I personally have found Twitter to be more effective than LinkedIn in growing my professional network. This is mainly because on LinkedIn, I generally only add colleagues and friends I have already worked with in the past or know personally. You are free to follow anyone on Twitter you want to connect with that may have similar or common interests. Therefore, Twitter will help you find and network with new people worldwide.

Here are a few steps to help you build your professional network followed by some tips on using Twitter to find a job:

1. If you haven’t already, obviously create an account on Twitter here.
2. Search for people and even brands in the same industry as the one you are currently working in or the industry you would like to get into. To do this, use the search field in the upper right hand corner or search.twitter.com to search for keywords that relate to your industry. For example, I wanted to find other people already working in or just interested in the mobile space in NYC, so I searched for terms like ‘mobile marketing’ and ‘mobile NYC’. The search will return results with these keywords in each user profiles and from there you can click on the account to find out more about the person. (Note: If you are searching for a job in the social media/pr/marketing industry, check lists that highlight Twitter’s top users because many of them are people well known in this industry. A few I have used are here and here. A great list of brands on Twitter that is constantly updated can be found here.)
3. Build your network of people you are following and followers. Step 2 is only one way. There is no need to rush this, as it will happen with time and as you come across Twitter links on the blogs you visit and on other social networking sites. Make sure to fill out your Twitter Bio completely and if you make it clear you have the same interests, the people you decide to follow will most likely check out your Bio and follow you back.
4. Build your presence by not only using Twitter to update your friends and followers on what you are up to, but also to post interesting links and info you come across. This can be from around the web and wherever else you are spending your time. I personally prefer to follow people that share information but I also don’t mind reading about their life to get a better idea of what they are doing and their personal interests. Twitter can be very serious or very fun, so make sure you use it for both.
5. Start participating by replying to open ended questions, giving feedback about blog posts or mentioned articles, or even introducing yourself with a personalized direct message. Thoughtful replies will get noticed especially because some people even like to reply to all messages directed to them. If they don’t right away, they may add you at a later point after they see one of your tweets, direct messages, or replies. I try to only reply to other tweets when I have something valuable to add or when my input is wanted for a question that was asked. Lastly, Twitter is also a great way to find out about local networking events and meetups (aka tweetups). Attend some of these tweetups and you will meet new people who will then follow you to keep in touch.
6. Use the search at search.twitter.com to find specific tweets about companies and recruiters hiring. Search for specific titles you are interested in like ‘community manager‘ or more generic terms like ‘now hiring‘. Also, check out TwitHire which is a free service that has begun aggregating all job related tweets. Take a look at this article which explains TwitHire in more detail.
7. Get creative with the ways you network on Twitter (or any other social networking site). Plain and simple, more followers will equal more opportunities. The people with the most followers on Twitter gained those followers from doing something very creative or because they are very knowledgeable in what they do and love to share that knowledge. That’s why they have thousand’s of people listening and why you should be to. They way I think about it, using Twitter effectively to follow an industry expert is similar to reading a book written by them. There is a huge potential to learn more from the person both ways.
8. Sharing your knowledge related to your career interests will create a different type of online resume that may be the deciding factor between you and 30 other qualified candidates. I know if I was a hiring manager and found a Twitter account of a potential candidate, I would browse it.

The fact that you are on Twitter alone should be a great selling point in an interview or if your potential employer Google’s your name and sees you are active in online communities. (Again, especially if you are looking to get into a social media or PR role.) Furthermore, expanding your network on Twitter will probably lead to more connections on other social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Community and Social Media expert Chris Brogan has recently been writing several great articles which are very valuable to anyone serious about expanding their network.

Of course, you must use your own judgment when posting anything to your account that may ultimately have a negative effect on your image. Just use common sense and you should be fine. The same goes for not only Twitter; but Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, and even the stories you digg on Digg. Personally, I occasionally tweet about fun nights in the city and funny videos online because it is part of who I am and my personality. I am not worried about an employer seeing this because I am not interested in working for them anyway if their hiring decisions are based on personal hobbies that are in no way harmful to their business and brand.

I came across one digital agency that even created a dedicated Twitter account for recruiting, which I believe will be a new trend to keep an eye on. Below are screenshots of some of the job related entries on Twitter I recently came across:

Even if you are not looking for a job, you never know if one day you might decide to start your own business or become a free agent and start consulting. In that case, (you guessed it) your Twitter network can also be a very strong starting point in establishing your company, finding business partners, and reaching out to potential clients:

I’d love to hear success stories about how Twitter has helped you find a new job or hire a qualified candidate. Also, please let me know what you think of my outlined steps and what changes (if any) you would make to improve the list. I am personally not looking for a new job at the moment because I am happy where I am. But if I were, I think Twitter would be a very effective job search tool for me, and more so than some of the other popular job search websites and social networks. I only regret not singing up and using Twitter earlier than I did. Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr.

