Every Thursday at 3:20pm I get a Google Alert that at 330pm EST, I  will be participating in an online Tweetup called Travelers Night In (#TNI Twitter hashtag).  I first found out about the Tweetup when I noticed #TNI appearing in the Alltravelsites Twitter stream. I then asked one of the people what the Hashtag #TNI stands for, and I was sent to the Travelers Night In page and told to follow it on Tweetgrid.com, which is a cool site that allows you to follow numerous Twitter streams and post to your own stream to connect to the Twitter conversation.

TNI is from 330pm to 5pm and it consists of 10 questions about some area of travel, this upcoming week for example is on the topic of  “Festivals”.

Healthy Travel from ChooseCherries

Several weeks ago,  when I participated in the Healthy Travel TNI, which was sponsored by Choosecherries, I actually  won a Choosecherries travel pack. One lucky TNI participant won the grand prize which included a cherry iPod.  Good thing I didn’t win that, or it would have made three iPods I have won and don’t use. But anyway, I  would like to thank ChooseCherries for the cherry travel pack..I loved eating the dried cherries on my oatmeal in the morning..yum..

ChooseCherries.com does not sell or represent any one cherry company, so I guess you could call them a Cherry Coalition. Their site has lots of great info about cherries, including many cherry recipes and cherry health and nutrition information. You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

If you did not know, I am a big fan of the cherry as a fruit. I also love lots of different cherry candy..see the Cherry Mash Needs SEO blog post..Thinking about cherries reminds me of one of my favorite dishes at a local restaurant, the Landis Store Hotel, Duck with Cherry Sauce…oh, I need to stop thinking about food.

Who Should participate in #TNI?

Back to TNI, now who should participate in TNI?  If you have a travel interest that is personal or professional, you may want to consider following and participating in TNI. Who already participates in TNI?

• Travel bloggers
• Travel agents
• Travel enthusiasts
• Travel photographers

So if you find yourself being o of these four types of travelers, or if you find yourself being a person that would like to network with these types of  travelers, why not tune in on Thursday and give TNI a try?

If you are interested in Sponsoring TNI like ChooseCherries.com did, you can visit ZipSetgo below for more info.

Examine TNI

TNI and other similar Twitter Chats have the potential to be awesome marketing events.  Thinking about your own little niche, be it automotive, financial, home improvement or what have you. Do you think you could use a Tweetup like this to drive business to your site or your physical location?

TNI Resources

• ZipSetGo TNI Post -These wonderful ladies are responsible for starting and maintaining TNI. I am sure if you have questions about starting a Tweetup or questions about sponsoring TNI, this is the place to go.
• AdventurousKate does a review of TNI including the Healthy Travel week post.
• TweetGrid.com to follow the TNI action and any other Twitter hashtag events you may choose.

At my first PBN networking event (mentioned in my Networking blog), I briefly spoke to Kristen Kane, from Kane Partners, about an event she was holding at NBC10 studios about using social media to find jobs. She told me where to sign-up online and it was free!

Last night, I drove to the studios of The 10 Show in Bala Cynwyd for Kristen’s presentation called, “Jobs on Social Media.” Anchor and consumer reporter Tracy Davidson was there to greet the guests as they arrived for the event. She encouraged each of us to send her an email when we get a job (not if- when!). We sat in the studio while Kristen explained the benefits of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook–if you use them correctly.  I have an account on all three of these sites, but until now I did not know how to use them for my job search. 

Which social media site is the most helpful for job searching?

LinkedIn and Twitter seem like the most promising social media sites if you’re looking for inside information about job openings.  I wrote down everything that caught my attention during Kristen’s presentation, and you can read about it in my blog post titled, ”Using Social Media to Find a Job.”

The importance of having a clear and effective resume:

At the conclusion of the evening, I had the chance to meet with a consultant from Kane Partners named Jessica and she reviewed my resume. Jessica gave me some helpful tips about formatting and she encouraged me to be as descriptive as possible in the bullet points under each job or internship–if anything is too general, it could be misunderstood by an HR representative or anyone else glancing over the resume.  Kane Partners offers resume reviews or redos if you make an appointment.

Have you made any meaningful connections on LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook?

This was originally posted on Not For Slaves in the post Why Professionals Need to Compete Globally. The slideshow offers up some statistics that really make you think.

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Be sure to visit the original post on NotForslaves because the rest of the post is equally thought provoking.

