Personal branding is more important now than ever before. The economic downturn is not favorable to shrinking violets…you need to be front and center.
Twitter is everywhere
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter – these seem to be the favorite tools of job-seekers and personal branders. And this week, because of geo-political reasons in Iran, Twitter has taken center stage. In fact, the newcasters mentioned they were following Twitter to get their news. This indicates that Twitter is becoming more mainstream.
It’s everywhere – on every newscast, in USA Today, etc. What does this mean to you and your personal branding?
New focus
One thing for sure is that for anyone who hadn’t heard about Twitter before, has heard of Twitter now. Twitter is suddenly everywhere-and it’s not the silly comments made on late night TV. People are realizing that Twitter has the power to spread a message faster and farther and more immediate than anything we’ve ever seen. Clearly, the uses for disaster recovery and organizing are evident.
For those working on their personal branding, take advantage of this time and get your presence on Twitter ramped up. Everyone is paying attention to the platform and you don’t want to miss the opportunity to put yourself forward right now. The attention may be on world news today, but it will eventually shift back to business, interests, etc.
Remember:
- Make sure your bio reflects who you are and your picture is YOU. Social media is all about “find and be found”.
- Use the Twitter search feature to the right conversations to join and add value.
- Be an subject matter expert.
- Give to get. Offer to help, contribute, participate.
- Follow back, but DON’T send an auto-follow message, they are annoying.
Twitter has taken center stage, and you are who you associate with. If you’re already out there, refresh your Twitter branding strategy. If you’re a newbie, now is the perfect time to start Tweeting!
Author:
Beverly Macy is the Managing Partner of Y&M Partners and teaches a social media class at the UCLA Extension. She also co-hosts Gravity Summit events and provides personal branding coaching.
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I agree with everything, except the follow everyone back comment. One reason would be the fact that there are a rising number of new spammed accounts. In addition to that, why would I follow a middle aged house wife with 3 children and 2 dogs? It just seems wasteful to follow people that don’t add any value what so ever to my network, business, or effort to obtain useful information.
-Arik
@aflander
Arik, following people back is smart, as Beverly suggested, because they people can contact you directly, which is more social and welcoming.
Hi Arik, I had very similar thoughts as you have but I found that some amazing connections were created from the most unlikely people whom I would normally think I would have nothing in common with.
Now I follow almost everyone back who isn’t promoting tacky affiliate programs or adult related material.
You never know the middle aged house wife with 3 children who you mentioned may have a brother, sister, uncle, partner etc that needs your services.
Ceratin @ Dan as well. You both certainly have some good points. I’m still not sure if I’m convinced to follow everyone back, but will consider it more carefully now.
Thanks for the feedback.
Beverly, This article is well timed. I think that over the past couple of weeks people have had the opportunity to see the value of Twitter from a news perspective. Now, as Twitter becomes more mainstream, people will start to see the value for relationship building and personal branding. In this new, challenging economy, Twitter and other social media tools will become essential tools for professionals, business owners, philanthopists, etc. The trend is clear now: learn to use social media or risk getting left behind.
I agree but I do like the auto-reply message – the art is in putting something meaningful and personal enough in it that can illicit a potential response.
[...] Twitter Takes Center Stage [...]
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