With expanding your brand so important to growing a business, I decided to devote this week’s newsletter to using Twitter, to make an impression and get noticed in a crowded marketplace. As part of a professional network that I’m involved with, I’d like to share this article: Five Tips for Twitter, written by Grace Lavigne, from PRnewsire.com.

It’s informative, and straight  from the Experts.

Let me know what you think!

Five Tips for Twitter
By Grace Lavigne, PRNewswire.com

Your Twitter Bio: The Chance to Stand Out

“The bio for an individual should be ‘pro-fersonal,’” says Kelly Lux, the online communication and relationship manager for the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. “Basically a mix of professional and personal.”

“People generally want to know what you do for a living or where you go to school, and what you’re passionate about,” Lux continues. “Strike an air of business acumen and friendliness, especially if you are job-searching.”

“Try to say as much about yourself with as few words as possible,” says Michael P. Grace, founder of Virallock, a social media monitoring and management service. “Be witty and creative without being corny or cliché. This is your chance to stand out.”

Maybe include some fun facts, suggests David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision. “We had a technology firm and one of the many things they included in their bio was that nobody who worked there was taller than 5’5″. People actually mentioned seeing that when they contacted the company.”

“If your bio says something to the effect of ‘father, coffee lover and social media addict,’ that doesn’t really set you apart from the crowd,” says Lux. Stay away from words like guru, ninja, rockstar, etc.

“Browse around and see how others describe themselves,” advises Grace. “Don’t copy others, but pay attention to users who have had a Twitter account for a longer timeframe.”

Hashtags, Handles, Links

“Use hashtags in your bio so people with similar interests can find you,” says Lux.

Jonathan Rick, digital and social media director at Levick Strategic Communications, says that if you want to be publicly associated with your employer, don’t write: Director at Levick Strategic Communications. Instead, write: Director at @Levick.

And if multiple people manage a company account, call them out either by their full handles or their initials, says Rick. For example:

• @Poynter‘s bio lists handles: School for journalism & democracy, with tweets by @juliemmoos, @myersnews, @mallarytenore, @jeffsonderman, @abeaujon
• @AmericanExpress‘ bio lists initials: Follow Amex’s Mona Hamouly (MLH), Matt Burton (MB) & Amy Tokarski (AT) for insider news, offers & more. Chk out our Favorites page to turn Tweets into savings!

Also, definitely include a link — not in your bio — but as part of your profile, says Lux. “Many people link to their personal website or blog, or LinkedIn profile.” The link allows people to find out more about you than they can from the 160 characters allowed in the Twitter bio.

Adding links helps describe and reinforce who you are, and drives traffic between all of your social media vehicles, agrees Grace.

Expert/Company Bios of the People Quoted in This Article:

Here is the text from the Twitter bios of the experts (or their companies) included in this article (links not included):

• @Levick: Levick Strategic Communications is the world’s leading crisis communications firm. We are unparalleled in building brand equity and protecting reputations.
• @KellyLux: #CMGR & SM Strategist @iSchoolSU / Borg Queen of #NEXIS / Co-founder #CMGRchat / Opinionated Wine Connoisseur and +1 Dog Lover / Instagram Fanatic
• @Virallock: Virallock evaluates, optimizes and monitors social media profiles to help students and young professionals avoid negative perceptions to their personal brand.
• @StratCommun: Communication consultant. Marketer. Social media explorer. HR/management coach. Teacher. Golfer. Reader.
• @DavidJohnsonSV: CEO of Strategic Vision | PR Professional | Republican consultant | Facebook: DavidJohnsonSV

Profile Picture: Say Cheese!

The profile picture is probably the most important component of your Twitter presence, says Lux. Your profile picture should be YOU — not a cartoon avatar; not a picture of your dog or the San Francisco skyline; and not a picture of you with your kids, spouse, pet, etc.

“You need to appear approachable, which, in this sense, means: smiling,” says Lux. The picture should be distinctive enough that people recognize it as they scroll by it in the stream.

“You want your Twitter avatar to reflect you as you write about yourself in the bio,” adds Lux. For example, unless you are a business consultant, stay away from the suit-and-tie look.

