Your choice. Assuming you picked the second, here are 10 types of tweets that will help you be a Twitter superstar in no time.

Boring
Snore. Tweets that give Twitter a bad name such as “I am eating a sandwich.” This type of tweet is uninteresting and doesn’t encourage interaction. Twitter started this trend by asking the world a boring question: “What’s happening.” They should have started with “What has your attention?” That could be the difference between tweeting “I’m eating a sandwich” and “I need your help to find the best burger in Chicago.” Which of those tweets interests you more?

Introductory
Introduce a Twitter user to either another user or a group of people. Example include: “I’d like everyone to meet @soandso, who is new to our team here at the Tribune” and “Hey, @Suchandsuch please meet @soandso, who is also an avid golfer.” Introductory tweets are a great way to build community quickly on Twitter.

Spammer
Trust me. You don’t want to be viewed this way. Spammer tweets aren’t necessarily tweets that come from an automatic spambot feed. Sometimes, spammy tweets can come from a user who only seems to shill for his or her own projects or products. An often cited formula for avoiding being a spammy twitter user is to follow the Rule of Thirds: Talk about your own products a third of the time. Share other links and ideas in your niche for another third. In the final third, reply to people, answer questions and ask questions of your followers.

Quote
Consist of an attributed quote and that’s all. Example: “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on – Robert Frost.” This type of tweet is common, but should be used very sparingly because it generally does not encourage interaction with others.

Retweet
Retweets (or “RTs”) are simply re-sharing the content sent from another user. These can be done by hitting the “retweet” button to share the original tweet and automatically source the tweet (“RT @scottkleinberg Today…”). The retweet can also be accomplished by sharing a link obtained from another user, recreating a version of the tweet, and including “MT (modified tweet) or via @username” in the tweet.

Marketing
Let’s talk about these. In and of themselves, they are harmless, straightforward communication about a product, deal or brand. For example: a hardware store twitter account could tweet “This week only: all BrandX paint and rollers 50% off” and that would be an example of a marketing tweet. The problem arises with marketing tweets when that is all or the majority of tweets posted by a given account. This isn’t likely to be a problem if the tweeter follows the aforementioned Rule of Thirds. Sticking with the hardware store example: this account could also share how-to guides and tips, relevant industry news, and address customers service and/or advice questions. Everyone buying paint wants to know how to get it out of the carpet.

Giveaway or Benefactor
Tweets giving “insidery” info on deals, freebies, contests and other giveaways. Most giveaway tweets are designed to go viral by being widely retweeted to share the information.

Link
Tweets sharing links to compelling or entertaining articles, images or blog posts. Such links can be original content from the user, or outside content he or she wishes to share with followers. Be sure to mix link tweets with other types of tweets for maximum impact.

Question and Answer
User asks a question of his or her followers and this hopefully results in answers. Question tweets can range from rhetorical questions (which can be entertaining, but generally aren’t extremely useful because they do not encourage interaction) to polling followers about product and purchase recommendations (Buying a new dishwasher. Any recommendations?)

Customer service
Can be either from the customer raising an issue with a service or product, or from a company acknowledging a widespread customer issue, or working to satisfy an individual customer’s issue.

Watch “30 Second Social,” the web video series hosted by Scott Kleinberg and Amy Guth, for more tips and tricks about Twitter and other forms of social media.

The post Twitter: 10 types of tweets you should know appeared first on 435 Digital.

Great news. This fall, we are offering a series of strategy classes for non-profit professionals and volunteers. The classes are offered in partnership with Chicago Non-Profit, which provides resources and workshops to more than 1,200 local non-profits.

Please see below for our complete schedule and registration information. Our six classes include:

Social Media for Non-Profits: Designing Your Social Media Strategy

Facebook for Non-Profits: Part One

Facebook for Non-Profits: Part Two

Twitter for Non-Profits

Building & Maintaining Your Social Media Dashboard

Tying It All Together:  A Panel Discussion on Social Media for Non-Profits

Because these classes are designed specifically for the non-profit community, reduced prices start at $25 per class.  The classes are based on our curriculum which has been taught to more than 1,000 professionals nationwide since March.

