Social Media

twitter

Making the most of Twitter

Twitter is a fast, real-time way to put messages out to our existing ‘followers’ and to attract new followers. Tweets have a maximum of 140 characters but can include website links, photos and videos.

Twitter lets you to read the latest news about subjects which are work-related. It’s like receiving a newspaper whose headlines you’ll always find interesting – discover news as it’s happening and learn more about HPB topics which are important to you.

Twitter is free and GBIHPBA has a Twitter account which we use to network across the HPB community and to engage new people in our work.

Our Twitter handle is @GBIHPBAnews. Join us!

To create a Twitter account simply go to https://twitter.com/signup.

Making the most of Twitter

Tweet in a pleasant conversational tone. Strive for an approachable communication style and avoid jargon.

Ask questions.

Make it shareable. Use helpful, newsworthy or inspiring content. When you write a Tweet, imagine how your followers will use it. How will it help them? Every Tweet should have a purpose.

Be a follower. Look for businesses you love, public service accounts, people you know or news sources you read. One way to find interesting accounts is check who those you know or admire are following.

Find interesting accounts. Click ‘Discover’ at the top of your Twitter page as a search tool.

On the go: Twitter is portable. Connect your account to your mobile phone or download a Twitter application. Using Twitter via SMS allows you to pick and choose which updates you want from those you follow, so you can get mobile updates from the accounts that matter most when you are on the go.

Using LinkedIn

LinkedIn allows you to list your contacts, see who they know, and then see who you’re connected to in turn. It’s focused on business users, so can be more professionally useful than other applications such as Facebook.

Getting a good profile

    • Use a photo – and make it a good one. LinkedIn is a networking tool – and networking needs trust. So we need to see your face.
    • Say where you work and describe your job accurately.
    • Include your CV. If you have a good career history it helps people to take you more seriously.
    • If you have a website, include the address. Mostly when people find you on LinkedIn, this will be their next click. You can include three website addresses, a Twitter page, Google+ and a blog.
    • Your unique LinkedIn URL – You can customise the link that comes at the bottom of the main box describing you, to make it shorter and unique to you. This will encourage people to cut and paste it to others, you can include it in your email signature line, and it’s less confusing to people if it doesn’t have lots of numbers in it. Go to ‘edit your profile’ and the box for this is on the right hand side of the editing page, second box down.
    • Recommendations – get some. Ask clients, ex-bosses and colleagues to recommend you. Feel free to suggest (or write for them) what you’d like to be known for to avoid vague references.