1. The most powerful person on your sales team is your customer.

Any satisfied customer will hopefully lead to referrals and more sales but what Gitomer describes in the book is using your best customers from the beginning of your sales process and not just after. One way to go about this is to have one of your loyal customers do you a favor and contact a potential client (if you have a strong relationship, they will be happy to). Of course, there are many other ways to get your customer involved like getting testimonials from them, but try to think of new, creative ways to spread their message to potential clients.

2. Your voicemail is a key to getting new customers and creating word-of-mouth advertising.

I don’t think many people put much thought into their voicemail away message, which is why this is a great way to stand out from the crowd. By having a creative or humorous message, your clients and potential clients will hear it, leave you a message, then most likely talk about. This should lead to a much higher overall message rate which should lead to more sales and stronger future relationships.

3. Humor not only helps make the sale - it also helps build the relationship.

Most people like to separate fun from work and I never really understood why (I am sure you probably agree). There are times to be serious and times where humor is appropriate during business hours and client meetings and I definitely think the right mix of both will lead to an increase in sales. It is up to you use your best judgment in each specific case if humor is appropriate or not and, if so, what type of humor. Just remember, it never hurts to make your potential customer laugh.

4. Creativity is a science that you can learn.

Gitomer recommends several books on creativity that have helped many people become more creative. I also believe that exposing yourself constantly to creative environments and creative individuals, you will learn how to be more creative as long as you are motivated and take notes. My favorite combination is when I come across something or someone that is both creativity and funny. Some of my favorite TV shows and movies for example are both creative and made me laugh. Once again it’s simple - exposing yourself to creative material (such as books, movies, etc.) and environments will help you learn how to be more creative.

5. Networking builds rapport that leads to appointments and sales. Lots of sales.

Everyone knows just how important networking is to having a successful career but many people avoid networking because they are too shy or afraid to meet new people. The first step is to get over this fear because it will be a major hindrance on your career advancement. Start slowly by attending small networking events with like minded people who you can talk to about your interests and not just the weather. It’s essential to keep in mind that you have nothing to loose when it comes to approaching new people at these events.

So those are just 5 out of the hundreds of tips given in his book. I recommend it to anyone, not just people in sales. Because Gitomer practices what he preaches, he has been able to become more successful from coaching people and organizations in sales. Remember, just reading and studying his sales techniques and tips is not enough to accomplish anything. It’s about hard work first, then sales techniques second.

Here are the screenshots (click on each one for full view of screen):

Apps in order of appearance:

Twitteriffic, BeeJive (technically not an app but I still prefer to use this over the AIM app), WordPress, Remote, Facebook, Google, Monkey Ball, Loopt, Jolt, Kyte (have not used this yet - only installed it because I thought it would allow live streaming to web), Yelp, Bank of America, Labyrinth LE, Tap Tap, NYTimes, Pandora, Crash Kart, Salesforce, AP Mobile News, iBeer (bought this by accident - definitely not worth the $3), iPint, Urbanspoon, Restaurants, Shazam, Light, Twinkle, vSNAX, Currency.

So far, I have been installing new apps a couple times a week as they become available or I hear about them. I’d love to see links to your own screenshots and let me know if you have any questions about the apps I currently have installed.

To take a screenshot on your iPhone, simply hold down the Home button then simultaneously hit the Power button and the screen will flash. The screenshot is now in your image library.

Update: Since this post, I have rearranged my icons for better organization and grouped similar apps on the same screen (main iPhone apps, games, social tools, etc).

It seems like the only solution to get it working again is to simply remove the facebook app completely from iTunes and the iPhone then reinstalling it from the App Store. I tried to restart the iPhone and that did nothing but you should try that first. When you go to download the app again, you may be prompted with this dialog box:

Just click OK and once it’s done downloaded, sync the iPhone and your done. It should now work and you will have the latest version. I have also been having several issues with downloading app updates and getting them to sync properly once they are downloaded. Hopefully these bugs will be fixed with the next iPhone software update.

I can also imagine this simple approach will work if you are getting a similar error message with other applications.

I think it’s safe to say that the mobile web, text messaging, and mobile marketing are seeing some dramatic changes while growing in popularity worldwide. Here are some of my findings in no particular order:

More people now have a mobile phone than an Internet-connected PC in the United States and globally.

