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Why ReTweet?

Well, it totally fits the purpose of Twitter, which is to share thoughts, news, insight, rants, advice and other things that are worth sharing to people who follow you. When you retweet, you are re-sharing something that is already on Twitter to your followers, who may not have seen it.

Retweeting is meant to enhance and improve social engagement on Twitter; but it can be abused, so just use some common sense. Here are some ways to become better at it.

Note: if you have no idea whatsoever about retweeting, check this out. There are new ways to retweet and strategies, etc., but that guide is a good place to figure out what we’re all talking about.

Don’t ReTweet Junk – Check out the links first

First of all, if you retweet external links (and I know this is not going to fly with everyone) you shouldn’t be retweeting stuff you haven’t actually looked at. I made this mistake once (in the spirit of being transparent) and when I opened the link after I retweeted it, it was a post written really badly with lots of cheesy ads and it was just something I would never have passed on. You must look at the link – it could be a link to a page filled with malicious software and/or viruses – you never know. Why ruin your follower’s day by passing on B.S.?

Add something to the ReTweet

I don’t always do this either, but I try to when I can. If you retweet directly from the Twitter website, you won’t be able to add your personal message or any hashtags. But if you use a service, like HootSuite, you can add something, as well as schedule that retweet for later.

ReTweet from the Source

Many blogs, news websites and magazines have a re-tweet option built right into the site. If this is the case, retweet from the source, because it gives the original Tweep some visibility, and sometimes their re-tweet function includes their desired hashtags.

ReTweet People Who You Want to Follow You Back

If there are people who aren’t following you, but you want them to notice you and follow you back, try retweeting some of their tweets. Retweeting is a huge sign of respect. So, if you respect what they say, retweet them and see if they don’t take notice of you and become a follower.

Don’t Let ReTweeting Take Over Your Twitter Account

The last thing I’ll add for beginner Tweeps is to not get caught up in retweeting. Add your own thoughts to the mix. There are retweeting bots and other spam accounts that just retweet other people’s stuff, and while that seems okay, it’s not and you don’t want to be “that” guy. I typically detest silly etiquette rules and lots of structure in something that’s supposed to be personal and social, but on Twitter you need to try and fit in. Your experience will be a lot more fun if you can.

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.

Not all ReTweets are Created Equal

Related posts:

1. 7 Twitter Tips for Health Professionals
2. Useful Twitter Tips for Beginners
3. Twitter For Students

Testing the power of location-based fashion marketing started with Marc Jacobs and FoursquareFoursquare during New York Fashion Week in February 2010. A few months later, luxury footwear and accessories brand Jimmy Choo jumped into the location game. And recently, shoe retailer Diesel tested their own version of online to offline engagement, integrating Foursquare promotions into its “Faces of Stupid” campaign.

“With the rise of mobile, the mixing of the web with the physical world seems only like the natural evolution of things. Mobile apps that combine location, real-time and social characteristics are in high demand by brands that want to promote their sales, and most of all, give to their physical stores a touch of the social ‘glitter’ of the web,” says Amalia Agathou, Technology Editor for Glamour Magazine in Greece.

So what can brands learn as they start creating geo-location marketing campaigns? A look at Diesel’s recent efforts yields valuable insights.

Diesel’s “Faces of Stupid” Campaign

The Faces of Stupid campaign is a contest in which people can come into a Diesel store and get stickers that read “BE STUPID.”  The contestants then put the stickers anywhere on themselves, take a picture, and send it to the Faces of Stupid website, along with their “stupid stories.” Contestants are then entered to win include exotic prizes, like swimming with sharks off South Africa or cutting a record in Jamaica.

“This contest is a way for us to communicate the global campaign in a very viral and fun way, as obviously a huge portion of our audience are avid web surfers,” says Diesel’s Vice President of Marketing David Ireland. “Faces of Stupid is a great way to utilize the web for everyone to share their own ‘STUPID’ experience and give away a ridiculously awesome prize to the winner. These are all trips that we would love to take … I’ll be kind of jealous of our winner, to be honest.”

