Practical Stuff - Twitter for Document Professionals

I didn't take Twitter seriously when it started becoming popular. In fact I was pretty sure I wouldn't ever be using the service. 140 characters just didn't seem sufficient to communicate anything worthwhile and I could never figure out why people felt compelled to inform the world that they had just consumed a tuna sandwich for lunch. The whole thing seemed like a big time-waster.

After observing what others have done and giving some thought to things that I wanted to accomplish however, I've changed my tune. I discovered that Twitter is pretty good for some types of messaging and I have been using it more often lately.

If you too are skeptical, I've jotted down some discoveries I have made that might make you consider adding Twitter to your communications strategy.

Twitter for Document Professionals

Posting links to news items: Some Twitter users, if they ever post at all, seem to do nothing more than this. I use an address-shortening service called bit.ly to compress the links so I have more room for comments. Just posting the link by itself doesn't tell anyone why you think the item is worth reading.

Posting links to your own content: We've put together some 90-second lessons on Content Marketing. The links to these popular audio clips are posted on Twitter. I've also posted links to my own articles or presentations.

Teasers: These are sort of like the "film at eleven" come-ons that local news stations use to make you stay up and watch. I even Tweeted a teaser about this newsletter edition!

Quick, concise comments: Got an opinion or observation? Twitter is a great channel. It takes very little time to get your thoughts out where others can agree, disagree, or start a conversation with you.

Thank-you's and congratulations: Twitter is a nice way to acknowledge the accomplishments of others in our industry.

Professional milestones or accomplishments: There's no reason why you can't blow your own horn every once in a while. Did you qualify for a professional certification? Did your team process a record number of mail pieces this month? A little recognition can work wonders.

Why Should You Bother?

There are lots of things that you can do with Twitter. I've listed a few ideas above. Serious businesses are now integrating the service into their customer communications and content marketing plans. Twitter may have started as a personal short-message service, but it has evolved into something that can be of value to companies and individuals in the document business.

It really doesn't need to take much of your time and using Twitter is free. You can start small and gradually grow your network of people or companies. You do have to post (tweet) occasionally to get the full benefit. Just lurking around anonymously or only following others is marginally useful. It is a social network, so be interactive!

The Personal benefits of being active on Twitter can occasionally be significant. You might make a connection or pick up a piece of information that changes your life. But the effects of Twitter upon your professional reputation are usually more subtle. They accumulate over time.

Being recognized as a knowledgeable person in our industry can be a good career strategy. Being connected to leaders in the document industry, and reading about topics they feel are important can expand your industry knowledge and increase your worth to current or future employers.

So give Twitter a try. Pick some individuals or companies and follow them for a while. You can start with me (see below for an incentive). When you are comfortable with how it all works, start generating some content yourself. That's what I did and it has opened up some new doors. I'm glad I got more involved.