Is the BLUE bird driving you nuts?

A single tweet -- or a few each day -- could change your career path. This is the emphatic advice of several finance career coaches, some even say 30 strategic tweets per day, will get you noticed.

At a time when social media has become the online branding for any company, its crucial to be a part of the hub, to know what it’s all about, and to take an active part in one of the easiest, free marketing tools available.

BELOW A FEW TIPS ON HOW TO ... “market yourself / company” on Twitter.

You have to have a Twitter account to start off with...
Put a star on your forehead, if you already have one!, but take it off if you do not use your Twitter account regularly.

FIRST STEP:  Find and follow up to 500 targeted prospects/customers.

HOW:

When on LinkedIn, you will notice some of your contacts already using Twitter... follow them.

Go onto the Search option within Twitter - put in a key word related to your business, and up pops hundreds of possible people/organizations to follow.

THE TWEETING PROCESS:

You only have 140 characters to work with... that is not much.

Being a talkative person like me... it was difficult in the beginning.

BE CREATIVE:

Start using Hash Tags(#) in front of key word... this will get you noticed.

Remember to keep it real... Include a link to follow up on your Tweets.

RT (Re-Tweet) regularly = interaction with the people in you network.
This shows that you are interested in them.
They will take notice, and start Re-Tweeting your Tweets, therefore passing your message on to their followers.
It’s called sharing.

A good example of a Hash Tag Tweet...

I want to advertise a position for a  Transformer Design Engineer who will be based in New Zealand.

Remember (only 140 Characters).

Hash Tags / Hash Tags / Has Tags.

IT WILL LOOK SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

#Jobs #Transformer Design #Engineer #NZ – (my link) = send

By suing TweetDeck (And I strongly recommend it): http://www.tweetdeck.com/

You will be able to see your Birdie, Tweeting in all the right places. This tweet will not only reach your followers.  (But also Job seekers / People interested in Transformers / Engineers / People in New Zealand), and all,   because of good use of Hash Tags in front of key word.

I do hope this will help you in your next Tweet Experience.

TIME: Where am I going to get the time to Tweet?

I must admit... firstly I did not know anything about Tweeting. It seemed like a useless thing to do, and a time- waster, watching a few Tweeters sending their birdies out on a successful spree... and an always-up-for-a- challenge attitude... I just could not get a thing as simple as Twitter stand in my way

I now have drawn up a time schedule:
Before I start with my formal day to day job activities – I Tweet at least 10 interesting Tweets, after lunch, a another 10, and just before packing up for the day (or even at night) I Tweet a further 10 Tweets.
Interesting things that happened within the Engineering Industry, New Jobs, or anything worth reading.

Doing it this way, is fun... and that’s what it’s supposed... FUN.
Seeing people taking notice of your Tweets, reacting to your Tweets, RT on your Tweets, and to see your followers grow... that’s the most fun.

Did it cost me anything ... NO... and that’s rich!

LASTLY:  Always remember your manners.

Thank the people who start following you, by sending them a direct message (right hand side).

And before I forget: Make your Twitter page interesting...
Looks are important.

Do not forget to write your Bio.
People visiting your Twitter Page for the first time would like to know what you do, before following.

Give them the information.
Don’t waste a potential followers time... you don’t want your time to be wasted either.

Happy Tweeting.

Stefanie Kruyswijk