To date, the contest is one of the most intricate campaigns implemented by a fashion brand. When asked why Diesel went to such lengths for the promotion, Ireland said, “It was a natural extension of the brand’s overall philosophy towards its customers. [At Diesel], we live the lifestyle that we sell, and we want to share that with the people that are fans of the brand. We book the bands that we want to hear, we throw parties that we want to go to — that’s what has always made Diesel so amazing. It’s just a very authentic relationship between the brand and our customers.”

Foursquare as an Organic, Viral Marketing Tool

During a one-day event at Diesel’s flagship store in New York, Foursquare users who checked in within a three-city block radius of the Union Square location were alerted of a special promotion at that store. Once they checked in to the Diesel venue, they had their choice of specially printed tee shirts in red or purple.   

Diesel didn’t create a Foursquare badge as Marc Jacobs did for their event. Instead, they offered a “deal,” and focused on utilizing Foursquare as a promotional tool to bring people into a retail store that they otherwise may not have entered. Within the first hour, the store saw four people come in and do just that.  “To me, that’s tremendously exciting,” said Leslie Hall, founder of Iced Media, the agency responsible for the online components of the campaign.

For the Foursquare initiatives, Diesel chose not to extensively promote the event. “We wanted it to be a true test,” said Hall. “We didn’t want one hundred blog features going up beforehand. We wanted the promotion to roll out in a very organic way, much like the overall campaign has.”

Stats: Diesel’s Campaign Could Have Been Bigger

Looking at Diesel’s audience, their customers are mostly males between 18-30 years old. Foursquare’s users are about 65% male, so it made sense for Diesel to partner with Foursquare for the campaign.  

During the event, Diesel reported 44 check-ins, 17 tweets, and 20,957 aggregate Twitter users reached from those social updates.

In an analysis of the Diesel campaign results, Crosby Noricks, founder of PR Couture, and Senior Social Media Strategist at Red Door Interactive said “It’s exciting to see Diesel acknowledge the tremendous potential inherent in Foursquare’s online-offline integration by including this as a component of their ‘Be Stupid’ campaign. While it was obviously not their intent to make a big deal out of this promotion, I’m not sure this was the most effective execution in terms of harnessing and identifying the real potential of the Foursquare community for the brand.”

Noricks continued, “In this iteration, without pre-promotion, it also failed to drive the level of activity I feel would be required to qualify its replication, although I applaud them heartily for trying. What is potentially more valuable for the brand is the post-event coverage that promotes Diesel as an innovating, digitally-savvy company who puts together pretty incredible experiential opportunities for its customers.” Noricks added that she hoped to see Jimmy Choo follow suit with its post-event coverage.

What Fashion Brands Can Learn From Diesel

“Luxury brands have used location-based services like Foursquare to create buzz and promote new lines and stores. The challenge for the retailers is to find ways to use these services in order to build a cohesive shopping experience in the web/mobile and the physical world. The retailers are now presented with a plethora of geo-location apps to choose from, but it remains to be seen the amount of control they will want to have on them. On the e-commerce front, the battle is already on between eBay and Louis Vuitton,” says Amalia Agathou.

As more fashion brands start to use location-based services like GowallaGowalla and Foursquare to drive online customers into retail locations, it’s important to remember that location-based marketing efforts can and should be used to accomplish more than one marketing goal. Brands should strive to not only engage customers, but to enhance their shopping experiences.

Improving in-store customer service or loyalty programs are additional ways Foursquare could be implemented, though many retailers are cautious about that route, noting the network is still in its early-adoption phase, and full integration may be cost prohibitive. 

If integrating Foursquare into the marketing mix seems too complicated, or if it doesn’t match a brand’s core audience, consider partnering with a publication that is already exploring these strategies. Lucky Magazine has already started developing a solid presence on Foursquare, and has interactive and socially-enabled smartphone applications that show great marketing potential, for example. Tristan Walker, Vice President of Business Development for Foursquare informed us that a customer loyalty program integration usually costs less than $10,000 to implement (as seen in the case of Tasti D-Lite).

There are many ways retailers and brands can dip their toes into location-based marketing.  Just remember that those who do it before their competitors stand the best chance of reaping the big rewards.