There are more than 255 million mobile phone users in the U.S., roughly 85% of the U.S. population.

On average, small banner ads on mobile devices produce the same level of brand recall as the typical 30-second TV spot.

The number of monthly unique users of the mobile web increased 73% from May 06 (23.4 million) to May 08 (40.4 million).

Text messages are read by 94% of their recipients. (I think the other 6% are people that do not know how to check their text messages)

50% of SMS users are aged 35+, and 75% are aged 25+.

AT&T shattered its own record for text messaging during the 6th season of American Idol and recorded more than 78 million text messages, breaking last year’s record of 64.5 million text messages.

61% of downloadable mobile application revenues come from repeat purchases.

Smartphone devices represented around 10% of the global mobile phone market by units in 2007, with annual growth of 60% making them one of the fastest growing segments of the technology industry.

18 to 34 year-olds are the highest adopters of smartphones.

ESPN’s mobile NFL section at one point topped the PC NFL section’s 4.5m visits with 4.9m visits. The mobile site is seeing over 200% growth year over year.

Bank of America has tallied up more than 1 million unique active mobile banking customers since it launched its mobile-banking services last year, with over 100,000 people using their mobile services on peak days.

Almost two-thirds of 2,000 survey participants stated they would consider purchasing movie tickets, take-out food and travel tickets via a mobile phone.

If you come across any other interesting mobile statistics or studies, please post them in the comments.

If you are an agency or individual looking for mobile development or mobile marketing help, feel free to contact TigerSpike or send me an email directly. TigerSpike is an award winning digital services company that specializes in the mobile space and they recently opened an office in New York. (Disclaimer: I am currently interning for TigerSpike)

9. How would you characterize your ideas?

I’ve always been passionate about ideas that were simple and easy to understand because they were true. People could see the ideas and then see themselves.

This is always great advice in general when it comes to analyzing any business problem or idea. Entrepreneurs are commonly advised to think about whether they can see themselves using their product or service and also to reach out to family and friends during the initial research phase to see if they clearly understand their plans. Simple is almost always better.

10. What is your creative signature?

Advertising that speaks to the heart as well as the head. In a world of parity products and services, advertising that packs an emotional wallop definitely gives you a big edge.

His answer is specific to advertising and marketing. That emotional wallop, as he puts it, is very rarely missing from any great advertising or marketing campaign. If you are not in the advertising industry though, think about past achievements in your career and the general reasons behind why you were successful.

15. What criteria do you employ to judge the merits of an insight or idea?

I first look at it with my gut. How does it feel? Am I excited? Am I bored? Am I delighted? Once past that, I look at it on a business level. And determine whether it’s on strategy, whether it meets the essential objectives. And more important, whether it has the potential to lead to a great piece of advertising.

It’s important to note the order in which he first analyzes how he feels about the insight then moves on to the business details. Why waste time dwelling on an insight that your not excited about?

I would recommend this book to anyone in business or entrepreneurship, especially with a role involved in advertising or marketing. He goes over several examples of some of the most successful advertising campaigns he helped create and produce during his time leading the BBDO agency. Creativity and regular insights are essential in any profession and the advice above is only part of why he was so successful in advertising.

The right text sizes and easy to read fonts.

The text used is large enough to read without having to adjust the phone distance from your eyes. This also saves a lot of work on the readers part because of not having to zoom in and out frequently like you would have to on the normal website once its done loading (iPhone specific).

The right mix of media and information.

When most sites introduce mobile versions, they usually strip all images and miscellaneous media to save on loading times and bandwidth. That’s not the case here because articles on the NYT’s mobile site usually starts with one related picture at the top. I think this is important because the photo keeps the content from being to dry. It also encourages me to read more to know the back story behind the photo.

Easy to navigate news sections and content.

The mobile homepage is presented in a very clear and organized manner with news topics in a larger, bolder text followed by several articles for each topic.

What I think is amazing is the fact that the NYT’s has created an almost identical news design and brand across three different mediums while adapting very well to the changing publishing industry.

Also, if you check email on your smartphone frequently and want to get breaking news alerts delivered to you, they also offer a service that sends news instantly. I also subscribe to this service and find very informative. Just create an online account if you don’t have one already and then go to the Member Center > Email Preferences > then check the ‘Breaking News Alerts’ box.