Johnson once worked with a romance author who wanted to be known as the “Queen of Naughty and Nice.” “She wanted to use a professional headshot from her Wall Street days, but we told her that her photo needed to convey the image she wanted branded in her book,” he says. “So we added a more racy photo.”

The picture should also remain fairly stable, says Lux. Don’t change it as often as your Facebook profile picture, but do change it often enough that the picture still actually looks like you (i.e., more than once every decade!).

Linda Pophal, CEO of Strategic Communications, notes that if a Twitter account is for an organization, rather than a person, then the company logo works well as the profile picture. For example: @ProfNet

Wallpaper: Keep It Simple

Trying to establish a perfect Twitter background shouldn’t be the main focus of designing your profile, says Grace.

“I don’t believe the Twitter background is all that important; I’ve never made a decision on who to follow or not follow based on their Twitter background,” agrees Lux.

“That being said, you don’t want to make it look like you’re selling too hard!” she continues. “If your Twitter background is a bunch of pictures of you, your latest book, your Facebook page, etc. — you’re trying too hard.”

“Use a consistent pattern that is not distracting,” says Grace. “Twitter provides a handful of design options that are decent, but feel free to explore colors, patterns and textures that may create a more pleasing aesthetic to viewers.”

Make sure that your wallpaper is consistent with all aspects of branding, like color schemes, adds Johnson.

Rick lists four approaches to wallpaper designs:

• The Visual Way: employs big pictures that immediately communicate the brand, a la @Disney, @Staples or @WWF
• The Logo Way: uses the company logo as the background, a la @Ford or@LinkedIn
• The Informative Way: lists contact info and links to other social channels in the wallpaper itself, a la @Intel or @mashable
• The Product Way: displays Photoshopped pictures of the company’s key wares, a la @Pepsi (can of Pepsi) or @LAYS (bag of Lay’s potato chips)

Overall Look and Feel: Be Consistent

Your Twitter profile should be designed for the audience you are trying to reach and the image you are attempting to convey to them, says Johnson.

Profiles should reflect the individual or organization’s brand identity and communication strategy, agrees Pophal.

Approach the profile from the standpoint of crafting an “elevator speech,” Pophal continues. What is it that you do that represents value to your target audience?

“Every profile on Twitter has a voice,” concludes Grace. “Always consider how you want your voice to be represented to those who haven’t met you, and let your personality shine through as much as possible.”

Gracie

My Mom, passed almost three years ago, but she began her entrepreneurial career at the age of 22, and inspired me to live a freedom based life and to take advantage of opportunities, as they came up.

Before public kindergarten existed, she opened a private nursery and kindergarten north of Boston.  She was a recent college graduate (the only one of 7 siblings) and came from a first generation Greek Family, who resisted higher education, especially for women.

Sleeping three to a bed, and insisting on a better life, my Mom became a teacher.  With a year under her belt, in 1953, she opened up “Musical Nursery and Kindergarten” and catered to parents from better neighborhoods who could afford $15 dollars a week for a full time program. Loving the piano, she had a musical curriculum, made everyone play an instrument, and offered door to door pick up service for students.  I remember mapping out the route in our station wagon, Fridays as prize days, and the swings in the back yard of the school.

My Mom had her business for twenty years, and we enjoyed summers off, skiing vacations and trips to Filene’s Basement. She had no problem taking us out of school for an unexpected opportunity or travel, and from time to time, let us eat ice cream for dinner, because it was OK.

Perhaps an entrepreneur by default, with inspiration from my Dad, we knew no other life. Up, down, and everything in between; it’s the life of an entrepreneur.

It’s no surprise that I’ve followed in her footstep, and my Dad’s. And, I was inspired to raise my two daughters the same way with a love for freedom and the flexibility it affords.

I’m honoring my Mom, Aphrodite (who was indeed a Goddess of Love), with this story.

You would have loved her.

Happy Mother’s Day,

Robin

PS – Attention: Entrepreneurs who want to be noticed! Take advantage of a new service I’m offering as part of my Press without Stress program. Tell me what topics you’re interested in, and I’ll find press opportunities that are available from reporters worldwide. I’ll answer HARO Ads, and reporter’s requests, on your behalf, in your voice. Getting publicity is good for business.  It gets your name out there, boosts your income and helps you Stand Out In a Crowd!  Email me at Robin@LetsMakeYouShine or call (617) 921 – 3448 to find out the details of this affordable program. It’s working for me, so I’m offering it to you!

