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Twitter Follow Friday – Meet ‘em for Coffee

by JimRaffel on April 30, 2010

Twitter is new. Together we are all learning how to utilize Twitter as a tool to facilitate communication. Without any real plan or intention I have been moving towards turning Twitter “friendships” into face to face meetings.

Coffee Meetings:Picture 1.png This week’s Twitter Follow Friday (the blog edition) will highlight three tweeps I have planned real life coffee meetings with. My thought about these meetings is to go beyond 140 characters as I discussed in a post of the same name. Get to know the other person as a person.

Because there is already mutual respect and admiration, coffee meetings will work. Time is very valuable for all of us. You have gotten to know me well enough that you see value in meeting and so do I. We both see the potential to gain from the meeting and provide value to the other. It’s by definition a win-win relationship and since we already “know” each other from Twitter it has the potential to be a very effective 30-minute coffee break.

The Meet ‘em for Coffee Trio

@Stacysnook – In just a few hours I am delivering coffee to Stacy. She’s a successful salon and spa owner from the Madison, WI area who has decided to expand to the Milwaukee area. We’ve known each other on Twitter for ages (you know like six months) and have had the opportunity to meet twice. Both meetings were very brief and at well attended tweetups. This time it’s going to be Stacy and I one on one for a few minutes. I’m bringing along my Zi8 video camera and am hopeful I can get some footage to share what inspires someone to expand their business during an economic downturn.

@jim_horrell – Jim reached out to me to suggest coffee after we recently met on Twitter. After checking out his profile and realizing how close he is geographically I couldn’t think of a good reason not to meet. It didn’t hurt that his profile let me know he’s a creative writer into social media and I.T. How can this conversation not go well right? There have to be areas we can help each other grow.

@deziner – Cynthia (Cindi? good question to ask when we meet) had me at deziner. What a cool twitter handle for, get this, a partner in a digital design firm. I have always viewed myself as a technician and a business person, so I love spending time with creative types. They totally inspire me to try new things and think outside the box. Also, it sure can’t hurt to let the design community know about ColorMetrix and what we do. We’ve only been in business 15 years it’s about time we let the Milwaukee design community know we are here as a resource when they need us.

What’s your plan for taking Twitter relationships to the next level? Have an idea different from meeting for coffee? Please share your ideas and thoughts in the comments.

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Follow Friday #3 – Milwaukee Edition

by JimRaffel on April 23, 2010

In honor of yesterday’s #BigMKETweetup I decided it would be appropriate to give props to my local tweeps.

Twitter Follow Friday MKE EdditionLet’s start with @cbuser who just now randomly walked into the Starbucks I hide at about once a week to catch up on blogging “business.” Only my second time meeting Carolyn and she’s yet another Twitter find who is the same engaging, fun, conversationalist in person as she is on-line. In that same category, would be @bootyp who made the list last week and @hawtwife and I finally got to meet in person last night.

Here’s some of the crew from last night, some first time meets and some “always great to see you!” @mattjac another of the crazy #fitmke runners (yes, I have decided you are all your own special kind of good crazy). @MindSpikeDesign – shop local for your design and web needs. @polleydan – can’t remember if it’s the first time in real life, good to run into you and chat for a few minutes. @trainerbob2010 and I have now crossed paths at a few events – always a smile and pleasant words, the pleasure was all mine Bob. We wrapped up the night talking with local food writer @postcollegecook whom I’ve interacted with online and is another one who’s every bit as nice in person.

Fun tweeps I’ve interacted with this week. For those times when it feels like not a single person reads your tweets @joshjs will always come through with a good comeback that makes you smile. @bananza (it’s actually illegal to do a MKE Twitter list and not include Anne). @peterepublic retired military and I always feel like he has my back. @PhilGerb and @KatieFelten are simply institutions on Milwaukee social media “scene” and two of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet. For those who helped me convince “biz partner Mike” to get on Twitter he’s here now too as @CursiveTongue (I’ve got no idea what it means, ask him on Twitter after you follow him).

If you’re not on the list, please don’t take it personally. This is a top of mind thing. I decide how I’m going to categorize (this week is all local people), and then I look at my mentions column for people I have recently interacted with. That’s the only way I can think of to do this every week and have it be a meaningful list. If you have other ideas how to do this I’d love to hear them in the comments.

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Continue Reading 3 comments }blogging, Twitter

Twitter Follow Friday I find ‘em you follow ‘em

April 16, 2010

Want to know the secret to making this list? Read on young Jedi master. It starts in my “mentions” column in Hootsuite. It’s all about interaction and engagement. I sit down for a few minutes before creating this list and scroll back through my mentions column. The names I see that make me go “ah [...]

Twitter Follow Friday (on Saturday)

April 10, 2010

Chris Brogan wrote a great post about turning Twitter follow Friday into blog traffic. You’re here aren’t you? So, he got that part right. I now have more than 140 characters to share with you what is so fantastic about the people I recommend you follow. The other part of my sinister plan is to [...]