Let’s assume that you have already used Twitter to increase your knowledge in the IT field as I’ve mentioned before, or as suggested to IT execs by Peter Kretzman in Getting’ Twitter, from the Technology Executives Perspective. Now you are following a strong network of interesting and potentially useful networking contacts. You’ll need to engage these Tweople to receive the maximum benefit for your job search.
Here are a few easy tips to quickly build a savvy network on Twitter and in the IT profession:
- Be Conversational: Creating a two-way dialogue by responding to Tweets, maintaining your @ replies and retweeting (RT) interesting tweets.
- Learn Etiquette: CIO.com offers a quick overview of etiquette with their Five Dos and Dont’s post.
- Integrate Accessibility: Integrate all of your social media pages and devices. Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to stream your Tweets to your profile page, however stay away from it if you Tweet more than 10 times a day. The settings tab on Twitter allows you to connect from a mobile device whether it has internet capabilities or not.
- Quality over Quantity: As you engage your network, always remember the benefits of quality over quantity for your job search. Check out the analysis on the TwiTwips post, “Twitter Followers: Quantity or Quality?”
- Post Interesting Tweets: Follow the right people and catch their interest with interesting posts and linking to articles relevant to your industry. Have a question? Ask your followers for instant feedback.
- Use Hashtags: Don’t underestimate the power of tracking on Twitter by using hashtags (#). Adding a hashtag in front of a word allows that word (your tweet and you) to be grouped with a certain topic making you and the topic more searchable. This can prove to be very useful when posting information relevant to your job search in the IT industry. Search Hashtags using HashtagDictionary or #hashtags.org.
Remember, using a social network as part of your job search strategy means that you must engage your contacts to reap the benefits.
Image by garyslevin007’s
Tags: Job Search, Networking, Twitter
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- Building Your Network of Followers on Twitter
- Your Next Job is Only a Tweet Away
- Job Searching Via Social Networking
- IT Professional Networking 101
- Twitter Twouble
Kris Rzepkowski
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Kris - Why should you avoid integrating your social media accounts if you tweet more than 10 times a day?
Comment by Kara Wallace — May 11, 2009 @ 11:25 am
Kara,
10 is more of a guideline than a rule. Some people use Twitter for different content and a different audience than Facebook. If you keep Facebook for mostly personal friends and you tweet 25 business related tweets per day, it can really clutter up your Facebook account and annoy your friends. That’s just an example. The idea is to be mindful of your social integrations and be aware of the content that you post to each network. It’s a fine balance between efficiency and and content optimization.
Comment by Kris Rzepkowski — May 11, 2009 @ 11:38 am
Twitter is great it’s really using the power of small to extend your network. Just start with the people you know, and if youre friends arent hiting theyll know someone who is!
Comment by cwcomment — May 13, 2009 @ 10:07 pm