Social Media Tango – 4 Ways To Dance With Facebook And Twitter

It’s kind of like a dance isn’t it? Your involvement with social networks often involves some skill, some finesse, some fancy footwork and perfecting of the craft. It’s not enough to be on the networks, it is important to work the networks. How can you get your movements smoother and more productive? Here are 4 quick tips to get the most out of social media:

1. State Your Real Location

Where do you live? On Twitter it’s fun to put something like “Everywhere” as your location or a foreign country. Unfortunately you are excluding yourself from local clients who may be searching. I myself often search for talent by using Twitter apps for the iPhone, some have a “nearby” search which shows people in my area. But some never add their actual real location so I never see them. There are numerous online tools for search and if your location is not indicated on either Facebook or Twitter, you may not be noticed. Having the same real location listed on Twitter and Facebook lets local people find you easier.

2. Beef Up Your Profile

This can take only about 15 minutes, but really spend some time adding all your web links, email, business info on Facebook. Often I get a friend request and after looking at their sidebar and their info tab I quite literally have no idea what they do. Both the Facebook sidebar as well as the info tab allow links, so add in all your websites, portfolios, contact info and what you do for a living. Fill out your About Me section with your bio. Make it as extensive as you can. Facebook recently updated their search engine to make it more expansive, so having keywords and relevant info in your profile is a good idea. Twitter currently has less room for a detailed profile, but use that limited space to get right to the point about what you do. Ensure that both networks tell the same story via your info and bio.

3. Intermingle Your Networks

Post your Facebook profile on Twitter, add your Twitter address to your Facebook contact info. Tango back and forth between the networks and share your info, it’s always handy to have your Twitter fans follow you to your Facebook page and your Facebook fans hook up with you on Twitter. Once you realize the serendipity between the two you can work towards moving fans and connections from one to the other. Instead of posting a link to images or videos on external sites, post your content on your Facebook page and then link to them via Twitter. Draw people in. Facebook has various controls to maintain security, so make sure if you start linking to your Facebook page you check your settings to open the privacy a bit so people can check in.

4. Promote In Unison

I am seeing more and more Twitter addresses on business cards but less Facebook URLs. Promote them both equally. Facebook has advanced resources for telling stories through images, video and text notes, so use your page as a showcase to involve people. Try to make sure that your Twitter friends are also your Facebook friends and vice versa. If your personal Facebook profile starts to ramp up to be more geared to your business, break out and develop a Facebook Page to host your content. The great thing about social networks is you can be discovered fairly easily. If you promote them both and develop content, those who do discover you can quickly get a taste for what you do. Try to have your Twitter and Facebook link in everything, from your email signature to your website.

Give these tips a try, expand your story, write up a beefier profile, intermingle between networks and then get the word out, make sure if people know you, they know how to find you on social networks.

http://facebook.franklinmcmahon.com
http://twitter.franklinmcmahon.com

(If you have a web domain, set up subdomains like the above that forward to your social network pages, there is often no extra cost to do this)

http://www.FranklinMcMahon.com
Media Artist Secrets Blog / TV Show

Top 5 Twitter Marketing Mistakes

I’ve been thinking a lot about Twitter lately and I see some patterns that could be improved and tweaked, with myself and others. These suggestions will be tough for some of you to take, so feel free to tell me otherwise, I don’t have all the answers (see actually..I only have 5) so let me know. Here are some thoughts about how to avoid some of the downfalls, from using Twitter too much to not using Twitter at all:

1. You Use Twitter as Your Only Marketing Avenue

Twitter is a resource in your toolbox just like any other network, but keep an eye on where your demographic is. Are they actually on Twitter? Are the decision makers who may be hiring you on the service? Often the larger clients who you really need to connect with are not on Twitter. They could be too busy or perhaps their company is not up to speed on the tool. Don’t use Twitter in place of an actual marketing plan. It needs to be part of a group of initiatives you have in play, using it as a singular avenue to reach your audience probably does not make much sense.