More social media resources from Mashable:

- How the Fashion Industry Uses Location-Based Marketing
- How the Fashion Industry is Embracing Social Media
- How Social Media Helps One Small Business Connect with Fans
- 5 Ways Social Media Changed Fashion in 2009
- 8 Tips for a Successful Social Media Cause Campaign

Cause marketing can be described as the mutually beneficial relationship between a business and a non-profit organization. Social media cause campaigns are similar, but not identical to traditional cause marketing, in that they allow for more flexibility. Small businesses can gain exposure without breaking the bank, and large companies can reach millions of consumers in a matter of hours. Social cause campaigns can be run by individuals and non-profits without big company sponsorship. They provide easier, faster involvement with supporters, and require fewer resources.

For example, the hugely successful Blame Drew’s Cancer campaign was started by a single person, cancer fighter Drew Olanoff. Drew gained national attention when he encourage tweeters to #BlameDrewsCancer for everything from bad weather to a sports team’s loss. When Drew decided to sell his TwitterTwitter handle for charity, TV star Drew Carey stepped in and offered to donate up to $1 million to LIVESTRONG in exchange for @Drew.

While there are many reasons why online cause marketing works, there are also challenges to keep in mind before launching a campaign. The transparency of online communities allows for easy public criticism. Donor fatigue has also become an issue with the number of cause campaigns increasing dramatically. Finally, being heard over the constant social media chatter can be challenging.

Why are some campaigns more successful than others? If you want to make a difference through social media, note these key tips before embarking on your mission.

1. Create a Strong Theme with Clear Goals

Themes should not be complex. A simple mission with a powerful message can take a campaign far. People will not get involved if they don’t understand how or why they should. Without a clear vision, it is difficult to encourage an audience to participate.

Recently, my own grassroots charity Spirit Jump sponsored a cause campaign, Cards 4 Cancer Day. The campaign name itself stated the theme: Make cards for people battling cancer. Our clear goal of delivering 100,000 cards to cancer centers around the world was set out from the start. Because the campaign theme was strong, it targeted specific advocates, and supporters understood how to participate and what the overall goal was. Even without large financial backing, our campaign was successful because its theme was uncomplicated and inspired people to act.

“You want to make it as easy for people to participate as possible; in social media, distractions fly a mile a minute,” said Melissa Jones, Social Media Specialist for the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. When there isn’t a strong campaign theme, it’s difficult to grab people’s attention.

Kiva’s #FollowFriday campaign is an example of one that lacked a strong theme. Kiva.org wanted to increase their presence on Twitter and called out to supporters to recommend them using #FollowFriday. Unfortunately, Kiva’s message was lost in the large amount of Twitter chatter surrounding this hashtag, and they received only a small number of new followers.

2. Seek a Non-Profit Partner That’s Active in Social Media

Campaigns partnered with causes that have a dedicated social media presence are more successful. It’s not the size of the non-profit that’s important, but rather their level of participation in social media and the campaign.

“We run more than 100 cause-driven campaigns a year, and the difference between modest success and massive success is often determined by the non-profit partner,” says Chris Noble of StudioGood. “Working with a non-profit that has a strong base of support, and knows how to mobilize that base, pays off for the sponsor every time.”

Many people support cause campaigns because they support the non-profit. If the non-profit isn’t active, or fails to engage their supporters, the campaign will have an uphill battle. Rather than just being a recipient of donations, the non-profit should play an active role in the campaign by rallying its supporters.

3. Connect the Theme, Sponsor, and Non-Profit

Unity of purpose helps streamline the coordination of the campaign. Those with a strong connection between the theme, sponsor, and non-profit organization will better resonate with the public.

The Pepsi Refresh Project is giving away millions of dollars in grants to individuals who come up with “refreshing” ideas that can change the world. Pepsi’s cause campaign is focused on improving communities around the world and rewarding individuals and non-profits alike for the creative ideas that receive the most votes.

Pepsi successfully connects their brand personality with social causes, and is attracting millions of people to their brand without asking them to purchase a single product.

Disclosure: Pepsi has been a sponsor of MashableMashable events.

4. Identify and Utilize Your Best Social Assets

Social media cause campaigns are challenging, and organizers should use the tools and people at their disposal effectively. Campaigns with funding must put their money where it will yield the best results. FacebookFacebook advertisements can be extremely helpful, but should only be used to meet specific goals. If a campaign calls for large-scale interaction with supporters, staff must be properly equipped to respond. When campaigns require voting, there must be an ability to rally people.

