Getting the Most Out of Twitter

Okay all you Twitter Heads, here's some very helpful information from Michael Hyatt (one of my favorite bloggers btw) on how to get the most out of your Twitter account.

1. Why Do You Twitter?

Two reasons: First, I am very interested in leadership. Leadership is influence. Twitter allows me to use my influence to effect thousands of people. Second, I am interested in building my personal brand, so that I can leverage that on behalf of my company. As I build my brand, I build trust. When people trust you, you have more influence. It all works together.

2. What Do You Think has Contributed to Your Growth Success?

I think by adding value to people’s lives.

I try to point people to articles and posts that I believe will enrich their lives in some way. The more generous you are with Twitter, the more followers you will attract. It’s like making a deposit in their bank account.

Conversely, “using” your followers to pimp your own products or services is like a withdrawal. You can do it, but you must be very careful that your deposits exceed your withdrawals.

3. What Strategies Would You Give for a Twitter User Who’s Not “New” But Who’s Been Around and is Looking to Take It to the “Next Level”?

1. Make sure that you are tweeting great content. Again, be generous. Give more than you ask.
2. Re-tweet great content from others. This builds equity with the people you are re-tweeting, so they are more likely to re-tweeting you.
3. Twitter frequently, but not too frequently. I think 8-12 tweets a day is about right. More than that will wear people out.
4. Don’t reply publicly to private questions. This is what direct messages are for. If potential followers can’t follow your conversations, they won’t follow you-or worse, they may unfollow you. Only post public tweets that are relevant to ALL (or at least most) of your followers.
5. Create a custom landing page. When people consider following you, the first thing they do is click on your Web link on your Twitter profile page. That should go to a special landing page on your blog or Web site.
6. Blog about Twitter. I wrote “The Beginner’s Guide to Twitter” and it is the most popular page on my blog. I have also written several other posts about Twitter. They get lots of traffic.
7. Auto-follow everyone who follows you. I use TweetLater.com to do this. I’m not sure I can explain why this works but it does. When I started doing this, my follower growth sky-rocketed. I use TweetDeck to manage such a large number of followers by segmenting followers into groups.

Collecting Stories

In my last post I talked about the power of stories to engage people. While we all agree on this point, one of the common questions many people have when it comes to stories is, "Where do you get your stories?". Believe it or not most of the stories I tell are about myself. Personal stories accomplish two main things.

1. They communicate vulnerability to those I'm speaking to. The last thing I want to do is to come off like I have all the answers or that I'm the expert. I don't have all the answers and I'm certainly no expert. I want people, especially guests to recognize that I'm just like them.
2. They allow me to communicate with more passion and emotion. Because I'm the one who has gone through the experience myself, I'm able to communicate personal stories with more passion and emotion than if I were telling stories of other people.

So where do I get my stories? Stories are going on around us all the time, we simply don't pay attention much of the time. In my book bag I have with me a small notebook where I keep a list of things that happen to me and around me that are worthy of recording. At the end of each day I simply think back over the day and if something happened that was noteworthy, I answer these questions in the book.

1. What happened?
2. Who was involved?
3. How can people connect with what happened?
4. What is funny?
5. What are the messages or life lessons that can be drawn from this story?

In the front of the book I keep an index of all my stories (Page #; Date; Lessons; Story) for quick reference. Even though I'm fairly new at this, this system has worked well so far.

Are You Telling Stories?

When Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem to take on the arduous task of rebuilding the city walls, the first difficult task in front of him was to envision the people to join in the work. It's one thing to get people to commit to a common mission when things are going good and there's momentum all around. It's another thing to engage people when all they see around them are ruins. So what did Nehemiah do to get the people to sacrifice their life for the greater good? He told a story.

"Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God has been on me, and about my conversation with the king. They replied at once, 'Yes, let's rebuild the wall!' So they began the good work." (Nehemiah 2:18)

Up until this time we are given no indication that the people were willing to join in the work. However, once Nehemiah told the story of God's leading and what God had accomplished up to that point, everyone wanted in on the action. Why is that? One of the reasons is because stories are powerful tools that engage people.

We live in an age where information is increasing at the speed of light. As a result we have grown blase with it all. Instruction must be more than information if we have any shot at engaging people in God's mission. We must include stories that point to God at work.

For example, one of the points I made in last Sunday's message out of Hebrews 10 was that faithfulness does not preclude suffering. Originally I was going to go to a number of Bible passages that support this point. Instead, I opted for a story that I found online in video format. I'm including the video at the bottom of this post. In the end the story was so much better at communicating my point and engaging people. (If you are receiving this post via email, you will need to click on the title at the top of the email in order to see the video.)

Whether your a primary leader who preaches every week, a small group leader, or a children's volunteer, look for ways to include stories in your instruction. I'll share some tips next time for where to look for stories and how to keep track of them.

Welcome Videos

We've never used a Welcome Video at Jubilee, but after looking at some of these I might change my mind. Check out 13 compelling church welcome videos here.

Attracting Young Leaders

As leaders we're always on the look out for aspiring young leaders we can develop and invest into. When it comes to developing new leaders it seems that most of the focus is on the young leader who is being developed. What about our role as leaders to attract younger leaders? Is our leadership compelling to young leaders, or are we turning them away and not even realizing we're doing so?

Brad Lomenick recently identified nine characteristics of leaders who attract young leaders. I thought it was worthy of sharing with you.

1. Humility, combined with incredible passion and skill. Jim Collins writes about this as the key characteristic of a level 5 leader.
2. Unwavering commitment to reaching their desired audience and accomplishing the mission. Know the hill they are climbing and willing to fight to get to the top.
3. The IT factor- hard to explain, but easy to spot.
4. Collaboration and not competition, celebrating others victories along with your own.
5. Willing to give over responsibility vs. a “wait your turn” mentality- will allow young leaders to lead if they are qualified and can handle it.
6. Authenticity- They keep it real. Young leaders clamor towards authentic and honest leaders.
7. Open to change- if they are not open to change no one will follow them.
   
8. Can have at least a little fun. Like attracts like. It’s a reality= regardless of age, demographic, and style.
9. Passionately create a culture that takes risks, allows for failure, and thinks outside the box.

So how does your leadership stack up in each of these areas? Don't trust your own opinion, ask those you serve with to give you their honest feedback. The most profitable thing we can do to develop great leaders is to first of all be a great leader ourselves.

Nine Minutes From Some Great Leaders

Leadership Network asked some well known church leaders from around the country, "If you had nine minutes to talk one-on-one with thousands of church leaders, what is the one thing that you would tell them?" What has come out of this is an online conference called The Nines. The date is 9/9/09 (What a surprise huh?) and it begins at, you guessed it 9 a.m.

The lineup is a proverbial who's who of church leaders so it promises to be helpful. Here's the link where you can register. Register here.

Visuals In Power Point

Power Point can be a tricky thing when it comes to public speaking. The key thing to remember is that LESS IS MORE. Having said that, here is a great PPT presentation that does a good job of showing the ins and outs of a good presentation.

Visuals In Power Point

View more presentations from Rowan Manahan.