Leveraging Twitter to Find Your Tribe

Twitter is fast and furious and full of potential. Where else can you connect and network with your favorite journalist, artist, and ideal clients all on the same platform?

Imagine for a minute you have a dream of publishing an article in a newspaper you know your ideal clients read?  You know that having an article published or having your business referenced would give your brand validity in your niche, but you don’t know anyone in the newspaper and you live a couple of hundred miles from their HQ.  

Enter Twitter.

Here is how can you can leverage your expertise and use Twitter to help succeed with your dream. A lot of journalists hang out on Twitter, they share their stories and they look for stories to tell.      

 

We, at our essence, are storytellers and when we tell a story about something, we are passionate about it speaks volumes and resonates with those whose pains and wounds you touch.

It doesn’t matter what niche you work in, maybe you are a dog walker or an app builder, there is always someone out there who needs what it is you do, and everyone has a story to tell about their business.   KIEV, UKRAINE - MAY 30, 2014: Person holding a brand new Apple iPhone 5S with Twitter profile on the screen. Twitter is a social media online service for microblogging and networking, founded in March 21, 2006.

How to be seen and heard on Twitter

One of the quickest ways to let these people know about you is to write an article in a newspaper targeted to your ideal clients that speaks to them in their language.

Make a list of the journalists who write articles in your niche. Follow them on Twitter and start to build a relationship with them. You do this by being authentic in your communication, reach out in an open tweet and share their stories.  

Comment and tell them what you like about their story, always being real.  It’s networking, it’s building connections, and it’s respectfully building trust. It is like any relationship you are serious about; you get to know them and you see how they like to engage with their readers, there is nothing more off-putting them being pushy and annoying on social media!   

Always be respectful and mindful of this and ask if it’s ok before sending a direct message. Remember you leave a digital footprint for everyone to see.

If you build a good relationship based on trust with a journalist and prove to them that you are an expert in your field, you may be asked to contribute to an article at some stage.  

Keep an eye for #journorequests which is a hashtag that is used daily by journalists looking for people to connect with.  

Like every platform, of course, you need to be clear on your own story first and who it is you serve and who you want to serve before you start posting and following people on Twitter.   If you find your newsfeed is full of uninteresting articles, then chances are you are following the wrong people.

 If you want to grow a tribe on Twitter surround yourself with the people you want to connect with, make meaningful connections and do what social media is about: be social.