Get a reader

There’s so much content out there, how on earth do you manage to read it all?

Get an RSS reader.

1. If you haven’t already got a google account, get one. It’s free. Click on “sign in” on the google home page (top right) and then click on “create new account”
2. Once you have an account, sign in.
3. Then go to the top menu. Under “more” go to “reader”
4. That’s your reader.
5. Simply add subscriptions by clicking on the “add a subscription” button. Type in either the url of the news site or blog you wish to follow, or search by search term and it will return results of news sites and blogs matching your terms. Then click on the +subscription button under the ones you wish to follow.
6. Once a day, or more, you can go into reader and scan down all the latest news relevant to you.

You can add my blog to your reader paste in www.sharonroessen.wordpress.com

What to tweet

A few ideas on how to be interesting and engage people on Twitter. Thanks again to  @JoelComm

LINK TWEET “This is what I’m working on now”
Post a new blog article then tweet about it. Linking your blog article to the tweet. Use a URL shortening tool so that the URL doesn’t use up all 140 characters. I use Hootsuite.com and this has a shortening tool in it, tinyurl.com does same thing too. If you have an RSS feed on your site you can register on twitterfeed.com and it posts tweet as soon as content on your site changes.

CLASSIC TWEET “This is what I’m doing now”
The easiest to write – but try to make interesting don’t post inane stuff like what you’re eating.  Add personality too them, they tell people who you are.  They don’t have to just be work related.

OPINION TWEET “This is what I’m thinking now”
Sharing thoughts on your actions. But for business purposes keep your opinions limited to topics on your industry. Comment on industry news stories or comment on what another industry expert has tweeted.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED TWEET “This is what I’ve jsut done”
Announcing “I’ve just done this” is another way of saying “What do you think of this?”. You may well get replies on this kind of tweet.

ENTERTAINMENT TWEET “I’m making you laugh now”
Being entertaining now and again will get you followers.

QUESTION TWEET “Can you help me with something now”
Ask for help and advice. People love to help. Questions can also be used to start conversation.

PICTURE TWEET “Look at what I’ve been doing”
Post a picture to Flickr or a video to Youtube – then tweet about it and link to it.  Alternatively, use www.twitpic.com, load image and tweet it at the same time.

So no excuse for boring tweets or tweets that are just loaded with direct marketing messages.

Give your tweets personality and supply interesting information that your industry and customers will find useful.