If you are managing your career, conducting an active job search, want to raise your visibility, love to share information, want to build community for yourself and/or company, or just have to have new Web 2.0 stuff, you need to know about Twitter.
You need to know what Twitter is and how to use it. You can decide for yourself if it is useful for you now, but as Twitter becomes more mainstream, you’ll need it in your career toolbox, along with LinkedIn and other social (business) networking sites.
Twitter and Your Career
Twitter is branded online exposure for your own executive presence.
Imagine instant messaging to a universe of professionals you may or may not know, developing relationships, exchanging information, uncovering opportunities, even getting hired -- all from posting and receiving concise 140 character messages (known as tweets).
Can Twitter work in the job search and career space? It seems so, as Wendy Balencourt, a professional resume writer and career coach at Trend Resumes experienced: "The best experiment I tried was to post a zippy line about a candidate I had just finished writing for. I got a lot of interest from recruiters for him and helped open the door to possible connections with just one sentence!"
If that can happen to a resume writer's client, imagine what can happen to you, the executive, when you become visible. Recruiters are always looking for top talent -- let them know you are top talent and a thought leader through your useful business tweets.
Where can you create almost instant exposure to (and build credibility with) other executives, recruiters, and the press? Twitter is a great place to start. Among Wendy Balencourt’s followers are her local news station and the owner of Indeed.com. For most people that won’t happen the day they begin to tweet, but over time, “build it and they will come‚” seems to work at Twitter.
As an executive using Twitter to raise visibility, create community, and attract career and business opportunities, you might try out versions of your brand statement or value proposition, post comments on current marketplace issues, deliver subject matter expertise, and much more on-brand activity that raises awareness of your existence, brand, and value.
Cindy Kraft, the CFO Coach, recently posted increasingly different versions of her business twitpitch (a >140 character value proposition / sales pitch in one). Watching the evolution of Cindy’s twitpitch gave her followers an awareness of what she does and gave Cindy the opportunity for productive feedback.
Take a tip from career professional, Barbara Safani of Career Solvers in New York City. Barbara told me, “I’m using Twitter to build and deepen relationships, keep my contacts top of mind, and stay on their radar as well. I’m following people who are recruiters and career experts and thought leaders in the industry. I’m building inroads with the people I want to learn from, grow with, and get in front of.
Let's Talk Twitter
OK, we know what it can do for careers, but what exactly IS Twitter?
The Twitter website says: "Twitter is a service for friends, family, and coworkers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Developers can use the API to make Twitter tools of their own. Possibilities are endless!"
Wikipedia has a more compelling description of Twitter as “a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application."
Let's get a translation. Megan Fitzgerald, a personal brand strategist who specializes in coaching ex-pats explains Twitter this way "I've been describing Twitter as the new haiku for the time-challenged, highly wired, online communicator."
Still confused? Try this description, sent via Twitter, from Cindy Kraft, the CFO coach from Florida: “Twitter quickly connects me with interesting people and valuable resources while simultaneously building my network." (Did you notice that both descriptions are >140 characters?)
To Tweet, or not to Tweet?
Twitter is intriguing. But does it have value for a time-challenged top executive? You might ask Tony, the CEO of trendy Zappos.com. Tony is a Twitterer who keeps his network abreast of his travels, asks for product feedback, describes business meetings and restaurant meals, and shares cool information. He also has a nifty blog (Tony is very transparent; his CEO blog even has a link to a tongue-in-cheek photo shoot picture of him wearing thigh-high silver boots -- on brand for Zappos, and I guess for Tony, too. He seems to be a risk taker!)
Before following Tony on Twitter, I was aware of Zappos. But now if I want to buy footwear online I'm going to check out the Zappos site. I've read Tony's tweets and even sent him tweets about my kids' Sketchers shoes when he twittered that he needed some spontaneous consumer opinions for a meeting he was conducting at that very moment. I feel connected. I want to shop at Zappos.com.
