Recruiters acknowledge that Twitter has become the “go to” place to find out about new hiring opportunities and new candidates. Everyone is all atwitter about Twitter, but the question still arises as to how to use Twitter effectively for marketing and promotion? I recently ran across some insight from Social Media Today profiling the four most common types of Twitterers. See if you can see yourself in any of these profiles and think about how these different approaches can be used to extend your career outreach.
First there is the Conversationalist. These users are more involved in the chatter of the day and more focused on what they are doing as an extension of their professional persona. These folks tend to be genuinely involved in the conversation, and as a result many have a big following. They tend to promote their personal brand by their presence, and they get professional benefit although the message is softer and the benefits less traceable.
Then there is the Conversational Marketer. These folks tend to be more obvious and direct in their marketing approach. They often link to their blogs with more frequency and remind you about an e-newsletter or their latest book. These Twitterers tend to be engaged with their audience, but never lose sight of their objective – promotion. The best approach here is to point to blogs, articles, and other online destinations that promote your expertise and your personal brand. The trick is to build our audience with truly interesting content and comments, not just say, “Hey, I’m cool.”
Then there’s the Salesman. This Twitterer tends to be more promotional and less conversational, spending more than half of their Twitter time pitching. There are different schools of thought about whether this is boorish in the world of social media, but it can be acceptable if you engage in the conversation. There are examples of popular Twitterers who do a lot of product promoting with flair, talking about how what they have to say and sell is relevant to the online exchange.
And finally there’s the Broadcaster (or some may say, Spammer). These folks self promote without engaging. They shout into the Twitter-stream, if you like, self-promoting without engaging. Not all of these broadcasters are worthless, however. There are a number of newsfeeds, for example, that don’t engage but merely post new information; broadcasting their brand. And there are a number of job posters and job resources who call into this category.
So think about your personal brand and your job search and how it fits into the Twittersphere. Can you set up a Twitter feed that extends both your personal brand and your personality? Try it and see if you can attract some attention from recruiters, at the same time you start tracking those Twitter job feeds.
