In today’s competitive environment, whether you are searching for a job or not, establishing your brand is important. Twitter is an increasingly effective tool to establish your brand and develop your career – In combination with LinkedIn and Facebook, you can use Twitter to control what others say or find about you.
"If you’re not branding yourself, you can be sure others do it for you." - Anonymous
Benefits of Twitter:
- Show who you are – Twitter’s openness makes it a useful platform for showcasing talents, personality, style, and interests. Recruiters can get an idea of who you are and if you would be a good fit at their company.
- Create meaningful connections – Twitter is great for connecting meaningfully with people and companies you do not already know, which is much more difficult to do on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn. You can develop a rapport with people you may not have access to in real life.
- Ease of use – It is easier and more convenient for a recruiter to reply to your tweet than to pick up the phone. Twitter facilitates quicker responses.
Things NOT to Do on Twitter:
- Don’t forget that there is NO “undo” button. Every tweet you post can be seen, re-tweeted and replied to … and while you can delete your tweets from your timeline, once you’ve shared something with the internet it’s out there and really can’t be undone.
- Avoid slang or “text speak.” With the 140 character limit, it can be challenging, however remember your purpose, do your potential employers or industry leaders understand that language? If not, avoid it – you want to be taken seriously.
- tDo not mix business with pleasure. If you like to tweet about personal things but want to use twitter for professional stuff, too consider creating two twitter accounts – one used for social and one used for career development. Remember though that people can usually find your personal twitter account, too.
For more information, review Using Twitter for Professional and Career Development by Ray Ernst, LinkedIn influencer.