Advice abounds on how to use social
media to advance your career and job search. Beyond reading the volumes of
great books, breaking down advice into manageable bites is a smart way to
venture into the often-rough social networking waters. Also, choosing one site
and really getting your feet wet is helpful to prevent social media overwhelm and
scattershot behaviour. The following are three snack-size tips to help you get
started using the niche-networking site, Twitter.
Tip No. 1: Create a Twitter
handle that articulates your value. This may simply mean using your
name, particularly if your personal brand and unique value are highly connected
to your name. So, @JaneDDoe may just be the perfect draw to brand you. However,
if your brand is better exuded through a descriptive representation of what you
do, whom you serve, how you serve, and so forth, then consider drawing a visual
word picture.
The challenge: Creating this handle
to represent
your brand in just a 15-character limit. But you can meet that challenge.
It just takes thought and brainstorming.
Check out these eight examples of
personally branded, value-focused and/or descriptive Twitter handles to get
your juices flowing:
1.
Showing your unique value: @WorkIntegrity (A career transition
consultant with integrity)
2.
Showing what you do: @bizshrink (A leadership psychologist who
grows psychologically savvy leaders)
3.
Describing how you help others: @AuntieStress (She undresses
your stress by getting to the heart of the cause)
4.
Using your name brand: @lizadonnelly (A New York-based
cartoonist and writer)
5.
Creating a hybrid handle: @RedBaronUSA (A turnaround
management and growth strategy expert who uses a company name, RedBaron, and
first name, Baron, in the handle)
6.
Describing what you do while concurrently using your company
name: @Brainzooming (Strategy, innovation, creativity, and social media
ideas)
7.
Incorporating your name brand plus credential (niche area of
focus): @tracystewartcpa (A CPA PFS CFF CFP CDFA, collaborative neutral
financial advisor)
8.
Emphasizing your personal brand tagline: @ValueIntoWords (A
certified master resume writer translating value into words. @Glassdoor career
and workplace expert)
Tip No. 2: Follow a couple
dozen people and begin sharing their content.
This can start as simply as
researching four or five of your favorite colleagues
on Twitter and then following them. Tag along a few of the people they
follow. Read through their tweets. Select a resonating tweet and share it using
the "retweet" button. Or, better yet, create a personal introduction
to the tweet and customize your share.
You can do this by copying/pasting
the original tweet into a new tweet window and then typing in additional,
value-add language to introduce the tweet. This will test your writing
precision and editing skills because you likely will need to trim the original
tweet (without changing the meaning), and have to create a brief, three- or
four-word value-add remark, all while fitting into the 140-character
limitations.
The following is an example of a
tailored retweet of a blog post where the poster pulled out the takeaway
message that she found most compelling.
Example of original tweet: "4
tips for better negotiations http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/s/73xwDS"
Example of tailored retweet: "'Watch
where you set your anchor' + 3 more tips for better negotiations:
http://bit.ly/VtqfOr by @twilli2861"
Tip No. 3. Tweet your own
content.
Once you get the hang of tweeting, consider
developing your own original tweets. If you author a blog or guest post on
other blogs, then it would be natural to share that content. If this isn't the
case, then create 140-character tips that apply to your area of expertise. So,
for example, if you are a sales professional, you may want to prepare a sales
tip to help your followers sell better, or you could share one thing not to do
when trying to close a deal. In other words, consider what's in it for the
follower before composing a tweet, then offer practical advice they can
immediately implement.
While Twitter can be a noisy
playground with lots of equipment with which to experiment; e.g., TweetDeck,
HootSuite, hashtags, Twitter
chats, and such, don't let that bog you down. Instead, target in on one
area of that playground and start swinging. Let your legs fly, throw your head
back. At the same time, play safely and courteously. You will find yourself
exhilarated and playful, at the same time, growing your career muscle in
communication and collaboration.
Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter
is a Glassdoor career and
workplace expert, chief career writer and partner with CareerTrend, and is one
of only 28 Master Resume Writers (MRW) globally. Jacqui and her husband,
"Sailor Rob," host a lively careers-focused blog at
http://careertrend.net/blog. Jacqui is a power Twitter user (@ValueIntoWords),
listed on several "Best People to Follow" lists for job seekers.
This post originally appeared here:
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/01/28/3-bite-size-tips-for-using-twitter-in-a-job-search
This post originally appeared here:
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