Here is a quote from the second to last page of the book when Mortenson finds out he has the support needed from a powerful leader to continue with his mission and build more schools in the Afghanistan region:

Mortenson had always doubted that the entire life a person led could flash before him in the moment before death. There didn’t seem to be enough time. But in the second it took to look into Sadhar Khan’s dark eyes, and then through them, as he contemplated the vow he was being asked to take, Mortenson saw the rest of the life he had yet to live unreel before him.

How often does one experience the same type of flash forward with their work career when a life changing opportunity is presented to them? I could imagine entrepreneurs experience this type of moment when they get the funding needed to get their business off the ground or even when an employee find out about a major promotion or an exciting new job offer. In this case, Mortenson felt a sigh of relief from all the obstacles and hardships he had just overcome. He also felt a surge of confidence and excitement for the new challenges that lay ahead, which were very clear in his mind because of his experiences so far on his mission.

We should all hope to one day come across an opportunity like this, but of course nothing this rewarding ever comes easy. It will, however, hopefully come with a lot of hard work and dedication. The first step is to figure out exactly what you want to accomplish during your career and then to keep working toward those goals while constantly making new goals as you achieve old ones.

For Greg Mortenson, all it took was one unfortunate mountain climbing accident for him to see the opportunity to make a difference by building a school for the children of a small village in Korphe, Afghanistan. Once that first school was complete, he just knew he had to continue building more. I won’t go into detail about all his accomplishments and how much of an impact he has made to that region because its a book worth reading on your own. While reading it, make note of the impact one person can make and hope to one day be able to get as excited about your career as he was about his mission.

IncBizNet was developed using Drupal by Mansueto Digital, which also owns Inc.com and publishes a yearly feature called the Inc. 5000; Inc. Magazine’s annual list of the fastest growing private companies in America. IncBizNet and the Inc. 5000 are now directly linked to each other because all new applications completed will automatically create a profile for the company on IncBizNet with the information submitted. As a result of this, the site already has a large member base of private companies with detailed profiles. These companies, along with all the other companies that have joined the site since it launched, vary greatly in many ways such as length of time in business, size, and industry.

I think younger run companies will be first to see the potential of the site because they will find the most value in what IncBizNet has to offer. But at the same time, the site will dramatically help non-tech savvy executives and employees become more familiar with the online world of networking and information sharing. Among many of the features currently available, the site allows companies to post press releases and blog about anything they desire. Private company executives and employees may find this very beneficial mainly because press releases are provided for free at this time (saving them money) and they will no longer need to go through the hassle of creating and hosting a company blog on their own (saving them time).

A major trend I have noticed recently (especially with web companies), is that many of them launch their own company blogs along with their new web services. They are using these blogs to keep their customers updated with their latest developments and news. We have already started to see other companies (private and public) follow this trend as a additional form of communication to their customers. I think that trend of will continue either through a site like IncBizNet or through their own website because it is effective.

It will be interesting to see how IncBizNet evolves as more companies sign up. My prediction is that one of the site’s main attractions will be hosting active discussions focusing primarily on many of the obstacles businesses face on an everyday basis to survive and grow with the rapidly changing U.S. economy.

To begin, I want to highlight a few marketing tips he lists on page 184. I want to point out just a few of my favorite tips from his list and briefly explain why I think they are important for effective marketing. Seth Godin doesn’t claim to know everything about marketing, but he certainly likes sharing his ideas with all his readers for them to interpret on their own.

Products that are remarkable inspire conversation.

This is certainly not a great new idea, but I think many marketers need to be reminded of this every now and then to refocus their efforts. Sure, a product may still be very successful and not be truly remarkable, but why stop there. Why not try and think of a way to further better the product to make it remarkable. That may be out of the hands of marketing and more in the hands of product development, but why don’t the marketers use the information they have available to come up with the ideas needed to make the right change? I think this statement is especially true with technology and web development in particular. Just follow a launch of a truly remarkable website and you will see how fast news spreads about a new site that has great potential to succeed.

Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills, and your returns policy.

I am a strong believer in attention to detail and this statement provides 3 great examples of just how important every little detail can be when it comes to marketing a company. Marketing professionals may not think that consumers notice these little details about the business, but they do. I can vouch for that because I am always making a note of every interaction I have with a company that I am dealing with. Everyone does it, but some people pay closer attention to the details when making their final purchasing decisions.

What people want is the extra, emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.

If you offer a product or service which you think people are attached to emotionally, then your have already done many things right. The moment consumers start adding their emotions into their buying decisions, the easier it will be to keep them as a customer and loyal to your brand for many years. At this point, it is important for the marketer to recognize exactly what it is that is causing this emotional bonus and make sure that it is not lost or even strengthened in all their new marketing efforts.