Twitter seems to be a “love it or hate it” kind of platform. Regardless of what side of the fence you’re on, one thing remains certain: Twitter is a powerful tool that can help you build your own personal brand and expertise. It’s also a goldmine of job opportunities.
Using Twitter effectively involves a lot more than just sharing random status updates. (Tweet this thought.) Use these tips on how savvy executives use Twitter to land jobs faster and start building clout within your own social media accounts:
Share Instead of Sell
If there was a number one rule for Twitter, it should be this: share instead of sell. More than ever before, customers want to be engaged, not pitched to. You can share things about your company’s culture, their values and the people around you. You can also use Twitter to share industry news, which will show recruiters you’re on top of what’s going on in your field.
When prospective employers see how you use Twitter to promote your company, its products and initiatives, they can assume it’s how you would conduct yourself if you were working for their company. Their interest will be piqued and they will gravitate to what you are doing — increasing the chances of the recruiter or hiring manager reaching out!
Provide a Customer Service Hub
As we mentioned in the previous tip, you can (and should) help customers with their problems via Twitter. After all, this is a direct connection between you and them. In a world where everything has become automated, sometimes people just want to know there’s an actual human being who can help solve their issue. This provides a personal atmosphere where customers can feel comfortable about company’s practices — a key component that helps them decide whether or not they will buy.
Rather than responding to a customer with, “Call this 1-800 number for customer service,” try to fix their issue right then and there. This shows the individual that they matter, and it shows the World Wide Web that you take a personal approach to customer service.
Why is this important? Companies that empower their staff and managers to make the customer happy know they can’t “teach” this desire to their employees — this desire has to come naturally to the person. So if you’re already doing this in the marketplace at your current employer, prospective employers that are progressive in nature will be attracted to your actions — and possibly want to talk to you about doing that same function for them!
Make a Commitment
The best Twitter accounts are those that have made the commitment to stay active and interact with their followers. They post something at least a few times a week and try their best to respond to individual tweets being sent to them. They also create a system to help them stay organized while they tweet.
Be a Human Being
In a world of constant connection, it’s okay to show a little personality online. After all, it goes with Twitter’s main purpose: to be a conversation among individuals.
Some of the best company tweets are those that mention running errands and funny mishaps. They’re great simply because it helps people realize that a company is human.
Of course, this should be done in moderation. You also always want to keep it appropriate.
Use Proper Grammar
Although you want to be human and in touch with your market on Twitter, this doesn’t mean you should throw out proper grammar for abbreviations and misspellings. Especially not for the purpose of getting something down to 140 characters. Peter Shankman, Public Relations Expert and founder of HARO (Help a Reporter Out) says, “Bad grammar is killing America.” Good writing is brevity — and keeping it to 140 characters is not an exception for bad grammar.
At the end of the day, you are still representing a company. So while it’s okay to share a funny video or a personal update, don’t do it with poor grammar.
When used properly, Twitter can be a very powerful tool to position you and your company as a brand who cares about personalizing the customer experience.
Create Target Lists
Use Twitter to create target lists of people at companies you want to follow, that you want to connect with, whose products/services you love and for just about anything! When it comes to creating a target list for your job search, Twitter can be helpful for finding target managers on Twitter and then reaching out to them in a casual but meaningful manner to start a dialogue.
If you can’t reach someone via email or LinkedIn, you may find the person is constantly on Twitter and easy to approach. The key with any job search is to approach contacts in the way they want to be contacted, and Twitter is no exception as a medium where that can happen.
What tweaks can you make to your Twitter strategy to boost your job profile? Share in the comments!
This post originally appeared on Chameleon Resumes.
Image: Flickr
