a few people that you are interested in and find engaging and observe how they connect and interact with others out there. Twitter is an amazing opportunity to connect and build community. Give it a go - dive right in!
See you out there!
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Great thoughts Matt. Twitter is just another tool for networking, and like any networking endeavor you must also be responsive to those who you wish to connect with. Personally I love the platform and I’ve been rewarded with quite a bit of business from it.