Yes, I know. For a lot of people, Twitter’s not that big of a deal. But for me, it is. It’s how I grew my business when I relaunched, rebranded, and relocated to a new state. It’s how I keep in touch with virtual colleagues and keep up-to-date on industry news and even make new friends. And for just a little over a year, it’s a place where I’ve been know as @InkyClean.

And here I am about to change that.

A lot of things have led up to this. For one, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want out of Twitter, and more than anything it’s a place where I connect with other people. The business relationships and the promotion of Inky Clean all come secondary to the real relationships I’ve made. I don’t log on every day to link to my latest blog post, but I do log on every day to check and see how my “tweeps” are doing. Twitter’s a place where I feel I can let my guard down a bit; it’s a place for honesty and genuineness, and for me, the next step in that sincerity is to just use my own name.

Secondly, as much work as I’ve put into Inky Clean, it’s not the only thing I do, nor is it the only thing that defines me. I’m not just a copywriter—I’m an aspiring novelist, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer addict, a nostalgic gamer who occassionally plays Donkey Kong Country on an old-school Super NES, a dog owner, an occasionally moody (but always lovable) wife, a little sister, a Miami transplant living in Austin…the list goes on and on. All of these things, including my company, fall into the very complex and often geeky umbrella that is me.

Third, I want people to know me for me. A year ago when I started this Twitter account, my goal was to develop Inky Clean as a strong, memorable brand. And I think I’ve done that maybe too well (on Twitter, at least) because sometimes, once the online networking goes offline, people will call me by company name and not my actual name. And I love that it sticks, I love that they remember it, but I want my company to be something people remember about me, not all they remember.

So maybe it’s time for me to develop my personal brand just like I developed my business brand. And it’s very possible to develop both at once. It doesn’t mean I’ll be neglecting my business brand (and—let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture here—a brand is much, much, much more than a Twitter handle). If anything, I’ll be working harder to make sure that my business is one of the great things people think of when they think of me. But just one of the things, among many.

Because we are all so very many things.

Do you keep your business and personal brand separate? Why or why not?

I’ve mentioned this before, but typos are no laughing matter. Except sometimes they are. Especially when you’re part of a community of writers and editors on Twitter that—exhausted from trying to educate the world on when to use peak, peek, or pique—decides it’s better to tackle blunders with humor. We have our fun while gently correcting errors because there’s no reason to be mean about it.

photo credit: Mr. Wright

So for Fun With Words, here are 4 famous typos that brought a laugh, a gasp, or both, to me and plenty of my wordy colleagues on Twitter. I emphasize the Twitter aspect because, while many of us thought these were kind of a big deal, I’m not sure the rest of the world really noticed.

The case of the poll-dancing Iron Man starlet

When MightyRedPen tweeted that a “typo has Gwyneth Paltrow doing some ‘drunken poll dancing’ in her new movie” the jokes about political thrillers and winning elections were simply impossible to resist. We all got a nice laugh out of it, but the guilty party? Blissfully oblivious, since at the time of this posting, the typo still hadn’t been corrected.

Some typos are for life

Before you even think about getting a tattoo, may I suggest spelling out (and then double, triple, quadruple checking) the message for the ink artist? If only these guys had done so…

Typos that just don’t taste right

Ever hear about the one that cost Penguin Australia $20,000 in shredded cookbooks? A recipe in The Pasta Bible called for “freshly ground black people” instead of “freshly ground black pepper.” The publisher blamed it on a spell-check program. I’d blame it on relying on a spell-check program.

The typo that had some truth in it

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve yelled at the TV while watching CNN as a typo just scrolled on by. For once, someone caught this one in action: a four-letter word about the NYC Mosque debate that actually reflects on the state of the situation.

And yes, I know we’re all human behind those keyboards. So we should approach them like we would an 80′s horror movie: Be afraid, be very afraid. Proofread and edit like crazy. If something happens to get by, it’ll either be really bad or really funny. Care enough to correct the error for next time, and try to avoid the trap again.

What about you? Any typos that have always stuck in your mind?

In case I haven’t made this clear before, I’m a huge Twitter fan. Yes, I’m that annoying person who’s always suggesting that my job-seeking friends and entrepreneur friends get on Twitter. Right. Now.

Problem is, they’ll often come back after a few months and say it hasn’t really worked for them. It seemed too time consuming, and they weren’t getting any followers.

But this post isn’t about how to get followers (this one is). It’s about how to make Twitter work for you when you’re a newbie. It’s about how not to mess it up your first 20 Tweets in. Because while it’s true that Twitter doesn’t work for all types of businesses, more often than not it’s because a person isn’t using it right.

So if you’re new to Twitter, or thinking about creating an account, here are some tips to make sure you’re not doing it wrong.

1. Get a Twitter Client, like, yesterday. I know it sounds contradictory, but you won’t be using Twitter to its fullest potential if you’re using it on the website itself. A client like TweetDeck or HootSuite will keep you updated on your replies (so you don’t accidentally ignore  people trying to chat with you). You can create tabs where you can monitor certain keywords, like industry terms, or chats (as indicated by a # sign before a term, like in #brandchat). Because the whole point of Twitter is that there are several conversations being updated in real time—wouldn’t it be best if you sifted through the noise to get to what you want to hear?

2. Don’t make your followers do all the work. If you want to share a link to a blog post you wrote, or a product special on your site, please, please, PLEASE don’t just tweet the link. Give people a reason to click on it. Tell them what’s in it for them; if you ask them to figure it out on their own, they simply won’t. read more…

And no, you don’t have to be Kim Kardashian. Or Ashton Kutcher. Or Justin Bieber (who?).

Despite CNN’s report that the majority of Twitter users are just following their favorite celebrities, I think it’s an incredibly valuable tool—and it’s not fair to measure it just by the numbers. You can be following 20 people, but if they’re the right people, you’ll build a community and get a real conversation going. The same can be said for the people who follow you.

That’s why when I started Inky Clean’s Twitter account I decided to start small. I’m choosy about who I follow because I don’t want my account to become another source of spam; I want to get a valuable experience out of it. Here are the six things I look out for before I click “Follow” on a profile.

1. The bio: One of the first things I look at is a person’s bio. I want to know a bit about who they are, and by this I don’t mean I want a list of as many titles as they can fit into 160 characters (You’ve seen them: Taxidermist, mother of three, Lady Gaga fan, knitter, defensive driver, chocolate lover, movie freak and collector of 18th-century buttons). A bio doesn’t need to say everything about you, it just needs to say why you’re on Twitter. Maybe you love discussing politics, or you’re an art curator and you always have the latest art news. Think of the bio as a chance to answer the question: “What are you bringing to the table?” If people know what you’re about, it’ll help them decide if they want to listen to what you have to say.

2. They tweet things I can use. Informative tweets, tweets linking to blog posts I might find interesting, tweets of inspiring quotes or funny jokes. These kinds of tweets all have something to offer me, whether that be an educational tidbit or even just a smile. I follow them because they add something to my day, and I know that when they pop up on the corner of my screen through TweetDeck, I won’t feel like they’re interrupting me for no good reason. read more…