If I were a recruiter sourcing a successful, risk-taking, connected CEO, you can bet Tony would be top of mind, because I'd know him, and his brand, through his tweets. He might not be a fit, but at least he'd be a thought. And a thought is more than many "invisible" CEOs get. Connection and dialogue build opportunities on Twitter.
Yes, You Have Time!
As a CEO coach I know how busy you are. I do. Really. But I also know how much busier you'll be if you have to build a community from scratch when you need your next job. And with executive tenures shrinking to just a few years, you'll be looking for a new assignment multiple times in your career. You need to be visible so you can be the hunted not the hunter. And you can make that happen, even with limited time, because staying top of mind has never been easier with Web 2.0 social networking tools like LinkedIn and Twitter.
Twitter is a dynamic companion to LinkedIn. LinkedIn is great for connecting with lots of people but it's a rather static medium. You can get a sense of your brand and value on your LinkedIn profile, but it's hard to build relationships. Twitter has immediacy. Twitter is conversation for busy people who like to visit but only have time for a 30-second chat.
The beauty of Twitter is that you can use it on your PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, cell phone, or IM service. It's mobile, it's immediate, it's powerful. And it's so simple that even the busiest executive can make the time to post a few tweets each day (and read some too).
Of course in-person relationship building is always important, but now enhancing your presence is not limited to rubber chicken networking dinners. With Twitter, you can do it on line, on the train, even in a meeting. Heck, you can tweet about the meeting.
Are You Ready?
I wasn't. When I first discovered Twitter I was skeptical. I’m not an adept multitasker, I don’t use a BlackBerry or iPphone, and I rarely instant message. What little I knew of Twitter made it seem like the delivery vehicle for a flood of unwelcome distractions. My friend Jason Alba, CEO of JibberJobber.com and author of "I'm on LinkedIn, Now What??" and "I'm on Facebok, Now What??" gave me a Twitter tour and I was hooked. I signed on to Twitter, but then promptly wondered why.
As I explored on my Twitter home page and its list of tweets, I felt like a fish out of water -- or more aptly, a fledgling out of the nest. There were tweets (those brief 140 character conversations) being sent to and from people who obviously had some connection with each other. There were blog post and article mentions, business questions being posed and answered, services being pitched, spontaneous dinner plans being made (Hey I’m in town, anyone want to meet for dinner?), and more. It felt like wandering into a private club or small town diner -- the place where everyone knows everyone, but you don’t.
Jason came to my rescue with a few tips for getting started, and he also posted a welcome tweet for me. Because of Jason’s tweet I suddenly found myself with “followers” (Followers are fellow twitterers who sign up to view your posts). It seems that some people who followed Jason decided to follow me, too. So I linked to them as a follower, and linked to some of the people they followed, and I was up and running.
However, I still felt disconnected from the dialogue I saw unfolding almost minute-by-minute and questioned my decision to join. Could I devote the time needed to create effective connections? Should I? With time as precious as it is to a busy professional, would Twitter deliver a decent ROI? Should I post "business only" tweets, or get more personal?
Walter Akana, a coach and personal brand strategist at Threshold Consulting in Atlanta, stresses that Twitter effectiveness happens through building relationships, not just by posting business information. Walter explains, “Admittedly, some of the communications will be 'noise' to a lot of people but likely a basis for 'getting to know you' to others. In the end, I think the trick is to balance delivering some form of professional value and sharing information that allows a window into your personality."
So You're on Twitter, Now What?
Once you’ve made connections and earned some personal and professional “Twitter street cred” then what? As an executive careerist, job hunter, company/product evangelist, subject matter expert, thought leader, or all of the above, what strategies can you use to get value from Twitter?
Twitter users are the experts, so I asked them for some top Twitter tips and strategies.
Krishna De, business coach and personal brand strategist at OneOcean Group/Biz Growth News, and a long-time Twitter user cautions, "spend a few days posting comments before you follow people...those who are established on Twitter are saying they are not following people who they don’t know, or where they cannot assess anything about them from their Tweets..."
Twitterers with good content and good Twitter etiquette can benefit. Krishna says, "I have found strategic alliances, supported book reviews for people, answers to questions, new friends and even requested references all through my Twitter community. And increasingly some organisations and individuals who are at the forefront of social media are looking for people to connect with them via Twitter, be that when recruiting or even accepting pitches (or not)."
