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This Morning I Read on Twitter…

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Twitter iconI usually advise about social media practices for companies. But the same advice can also be taken by individuals, especially if you would like to become more acquainted with the vast array of online networks before your own company embarks down the twisty, colourful world of social media.

My first recommendation is to start small. There are a mind-boggling number of social networks out there, from the common-place such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, to the lesser-known such as Athlinks, Elixio and LibraryThing. But don’t go out there and sign up for every network possible. Instead, start small with one or two. My recommendations for the top five to choose from are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. And when selecting a network to explore, put some thought into your choice. Does your company have a great Facebook page and you’d like to be able to contribute some content ideas? Are all of your friends more up-to-date with what’s going on in the world because of their great Twitter network? Then all the more reason to get involved yourself.

The next step is to create your profile. Most social networks have a great FAQ section about how to get started, and when in doubt, there is a plethora of information to be found by a quick search engine query. A quick note: when entering your information, please use your real name and photo. A lot of people take issue with privacy these days. However, a quick Google search will probably result in more information about yourself than you thought existed online, especially if you are a director or C-level individual at a company, or if you are involved in non-for-profits. Your social media profile is an opportunity to display accurate information about yourself, and adjusting the social network’s privacy settings will ensure that only that information you wish to be public will actually be shared. As well, most social networks are indexed by the major search engines, so this is an opportunity to expand the content displayed in your own search results.

Believe it or not, most people get serious writer’s block when it comes to their first posting. Best to just get it over with and save the agony for something more important. How about, “This is my first post on [insert network name]”? Then, get to “listening” – use the network’s features to follow existing users and see what they post. It will give you ideas about what to share in the future. You can even group the users you follow based on particular topics, such as “Lists” in Twitter and “Interests” in Facebook, so that the content you are presented with is in-line with your own interests.

One of the biggest tools that I recommend to companies is a posting schedule. These can be quite involved, depending on the number of networks involved and the overall objectives. But on an individual basis, this can be as simple as slotting in time a few days a week to engage in social media. Put it in the calendar on your computer and on your phone, and spend a little time each week contributing and listening. Perhaps on Monday and Wednesday morning, you write a short post or share an interesting link or event. And on Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, you take ten minutes to review what has been happening online and respond to one or two people’s posts. And that is enough. Unless you find yourself wanting to interact more often, which can happen. Social media can be a surprisingly entertaining way to fill the time when waiting in line at the store, and can help keep you up-to-date with the latest happenings in your industry or city.

Finally, relax, give it time, and avoid social media burnout. Don’t post every day to LinkedIn for a week, get frustrated because no one is responding and then delete your profile. The key word in social media is “social” – and you need to allow time to develop online relationships, just like you do in real life. At the end of the day, having a grasp of the nuances of the social media world will enable you to contribute to your company’s online presence in a meaningful way. And before you know it, you will be starting sentences with, “This morning I read on Twitter…”

[Note: This article originally appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of the Corporate Recruiters newsletter].

Don't misuse Twitter

Biggest Twitter Pet Peeves

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Don't misuse Twitter

Photo by JadeGordon

I love Twitter. I started using it back 2008 and in my opinion, Twitter is a great source of information about topics that interest me. It also keeps me entertained and up-to-date with what’s going on in my community, country and the world.

However, there are some Twitter pet peeves out there that annoy me and they come mostly from other users rather than Twitter itself.

The egg-head profile pic – when you first sign up for Twitter, you have the option to upload a profile picture from your computer. If you’re shy or have internet privacy issues, use a picture of your dog. Or a sunset. Or a tree. Just pick something; because when I see that I have a new follower who looks like an egg-head, I almost always choose to not follow them back. And if you don’t know how to upload an image, just Google it. There are oodles of how-to websites out there that will give you step-by-step instructions.

No bio information – similar to the egg-head profile pic, not filling out these sections is just plain annoying. Why am I going to follow you if I have no idea what you Tweet about? Sure, I can click and view your most recent Tweets. But that doesn’t always fill me in. So just take a minute out of your day to write something.

