Many of you out there may have noticed that there was an upgrade to tweet deck today that enables you to do some cool new stuff with your twitter followers. Here are two quick ways to use the new features to establish your personal brand and build stronger, more meaningful connections.
1) Connect with your most engaged followers on other platforms
When you think about twitter, too often people only think about connecting through one medium. There is not enough overlap between your twitter followers, your connections on LinkedIn and your Facebook friends. So first off I would suggest that you find the followers of yours that you really engage with and you connect with them on different platforms. Tweet Deck enables you to connect with Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn seamlessly.
Remember that while technology makes it easy to connect with people that you may not have met, it is also in many ways an inefficient means cultivate meaningful, lasting connections. For that reason you want to build multiple forms of communication between your virtual friends.
2) Turn twitter connections into “real-world” connections
The next monumental shift that is coming along is the ability to meet your virtual world. Now I am not talking about Second Life or anything like that, I am talking about actually shaking a person’s hand.
You should not only focus on individuals in your industry when you are building your followers, you should look to the locals. There has been a recent explosion on twitter of people trying to connect with others in their area. It is always interesting to meet someone for the first time after you have communicated online. This meet up solidifies the relationship.
If you want to start building a more meaningful relationship today, fire up the newest version of Tweet Deck and start looking for your followers geolocation information and see where your friends are congregating. Look for local twitter lists and get involved locally to help build your personal brand in your area.
I am interested in hearing what other people are doing on twitter and in Tweet Deck that is different to connect with people.
