<p>I'm not a social media expert, just a business person learning to use it effectively with some really great coaches.</p> <p>I now have five twitter profiles. <strong><a href="http://twitter.com/joankw" target="_blank">@joankw</a></strong> for an eclectic mix of things that I share with my friends on Facebook as well as with my twitter followers at the same time.&nbsp; <a href="http://twitter.com/CorePurpose" target="_blank"><strong>@CorePurpose</strong></a> is all business articles and tips. This links back to my profile on LinkedIn. Then I have three very specific profiles to have deeper conversations on the subjects I like the most <a href="http://twitter.com/@JKWinnovation"><strong>@JKWinnovation</strong></a><strong>,&nbsp; </strong><a href="http://twitter.com/JKWgrowth"><strong>@JKWgrowth</strong></a><strong>,&nbsp; </strong><a href="http://twitter.com/JKWleadership"><strong>@JKWleadership</strong></a>. </p> <h5></a>Why 5 Profiles?</h5> <ol> <li><strong>If you Tweet consistently</strong> - and I do - linking to other platforms like Facebook, Plaxo, and Linked in can cause you to monopolize your friends feeds.&nbsp; It's like crying wolf - when you have something important to <strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></a></strong>say - no one's there to listen.  <li><strong>Your profile is a brand component</strong>.&nbsp; Multiple profiles allow you to keep your brand focused and consistent within each profile.&nbsp; People follow the profiles that have the messages they want.  <li><strong>It's easier to have real conversations</strong>.&nbsp; On the focused profiles, I follow publications and people who tweet on the subject - when we connect we have something to actually talk/tweet about. </li></ol> <p>Ways to make work it <strong><a href="http://twitter.com/JKWinnovation" target="_blank"><a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong></a></strong>without going crazy</p> <ol> <li><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong>There are some <strong>great tools</strong> for those of us with multiple profiles.&nbsp; None are perfect, but my toolset includes <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong><a href="http://www.seesmic.com" target="_blank">Seesmic</a> </a>- <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong></a>great visual interface - and <a href="http://www.hootsuite.com/" target="_blank">Hootsuite</a> which allows me to 'tweet later' <strong><a href="http://twitter.com/JKWinnovation" target="_blank"><a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong></strong>and <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong>manage the follow.&nbsp; It <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong><strong><a href="http://twitter.com/JKWinnovation" target="_blank"><a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong></strong>these <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong></a>two platforms would just merge into one, I would be in Twitter Heaven.  <li><strong><strong><a href="http://twitter.com/JKWinnovation" target="_blank"><a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong></a></strong></strong>Tweet Later</strong> - a great way to spread your messages <a href="http://twitter.com/JKWleadership" target="_blank"><strong></a></strong></a>across the day with out being <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong>tied to your computer.&nbsp; Early each morning I schedule a few messages for each profile to tweet later using Hootsuite.&nbsp; Then I log in later via Seesmic to read the feed, reply to conversations, or share more 'in the moment' thoughts.  <li><strong>Set aside a specific time</strong> to do this then turn it <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong>off.&nbsp; It's easy to get sucked into all the goings on and not get other <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong>important things done.  <li><strong>Less can be More</strong> - I share and follow based <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/corepurpose" target="_blank"><strong><strong></a></strong></strong></strong>on good content.&nbsp; So when <a href="http://www.seesmic.com/" target="_blank"><strong></a></strong>someone follows me - I follow them.&nbsp; If it turns out to be spam or just noise - I un-follow later.&nbsp; That way I can find interesting new people and still get through all the messages in a reasonable amount of time. </li></ol><br> <p>I look forward to sharing ideas with you.</p> <h5>Stay Tuned...</h5> <blockquote> <p>Joan Koerber-Walker</p> <div style="display:inline;margin:0;padding:0;" id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:02a7203a-99fd-4950-8a3e-47abd147d198" class="wlWriterSmartContent">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Joan%20Koerber-Walker" rel="tag">Joan Koerber-Walker</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/CorePurpose" rel="tag">CorePurpose</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Twitter" rel="tag">Twitter</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/@joank" rel="tag">@joank</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/@corepurpose" rel="tag">@corepurpose</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/@JKWinnovation" rel="tag">@JKWinnovation</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/@JKWleadership" rel="tag">@JKWleadership</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/@JKWgrowth" rel="tag">@JKWgrowth</a></div></blockquote>