This is exactly what the homeless advocacy organization InvisiblePeople.tv did to win the SXSW Pepsi Refresh contest. “We won [the] challenge because Beth Kanter, Jessica Gottlieb, Kevin Hendricks, and far too many people to list, all of them equally important, rallied their networks to vote,” said Mark Horvath, Founder of InvisiblePeople.tv.

5. Target a Well-Defined Audience

Campaign organizers who know their audience, who listen to and engage them, will be more successful. Take time to determine who your audience is on each social network. Do not assume all social media platforms have the same participants or will respond in the same way. Facebook, Twitter, and blog networks must be treated as distinct entities. When using multiple platforms, pay attention to how each reacts to your messages and be ready to shift focus to the most responsive.

“Twitter is an excellent tool because it allows for fast and constant updates. Facebook, however, allows for more detailed messaging and is a better forum for dialogue. Oftentimes, our supporters engage in dialogue with each other. This allows us to step back for a moment and evaluate what resonates with them,” said Barb Alvarado, Development Director of Architecture for Humanity.

6. Energize and Motivate Your Supporters

The number of followers, subscribers or fans your campaign has does not represent the number of participants. A Facebook Fan Page can have 10,000 fans and be ineffective. A successful campaign motivates participation by asking supporters to vote for a favorite cause, join other platforms, donate money or share content.

Keep people energized throughout the campaign. Create mini-campaigns within the larger one to keep participants active. PayPal did this with their Regift The Fruitcake campaign, and gave away extra cash to charities that raised the most money on “Charity Tuesdays” via Twitter. Because they were able to motivate supporters throughout the life of the campaign, PayPal raised well over $70,000 for charity.

7. Pay Attention to Timing

Social media has its own timetable. Run campaigns for the time needed, and not a day longer. A successful campaign asks its supporters to participate sufficiently to achieve its goals, but not so much as to cause fatigue.

Judy Chang, Senior Manager of Vertical Markets for PayPal spoke directly to this. “Grabbing and keeping the attention of supporters over a multi-week campaign is definitely a challenge. We’ve seen our best results with campaigns that last anywhere from one day to two weeks, such as Check-in for Charity, #beatcancer, and Charity Smackdown.”

When campaigns ask supporters to partake in a cause campaign every day for weeks, even months, their excitement and passion for the cause can deteriorate.

8. Follow Up

When a cause campaign has ended, there is still work to be done. Evaluation of successes and failures is vital. This step allows organizers to prepare for the next cause campaign by enhancing what worked and fixing what didn’t. Requesting feedback from, sharing results with, and thanking supporters is also paramount to ensuring their future participation. One good campaign should lead to another.

Heifer International, an active non-profit since 1944, understands the importance of follow-up after social media cause campaigns. “We wrote a post-social cause campaign article on our blog to thank our supporters and include them in the celebration because we value our donors and volunteers as equal stakeholders in the organization — our success is their success,” said Noland Hoshino, Heifer International Portland Volunteer Coordinator.

Conclusion

Successful social cause campaigns, especially in a world of heavy social media chatter, require real imagination. According to Jones of the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, “Social media cause campaigns are most effective when there’s a simple call-to-action and a creative idea.”

Cause marketing is dynamic. Implementing these elements can propel a campaign into a movement.

More social good resources from Mashable:

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- Donation by Action: The New Social Charity Model
- How Does Twitter’s New Social Good Initiative Stack Up?
- 5 Ways Non-Profits Can Increase Engagement With YouTube
- Why Sex-Ed Remains a Challenge for Social Media
- 5 Ways Mega Charity Events Can Harness the Power of Social Media

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, PinkTag

When you think of yourself as a “brand” that you need to “market,” you’re trying to pitch, not converse. Buying and selling has its place– in the real financial market. It should not be applied to everything in life. If you want READERS it is better to frame your thinking in terms of having a point of view and a focus that is consistent enough to make people want to subscribe and talk to you.

2. Using Social Networking primarily to talk ABOUT social networking.

This is a bit like having a telephone conversation that goes:

“Can you believe we’re using the telephone?”
“I know. I love the telephone.”
“I’d like to know how you are using the phone to enhance your conversations.”
“I have been able to call many people and discuss how we can use the telephone.”
“Are you using the telephone in business?”
“I’ve been able to pro-actively develop synergies for a win-win customer experience using the power of telephonic networking.”
“That’s great. Do you dial with your right hand or left?”

