Twitter Tool

LinkedIn works seamlessly with Twitter. You can tweet your LinkedIn status updates without leaving LinkedIn, and you can automatically publish your tweets to your LinkedIn activity feed (if your Twitter profile is configured as public).

In Chapter 3, you learned how to associate your Twitter account with your LinkedIn account through the Edit My Profile process. Just click the Add Twitter Account link next to the Twitter feed in your Edit Profile screen, enter your Twitter ID, and follow the instructions to verify your Twitter account name and password. As long as you enter the correct Twitter account name and password, verification happens immediately and your Twitter account will be linked to your LinkedIn account.

Next, you are asked to choose how you want to share your tweets on LinkedIn. You have two choices: share all tweets (all of your Tweets are published to your LinkedIn activity feed) or share only tweets that contain #in (only Tweets that include #in will be published to your LinkedIn activity feed).

You can also share your LinkedIn status updates through your Twitter profile by selecting the check box next to the Twitter icon and Share button beneath the LinkedIn Share an Update text box as shown in Figure 6.1.

Figure 6.1: Select the Twitter check box next to the Twitter icon to share your LinkedIn update on your Twitter profile and your Twitter timeline, too.

The first time you select this check box to post a LinkedIn update to your Twitter profile, you’ll be asked to verify your account name and password one more time. Once you do this step, you won’t be asked to verify your account again.

Social networking happens on a variety of websites. The simple truth is that some people prefer to use LinkedIn while others might only use Twitter. Your strategic goal should be to surround your target audience with branded online experiences, so they can self-select how they want to interact with you and your brand. That means you should have a presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites for maximum growth. However, managing all of those accounts is time consuming! That’s where automation tools like the Twitter tool on LinkedIn can help you save time and spread your content to wider audiences at the same time.

Enable more people to find and consume your updates and content by publishing them in multiple places, but don’t fall into the trap of relying on automation. Your personal participation, conversations, and activities are the most important part of building your online brand. No one wants to connect with an automated LinkedIn or Twitter profile.