Twitter Basics June 2009
- 1. Twitter 101 For Recruiting Molly Sly @mollysly http://www.linkedin.com/in/mollysly
- 2. What is Twitter? A free microblog – a moment in time You have 140 characters in which to “tweet” It’s not REALLY just “What are you doing right now?” It is about: • What you are learning, reading, attending • Who you’re listening to and what they’re saying • Breaking news • And yes, sometimes it is about what you ate for lunch
- 3. Twitter is a Tool Like other social media tools, you can: • View content from others • Create content for others to view • YOU MUST DO BOTH Much like LinkedIn you have to work at building your network • The more you put in the more you get out It’s a free and easy distribution method and more people are joining daily • It grew over 700% last year!
- 5. Setting up your Account Pick a user friendly Twitter ID • @yourname • It’s your personal brand – make it easy to find • The longer your ID, the less characters you have for your tweets Write your profile • What do you do? What are you about? • Link to a URL, even if it’s your LinkedIn profile If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile come see me after class!! Use a face shot for your avatar
- 7. Start Following People Use Twitter applications to find your people • www.twellow.com AND www.tweepsearch.com These apps search through bios You can search for titles, companies, industries, etc. • www.summize.com This app searches ALL twitter conversations It offers real time search • Run a search for “resume” or “interview” to see who’s looking to make a move As you find people to follow, see who they are talking to and follow them as well Follow the social media gurus • Use tools like http//twitterati.alltop.com
- 8. Jump in – The Water is Fine! DO NOT start tweeting about jobs you are trying to fill Build your brand first Start getting engaged in conversations • Answer people’s questions • Post links to blogs or articles Use a URL shortener like www.tinyurl.com to save some characters • Retweet posts you think are relevant Don’t be a lurker Don’t tweet every three seconds
- 9. Third Party Clients There are several and they make utilizing Twitter much easier (http://twitter.com/downloads) TweetDeck • I use this as does my team and I HIGHLY recommend it • Allows you to organize your tweeps into groups • Alerts you to new tweets, DMs, replies • Tweet, RT, DM, shorten URLs all from here
- 11. Learn the Lingo Tweep: a Twitter user Tweet: sending a message on Twitter @: use to reply to a specific tweep, but visible to all DM: direct message sent to someone • They must be following you #: hash tag, used to track a topic Tw + any word: a staple with twitter (tweeple, tweetup, etc.) • Careful, people can get annoyed if you talk like Tweety Bird too often!
- 12. Tweeps and Groups Some active and social media savvy recruiters • @marenhogan, @infosourcer, @lruettimann, @seerysm, @davemendoza, @braingain, @airscorp, @geoffpeterson, @cheezhead, @sourcerkelly, @thejobsguy LinkedIn group • Twitter for Sourcing and Recruiting Hashtags (#recruiting, #jobs, etc.) • http://hashtags.org Directory of popular tags • http://wefollow.com Have your tags tracked