Twitter is a great channel to grow your network and earn new business. However, this doesn’t happen if you’re just lurking in the background letting everyone else shine. Your social media profile should showcase you as a person. This means you should use it a medium to communicate, engage with others, and share your expertise. All these practices will help you strengthen your social media influence. What else can you do, though? We invited PR consultant Michelle Garrett to talk about networking effectively on Twitter. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Michelle Garrett
Topic: Using Twitter to Effectively Network and Find Clients
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.
A personal brand is a reflection of who you are and what matters most to you. And so, it’s important that everyone, regardless of what they do and where, should have a personal brand.
A1: These days, EVERYONE needs a personal brand.
Whether you work for yourself or for someone else, it's a good idea to have one. 1/2 #twittersmarter
— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
Our guest shared a quote that explains it well. On a daily basis, think of what you do as working for yourself rather than for a faceless company. That way, you’ll feel more involved and motivated.
A1: I once read this quote that stuck with me: “Even with a full-time job, it’s a good idea to go to work every day with the thought that you are always working for yourself.”
A company's loyalty isn't to you – so it pays to think of working for "Me, Inc." 2/2 #TwitterSmarter
— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
It’s also worth remembering what Dorothée mentioned: We’re all human beings, and so we should behave as humans. When you sound as a brand, you might alienate people because no one resonates with a brand as much as they do with an individual.
A1 It is important to remember you are human. People who act like a brand all the time are unnerving. Somewhat sad. #twittersmarter
— Dorothée Lefering (@DoroLef) October 1, 2020
The most important thing is that we always buy from people we know, like, and trust. And the best way to build that trust is to be yourself. That’s why a personal brand is so valuable—it’s a way for you to showcase the real you to potential clients.
A2: Having a personal brand can help you stand out.
Clients want to know who they're hiring. Sharing a little piece of yourself can help them trust you.
People buy from those they know, like and trust. #TwitterSmarter
— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
Kelly also pointed out that when people trust you and buy from you, they’ll also recommend you to their friends and acquaintances. That’s great word-of-mouth marketing, and helps grow your clientele.
A2: It helps your clients get a sense of who you are and how you can help them. By being personal and building that connection and showing how you want to help them, you'll attract more clients which will lead to even more sales when they tell their friends #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/fJVdC45NRx
— Kelly Kostanesky (@kmmkcomm) October 1, 2020
Certainly. As our guest said, firstly, identify what you need to do to improve your brand. This might include making some cosmetic changes to your online profiles, and adding relevant bios and links, or reworking them.
A3: Yes. First comes figuring out how you want potential clients to see you. Then, you can do some of the work yourself – or you can consider trading services, if you're on a tight budget. 1/2 #twittersmarter
— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
Once you know what you need to do, think about how you’ll do those things. Some are pretty straightforward and you can do them yourself. For example, adding your website link on your bio might seem like a negligible change, but it makes a huge difference to people who land on your profile for the first time and need more context as to what you offer.
A3: One of the best things I did when I became more serious about personal branding was to have a professional headshot taken by a REAL photographer. That makes a huge difference, isn't that costly and you'll use it more than you think. 2/2 #twittersmarter
— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
One of the essentials, and is worth paying for, is getting a headshot for your profile picture. Go ahead and hire a professional photographer and get it done properly. A good, clear, photo goes a long way in building your credibility.
And of course, as Jim reminded us, one of the crucial metrics that make a brand is the engagement it receives. Even if you’ve got millions in your budget and you run fancy ads every day, if people don’t react to your content or respond in the way you want, you don’t have much of a brand.
A3 Engagement is priceless. You don't need to hire a focus group to tell you to genuinely communicate with others to learn their wants and needs. #TwitterSmarter
— Jim Katzaman – Get Debt-Free One Family at a Time (@JKatzaman) October 1, 2020
Networking is building relationships. Think of your friends and family—they know what you do and how well you do it. That’s what you need to do with networking. When you make connections on social media, you showcase your offerings to others and show people who you are.
A4: Networking – or getting to know people, as I like to refer it – helps you spread the word about what you offer. Think of it as building relationships. How can you engage with others? How can you elevate others? #TwitterSmarter
— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
Kennedy from Rob & Kennedy made an excellent point about what networking does to your credibility. Having highly skilled people in your network automatically increases your value, and makes you reliable in the eyes of new clients. For instance, just imagine coming across a random business consultant on social media. You’re more likely to trust and hire them if they’re also connected with some of your colleagues or acquaintances.
A4. Networking does 2 amazing things that we love:
1. Gets your brand in front of people.
2. You are judged by the company you keep, so who you network with is part of your personal brand.#twittersmarter https://t.co/cyfGqRoRYy
— Rob & Kennedy ? Email Marketing Heroes (@RobandKennedy) October 1, 2020
Twitter chats are excellent for networking. The more chats you show up for, the more you’ll realize that the world is quite a small place. You’ll often run into the same people from elsewhere. That’s what makes chats such a quick medium to meet and make connections with new people.
That said, don’t spread yourself too thin by attending too many chats. Prioritize so you can focus more on developing and nurturing relations rather than just making those relations.
