It has been a little while since I have attacked with one of my online networking spiels, so I thought is would be a perfect time to submit another one.  Of course, after my last explanatory blog of the unbelievable advantages of LinkedIn, every one of you went immediately online to join LinkedIn  and are now superior experts! ( A chemical-social-media girl can dream can’t she?)

 

But in all seriousness, we had quite the spike in membership and discussions in the group have increased! (Check us out: Informex LInkedin Group) If you aren’t taking part…you’re missing out!

 

Now back to today’s topic. I would like to introduce and advocate for the one and only (and admittedly a little confusing at times)…TWITTER!

 

 

-          It is made up of short messages of only 140 characters

-          You  “follow” someone to see their tweets show in your feed

-          You can see who your followers are following by looking at their page of messages

-          Its easy, viral, and not as scary or pointless as you may think

 

But that was because I didn’t understand it. What was the point? I don’t want everyone to know what I had for breakfast and I’m pretty sure no one would care. This stands true except if you work for Eggo Waffles. Suddenly, if someone ate Eggo’s for breakfast and LOVED it, you’re going to want everyone else to see that about your product. Or if they didn’t like them, you’re going to want to publically address the reasons why so your brand is not tarnished by a well-connected and opinionated waffle-eater.

 

It is the same for all of us. The services you offer, the products you may produce…Twitter can get these short messages about you around the world in seconds. So being on Twitter, even just to listen, is important.

 

Then there is the interaction piece of Twitter. It’s so viral, that by participating in conversations, you can establish yourself and company. By becoming an active member of the twitterverse, news that comes out about you or your company have a better chance to be picked up, and potentially reach brand new customers. We are all in the same industry and will want to connect with chemical companies who in turn have their own network of people. See the networking web growing?

 

Also, as you may or may not be aware, google has restructured the way they search. They are now bringing up sites with the freshest content, including social media activity! So the more followers you have or the more you are actively participating in social media, google will rank your credibility and up your results. Everyone wants new business prospects to come to their website and view their services, right? Why not plug into an already existing chemical industry network and start raking in the traffic?

 

So start the conversation before InformexUSA 2011. We will be offering special promotions to our followers and group members before the show so stay tuned. Check out our Twibe - a group we started on Twitter with members specific to the chemical industry to help  shrink the vast amounts of twitter accounts out there & you find the relevant professionals you are looking for.

 

 Start tweeting about where you will be on the Informex show floor and what type of business you do. It’s free booth advertisement for you and a common place to find out who else will be there. And don’t forget to use #informex in your messages so when people search the key word “Informex” your message will come up!

 

Happy Networking!

MB