Ok, so I joined twitter about 3 weeks ago and while and I’m still finding my way around, I think I’ve picked up a few things that might help people. While it’s fun to use and completely different than any of the other social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, ultimately I’m there to meet new contacts for my business. I wouldn’t think this would come as a surprise to anyone, but there do seem to be quite a number of people there for social reasons. Since I’m there for business purposes, here’s what I’ve done to get over 800 followers in 3 weeks. As with anything, Twitter is what you make of it so you have to invest some time to get results.
- If you are there for business, post things that will be interesting to the people you want to connect with. Sometimes I’m a bit of a ham, but I let that come through in some of my posts even when they are unrelated to business. That’s me, I’m a ham sometimes and I just can’t stand not sharing the fact that both of my identical twins projectile spit-up on me almost the same time. Frankly that’s what makes it fun. All work and no play makes Rich a dull boy. I’m a real person and I let my Twitter follower people know it.
- If someone you are following posts something interesting, RT it (Retweet it). That means that “Hey, I just liked what you posted, so I’m sharing that with my own followers. When you do that, it let’s people know you are not just interested in having a one way conversation saying “hey everyone, look how great I am”.
- Follow people with similar interests. Don’t worry, if you follow someone they won’t think you’re stalking them. That’s what this is all about.
- If you follow someone with similar interests, look to see who they follow and follow those people too. This is how you expand your network. The more people with similar interests you follow, the more likely you are to be found by people you want to meet.
- Use Google to help you find people you want to meet. Instead of doing a standard search in Google, use the “Advanced Search” feature, then select “Search within a website”. Choose Twitter.com and type the search terms you are interested in. Example:
In my case, I want to meet successful social entrepreneurs, Philanthropists, CEO’s/ Business Owners, and Non-Profits. I go into Google, hit “Advanced Search”, then type “BIO Social Entrepreneur”.
Most of the Google results that come up are Twitter profiles with Social Entrepreneur in their bios. Click through the Google results one by one and see who interests you. Follow the people who interest you. If you are talking about the same kinds of things, odds are they will follow you back.
Ultimately, I believe that there are people within my areas of interest who will be looking for someone to help them with their wealth management needs. You can’t come right out and say that and people just don’t like to talk about money (especially now). Developing contacts is about developing trust. Using Twitter allows you to develop relationships and stay in touch with the people who you are interested in meeting and who are interested in hearing from you. Whether that winds up driving people to explore my services is another story.
Chime in with suggestions or send me a DM @PhilathropyCFP (Direct Message for you non-Twitter folk).