All of the classes will be held at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, which is located in the AON Center. Classes run three hours and will include time for networking with fellow attendees.

Below is a list of the six classes I will be teaching.  Chicago Non-Profit is offering four additional classes in partnership with the Young Professionals of Chicago, creative go-round and 20k films.  Topics include branding, creating short videos using an iPhone, and creating fundraising events. Please visit Chicago Non-Profit’s website for more information  about those classes.

Questions? Problems registering? Please call or email Chicago Non-Profit.

I hope to see you at one or all of our social media classes!

Classes for Non-Profit Professionals & Volunteers

Social Media for Non-Profits: Designing Your Strategy, $25/$35

In this overview class, learn how to design a social media strategy that is customized to the needs of a non-profit. We will discuss how to select the right platform, share content effectively, grow your following, monitor and respond to real-time conversations, and create social media guidelines for your employees.

Wednesday, Aug. 24 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

Facebook for Non-Profits: Part One, $35/$50

This is an introductory course to the world’s largest social network–Facebook.  In this course, you will learn how to create a profile both for yourself and a page for your nonprofit. We will also discuss how to grow your following and protect your privacy.

Tuesday, Sept. 13 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

Facebook for Non-Profits: Part Two, $35/$50

In this intermediate class, learn how to design and grow a dynamic Facebook page for your nonprofit.  We will discuss how to create a calendar for sharing content, select apps to customize your page and analyze Facebook Insights to track your page’s growth.

Wednesday, Oct. 5 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center  | Click here for more info & to register

Twitter for Non-Profits, $35/$50

This intermediate class is for people who are already familiar with Twitter. In this intermediate course, we will show you how to take full advantage of your nonprofit’s Twitter profile. You will learn how to quickly grow your following, share relevant information and monitor real-time conversations about your brand.

Wednesday, Oct. 26 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

Building & Managing Your Social Media Dashboard, $35/$50

In this advanced class, learn how to manage your social media profiles by creating a customized social media dashboard. We’ll walk you through both Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, the most popular free social media dashboards.  We’ll also discuss how to recruit the right person to help manage your nonprofit’s social media profiles.

Wednesday, Nov. 9 | 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

Tying It All Together: A Panel Discussion on Social Media for Non-Profits, $20/$35

You’ve learned what it takes to create an effective social media strategy — now hear the success stories of four Chicago nonprofits. We will discuss how they created their strategies, what worked and didn’t work, lessons learned and their advice to other nonprofits. Panelists TBA.

Wednesday, Nov. 30 | 5:3o p.m. to 8 p.m. | AON Center | Click here for more info & to register

The post Announcing social media classes for Chicago non-profits appeared first on 435 Digital.

Facebook, Google+ vie for news distribution

Facebook is  reportedly working with a dozen news organizations to create exclusive versions of their news content to be delivered via app, reports David Cohen of AllFacebook. A Forbes report says these sources could include  CNN, The Washington Post, and The Daily. Meanwhile Google is said to be in negotiation with media companies to create a portal of its own, Cohen said. The new Google+ beta has surpassed 10 million users and introduced its news badges last week, which basically amount to bragging rights for news junkies. 

Could Facebook be the bank of the future?

Facebook has a mall called Payvment that  has 60,000 retailers and is adding 400 a day, reported Tom Groenfeldt  of Forbes July 15. Facebook also has a cozy relationship with credit system and game builder Zynga, Groenfeldt reports.  Together the two could conceivably create a retail powerhouse running its own payment system. Original source: Chris Skinner at The Finanser.

Yelp hits the 20 million review mark

With its reviews business, Yelp continues to outpace  Groupon, LivingSocial and Google in the local business space, Mashable reports. Yelp reported  that as of July 11, it had recorded  20 million reviews with 53 million unique visitors. View a heat map showing numbers of Yelp reviews

Twitter will add promoted tweets,  accounts

Twitter users will soon be seeing tailored, automated and bulk-published ads from major advertisers in their feeds, reports Alexei Oreskovic for Reuters. A beta test will allow a limited number of partners to deliver Twitter ads via application programming interface, or API, starting 4th quarter 2011. Reuters reported that Twitter only began offering advertising on its service in April 2010. The microblogging service currently has  600 advertisers that will generate about $150 million in ad revenue this year, according to research firm eMarketer.

