HOW TO Develop and Maintain Your Personal Brand on Twitter - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

HOW TO Develop and Maintain Your Personal Brand on Twitter - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Twitter rose to fame in 2007 as a hip, 140-character “microblogging” network. The free service has a multitude of uses, including social/professional networking, live blogging, news sourcing, and pure communication. Some professionals have struggled using Twitter, attempting to strike a balance between business and personal, while developing or maintaining their personal brand. Developing your account Your Handle: Your Twitter handle (username) is how you are found and identified on Twitter, so it should reflect you. Simplicity is usually the way to go (i.e., your name). Your Avatar: Your avatar, the small photo that shows up next to your tweets, should be professional â€" not the default picture. This is how you are recognized as a human and not a computer! A recent, appropriate headshot is a great choice. Your Bio: The bio is an important way for other “tweeple” to identify with you. This should be a short “elevator pitch” â€" or a 30-second “who you are” and “what you do.” If you are an expert in a field â€" say so! Your Privacy: Leave your account public in order to increase traffic to your page and expand your network. Using your account Be Consistent: Linking your tweets to Facebook and other updates is a simple way to make your brand more cohesive and to update all of them more often. Have a message and communicate it to your audience. Stay on message and “in character” â€" your brand should be reflected in person, online, in and out of the office. Be Interactive: It’s important to tweet personal thoughts to connect with your followers, but also tweet relevant industry information and updates. Use the @ symbol to tweet specific people and make sure you answer tweets to maintain relationships. Be Relevant: Update your account regularly to be a reliable source of up-to-date information for others to seek out. Following and tweeting others in the same field positions you as a constant source of industry information. Basics Use hashtags (#word) to allow others users to search a term and find your tweet. Connect with other professionals in your field. Locate yourself on your profile. Link to your blog or website. RSS your Twitter feed to your blog or personal website. Customize your background to reflect your brand. Research before tweeting â€" being credible is key. Share relevant images/videos from your phone or online. Author: Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder president of Come Recommended, an exclusive online community connecting the best internship and entry-level job candidates with the best employers. She is also the author of #ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com.