New to The Life Uncommon? Stay up to date with the latest information, tips, and strategies by signing up or subscribing to the RSS feed.
This morning, whilst perusing through the “tweets” of the people I “follow” on Twitter, I noticed Shawna Coronado’s tweet: “Holy Cow! My name and photo got on CNN today.”
As Shawna is one of my new favorite internet folk, I promptly DirectMessaged her asking all about the article – CNN is a big deal, I needed the details.
Her response: “GUESS WHAT? They found me on TWITTER!!! Called me up and interviewed me! Keep Twittering!!!” (that is the exact message I got, can you believe it!)
Shawna is the founder of The Casual Gardner, a fabulous website that focuses on ways to improve personal health through spending time in nature and also participating more in your community. She just wrote her first book, Gardening Nude, a guide to improving your lifestyle and heath through exposure to nature. Because she is such a generous individual, she was kind enough to send me a copy…
…and I have to say it is totally fabulous (as you can tell, I was very excited when I received it!). Shawna has a real gift for connecting honestly and authentically with her readers, and every word is not only interesting, but inspiring and motivation. It is the kind of book that makes you want to get up off your chair and get out there and do something – if you know someone who needs a little lift this holiday season, seriously think of getting Gardening Nude for them. I can assure you they will love it!
But I digress from my Twitter story. You can read the article about Shawna here – it is pretty amazing – not just a casual mention, like an entire article about her. And it is all thanks to Twitter.
For those who are out of the Twitter loop (as I was for months and month), Twitter is an interesting social marketing site that allows users to ”microblog,” or post short little update of 140 characters or less. These updates are viewed by your “followers,” or the people who subscribe to your updates. Your Twitter homepage shows you the updates of the people who you ”follow.” To check out my Twitter homepage and follow me, click here!
When I first joined Twitter last month, I saw it as nothing more than another Facebook/Myspace/Blog type of atmosphere – somewhere to have group of casual internet friends that you keep up with and leave notes for throughout the day without much other value than entertainment and a sense of connection. But I soon found out quickly that people conduct business on Twitter. Sure, there are a lot of Tweets like “just woke up, n.e.e.d. m.y. c.o.f.f.e.e”, but there are also many tweets out there promoting businesses, websites, and seeking connections with other professionals for various purposes. In fact, I even got offered a new writing gig from someone I began following on Twitter. Neat-o!
When I realized the potential for my tweets, I started reading John Haydon’s blog, Corporate Dollar. John is a master Twitter expert and always offers tons of ways to use Twitter not as just a social media site, but also as a professional networking site.
What I’ve learned so far from people like John and Shawna is that there is an art to tweets, and an art to connecting with your followers on the site. There is a certain idea combination of responding to other tweeters, promoting your business, and giving personal updates that leads to business expansion and more opportunities. And even, apparently, an article devoted to you on CNN.
I will keep everyone updated as I learn more about the art of tweets, but if anyone has tips, tricks, or experiences they would like to share, please let ’em rip! And again, congratulations to Shawna for receiving the credit and recognition she deserves!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, that’s quite cool. Likewise, I’ve been slow to join Twitter, but am definitely doing so with the launch of my new website.
cool! i’m a big twitter fan, will look for you there!
Gotta LOVE Twitter Nacie! Thanks for the mention – can’t wait to see you tweeting at me soon!
Congratulations! I’m still waiting on Oprah to call, however CNN would be awesome too!
Lots of fabulous people are on twitter, it’s the best!
Hey, I’ve just started following you because of this article, and I think that I too will peruse John Haydon’s blog.
I’m on Twitter as “doomsdayblaze”.
–Casey
The site was absolutely fantastic! Lots of good information and enthusiasm, both of which we all need!