Heads up!  435Digital Masterclass this Friday, July 22

The 435Digital masterclass is an all-day seminar designed for business owners and communications professionals. It will be held Friday, July 22 at Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago.  Topics covered include website development, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media strategy.

The Masterclass will also include a panel featuring Chicago business leaders who excel in social media. Panelists include Geoff Alexander, executive vice president Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and managing partner of Wow Bao; Lindsay Avner, executive director of Bright Pink; Mari Luangrath, owner of Foiled Cupcakes; and Scott Kleinberg, director of social media strategy for RedEye. Learn more.

The post Five for Friday on Social Media appeared first on 435 Digital.

The 435 Digital Masterclass will be held Friday, July 22 at Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago.  Topics covered include website development, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media strategy.  The individual sessions will be taught by myself and my colleagues at 435 Digital, including Brent Payne. See below for a complete itinerary.

The Masterclass will also feature a panel discussion with Chicago business leaders who excel at social media. Confirmed panelists include Geoff Alexander, executive vice president Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and managing partner of Wow Bao; Lindsay Avner, executive director of Bright Pink; and Mari Luangrath, owner of Foiled Cupcakes. You can learn more about them on Twitter at @geoffalex @bebrightpink and @foiledcupcakes respectively.

Both a catered breakfast and lunch will be served during the Masterclass. It will run from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Friday, July 22.  The entire event will take place in Campbell Hall, which is located inside the historic Tribune Tower.

Space is limited to 45 people to ensure an intimate learning environment. Participants are encouraged to bring their latops to follow the presentations, and free Wifi will be available. All particpants will also receive PDF copies of each presentation given during the Masterclass.

But wait, there’s more! The 435 Digital Masterclass, which is a $500 value, will be offered as a Daily Deal on ChicagoBreakingDeals.com.  Instead of paying the full $500, you will be able to purchase a ticket for $250. To do so, please visit www.chicagobreakingdeals.com on Tuesday, June 14. The deal will go live at 12 a.m. on Tuesday, June 14.  Again, space is limited to 45 people. Once those deals sell out (and we’re pretty sure they will), that’s it.

Should you have questions, you can email me directly. If you are interested in registering for other 435 Digital classes, please visit our SEO and social media classes page.

435 Digital Masterclass Itinerary

Friday, July 22 | Tribune Tower’s Campbell Hall

8:30 a.m. Registration & breakfast

9 a.m.  Introduction to Website Development, SEO & Social Media

9:30 a.m. Building A Better Website

11 a.m. SEO for Business

12:30 p.m.  Catered Lunch

1 p.m. Social Media for Business

2:45 p.m. Panel on Social Media Strategy (featuring Wow Bao, Bright Pink and Foiled Cupcakes)

4 p.m.  Q & A session

4:30 p.m. End of Masterclass

The post Save $250 on our SEO & Social Media Masterclass appeared first on 435 Digital.

I laugh and ask, “Why are you on Twitter? Answer that question and you have your answer.”

People tweet for different reasons. Some people tweet because they like to talk a lot. These are the people who will tweet 50 times a day about everything from the weather to subway etiquette to basketball scores. Typically they have a small group of people that they talk to every day, and they have little interest in expanding their following.

Some people tweet because they’re passionate about a certain topic. On Twitter, the most popular topics tend to be politics, entertainment, sports and technology. People who tweet about these topics will post a variety of information. It could include links to relevant articles and blog posts, retweets of industry thought leaders and their own 140-character musings.

Some people tweet in order to grow their businesses. They look to Twitter as an inexpensive tool for marketing and public relations. Done well, a Twitter account can help a business share its latest news, reach out directly to potential customers and monitor what people are saying about its brand in real time.