There are some contexts in which it makes sense to talk about the phone itself; for example if you work for the phone company or if the cat chewed through the phone cord and you have to explain why you are taking him to the vet.

For the most part, though, we have much better uses of the phone than talking about the phone itself.

3. The Word “Monetize.”

You don’t “monetize” your accounting skill by going to work for a firm. You don’t “monetize” your free time by taking a part time job. And you don’t “monetize” your writing talent by publishing a book. (Really, trust me on that last one.) So why don’t we drop the euphemism and say what we mean. “I’m trying to make a little money with my blog.”

4. Articles in the “4 Simple Things” Format

I believe glossy magazines may have started this one. The “list of things” article format with its easily digestible pieces of advice has been with us well before social networking came along. Even publishers like the “list of things” format for books. (I’m guilty myself. I wrote two books with “number of things” titles/subtitles.) I think it’s time we retired the format. Can we at least letter our lists or something?

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.

4 Simple Things I’m Sick of Seeing on Twitter

The fact is, that there are numerous fads promoted on the internet and we will never be able to stop this. What we can do however, is to work as a team to promote positive health messages that are backed up with good science. The more voices from qualified and experienced practitioners the better.

If you’re just getting started, here are 7 tips that can help you be more effective.

1. Confidentiality: Confidentiality is equally important online as it is offline. It is not ok to mention any information that can identify clients or patients in social media. It is also important not to write anything where a patient could identify themselves – it could be embarrassing for them or break client trust so important in in achieving positive health outcomes.

2. Respect: People are not stupid. Sometimes they are not as aware of their health as they should be, but it doesn’t mean it is okay to poke fun at individuals or our clients online. People will read that you think you are better than them and that you are not empathetic or respectful.

3. Share: If you find a great article, post the link for others to read; if someone else has some great information that aligns with what you are trying to achieve retweet it. If someone writes something you don’t agree with, post your apposing view and if you can, provide links to evidence. You can search terms that you are an expert in, and provide simple advice to twitterers who may benefit from what you know. Respond to mentions as much as you can.

4. Language: Don’t use jargon. Don’t use a big word where a small one will do; Don’t use three words where one will do. If you need to clarify a tweet, link to a blog post or article on your website.

5. Advice: Be aware of the advice that you provide on twitter, just as you would in individual consultations, presentations and media articles. You may benefit from including a disclaimer in your bio or on your linked website. You may also need to talk to your medical indemnity insurer to determine your rights and responsibilities when providing advice, opinions or tips online.

6. Engage: Work with those in your profession or industry to get more evidence based positive health messages out there. Follow them, retweet their posts or events and engage in conversations by replying to their posts. Social media is not competitive – it makes the pie bigger, it doesn’t eat into your piece.

7. Align: Before you get onto social media sites to promote yourself, your brand or your message, it will help to determine who your ideal follower is, and therefore aim for your posts to align with what they would like to hear. Your Twitter account may rank high in search engine results, so you want to ensure your messages align with your goals and would be appropriate for clients, workmates and potential employers to see.

Good luck and happy tweeting!

© 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips.

7 Twitter Tips for Health Professionals

With so much content on the web, it’s nice to be able to rely on the wisdom of the crowds to help us discover noteworthy links and weed through all the stuff (and fluff) out there.

For designers who enjoy social media — or anyone interested in design news and resources — there are a number of sites and services for you to check out and participate in. Here are nine noteworthy social news and bookmarking sites aimed at designers and design enthusiasts.

1. DesignBump

This social news site’s interface will be familiar to those who use DiggDigg, Redditreddit.com, or MixxMixx. The concept is simple: Get enough votes on your links and it will be promoted to the front page.

DesignBump currently has over 16,000 users, with some famous design bloggers among their active participants.

2. Image Spark

This free social bookmarking service puts a unique twist on the format: Instead of bookmarking web pages that you find, you bookmark images. Popular bookmarked images are displayed in a gallery-style format so that site users can see them for visual inspiration on their own projects.

3. design:related

design:related is a community site that seeks to bring together designers from many disciplines. You can set up a portfolio on their site, share what’s inspiring you creatively, and submit news that members can vote on.

