To some, it can seem daunting to maintain a twitter profile. Hundreds of people to follow and a constant struggle to stay relevant to your existing followers while attracting new ones can make twitter feel like a lot of work sometimes. So some people might think me crazy to have multiple accounts. I recently started up a video game site focusing on the industry and the community, Northwest Gamer. The site is partially an outlet to share my hobby with the web, but its also a personal test of my ability to build an online community.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

Obviously social media is a big part of this project, and a key ingredient is Twitter. Less than a month into this project, and Twitter accounts for 80% of my site referrals. I suspect that focusing a twitter account solely on my target audience has helped this spike in traffic to my site. Most of the followers on @jeffrshearer are not likely to be interested in my video-game related commentary, while the same is true for my @northwestgamer followers.

Previously, my main twitter account attempted to serve all of my interests at once. It was both a professional networking tool and social instrument, and while this is still true, I have narrowed my focus on @jeffrshearer to focus on digital marketing, while @northwestgamer publishes my gaming activities. It is my belief that with this tactic, I can build a stronger, more relevant following with each of my individual twitter personas.

Twitter is used in many different ways, but it is my belief that it should not be all of these at once. There is simply too much noise on Twitter to risk trying to be everything to everyone. If you struggle with follower retention and growth, find your niche, your beachhead, and dig in!

As a young, recently graduated marketing professional, I get a lot of questions about twitter. What it is, what its for, what all the bustle is about. Considering the infinite number of ways that people use Twitter, I thought I would outline how and why I use twitter, to give you an idea of how it can be used, but more importantly why.

Affinity

I first joined twitter when I heard about it at a marketing conference, reasoning that if all the techies and the pros used it, why not me? Since then, I am a big follower of the latest technologies, especially in the social media realm. I’ve even started a career in the field.

Personal Branding

A big part of getting the job is looking the part. With terms like social media and search engine marketing flying around, simply knowing about them is not enough, you need to embrace them too. Besides, your posts on twitter say a lot about the type of person you are. That’s why I think Twitter is so much more useful in personal branding than most other social networks. Many people are making a conscious effort to join the service to show that they are aware of new technologies, and not just using it as a place to post pictures of the last party they got drunk at.  The users worth following tend to post relevant and insightful tweets.

Sharing

One of the main things I use twitter for is posting links to videos, articles, news, anything that spreads. Sharing links is simple and measurable; I can see the effectiveness of my tweets by the amount of people who follow me.

Ultimately, as the writers of Groundswell put it, “concentrate on the relationships, not the technologies”. The basic idea of Twitter can and has been duplicated, but more importantly it can also be improved upon. Find how you want to express yourself and share online, then choose the technology that works for you.

http://twitter.com/JeffRShearer