How & Why to Use Twitter

Jamie Broderick January 10, 2012

I recently organized a conference call for top-level members with Carol Roth, author of ‘The Entrepreneur Equation’ and frequent business news contributor for MSNBC and Fox News.

I first met Carol on Twitter.

I loved her no-nonsense approach to business (sans puppy dogs and sunshine), found a lot of value in her posts and retweeted them to my followers. She noticed. Our relationship grew because I gave her and her book a lot of support over the past year (and because I’m friends withMichael Port who wrote the forward to her book – that certainly didn’t hurt!).

In addition to networking, I use Twitter to learn from top thought leaders, get my news and pass on valuable information (from me and others) to my followers.

If you haven’t yet tried Twitter, here’s a guide to get you started:

Twitter is a micro-blogging platform. Users publish messages in 140 characters or less. Their message is seen by anyone that is following them. Users also monitor the messages of the people they are following. This medium allows for fragmented opinion, news, events, ideas & feedback. Posts (or “tweets”) can include links to articles, images etc that are hosted elsewhere on the web.

How to set up a Twitter account:
Enter your full name, a user name, a password & your email address. The user name should either be a version of your name or brand. Upload a professional photo of yourself with “Settings” “Picture” Use a headshot rather than a full body image as the image will be small on the screen. Add a profile description about yourself. Also use the “Settings” page to personalize your profile background and setup account notifcations.

How to follow people:
Click “Find People” & type in the name of someone you’d like to follow. Or click “Invite by Email” to send a personal email to someone asking them to follow you. By clicking the “Find on Other Networks” tab, you can search your entire email address book, see who is already on Twitter and send out a lot of requests at once. Once you start following people, you can click on their name to see who is following them (or they are following). If you find someone interesting, you can start following them as well.

How to post information or “Tweet”:
On the home page, in the box at the top, where it says “What’s happening?”, type your message using 140 characters or less. Twitter will let you know if you’ve reached the 140 character limit. To include a hot weblink, use http:// in front of the address. To shorten the weblink, you can use a url shortening site to convert the address (i.e., http://tinyurl.com) however twitter now shortens urls automatically now. To link your mention of someone to their actual Twitter account (so followers can click to their profile if they wish), use the “@” symbol in front of their Twitter user name in your tweet.

How to send someone a Direct Message:
If you want to send a private message that only one person can see, click on “Direct Messages” in the right hand column of the Home page. Select a user from the dropdown box (this person must be following you & you must be following them). Type your message in the second box & click “Send”. You can see messages that were sent to you below in the “Inbox”. This tool is helpful when you do not have a person’s email address.

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Setting Goals for the New Year

Jamie Broderick December 28, 2011

A new year is right around the corner. It is the perfect time to start planning for your business.

Peter Bonacum, a local business coach, provided Network Now with these questions to ask yourself before setting new goals:

  • Where am I right now?
  • Where am I going?
  • When do I want to get there?
  • What do I have to do to get there?
  • When will I do these things to get there?
  • What system do I have in place to measure my progress?

It is important to take the time to develop a clear strategic plan. You can do this on your own, with a coach or in a class. Without a clear roadmap, you will waste time and money on things that won’t help get you where you want to go.

With a strategic plan in place, it is simple to evaluate if the items on your daily to-do list are geared towards getting your desired long-term results. Ask yourself if the activity will contribute to your goals before spending the time or money. Is it going to move you forward?

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Keeping Your Promises

Jamie Broderick October 13, 2011

My mentor Michael Port spoke at my company’s 2nd anniversary party about business being based on a series of commitments and the fulfillment of those commitments.

Whether it is a small favor or a huge contract, delivering what you promised, when you promised, is an absolute necessity in order to build trust. No trust. No relationship. No relationship. No business.

Here are some tips on how to become known as someone that can be counted on:

Only promise what you can deliver.

Do what you say you will do (and then some).

Deliver on time (or earlier than promised).

Do it with a smile. No one (especially your client) wants to hear about your stress or frustration in completing the job.

Consider every business opportunity a test of your reliability. And make sure you pass that test with flying colors.

If something happens beyond your control that will delay your delivery, communicate this to your client as soon as possible. Then make it up to them.

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Call Me Anytime

Jamie Broderick October 6, 2011

Customer service is king (or queen in my world of women entrepreneurs).

So many businesses are using automated answering systems to handle their call volume these days.  Push 1. Push 5. Say why you’re calling. “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand your response.”  Quite frustrating for the client, don’t you think?

Wouldn’t it be great if your customers felt like they were your top priority? That you really were happy to hear from them?

I once had a doctor who told me I could call him anytime.  He was so kind and generous with his home phone number.  But when I actually called him at home, he was rude and short, obviously bothered that I took him up on his offer.

My website programmer, Holly Chantal, is a refreshing example of great customer service. She is responsive & friendly (even at 11 p.m.) and patient with my ever-changing requests.  She communicates with me constantly on the status of her work and doesn’t make me feel like an idiot when I don’t understand something.

How would your clients say your customer service is?

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