If you fall under this category, we recommend that you create a Twitter account using your company name. That way, when customers are searching for you on Twitter, they can easily find you. At 435 Digital, we’ve created a Twitter account named @435Digital. Our team regularly tweets about our company from their personal accounts as well.

Many people tweet their reactions to a live event. This applies to people who tweet for personal or professional reasons.  Recent events that a lot of people discussed on Twitter included March Madness, the Japanese earthquakes and the Oscars.  To signify that they’re talking about a specific event, people typically will use a “hashtag.” For those events, the hashtags were #MarchMadness, #Japan and #Oscars.

If you want to tweet about an event, you should first figure out what hashtag everyone is using. The best way to do that is a search on search.twitter.com.

Of course, you may decide to tweet for both personal and professional reasons. Many people do this, myself included. It’s a great way to both show your personality and share your expertise. Just remember everything you tweet may be seen by a potential client or customer!

Want to learn more? 435 Digital offers seven different types of courses for the public, including Advanced Twitter for Business. We can also hold private seminars for organizations.

To learn more about our course offerings, please visit 435digital.com/courses or email me directly.

The post What should I tweet about? 5 strategies to consider appeared first on 435 Digital.

How Facebook Questions works

What’s different is that the Question does not act like a status update. When you post a status update (or share a link, photo or video), that update lives on your Wall.

A Question does not live on your Wall. Instead, it becomes a hyperlink that converts into a pop-up box when clicked. The hyperlink to the Question then appears on the Wall of every person that answered it. What’s more, anyone can answer a Question– even if they’re not friends with or fans of the Question’s creator.

So, let’s say you see a funny Question that your Facebook friend just answered. You can simply click on the link to the same Question and answer it yourself. The hyperlink to the Question will then appear on your own wall. Now all of your friends can see it and, if interested, they can also answer it.

How Facebook Questions will help your business

For a business, Facebook Questions can have a huge impact on your Page. Why? Because if you asks the right Question, the Question can quickly spread beyond your Page’s own fans.

What’s more, Facebook Questions gives your business the chance to test ideas and to learn directly from your customers via Facebook.

Mashable.com has an excellent analysis, “Why Facebook’s New Questions Tool Is Good For Brands & Business.” For the post, Mashable talked with communications strategist Ben Grossman, who offered several ways businesses can take advantage of Questions. His ideas included:

• Ice cream parlors can find out what the flavor of the week should be.
• A gym can find out what time is best for its new hip-hop yoga class.
• Radio stations can determine the hottest concerts for the summer.
• Manufacturers can do a pulse check on fans’ holiday shopping plans.

“The best part about this is that it’s in a trusting, social and real-time setting,” Grossman told Mashable. ‘The opportunity to gain instant feedback from a brand’s biggest fans is amazing.’”

How to post a Facebook Question to your Page

435 Digital’s tips for asking a Question on your Facebook Page

1. Be sure to include your business’ name in your actual Question. Because a Facebook Question is a hyperlink, you absolutely want your business’ name to appear in the hyperlink. Every time that hyperlink shows up on a user’s profile, so will your business’ name.

2. Post your Question when your Fans are most likely to be on Facebook. The best time is between 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. when people are commuting and just settling in at work. You could also consider posting a Question when people are at home in the evening, ideally between 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. That Question might be more “fun” and something they’d likely forward to friends.

3. Ask a mix of Questions. Your Questions shouldn’t all be about your own Business. That gets boring and can quickly seem like spam. Instead, ask a mix of questions–a few that are related to your field, a few about your specific business, and perhaps a few water cooler topics.

4. Don’t over-ask. I suspect a lot of users and brands will be asking Questions in the weeks ahead.  Go slow to start. Ask a couple of questions a week. If your response is high, ask a third question per week.  The goal, of course, is to keep people engaged without seeming like a spammer.

Questions?  Feedback? We’d love to hear it–either in the comments below or on Twitter via @435Digital.

The post How Facebook Questions can help grow your Facebook Page appeared first on 435 Digital.

Yes. In fact, social media can make a huge impact on your SEO campaign very quickly. Here’s why.