The site is a perfect spot for inspiration-seekers, and those looking to stay up to speed on important industry news in a single location.

4. DesignFloat

Established in 2007, DesignFloat is one of the first vote-to-promote social news-sharing sites dedicated specifically to designers.

The site has a broad range of categories for users to submit links to, including Graphic Design, Interactive Design, Industrial Design, as well as design-related topics like Photography. Each category has an RSS feed that you can subscribe to in case you’re only interested in specific topics.

5. Graphic Design Links

Graphic Design Links is another destination for creatives looking for socially promoted info. To help users see the most popular topics being submitted to the site, they have a Tag Cloud page.

Among the site’s submission categories are Illustration, 3D, Typography, and Web DesignWeb Design.

6. The Web Blend

The Web Blend only has about 1,500 members, making it a comparatively small community — but smaller isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Some of its top users are popular design bloggers, such as Jad Limcaco of Designer Informer and Sneh Roy of Little Box Of Ideas. This smaller community gives members a chance to interact directly with some of their favorite content creators.

7. zaBox

zaBox covers a wide range of design industry news, resources, and tutorials. Like most social news sites, a story’s popularity is determined by the number of people voting for it.

It also offers bloggers the ability to integrate zaBox into their site, including a button for voting and submitting their stories to the web service.

8. FFFFOUND!

Visual bookmarking is a popular activity among designers. Collecting images for reference and inspiration later on can get you out of a creative funk in a jiffy.

FFFFOUND! is a web service where users can post and share images they’ve discovered on the web. The website is intelligent: It recommends images you might also like based on your bookmarking history.

9. Pixel Groovy

The amount of graphic design tutorials on the web is overwhelming. Pixel Groovy helps point you to ones that its community members like.

The community-driven site gives editorial control to their users, empowering them with the ability to vote on tutorials that they deem worthwhile to be published and indexed on the site.

Bonus: General Social News and Bookmarking Sites

Aside from websites that are geared towards designers, major social news and bookmarking sites also have strong design categories that are worth checking out.

• Top Design News, Videos and Images on Digg: Digg’s design topic has great social news and resources, though occasionally, unrelated stories do appear in this feed.
• Design on Reddit: Reddit’s Design subreddit has over 12,000 readers, and also allows for design critique requests.
• Popular Design Bookmarks on Delicious: DeliciousDelicious features plenty of links bookmarked with the design tag.

More design resources from Mashable:

- 10 Essential Design Tools for Social Media Pros
- 8 of the Best Chrome Extensions for Web Designers
- 10 Fantastic Places for Finding Designers Online
- 5 Fantastic Free Tools to Showcase Your Portfolio
- HOW TO: Build a More Beautiful Blog

Networking is the bread and butter of a freelance career. Because competition is so fierce, landing consistent gigs isn’t just about talent. It relies heavily on who you know, and how connected you are.

Social media can expand your freelance network exponentially and yield opportunities that you’d never find elsewhere. But just like pounding the physical pavement, it takes investment, hard work, and time.

We spoke to some freelancers in a variety of fields who find that channeling efforts into social media can really pay dividends. Here are some examples of their success.

Connect Your Networks to Your Work

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Perhaps the most obvious advantage of social media for freelancers is connection building. As a freelancer, you are your brand, and like any social marketing campaign, it’s not about racking up followers or flooding the space with links. It’s all about the conversation.

“First of all, I use social media for networking. Networking to me is more than just gathering followers — it’s getting to know them,” said Laura Spencer, a professional freelance writer from North Central Texas. “In each type of social media where I participate, I have a core group of friends who I talk to regularly. The primary way to get to know others through social media is to respond to their comments with questions.”

Once those social connections are made, the distance between conversation and a paying gig is much shorter. Many cite TwitterTwitter as an ideal medium for this type of networking.

“Twitter certainly provides a level of access to the types of clients freelancers routinely work with on a much closer level than cold calling or other marketing techniques,” said Thursday Bram, a freelance writer based in Maryland. “Rather than trying to sell articles to people who I’ve found in big directories, I’m selling articles to people who I chat with on a regular basis.”