Between life and business, my schedule is pretty busy so I’m fortunate to have the help of a friend, Danny, who helps care for my bees. Just this week, I asked him a question; “What do bees and business have in common?” and was really surprised at the Zen-fulness of his answer.

Q: What do bees and business  have in common?”

A:  “Robin, with honey bees, the bottom line is success of the hive.  They are goal-oriented with an understanding that no job is too small in achieving success.  Every bee plays their part – queen, worker and drone. One could anthropomorphize (attributing human behavior to a bee, for example) loyalty as a virtue.  The good of the hive comes first.  Business and corporations could do well looking at the hive as a business model; they do no harm. They leave everything they touch better than it was and create useful products everyone can use in a responsible manner.”

I got this on text, no kidding.

So, I’m adding to Danny’s wisdom. Bees never give up. They thrive on good conditions, and rebuild  when times are tough. Everyone’s all in, or they’re removed. The Queen is the leader, but if she’s not doing her job, she’d ousted – in fact, the other bees mysteriously create a new one, with drama kept within the hive.

Just like a business, when leadership is strong and expectations are met, there’s sweet success.

Now, I’m not sure about “dancing in the dark”, but perhaps that’s what goes on late at night behind closed corporate doors?

Here’s to your business, buzzin…

• Who is Robin Samora and what qualifies you as a Business and PR strategist ?
• Who needs your services?  How does a client work with you?
• Can you give us an example where you’re especially proud of the success of one of your clients because it shows a direct result from your counseling?
• Name the symptoms experienced by someone who needs to embolden their lives by strategizing with you?
• Why can’t people sort this out themselves…what does strategizing with you provide them that they can’t do on their own?

TIP: You are your own brand and you need to market yourself with that in mind.  Identify who you are and what your company stands for before hitting the road with the latest PR gimmick. What good is it if the world sees or hears you and thinks of fuzzy kittens on your YouTube video, but you’re selling hardware? You need to develop a strategy for your self-promotion that just doesn’t get you out there, but instead gets you out there with meaning, with creativity, and that’s consistent with your business mission. You need to be able to stand out in a crowd.

Robin Samora is a business and PR strategist who helps entrepreneurs take a leap of faith to make more money and get recognized in a crowded marketplace.  Her passion is coaching professionals to expand their limits to get the business and attention they deserve – so they can share their gifts and profits with the world.  With a background in business and marketing, Robin not only drives clients to uncover their personal profit centers, but she goes one step farther – she works with her clients to uncover unique strategies to bring their messages to the masses. Robin is a life-long entrepreneur, idea-generator and the founder of the Let’s Make You Shine Fund, which empowers young women to advance their education and use their special gifts to help others.

The theme of the conference was clear.  Connectivity is today’s new currency. Without relationships there are no sales, and without sales, there is no business.

Here are some takeaways you may like to add as Insider Secrets:

• At your next networking event, meet 5 people, and connect with each of them for 5 minutes. The key people are: the Speaker; the Organizer; and 3 yappers. Yappers are always talking to people, have a crowd around them, and never talk to other yappers.
• Don’t bring business cards to networking sessions. Just bring a sharpie. Write one of two notes; Dud (in code) or *. Follow up with the stars and ask how you can help them (by asking the right questions). Make a coffee date and begin a relationship. Don’t ask for business, just ask how you can help.
• Buy from network marketers, instead of Target for items you need (and are available by those same network marketers). In fact, buy one item from each marketer who sells the item you need, because each of those marketers know hundreds of people.
• Find out which Facebook groups those marketers are in, and join those groups. With each new contact, there are hundreds of prospective customers.
• If you’re in business, use your phone message as a branded marketing opportunity. One of my colleagues has a company that “brings back desire” in relationships. If she added a weekly intimacy tip to her voice mail, and promoted it on Facebook and Twitter, she might double her mailing list. In fact, her phone might ring off the hook.
• And lastly, be creative with your marketing. You know all those pre-paid envelopes that come in the mail? (Love this), send your marketing material back in the same envelope, and ask the recipient to pass it on.  Why not, right?