At its core, SEO is based on three elements: popularity, authority and relevance. Popularity is the sheer number of inbound links to a website or webpage. Authority is quality links received from sites or pages that have a lot of links going to them. Relevance is the on-page, off-page, URL and anchor text relevancy in correlation to the search term enter by the searcher into Google.

Social media can be the quickest way to drive the popularity aspect of SEO. That’s because social media drives a lot of links to your website or webpage quickly. The links may also have some authority to them, but usually it’s just a high number of links of lower value. Google, Bing and Yahoo have stated publicly that they utilize signals presented in social media to not only rank items in real-time search, but to also determine which pages are being heavily discussed in social media.

I also have had a few conversations with some Google Engineers both while abroad and in the U.S. that provided some great insight. Overall, I’d recommend a few things though if you really want your social media to drive your SEO.

Popular audience: Work on the number of retweets (Twitter) and reposts (Facebook) you receive for your content. The search engines are looking at the number of retweets/reposts to help them determine how popular the shared content is online. The more the content (i.e. tweet, facebook update) is retweeted/reposted, the more important the content is perceived by the search engines.

Authoritative audience: Create a strong following in social media not only by sheer number of people following/friending you, but also by how many of those people have a high number of friends or followers. The search engines prefer content that is not only authoritative by the author but is retweeted/reposted by authoritative people.

Yes, you are judged by the company you keep and the more powerful your company the more powerful the search engines will perceive you and the content you create/share.

Relevant audience: Not only do the search engines pay attention to the type of content you create/share online, they are also paying attention to the content created/shared by those that are connected to you as well.

If you wish to have your content perceived by the search engines as being very relevant for SEO, PPC, reputation management, etc. then you will need to have in your timeline/history a lot of content that relates to SEO, PPC or reputation management. If then, the people that are also well known for SEO, PPC or reputation management share your content on their profiles then that specific piece of content will gain even greater relevancy.

Lesson here? Just because it may be fun to post a lot of random stuff on Twitter or Facebook (which I am very guilty of), it may be best to stick to your core competencies in order to improve your overall relevancy for the products/services you do hope to be successful in online. I know, it takes some of the fun out of social media but if you truly wish to grow your relevancy, restraint is suggested.

Social media should be open: The search engines are going to mainly pull publicly accessible information. While Bing has stated it may pull information from behind a wall (i.e. Twitter protected profiles and Facebook walled content), Google has stated that they only access information that Googlebot can access. Thus, it is best to have an open profile and hopefully have friends/followers that also have open profiles.

This will provide the maximum opportunity for ease of access to the content from the search engines and a greater ability for the search engines to interpret the intensity of the popularity, authority, relevancy of the content. Google has even gone so far as to announce they will shut down all private Google Profiles this summer, citing the point that social media should be open.

As most of you may be aware, I keep all of my social media profiles completely open. I do so partially to help the overall impact my social profiles have on SEO. However, it is also because it is a way of life I have chosen and find great joy in being so free online.

Hopefully, this gives you a taste as to how the search engines view social media, as well as a few tips to help you improve your social media. Social media and SEO will only continue to merge together as they both mature as online marketing components. You can either choose to start building a proper social media profile that is useful for SEO now or risk having little audience, authority or relevancy in the future.

The post How social media can help drive your SEO campaign appeared first on 435 Digital.

In the meantime, let’s answer a question that everyone was asking: How do you use Facebook for both work and your personal life?

It’s a tricky question. Facebook was originally designed for college students, many of whom shared everything on their personal profiles.  What’s more, college students who initially “friended” each other on Facebook were actually friends.

Flash forward seven years and 550 million users. Facebook is wildly different. Now anyone can join Facebook–including your boss, your colleagues, your clients and your industry peers.  If they send you a friend request, should you accept? Technically you aren’t friends, but you don’t want to snub them.

On the other hand, you don’t want to self-censor everything you post on your Facebook profile.  Most of your Facebook friends are your real friends and you’d like to share things with them that aren’t always professional.

