The art of networking on Twitter in six simple steps
Twitter – it’s a like a giant networking event where you can share with a captive audience all the knowledge, stories and opinions that matter to you without having to dress up, or even show up. You just have to speak up. And most importantly, listen.
Here are six simple steps to working that room
1. Make a good first impression
Your profile picture, background and bio should say what you’re about. No one will want to hear your ideas if they don’t know what makes you tick. Focus on the kinds of followers you want to attract, and give them a reason to start a conversation with you.
2. Be selective about who you follow
It’s all about keeping your finger on the pulse. Follow only those whose ideas interest you. If you follow irrelevant profiles, you’ll get irrelevant feeds. With that kind of clutter, you’ll miss the good bits.
3. Start a conversation
Tweet about your interests. You have 140 characters to share your thoughts – keep them interesting and relevant. Direct your followers to meatier content by including links. Remember – communication is a two-way street. To build a loyal network of like-minded followers you need to build relationships – reply, retweet and credit sources when you share ideas. It keeps the flow of ideas open.
4. Use hashtags
Hashtags help to organise content on Twitter by making topics easily searchable. Know the topics that matter to your audience and use them thoughtfully in your tweets. Hashtag by hashtag you’ll reel in your followers and grow your network.
5. Don’t sell
Keep focused on what you’re about, what you can learn and what you can offer, but avoid gratuitous sales pitches. The credibility of your brand should come from the interesting content you tweet not from a misplaced advert.
6. Mingle and have fun
Finally, remember to have fun … meet new people, get chatting and build relationships. But if all this makes you cringe, find someone to do it on your behalf.
And if you do it yourself: get stuck in, grab yourself another canapé and work that room dahling…
Writer: Melissa Fagan