Polluting the Twitter feed – it drives me crazy when people or businesses post nothing all day long and then all of a sudden post twenty Tweets in a row. If you only have an hour a day to Tweet, then use a scheduling tool such as HootSuite or TweetDeck to spread your Tweets out over an extended period of time so that your Tweets can be enjoyed by others in moderation.

Continuing to use image tools like Instagram – I know Instagram has awesome image filters that make your photos look funky. I like it too – but I limit my sharing to Facebook. Why? Because when your Instagram Tweets show up in my Twitter feed, I can’t view the images anymore by clicking on the easy little “View photo” button. Instead, I have to click a link that takes me to another website and that’s just plain annoying because, let’s face it, I’m lazy. Yes, your photos still show up in my TweetDeck feed, so I’m not as angry about this one. But when I’m standing in line at the post office browsing through my Twitter feed, I would really like to be able to easily view your wonderful pictures.

Auto-posting your Facebook status updates – when you auto-post your Facebook updates, they are usually way over the 140 Twitter character limit. So they ended up being displayed as a truncated post with a link to the status update on your Facebook page. Firstly, similar to my beef with Instagram, using auto Facebook posts requires me to click a link and go to another website. I’m lazy, remember? Secondly, I’m using Twitter for a reason. So don’t send me to a different social media network – I’ll head over to Facebook when I’m good and ready, thank-you-very-much. And thirdly, why should I bother to follow you on both Twitter and Facebook if you’re just saying the exact same thing on both networks?

Saying the exact same thing over and over – if you post the same message in duplicate, especially if it has a link, you just look spammy. And who actually likes spam? So switch it up: think of different ways to describe your link and sandwich it in between other non-link posts.

So there you have it, my top Twitter pet-peeves.
Do you agree? Have any of your own to share? Let me know in the comments.

5 Reasons Why TweetDeck is a Great Twitter Tool

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When I first started on Twitter back in 2008, I viewed all Tweets within the Twitter interface. Then, I got hooked on HootSuite, especially when I started managing multiple Twitter accounts. I’m still a paying subscriber to HootSuite and love using the cute little Hootlet add-on to easily share interesting URL’s on Twitter. But something just seemed to be missing.

Enter TweetDeck. This slick desktop application (I prefer the downloaded version, although you can access it online as well) is always running in the background and has become my favourite way to interact with users on Twitter.

Here’s 5 reasons why I like TweetDeck so much:

1. Visually attractive – let’s face it, looks matter. And TweetDeck just plain looks good. I love the black background, the well-sized Twitter profile pics, and the fact that you can always view thumbnail images of pics that people post on Twitter.

2. It still displays Instagram images – as you may have heard, Twitter and Instagram went through a big breakup at the end of 2012. Basically, the end result was that Instagram pictures no longer display within the Twitter interface; instead, you need to click on a link and be taken to another page to view the image. Not so with TweetDeck! You can still view thumbnail images of kids, half-eaten restaurant dishes and scenery shots and also view the full-sized images within TweetDeck.

Update November 2014: Instagram images are no longer displayed in TweetDeck; instead, you need to click on the link and view the image in your browser.

3. Easily view different streams – using TweetDeck’s columns feature, you can add a new column for whichever Twitter account, list, or search result you want. And then you can quickly flip back and forth between them, making it quick and simple to keep up-to-date on what’s going on in your version of the Twittersphere.

4. It makes noise – you can turn on or off sound alerts for each of your columns, so that you hear a ding every time someone messages you, mentions you, writes a Tweet that matches your search criteria, etc. (If you want to make my computer ding, just mention @jenhames on Twitter!)

5. It’s free – I already pay for lots of social media tools and services, so it’s great to find such a great tool that is free.

Do you use TweetDeck? Love it or hate it?
Then leave a comment and let me know what you think.