Facebook Lists Are The Answer

Facebook Lists are a little-known but very powerful security setting. Essentially, you first separate your Facebook friends into different Lists. Then you can customize your privacy settings to control who sees what on your profile.

Facebook Lists are essential for establishing boundaries on your personal profile. You can still accept friend requests from people who aren’t technically your friends (i.e. professional contacts), but you can significantly limit what they see of your personal profile.

For example, you want to share photos on Facebook of yourself dancing at your friend’s wedding.  You look great, it was a fun night and you want others to share the memory. Problem. You’re also “friends” on Facebook with  a few clients.  Should they be seeing photos of you a few drinks in? Maybe not.

Another example. You want to post a Facebook update about how excited you are for the party you’re throwing this weekend. Problem. You didn’t invite all of the colleagues that you’re “friends” with on Facebook.  Would they be offended to read about your party and then not be personally invited? Maybe.

Fortunately, Facebook Lists can solve these dilemma for you.

How To Use Facebook Lists

I recommend creating two Facebook Lists. The first List can be titled “Personal” and include your real-life friends and family members. The second List can be titled “Work” and include all of your professional contacts, including colleagues, clients and industry peers.

After you’ve created both of your Lists, you will need to customize your privacy settings for each List. Obviously you’ll want to set higher privacy settings for your Work List.

(To learn how to set up a Facebook List and customized your privacy settings, watch this segment on Facebook Lists we did with ABC in November.)

It’s your call how strict you make the privacy settings for your Work List. You can prevent anyone on your Work List from seeing your Wall, but that is extreme. It’s also obvious to anyone who’s on your Work List that you are somewhat blocking them.

Instead, what you can do is plan to post two different sets of content on your wall. The first set of content would be personal content, such as personal photos and status updates. The second set of content would be professional content, such as professional photos and links to interesting articles.

How To Post  Different Sets Of Content To Your Wall

Yes, it’s a bit complicated and will take some time up front. But once you’ve set up your different Lists and learned how to share content between them, you will be cruising. What’s more, you won’t have to worry about who sees what on your Facebook profile.

Questions? Comments? Other ideas? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below or on Twitter at @435Digital.

The post How to use Facebook for work and your personal life appeared first on 435 Digital.

Where Facebook has more than 500 million users worldwide, LinkedIn has less than 100 million users. Granted, Facebook appeals to (almost) everyone and LinkedIn is specifically for professionals. Still, basic logic tells me that more than 100 million professionals exist worldwide.

What’s more, I still hear how many people refer to LinkedIn: “It’s the website you sign up for when you need to find a new job.”

Yes, it’s that website. But LinkedIn can also help you thrive at your current job. Here are five ways LinkedIn can help you right now.

Improve your personal search results

Your LinkedIn profile is already optimized to appear in search engines. This means that when someone Googles your name, your LinkedIn profile will be one of the first results that shows up. I Googled my own name and found that my LinkedIn profile appeared on Google before my bio page on 435Digital.com.

Amy Ravit Korin, the owner of InteractiveAmy.com LLC, agrees about LinkedIn’s SEO strength.

“There’s no such thing as a blind date or a blind meeting–people are going to Google you before you get together,” Kronin says. “That’s why you want to have it all ‘together’ yourself online. LinkedIn is the perfect place to start doing that from a professional perspective.”

LinkedIn is also a great alternative if you are not publicly listed on your company’s website or if your company does not even have a website. You want a prospective client to be able to easily find you online. If he can’t, he might go with the competitor who was easy to find online.

Share your accomplishments with your colleagues

Ideally, your boss will be your biggest champion and share your accomplishments with your colleagues. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. If that’s your situation, you’ll need to toot your own horn and remind your colleagues of the special value that you bring to the company.

Of course, modesty is key and that’s where LinkedIn can work wonders. It’s a neutral platform that focuses on the facts and also lets others write recommendations about you.  If a happy client wants to thank you for a job well done, ask if she’ll post a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. I gurantee that your colleagues will notice.

On the flip side of the coin, having a LinkedIn profile that your colleagues can see will keep you honest.

