Anyone who knows me or reads my blog regularly already recognizes I’m a big fan of Twitter. It provides unprecedented access to and information from people you want to contact — and the people you want to know you!
A story illustrating the point:
I receive many, many emails from people (often PR firms) about career related books, products and applications. When I started receiving these, I responded personally to each, no matter how strong or weak the pitch. It seemed the polite thing to do. However, when I started getting several a day, I stopped even reading a lot of them. Like a typical employer might handle a resume, I only read it all the way through if it really caught my eye. (That’s another blog post altogether.)
What does this have to do with Twitter? Since I actively use and engage with people on Twitter, if someone there asks me a question, retweets my links, or generally touches base with me there, I respond. So, when a Twitter follower with a company he is promoting to career coaches touched base via Twitter, I DM’d (direct messaged) a private note asking him to email me, and I read the note and agreed to speak to him.
When we talked (maybe not a coincidence that I was really glad to learn about his product), I mentioned I don’t usually respond to inquiries, but remembered he came to me first from Twitter. He explained he knew the follow up email asking for our agenda was important, and he made sure it was targeted and intriguing enough to solicit my continued follow through.
The perfect 1 – 2 punch – a Twitter introduction/touch base and a targeted follow through via email. I’ll probably be writing more about this company going forward (it’s not the right time), but there’s no doubt this is a great lesson for job seekers about how to reach out to people who aren’t so inclined to talk to you.
Think about how Twitter can open doors leading to your success!
Stay tuned for another story of a successful pitch…Useful for entrepreneurs and job seekers!
photo by Paul Snelling