Leo Widrich | Industry Tips | October 19th 2011
1. FINDING GREAT CONTENT
CREDIT: JEFF TURNER ON FLICKR
One of the amazing things with Twitter, Facebook and Google+ slowly gaining maturity is the power coming through it to build my personal brand. What I found most crucial when doing so is that I don’t waste all of my day doing this.
The best part here is that this can become very powerful for many aspects of your life. If you develop a fairly large and engaged Twitter following these are only a few of the great aspects you can leverage:
- Amplify your voice for distributing your knowledge and content
- Find new jobs and projects by interacting with like-minds in your field
- Get feedback on ideas and projects from your followers
- Have quality conversations with people interested in the same fields
1. FINDING GREAT CONTENT
Of course, in order to create buzz around your own personal brand, it is key that you come across the best resources so you can potentially share them with your followers. What I highly suggest here is to start curating some Twitter lists. Fill them with people by topic and over time you will create an amazing source of high quality content for yourself.
Another App I would suggest here is called My6sense. It is an App that intelligently learns about your reading behavior. Over time it will start suggesting you content that is most relevant for you and your network to share. Other Apps with similar functionality areSmartr, StrawberryJ.am and Summify.
2. TWEETING GREAT CONTENT
Of course, the next important step is to actually share the content you find on Twitter. One of the biggest problems for me here has always been that I read at times when noneof my followers are online.
An App that helps me a great deal to get started Tweeting when most of your friends are online is Buffer. Whenever you are reading a great article you can add it to your Buffer. The App will then Tweet it out for you at optimal times, giving you up to 200% more clicks on your links.
3. INTERACTING EFFICIENTLY
Of course, on Twitter one of the most vital elements is to actually interact and grow your network constantly. This can be a huge time trap sometimes, turning myself into a big procrastinator. What I found helps me a great deal here is to set yourself a time-window for interaction.
In my case, I take 10 minutes in the morning to reply to Tweets, post a few retweets and welcome new followers. I then do the same 10 minutes after my work day. Given that you have taken care of scheduling a few Tweets for the day, you don’t have to worry about great content being posted.
4. FINDING RELEVANT PEOPLE
At the time when I started out on Twitter I always asked: “Yes, finding and Tweeting great content is great, but who is listening?” To overcome this chicken and egg problem, there are a few helpful things you can do.
One thing I suggest is to take a look at some great online Twitter directories. The most relevant ones are Twellow, WeFollow or Listorious. Try to find the top users in your field and start interacting with them and their followers. What I did and continue to do is to retweet their best Tweets and comment on posts they have posted.
5. PROMOTE OTHERS
I perceive the nature of Twitter as such that helping others is always in the center. This of course means that if you can do so more often, it will help you grow your network a lot faster than you ever imagine. The best example here is @TweetSmarter, one of the top Twitter users out there, I suggest you might take a look at the users tweets.
Try to continually retweet, mention authors and comment thoughtfully with your Tweets. To me this has proven to be the best way to reach out to anyone. Focusing less on yourself and rather on others gets you noticed a lot faster.
Focusing on these 5 things has helped me develop my Twitter network in a time-saving, yet impactful manner. I hope some of these tips help you with building your own network too.
Have you explored ways to establish your personal brand on Twitter yet?
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