Your Presence on Twitter

            So you’ve discovered the world of Twitter, full of blue birds and enlightening messages of 140 characters or less. I am going to assume that you aren’t completely new to Twitter and that you have at least foothold in the arena of Twitter and go ahead and just give you some tips to create and maintain a professional presence on Twitter.

            First and foremost before anything else Twitter is just another extension to your online persona, and as such it should be monitored as far as content goes. We all know that what goes on the Internet stays on the Internet for the whole world to see.

Your Avatar

            Make sure your photo is professional and up to date. It’s the first thing people look at on any kind of online account. As far as your bio goes, Twitter only gives you 160 characters to write it, so make them count. You don’t need to add any unnecessary fluff.

Your Thoughts

            One of the things that stumped me when I first started to use Twitter was that I wasn’t sure what to tweet about. You should primarily tweet about things relating to your profession,             or at least are ‘on topic.’ You don’t have to tweet about every little detail of your life on Twitter. This may sound harsh, but no one really cares. Google Alerts is a great resource to stay up to date on topics relating to your profession and to give inspirations to your tweets.

Your Connections

            Twitter is a wonderful marketing and networking tool. It is so easy to find anyone on there and just to follow them. But to really establish a relationship you need to go beyond just following them. Like any relationship, it’s a give and take. Lend your expertise and knowledge to them just as they do to you. Share things that you find interesting that they may enjoy as well. And if they share things that you like, retweet them.

            Twitter is great to get the ball rolling to establish those relationships and network yourself to new people, or even future employers. But you should take those relationships beyond Twitter. It is a great place to start. Just remember to keep it professional.