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Tonight I decided to change my twitter handle to my name, @joel_dahlin. I have been battling with what I want to do with twitter for some time now.

When I first signed up on twitter I choose my common online username.  This was back when I was employed by someone else. I was only testing the waters of twitter then.  It was still pretty small back then and not many people even know what it was. I really didn’t think much of it.

Fast forward 2 years later. I am now working on my own as a freelance web developer. So my name really means a lot more now. I didn’t realize how important personal branding was until much later (another blog post about that later).

Originally I was thinking I would create two handles, one for business and one for personal, but I think by choosing my name it covers both and makes it much easier to maintain.

By choosing my name it is a handle everyone can recognize. My old handle was only known by my personal friends. I want something that everyone will know me by and remember me by. I’ve started to get into a few video chats with twitter followers and they really don’t know what the heck to call me.  When I go to code camps, developer conferences, etc people can now put the name to the face.  Before they would have no idea I was the person behind my old handle.

It’s a good thing twitter makes it so easy to change your username.  I made sure to create a new account with my old handle just to point people to my new handle just in case.  Remember to do this if you change your handle.

If you’re thinking of changing your twitter handle here are a few other good posts that I read thanks to @philmontero.

Why You Should Use Your Real Name On Twitter
3 keys to un-branding…and why I changed my twitter name
Should I Use My Personal Name or My Website Name on Twitter?

Now I need to get on the phone with my designer and get some new biz cards made up. Oh yeah, and update the links on my website.

UPDATE: I originally wrote this post before I actually made the switch.  When I went to do it I found out the name @joeldahlin was already taken.  Lesson learned, get your name right away.

Filed under: Business   Tags: twitter,
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It seems lately Twitter has finally gained facebook buzz. Everyone is hopping on Twitter. You can probably say it has now gone mainstream.

I’ve been on Twitter for about a year now and had an account even longer. I’ve always used Twitter as my techie community. Posting cool tips and links and asking questions when I’ve been stumped. I can always be sure to know what the latest tech buzz is by using Twitter.

Lately with so many more people coming on board it’s actually turn into a business lead avenue. Here are some things that I’ve done to help me get the most out of it.

1. Follow people in your industry. Follow people that are in your industry and start to communicate with everyone, get active in it.
2. Get Tweetdeck. This really turns Twitter into an entirely different form of communication. It is a desktop application written in Adobe Air that is always running in the background aggregating all the updates of the tweeple you are following. The great thing is you don’t have to constantly open up twitter.com in a browser, in fact I don’t think I’ve gone to twitter in a browser for about a month now. You get everything through TweetDeck.
   Another powerful feature in TweetDeck is the ability to have a filtered “Search”. For example I do a lot of development work using the Kentico CMS. So in TweetDeck I have a search column for “Kentico”. Anytime anyone tweets with the keyword “Kentico” in it I see it. I then can reply to their tweet if I want. It helps me network within this niche and make my known as an active developer in this community. Bonus with Tweetdeck it now integrates with Facebook. You can post directly to Facebook using this and see your all your friends updates about how they wish it would stop snowing, if you want to.
3. Synch Twitter on your phone. Now if you want you can get every update of your friends as a text message on your phone. I tried this for about a week but found it became way too much. I do however allow any Direct Message to me to go through to my phone. A Direct Message is well just that, someone writing a message directly to you. Others don’t see these tweets. You know someone really wants to get a hold of you when they Direct Message you. I’ve had people DM about my hosting packages, help with Kentico, and new contracts. Being able to be contacted easily and respond quickly is huge now a days.
4. Add your info to your Twitterback. You can’t design your Twitter page anyway you want, but you can style it a bit and add a background image to it. I’ve themed mine to match my site, made sure to add my business logo and contact info. Just another way to let people know what I do and how to get a hold of me. If you need help there are many sites out there with backgrounds already created that you can use.
5. Tweet. You have to be active yourself on Twitter. Anytime you find something that you think others would find useful or read a good blog post tweet it. If you can answer someones question quickly respond. It helps build your reputation as someone who is knowledgeable in your industry. People will start to recognize you and remember you.

Now that is just a short overview of how I use Twitter to help business. Lets hear how you use Twitter for business. Here is a great post on how Twitter has helped a coffee shop.

Update:
I found this video thanks to chirpup on “How to Use Twitter for Marketing & RP.

Filed under: Business   Tags: twitter,
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