Launching: YOU Part III

Today we wrap up our overview of launching your own brand in the world of social media.  We are going to take a look at Twitter.

In brief, Twitter is a micro-blog.  After registering an account, you can post short (140 characters or less) updates.  These updates are seen by your followers--people who have chosen to receive updates from you.  They are also seen by people searching monitoring.  The searching audience is key.


OK, so you can micro-blog, but about what?  Here is what you do not want to be (caution: slightly crude humor).  If you are looking to brand yourself, Twitter is your first line of contact for most people.  Let's suppose you are a Salesforce.com expert.  Perhaps you would post an update along the lines, "Created new #SFDC app to track #CRM #ROI. www.xyz.com".

Notice those # hash marks?  Twitter uses a special type of search to easily categorize topics. While users can search by any word in any post, those words that are prefaced by # are more easily grouped and can be browsed.  Check out this search on www.search.twitter.com.  There are a variety of search engines for Twitter; Google them and try them to learn the differences.

What is the end game of all this posting and searching?  Traffic.  Use hash marks and topical postings to drive traffic to your blog, website, and LinkedIN profile.  Twitter, while great in itself, really shines as a lighthouse to bring people to your shores.

Go on out there and get an account and then drop on by and follow me!  Any questions?  Need help?  Just drop me a line at paul@paulmyoung.net.