Modern Kids Co.

Hello there!

It’s been an incredibly warm week in San Francisco. We’ve had weather above 70 degrees which is the first time in more than six months! It’s making me incredibly happy to say the least. I hope it stays a while. If you’re here in San Francisco enjoy it!

This post is completely out of the blue but for a while now I’ve wanted to share a few tips on using Twitter. I meet so many Photographers and/or Creative Professionals that tell me they “don’t get” Twitter and it’s hard to understand why. That’s not true. I can understand why. Twitter is not for every personality type or creative business owner but for those of you who are interested it can be an amazingly useful tool (in addition to other social networking outlets) for your small business.

I’ve been on Twitter for a while. I have connected with clients, partnered with colleagues, met people I’ve admired, and learned a ton. Below are my tips for engaging in Twitter for Photographers or other Creative Professionals:

1. Follow people you admire. Study how they engage.

This part is so easy. Simply follow 10, 20, 30 people you really admire; from photographers to museums to your favorite brands. Watch and study how they engage. You’ll quickly notice that successful people are engaging the Twitter community in similar ways. Take note and get ready to start engaging.

2. Start engaging but always ask yourself this:
• is this relevant to what I do, to my niche, or to my industry?
• does anyone care?
• is this helpful?

These are three things I (almost) always ask myself. What’s the point of sharing things that are really not that helpful to others? In addition to sharing things that meet the criteria above it is very important to tell your personal story. So if you’ve just had your first child or you’re working on something new or you’re living in a cabin in the woods people want to know. Don’t brag (see #5 below) but tell your story in an honest and open way. We all have an interesting tale to tell so tell it.

Also, to this point engagement begins on Twitter but it doesn’t end there. If you’re able to get conversations going on Twitter then most definitely arrange to also connect with people in person (if it’s possible). This rounds out the experience and makes Twitter infinitely more helpful as a networking tool.

3. Try (very hard) not to complain.

It’s incredibly tempting believe me but unless you’re complaining about an alien who has invaded the Earth and is about to do harm to you and your neighbors it’s really not that helpful to others. I try very hard not to complain and have deleted many negative tweets – some have slipped through the cracks. It’s not about censoring your true feelings but about curating information so that it’s most useful for your audience. You’re not posting your inner dialogue. It’s a community you’re engaging with so make sure people want to engage with you. If you’re overly negative I usually give you one more try and then I unfollow. There’s so much negativity around us that it’s better to follow hard-working, positive people.

4. Never forget your potential clients are listening.

This can be easy to forget especially because many of your followers may be your colleagues. It’s easy to start talking shop but do your best to avoid being too political, inappropriate, overly religious, or controversial in any way. Unless of course it’s something you’re incredibly passionate about and it’s a reason people follow you. Again, it’s not about censoring yourself but about being smart about what you share.

5. Avoid self-promotion and showing off…like the plague.

For some of you this might be counter intuitive because you think your Twitter stream is about you and how awesome you are. Well actually it isn’t. It’s perfectly fine to make note of your accomplishments and link back to a thoughtful blog post or tell your story by sharing behind the scenes shots but no one wants to read a stream that is full of congratulatory slaps on the back. It’s great to be positive and to sometimes (again, rarely) share your accomplishments but keep it to a minimum and only when it really counts e.g. “I am incredibly honored to be nominated for a Pulitzer…”.  You get my point. Also, I’m going to pick on men really quick (sorry!) but I have to say I see this more commonly with my male photographer friends. Sorry, guys!

5. Be thankful and kind.

This is the most important tip in my opinion. It’s really obvious if you’re only engaging with people you know. I follow lots of design bloggers and so many of them are lovely and kind but for some it can feel like you’re overhearing a conversation of the cool table in high school. It’s really obvious and some people don’t realize that.  Ask yourself are you only replying to people you know on twitter despite getting lots of @replies? One of my favorite people on Twitter who is continually awesome is @SwissMiss. Tina engages with her audience, is always sharing information and knowledge, and she tells her personal story in an interesting and compelling way.

On the other end of the spectrum there are people who are not generous and are a little too cool for school when engaging on social media. It’s more obvious than these people think.  You can be sure that people who engage in that way are missing opportunities. Twitter is a community and it’s a really efficient way of networking. Make it work for yourself.

So to recap always ask yourself those three questions, put your best foot forward by avoiding negativity, remember your current and future clients are listening, rarely self-promote, and most importantly be thankful and kind. If you do those things you’ll reap benefits from Twitter that you would not have imagined.

In the past year I’ve collaborated and hosted a workshop with my (new) friend Carrie of Urban Baby in Los Angeles. We never met in person until the day before our workshop but through numerous emails and direct messages on Twitter we organized a wonderful little experience. It was awesome and I couldn’t stop thinking that it would not have happened without Twitter. This week I sent out bid for a big advertising job based on people I met over Twitter. I’ve connected with my favorite kids brands overseas and here in the States, photographed in Paris(!!!) because of Twitter, and gained knowledge from people I admire. It works. It really does.

Thoughtfully engaging on Twitter and other social media platforms will get you work, period. It will help your business remain competitive and give you plenty of joy and knowledge in the meantime.

I hope you enjoyed the post and found it helpful.

Happy Tweeting!

Sarah @ModernKids