A5: Twitter chats-like this one! -are a great way to expand your network. You'll meet a lot of fab people if you attend chats consistently. Does that mean all day, every day? No. Choose 2-3 that you enjoy-attend them regularly. Contribute & engage-don't just lurk. #twittersmarter
— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
Berrek shared some more ways to build your network. Aside from answering questions that your connections might be asking, follow topics and hashtags that are relevant to you. That way, you get more chances to engage in conversations and even initiate some. And most of all, always remember that whatever you say should add value to others.
A5: Expand your network on Twitter by:
? Participating in chats
? Follow keywords relevant to your brand and add value to those conversations
? Answer questions if they come through your TL, even if you're not connected to that person.
? Always add value! #TwitterSmarter— Berrak Sarıkaya ? (@BerrakBiz) October 1, 2020
We can’t say this enough: engage. One of the first and biggest mistakes people new to social media do is to stop with posting content. Sure, that’s important. However, what’s more important and valuable is to communicate with others. You can initiate discussions if you’re comfortable with it, or you can start off by replying to people and answering questions. The more conversational you are and share your knowledge, the more connections you’ll make. You’ll also become a valuable part of the community.
A6: Engage. I think some people feel that posting should be enough. It isn't.
Engage in conversations with others.
Answer questions and start conversations.
Encourage others.
Share with others. #TwitterSmarter
— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
As for things you shouldn’t do, don’t make every tweet about yourself. Don’t be selling all the time—Twitter and other social media channels are intended for genuine conversations.
Also, don’t ignore people who make an effort to directly engage with you. Be nice and always acknowledge. And of course, don’t just disappear and leave your audience guessing your whereabouts. If you’re taking a break from social media, inform your followers what’s going on. It’s the decent thing to do.
A6: Don'ts on Twitter:
*Every tweet should NOT be a sales pitch.
*Don't ignore those who engage with you.
*Don't post once – then disappear for 6 months. #twittersmarter— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
One of the biggest don’ts on Twitter, as Lori mentioned, is to sell to people on a direct message as soon as they connect with you. It’s equivalent to spam and goes against the “social” aspect of social media.
A6: Pet Peeve
Don’t connect to send me a DM instantly telling me what you sell. Don’t be that person. #BeSocialOnSocial Get to know people. Start with this goal:Know, like, and trust. #twittersmarter https://t.co/a3415cxYwN
— Lori Anding ? || ? 6ft (@southbaysome) October 1, 2020
Oh, there’s so many! Michelle’s favorites include Buffer for social media scheduling, Pablo for images and social media creatives, and MailChimp for email campaigns and marketing.
A7: Some of my favorite tools:
•Buffer- social media scheduling
•Pablo by Buffer – free way to create images for blogs/social media
•Mailchimp- helps you build your email list – which you should have – free up to 2K subscribers – start a newsletter
1/2
#TwitterSmarter— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
For alerts, our guest recommended Talkwalker and Google Alerts, and Google Analytics to understand your website traffic. MuckRack is another nifty tool that shows you who’s shared your link.
A7: And MORE tools!
•GoogleAnalytics – measure where traffic is coming from •Talkwalker- free alerts
•GoogleAlerts
•MuckRack – Who Shared My Link?— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
Jonathan mentioned WordPress to build your own website and blog, SEMRush to identify new topics and keywords you can write and talk about, and Canva to design social media images and other graphics.
A7: Here are some tools I've used in the past:
? WordPress: basic site for blogging & branding
? @semrush to identify topics to write about
? @canva to create graphics and ebooks for my audience
? analytics tools to evaluate growth#twittersmarter— Jonathan Berthold (@j_bertho) October 1, 2020
Bernie mentioned some other great tools like SocialOomph, Feedly, Quora, and TweetDeck.
A7: I love using the following tools…
– @socialoomph for scheduling
– @buffer for scheduling/analytics
– @Twitter analytics
– @twitonomy analytics
– Google Trends for content
– @feedly for news/trends
– @Quora for news/trends
– @TweetDeck for engagement#twittersmarter— Bernie Fussenegger #Digital360Chat (@B2the7) October 1, 2020
There’s so many people, and I’m sure I’m leaving out a lot of brilliant personal brands. That said, Madalyn is a great personal brand, of course. Some other inspirational ones Michelle mentioned are Paul Jarvis, Seth Godin, Kara Swisher, Gill Andrews, and Christina Nicholson.
A8: Tough one – there are SO many!
You, of course, @madalynsklar.
Others who come to mind: @pjrvs @sethgodin@karaswisher
@christinanicholson@storieswithgill@ryanfoland#TwitterSmarter— Michelle Garrett (@PRisUs) October 1, 2020
Janet is also a great personal brand. She’s a good example of someone we can relate to—she’s a regular on our #TwitterSmarter chats—and she’s put in a lot of effort in developing her personal brand. And as a result of her efforts, she’s also introduced her audience to #TwitterSmarter.
A8. Meeeee! @janetmachuka_ ?
I believe l have done much to my personal brand. #TwitterSmarter
— Janet Machuka (@janetmachuka_) October 1, 2020
Check out their profiles—there’s a lot we can all learn from the way they represent themselves online.
Well, folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks a lot for reading, and for more insights from our chat with Michelle, have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together. And if you’ve got time next Thursday, join us at 1pm ET for the next #TwitterSmarter chat.
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.
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