2. You Level Off the Networking

After you get rolling with Twitter you will begin to connect with old friends and new as well as potential clients. It’s fun to chat throughout the day and see what everyone is up to, but still keep focused on expanding your network. Instead of just adding new people hoping they will follow back, start responding to new users. Begin conversations. You cannot directly message someone who is not following you, however if you are following someone you can certainly strike up a conversation. Simply reply to their posts. Your response will show up in their mentions. Twitter is an amazing sea of possibilities, remember to explore that aspect daily, as opposed to just connecting and reconnecting with the same users day after day.

3. You Learn It Then Fade

I attend and host a lot of professional and casual networking events and I am amazed at the amount of people who, when I ask if they are on Twitter, reply with “Sorta..”. They’ve heard about it and signed up, added a few peeps, but then did nothing else with it. Twitter can be a powerful marketing tool but it’s only as powerful as you make it. It does take time to invest in it and like anything else the payoff is more down the road as your network grows. Stick with it. Spend some time with it each day and start to work it. Reply to people, add new friends, pose a question to everyone. You’ll start to see things happen and build. Everything happens in cycles and Twitter is in a high cycle right now of popularity, so now is the time to take advantage of it.

4. You Use It as a Productivity Pause Button

I turned off the notifications that let me know when someone new is following me (BTW if you want me to follow you and I am not, leave a comment or email me). I found that if I needed to check e-mail I would also get new Twitter notifications, to which I would stop what I was doing and explore to see who this new person was. This lead to a path of distraction from projects that I was taking far too often. I also used to keep Twitter up all the time on my second monitor, just to keep an eye on things. Again this was a constant distraction that while it was fun to monitor, it constantly pulled me away from the main tasks at hand. I used to think multitasking was a great skill to have, I now see it as a way to drag down the progress of the entire day, expanding and pushing my work day later and later. I now exit email, exit Twitter and Facebook, let the answering machine field calls, etc. This is hard for people to do, and indeed it is just as hard for me. And for anyone who loves Twitter, the thought of turning it off can be sacrilegious. However I find now when I do make time for Twitter I enjoy it much more because I don’t feel the subconscious guilt of being pulled away from things. Again this won’t work for a lot of people, but turning off Twitter for a few hours and crafting something like a new blog post can be amazingly refreshing. Most of this blog is about producing content for an expanding audience to ramp up your career, so use Twitter to advance that career but don’t let it pull you too hard away from actually building your empire. Humans are hardwired to seek out new things and to want attention. Twitter fits both of these needs almost perfectly, but always remember you have bigger fish to fry.

5. You Actually Don’t Use Twitter

Now I am not talking about someone who has signed up and has not really worked it too hard, I am addressing those who are against Twitter on principal. They may see it as a waste of time, or discount it, thinking that it’s a bunch of people chatting about what they had for breakfast. Or perhaps they just don’t understand it yet. Having been on Twitter for several years I have seen it change and evolve and as much as I talk about using it in moderation and not using it in place of real marketing, I still think it’s a great tool than can be very powerful in hooking you up with connections across the globe. I have gained fans, clients, speaking engagements, big projects, new friends and much more with the tool and I can’t recommend it highly enough. Like any tool or network, you have to put some work into it to get something out of it. If you are reading this now you are probably pretty hip and may be on Twitter already, in that case become a mentor to a newbie, tell a friend about Twitter, get them on and guide them through it. I do this often and it’s rewarding to see how far people go with it. If you are not on Twitter, ask someone who is on it that you know, learn the ropes from them. If you have a Twitter account but never did anything with it, fire it back up and work it. The biggest Twitter marketing mistake is to not use Twitter to extend your network, fan base, promotional avenues and social grid. In the social networking realm as of right now, Twitter is at or near the epicenter. Now is the time to not only jump on board, but to work the tool to your advantage.