Twitter: An Introduction to Getting Started
Twitter is a micro-blogging tool designed around community. Twitter gives you the opportunity to meet and network with people with similar interests around the world or from across town.
Some of the most valuable connections I’ve made have been local but if your topic is narrow and deep then finding locals may not be as easy but you still have an opportunity to network with people from around the country, making valuable professional connections.
You may even find some people you admire and want as mentors, Twitter is a good way to connect, on a personal level, with someone you may not otherwise have an opportunity to meet. I would say Twitter, and the internet on a larger scale, helps breaks down the perceived hierarchy of the traditional social structure, so start following, connecting, and learning.
Twitter Icon: Branding Your Conversation
We all know it is important to make a good ‘first’ impression in person as well as online. And your ‘Twitter’ icon plays an important part in making a good impression online. Choosing a personal icon depends on how you are using Twitter or any other social networking tool. For example, I’m ‘branding’ myself, I want to provide a consistent image across all my social networking environments so I’ve chosen a small recent picture of myself. I prefer to use a personal image on social networking because I’m connecting with someone online. But if you have decided to remain anonymous with respect to your image then use something else that reflects your personality. It does come through in your conversation stream.
Visual image is as important online as it is in person so make sure you get it right. Remember this is a way other users track your online conversation stream so when you change the image your visibility changes and your tweets often get lost in the reader’s mind because they are familiar with seeing your old image associated with your conversation.
Customizing Twitter to Reflect Your Personal Brand
Reflecting your personality or brand is easy using Twitter. There are many economical and free ways to introduce yourself online. Most social networking tools, including Twitter, provides you with a page to introduce yourself to potential friends, colleagues, customers, and employers.
On Twitter you can provide contact information, company branding, information about your services. An example can be seen here: http://www.twitter.com/ithinkmedia. And you can download Twitter backgrounds at http://www.TwitterPassion.com. You can also get a background personalized for $50.00 at TwitterPassion.com.
Twitter Bio: Connecting with Others
The bio feature on your profile gives you the opportunity to introduce yourself to other people on Twitter. Another key thing to remember is it follows you in all the third party applications. Your bio is important not only because of this but because it acts a filter when other people are searching for people with common interests. So get to the point, use a list of keywords that describe yourself, sorta of like a brainstorming session where pick the top ten words to describe yourself.
Note, you can use keywords in an introduction without using just a ‘list’ of words. For example, My bio again, reflects my personality while giving everyone the information they need: “Geek girl, SD to CO - over a decade of online experience, teacher, entrepreneur, designer, open source advocate, co-founder http://www.Distance-Educator.com.”
Directing Twitter Traffic
Build a custom page on your site or blog to introduce yourself, let potential friends or clients know why they should follow you, what you do and offer them a freebie or opportunity to sign up for your newsletter. You are only limited by your imagination, so be creative. This page again should reflect your personality, provide background information about yourself in an easy to read, friendly format. It should not be overly hyped, or use marketing speak. For example, it might be similar to something you’d write introducing your services, background, and expertise to a family friend or to someone who was referred to you from a friend. Because most likely the person knows a bit about you already since they’ve read your bio, your twitter conversation stream, and looked at your customized personal twitter page. So this page takes a step beyond the bits and pieces the person has learned about you from those sources.
Join the Conversation
The most important advice I can give about using Twitter is to be genuine. If you have something to add to a conversation then do it. For example, its similar to sitting in a restaurant and over hearing a conversation in the booth behind you. So if you can add value to the discussion, you politely speak up. You wouldn’t say, “You’re wrong - I can’t believe you still cling to those archaic ideas!” instead you might say, “Great discussion, I’ve read (link) that might shed more light on the topic.” It’s important to add value! Don’t just tweet to see yourself ‘tweet’. 
Twitter Search and Meme Following
Things to keep in mind when designing a background image for your twitter page. Remember the image is static so you need to make sure the content on the background image shows on all browser and screen sizes.
Look & Feel
Color palette: Pick colors consistent with your brand and/or image you’d like to convey.
Change background colors to match your new background. These colors are supplied with all background themes purchased or downloaded from TwitterPassion.com
Summary
Social networking is the next logical step in the evolution of working, learning, and living online. It is an integral part of people’s lives today, facilitating lines of communication, cutting the sales cycle, and giving businesses an opportunity to connect on a personal level with their customers.
Have fun, be genuine and start following, connecting, and learning. See you online and maybe in person!
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