Jon Phillips, founder of Sypre Studios, a small design agency in Montreal, concurred. “Twitter has helped me connect with potential clients, network with other designers — many of [whom] I ended up working with or hiring for projects — and keep people up to date with my own projects. In fact, my three biggest clients … have found me either directly or indirectly because of Twitter and my blog.”

Social Networks as a Resource

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Social networks can be useful in different ways. On one hand, they are a marketing platform where you can share and promote your work. On the other, they serve as rich community resources for freelancers. Once you’ve built and cultivated your network, a simple tweet or update can yield valuable crowdsourced wisdom.

“I’ve also used social media for researching with mixed results. Primarily, I use Twitter for this,” said Spencer. “I tweet my question several times a day. Often, I can get nearly a dozen answers from various peers and others. Of course, I thank anyone who responds.”

“I also find Twitter to be an extremely useful platform for getting recommendations for apps, software and tools to use in my design business,” said Phillips. “I much prefer personal recommendations from people I network with than any other type of recommendation.”

Share What You’re Currently Working On

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Social networks are all about sharing — they always have been. For the typical user, this may mean weekend plans, current music tastes, or the lunch du jour. The freelancer, however, should be sharing thoughts about her current projects whenever possible. This not only drums up practical topics that your followers and friends can discuss with you, but also lets interested parties know that you’re actively engaged in qualifying work.

“I routinely post tweets about what topics I’m currently writing about and, more than once, I’ve had the editors I work with (and follow on Twitter) respond with a comment that they’d love for me to pitch a similar story [to them],” said Bram.

Social media is also rich media, and there are so many dynamic ways to share and spread your content. If you work in a visual medium, one way to distinguish yourself is to integrate multimedia into your social strategy.

“I was recently turned on to Screenr, which is an awesome service for quickly capturing screencast videos and immediately tweeting or embedding them,” said Brian Casel, a freelance web designer and founder of ThemeJam. “I create short screencasts of my WordPressWordPress themes to demonstrate how the back-end theme options work.”

Because of Screenr’s tight integration with Twitter (similar functionally to TwitPicTwitpic), a design demo or other visual showcase of your work can be, in essence, built right into your social presence.

“Visitors like to dig deeper into products before making a purchase, and screencasts are the perfect tool for this. I’ve noticed an increase in sales immediately following the release of Screenr videos,” Casel added.

Build Credibility in Public

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Social freelancers shouldn’t be myopic about their work. It’s difficult to build credibility by only sharing your own projects and links.

“Simply by tweeting about web design and WordPress, I’ve been able to build credibility as an expert in these areas,” said Casel. “As a result, I’ve had several leads and freelance gigs come to me via direct message and @replies on Twitter.”

By sharing valuable insights, even when they’re not your own, people are more likely to regard you as a specialist — someone who is tapped in to a particular industry, and who can deliver quality work.

This task of curation requires special attention. Make no mistake — it’s work. But budgeting time away from projects and into building credibility can be extremely valuable in the long term.

“The key is to be consistent, both in quality and quantity of tweets,” Casel added. “Don’t auto-tweet or spam. I un-follow those who do, and many others will as well.”

Blogging is also a key component in creating a public repository of your expertise. Building even a modest readership around quality content can go a long way toward credibility. It gives social sharers a reputable place to link to, and web searchers a place to land.

As a blogging professional looking to take your readership to the next level, guest blogging on a more trafficked destination is a great strategy.

“I’ve been blogging about freelancing on my personal site for quite some time, which is a great outlet to share ideas and interact. But to really gain exposure to a large audience, I regularly submit guest articles to popular blogs in my industry,” said Casel. “The key here is to put your absolute best stuff out there. That means taking the time to flesh out ideas, provide examples, and pack as much useful information and resources into each article as possible.”

This exposure reinforces your credibility and can expand your reach in a particular field.

“Bigger blogs may offer payments for guest articles, but it shouldn’t be about the money,” said Casel. “The real value of guest blogging comes in the exposure and credibility you build for yourself by offering useful and insightful content. The more you put into it, the more you get out.”

Gist helps you build stronger professional relationships by bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts and their companies giving you the right information at the right moment to get a first meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection. Gist does all the work for you, assembling a dynamic collection of all your contacts and their companies from your email inbox, your social networks, or even your CRM system automatically building and updating their profiles as new content is published – by them or about them.

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, alvarez