“If you talk about how wonderful you are on LinkedIn, then what happens when you walk into a meeting and just sit there?” asks Jason Seidan, co-founder of Ajax Social Media and the first trainer to be certified by LinkedIn itself. “You set yourself up to be screwed. You create inconsistencies between what you’re doing and the message you’re sending.”

Let your business contacts find you easily

Business cards are great, but they are easy to lose and can quickly become outdated. Think of LinkedIn as your virtual business card.  If someone you’ve previously met needs to contact you, he may not still have your business card or you may have switched positions. Yet if  you have a completed LinkedIn profile, he should be able to quickly find you.

Also, when you do switch jobs, you won’t need to email all of your business contacts to tell them the news. You can simply update your LinkedIn profile and they’ll know where to find you next.  (Of course, it’s still a good idea to email your closest contacts and tell them the news personally).

Turn social contacts into professional contacts

LinkedIn Groups are a free feature that act as discussion boards. Anyone can create a LinkedIn Group around a specific topic or interest.

“Groups are a great way to stay abreast of the industry you work in and bridge the gap between professional and personal,” Korin says. “For example, you might meet someone socially through volunteering. Well a lot of non-profits also have groups on LinkedIn, giving you the chance to connect professionally with someone you might have met in a social setting.”

Brand yourself as a subject expert

LinkedIn Groups can also build your reputation as an expert on a specific topic. “Not too many people talk every day in a LinkedIn Group, so if you want to be the biggest voice in a group, it’s pretty easy to do,” says Barbara Rozgonyi, owner of WiredPRWorks and author of the popular blog post Top 10 Ways to Quickly Becoming a Recognized Subject Matter Expert on LinkedIn.

“Being a part of a LinkedIn Group can really enhance your real-life group as well,” Rozgonyi adds. “People will know who you are before you go to an event and your relationship is that much stronger.”

The post How LinkedIn can help you at your current job appeared first on 435 Digital.

Izard stays connected with her fans locally and nationally through her personal blog, Twitter handle, @StephandtheGoat and  Facebook page. We spoke with her recently about why she hopped online and what she’s learned so far.

After Top Chef, you started your own blog. Why?

To try to improve my vocabulary; since I don’t read much, I thought it was my best option.

Cynics will say bloggers are people who write what they ate for breakfast. Have you ever blogged about what you ate for breakfast?

No, I don’t think so. Did I? I don’t actually read my blogs – I just write them (see above).

Before Girl and the Goat opened, you created a series of documentary-style short videos in 2009 called The Tasty Life. What were those about?

We were out checking out farms for the restaurant and enjoying life, so I thought other people might find our adventures humorous.

You also joined Twitter. What was that learning curve like?

I am still trying to figure it out. It seems like a good mix of humor and reality.

Interestingly, you ended up using Twitter to promote The Wandering Goat. Tell us about that experience.

We finally understood the true power of tweeting when we sold out one of the dinners in under a minute. The response was incredible.

Flash forward to today. Is anything off limits on Twitter? In the last day, for example, you’ve tweeted about bison balls and being single on Valentine’s Day.

Not really, once in a while I edit myself, but mainly I tweet without thinking about it. Life has gone from drunk dialing to drunk tweeting.

Do you read your guests’ tweets? What’s the funniest tweet you’ve read? The most touching?

Yes, I read them. There have been a lot of funny ones, but the one that stands out to me right now is “Whoa, @stephandthegoat is standing right behind me.”  Funny, touching & kinda strange.

We get a lot of compliments about dinner on twitter, which is always nice.

How do you respond to a negative tweet? What about a negative review on a site like Yelp?

To be honest, I do not really read the Yelp reviews. My managers do and bring them to me, and then we all address them together. I think a negative review is like a stranger walking up to you on the street, punching you in the face and walking away.

What do you say to chefs who are skeptical of using social media?

It definitely takes time. If you are not going to do it full force, it is not worth it. If done right, it can be a very useful tool for connecting with guests.

Who on Twitter—a chef or otherwise—inspires you the most and why?

Umm, never really thought about it. maybe @shitmydadsays? He got a tv show out of his funny tweets.

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