Loving the ideas from the 33^rd floor and hope you do too!

Special Thanks to Casey Eberhart who shared this information. 

When you have a plan and create a road map before you start, you can work with speed. Just be open to the journey and accept surprises along the way. When you’ve mastered the trick of enjoying life’s attractions and distractions with curiosity, you can keep the momentum going — towards success as you define it.

My passion as a business and PR strategist is to help you be more in tune with where you want to go and to act as your business GPS to uncover the most productive way to get there, even if we sometimes find ourselves “recalculating” the route.

My ultimate goal for you is always the same — to make more money, get recognized in the marketplace and stand out in the crowd in a career built on your passion. By doing this, you can lead a bigger and bolder life, and ultimately, give back, big time. Not just helping one, but helping thousands.

My map is worn and torn, but serves me well.

What does your map look like?

Click Here to Read the complete article: 63 Things Entrepreneurs Wish They Knew at Age 21

If you’re brave enough to be alone for some length of time, away from the noise and hub bub of activities, friends, family and kids, with a sleeping dog at the foot of your bed, and your palms intentionally or not open, asking what is really going on right now in your life, and how it’s all serving you – that’s the time to listen.

It is without doubt, one of the hardest things to do – to just stop the mind chatter and let thoughts come in, kind of like an air purifier does with air, only with the window open rather than a filter; (who wants to catch the bad stuff). To listen, to the quiet little voice that speaks as softly as a whisper, or in my case, often coming through as a song, lyrics and all. One key phrase repeated often. Most recently, “Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby”, when asking about a relationship.

Imagine if we could listen, and just breathe in love, and breathe out fear when we were stressed, or angry, or feeling anxious. How would we feel afterwards, and how would that affect the little voice, our gut or innermost thoughts. How would it affect our peacefulness? Blood pressure? Relationships with others, and more importantly the relationship with ourselves? Would it be an exercise that we could all benefit from?

I’ve come to realize that we are often either loving or fearing to some degree. And, what are we afraid of? Responsibility, disappointment, success, drama, not being “all in” when someone wants us to be? Not sure exactly, but the list goes on, with our own twists and turns.

One day, I decided to wash everyone with love that I came across during an entire day. I wished them well, smiled, and noticed that love was taking over. It was contagious. I had amazing eye contact with strangers. On airplanes, in restaurants, at coffee shops, and even with my Fed Ex guy. In my world, a smile is just an extended form of love, and where I grew up, there were a hundred ways to love, just as there were a hundred ways to skin a cat (metaphorically speaking).

Some are lucky to listen to the Voice On Demand, others may need some prompting, but ultimately, the voice is there if you listen. If the connection is good, the Voice is eternal, whether we realize it or not. So being alone now, is never an issue for me. I can hold hands with the Voice, and ask, “what’s really going on.”

The answer is always there.

As I listened, it reminded me of what I know as “Actions speak louder than words.” And, whichever expression you’re more familiar with, I’m a believer.

Talk is cheap. Actions do speak louder than words.

So, why do people promise and not perform? To be polite? Because in the moment they want to please? Or, is it easier to ‘yes’ someone, and not deal with the disappointment of a no, or an explanation of a ‘why not’?

Truthfully, it could be a combination of reasons. But, if you happen to depend on an all talk – no rock person for something important in your life, or business, you may already know to have a backup plan, just in case.

All talk – no rock people eventually build a reputation as non-perfomers and risk being earmarked as undependable – not necessarily the first time, but perhaps down the road.

If you’re all talk and no rock, all talk and no rock, all talk and no rock, eventually people will believe you.

That’s how reputations are born.

A reputation is an awful thing to waste.

Make yours count.

Inspired by the cover, Energize Your Life, I thumbed through the magazine and found this love story between two frequent fliers called the Airport Connection. I thought I would share it with you because it moved me.

Click here to read this amazing story.

Although it’s Valentine’s Day, isn’t every day about sharing the love?

Hope you know I’m sending mine, to you.