The Top Line

Are you wondering about how to make the best use of Twitter? If the “sold out” attendance at Seltzer Design’s program on social media is any indication, I think many people are. Moreover, I think different things work for different people.

How I use Twitter:

I mainly use Twitter to stay abreast of what’s happening in my profession, my industry, and the world. I do this in three ways.

One of my clients, a membership organization, is facing a challenging problem. The Board would like to recruit younger members to ensure that the organization continues. One of the issues our team has been trying to address is, "How do you attract and retain new community members—when these prospective members start out with little in common with current members?"

Luckily for me, I attended a social media breakfast in Boston(#15) this morning. There, Communispace CEO, Diane Hessan, was the last speaker at an event entitled “SMB15: The Power and Peril of Online Communities.

Blogs and Linked In and Twitter, oh my! So much information, so little time… It’s all a bit overwhelming.

Imagine my relief when Peter Buechler, publisher of the Marketing Guy 2.0, told me that help was on the way. Full of hope and expectations I set off to attend this morning’s breakfast meeting: Social Media Overload—How to Make Sense of It All.

Kudos to the organizers

It was a fabulous morning with fantastic presentations packed with worthwhile information.

Last night, I presented “Personal Branding: The Social Media Way” at a local job seekers’ group. Here are answers to questions posed in a follow-up email from one of the participants.

Why didn’t I discuss the one-to-one connections one can make on Linked In?

The talk focused on branding--which is generally accomplished using one-to-many (broadcast communications). Nevertheless, as the questioner correctly points out everything you say or do affects your brand.

One way or another, that’s what a lot of people that I know are asking. Here are snippets from five conversations I’ve had in the last week—followed by my own observations.

So what’s the big deal?

Tuesday morning, I gave a presentation on Social Media 101 to the Boston Chapter of the Wharton Alumni club. There was a lot of interest and a lot of questions about how members could use social media to increase their revenues.