What do you think?

Problogger.com Darren Rowse’s latest Twitter posts I received in my email this morning 35 Twitter Tips from 35 Twitter Users, 9 Benefits of Twitter for Bloggers, and How to Use Twitter – Tips for Bloggers(yesterday). Well seeing all these great Twitter posts from Darren, made me realize, I had yet to add him to my Twitter. So I clicked on Darrens link, logged on and added him.

Skimming through all three of Darren’s posts, I realize there are a ton of mistakes that I have made while using Twitter. Probably my biggest mistake is not doing it enough. I had been on a regular daily Twitter schedule, but within the last several months, I have found myself tweeting less and less. Darren suggests scheduling several minutes in the morning and at night to tweet.

A few Problogger Suggestions:

• Use multiple Twitter profiles for different purposes such as one for different blogs you may have. I actually had been thinking about setting up one for family and friends in addition to my blogging profile.
• Use goals for your Twittering to get organized and more focused.
• Use Twitter for Research
• Promote Content- use TwitterFeed to publish your blog feed headlines. Did it,thanks for the reminder Darren.
• Use it for Speedlinking- find a cool blog post, tweet it.

Well any way, if you are looking for information about using Twitter to Network, be sure to check out all three of the Problogger posts mentioned above which are sure to be great Twitter resources for both new and experienced Twitter users.

Here are other Twitter Posts on Pixelheadonline and my Twitter profile if you’d care to add me is EmperorAnton.
Tags: Networking, Twitter, Micro-Blogging

This is the second in a series of Building Traffic with Social Media blog posts. The first post focused on Using Mybloglog to build traffic, and ths one will focus on Blogcatalog , which is another great site for using to promote your blog and for developing networks of blogging friends.

What is Blogcatalog?

Blogcatalog is essentially a blog directory, however, it is without a doubt, one of the largest and best blog directories that is being actively developed.

What features does Blogcatalog Have?

• a blog directory
• a blog group directory
• ability to create groups
• ability to find and join other groups
• ability to find and add contacts
• ability to message other contacts
• creates a log of blog posts for each listed blog
• can leave comments about others blogs

How do You Join Blogcatalog?

Blogcatalog, is free to join, after which you may add your blogs provided they have a minimum number of posts and I believe must also be at least 6 months old. I might be wrong on this, but I have had at least one blog not accepted, but then when I resubmitted it several months later, the blog was then accepted.

After joining and before having your blog accepted you will need to place some sort of Blogcatalog Badge or widget on your blog. The widgets are very similar to the Mybloglog widget, so you may opt for just putting on a Blogcatalog Badge on your site.

Blog Catalog Premium services

BlogCatalog has some premium services available which include a nice little logo next to your profile saying you are a Blogcatalog supporter. There is also a premium listing method for the Blogcatalog directory, which will enable your blog to be listed ahead of other blogs in a particular category. There are a limited number of premium listings per category, so you may have to purchase a premium listing in an alternate category. The premium listings are also on a month to month basis, however the prices are pretty inexpensive, and many of the categories in addition to being cached in Google, also have some pretty good page rank.

How do I build traffic?

1. Blogcatalog has a lot of communities available which can allow bloggers to network with similar types of blogs. After logging on, do a group search using your particular keywords. For instance, for my pet blog, I did a search for pets, dogs, and cats; and then I joined several pet related groups.
2. Don’t see a group to your liking, Start your own, and then go invite others to join it.
3. Visit other bloggers profiles that you might be able to network with and invite them to join your group.
4. Leave blog review comments on the blog pages. This will involve actually going to other blogs and checking them out. You may also want to leave a comment on their blog. (Please don’t leave a “nice blog, check mine out comment)
5. Another way you can get traffic is by participating in the discussions in the particular groups in a meaningful manner. This could be asking relevant comments, or even asking advice of other bloggers. Bloggers love to be asked for advice.
6. Start new meaningful threads on groups. Don’t be afraid to start some controversial threads either. But please be nice.

How Else Can You Build Traffic With Blogcatalog?

I am not an authority on Blogcatalog, but this post covers the basics on using it for networking. If any other readers have any other methods for networking with Blogcatalog that I have not covered, please feel free to either leave a comment with your advice or leave a url to any Blogcatalog resource posts that may be helpful.

I am EmperorAnton on Blogcatalog if you’s like to add me.

Tags: Blogcatalog, Networking, Social Media, Blog Development