Sabrina Compagno, Director of Member Services, at Netshare (one of the top executive career sites) has "made some great contacts, learned some great facts. Made contacts that are now posting executive jobs on our site and contacts where I am able to post openings to our networking forums (this helps both the recruiter/company and our members). It is a quick way of being updated on a lot of things. You can talk offline for more in-depth information."
Most of all, Sabrina appreciates Twitters' key quality. She can “get to the meat of a message without having to wade through extra info.”
How do the early adopters who have been tweeting for a year or so use Twitter? Jason Alba says, “I have learned about the players in various places, and who I should be paying attention to. My network has grown (important!) and my relationships run deeper (important!). People who knew things about me now know a lot more...it allows a more intimate environment and it allows me to convey my brand to different audiences and introduce them to Jason Alba and JibberJobber in a unique way.”
He is also excited by the immediacy of Twitter: "This is like 'keeping my ear to the ground.' I learn about news (earthquake in China), trends, articles, opportunities, rants, etc. I can’t think of any medium which allows me to keep abreast on current issues in my world like Twitter does."
Explore the Twitterverse
There is so much to learn about Twitter, I encourage you to explore the possibilities, especially in relation to your executive career. As in any venture, you’ll get out of it what you put in it. Success on Twitter, is a "give to get" activity. It requires input; it’s not static. You’ll need to devote some time each day to building a useful presence -- you’ll want to deliver far more value than you expect to receive.
When considering if, or how, you will use Twitter, review these tips, compiled from the many suggestions shared with me by Twitter users:
1. Provide useful information at about a 4 to 1 ratio -- share a link or timely fact at least every 4th post.
2. Twitterers choose their own user names, so you need to know what your contact's Twitter name is. Address tweets to users by using the "@" sign in front of their user name. For instance, my name is Deb Dib, but my Twitter name is CEOCoach, so I would be addressed as @CEOcoach. Jason Alba would be @jasonalba. Tony from Zappos would be @zapposCEO. Here's an example of a tweet I might send to Jason Alba: "@jasonalba Heard you have some terrific news. When will we hear what it is?"
3.Use TinyURL or Snurl to shorten long links and keep more of your 140 characters free for your words.
4. Subscribe to keywords if you want to monitor discussions of certain topics among users who aren't already your “friends.”
5. Be giving, not "salesy" -- keep posts conversational and be a human; don't hound your followers.
6. Use available options to link your Twitter posts to Facebook, FriendFeed, etc. Link to your personal websites and blogs (maybe corporate ones, too, if appropriate) -- Twitter drives traffic like Google does.
7. Consider having separate business and personal Twitter accounts if you want to keep your personal life personal.
8. Whenever you can, have your tweets reflect your personal brand. Your target market will know you better and follow you more avidly.
9. Be transparent -- share your Twitter profile on your site, business cards, etc.
10. Answer twitterers' questions in a way that shows your expertise.
11. First find and follow people you know, and then follow some of the people they follow. Scan their comments and respond to what interests you and you can build unexpected relationships.
12. Follow experts of interest to you and comment on their tweets where appropriate, even if they are high-profile leaders you don't know personally.
More? The Twitter Tool Box - how-to's for getting started with Twitter, including etiquette, tools, news, and more.
© Copyright, 2008, Deb Dib. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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About this author: Deb Dib, Job-Hunt's Executive Job Search Expert, has been a careers-industry professional since 1989. For the last few years, Deb has focused on coaching CEO's and other C-suite executives in finding their next opportunities. Deb is the founder of Executive Power Brand, and co-author of best-selling Twitter Job Search Guide, Find Your Ideal Job and Build Your Career in Just 15 Minutes a Day (March 2010, JIST). Connect with Deb at her website at www.executivepowerbrand.com, on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/debdib, on Twitter at @CEOcoach, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DebDib, and via email at info at executivepowerbrand.com, or at 631-475-8513.
