Alberto Valdes Lacarra, Mexican gold medalist at the London 1948 Olympics. The Mexican equestrian team was made up of Humberto Mariles Cortes (riding Arete ), Ruben Uriza Castro (riding Hatuey ) and Alberto Valdez Ramos (riding Chihuahua ), members of the Mexican Army. Originally they would participate in the Olympic Games in the mid-30s, however, World War II caused this sports celebration to be suspended for 12 years. When some games were held again, the Mexican representative had become highly competitive.


Alberto Valdes Lacarra - Mexico - Horse Rider

You Did Not Know This About Twitter, Did You?

Everyone is using Twitter these days, news anchors and talk show hosts promote their streams via television and radio waves. So why are you not using Twitter to build your own brand? It`s not the time-waster that kills productivity as some may claim as long as you know how to use Twitter productively.

For the sake of not boring you to death I will assume you know how Twitter works and if you don`t you can read about it here —> How Twitter Works

Ways To Become Productive on Twitter

Links are all over the place on Twitter. News gets out and topics trend all because of tweeted links. To get your links re-tweeted, you need to have a large following of users that are responsive to you. Or you need to have the right kind of followers, like a power user, who then spreads your message across their networks.

Power users are selective about their links and tailor them to build their brand. Power user have an agenda, and that`s a big part of why they have so many people following them. They tweet content that ultimately gives them something in return which usually results in more followers, wider reach, more clients, better reputation, better leads, etc. Movie stars link to behind-the-scenes photos to generate anticipation. Musicians link to exclusive content so they can build a more loyal fanbase. TV personalities link to exclusive giveaways to better hold the attention of their viewers. A-list bloggers link to stellar content to build their authority. Each of these types of links deliver value in the form of knowledge or entertainment to your Twitter following.

So when a power user broadcasts a message, they get something valuable in return. That`s productive because their time spent on Twitter is an investment, not a waste. Power users are productive on Twitter because they use it as a tool to build their brand and you should too.

Want a lot of followers, then you need to link strategically and offer valuable content on a regular basis. That requires creativity. It`s worth it when you are getting something in return. It`s worth it when you are investing in your brand.

Better Ways To Twitter Brand-Building

Twitter is ideal for conducting real-time market research and finding out what`s on people`s minds regarding a particular topic. If you`re building a brand or running a business, you should be using Twitter for this purpose. It`s invaluable research that would cost a lot of money the old-fashioned way. Twitter is also ideal, as just discussed, for broadcasting messages far and wide to build your brand.

If you`re not taking advantage of Twitter as a brand-building tool then you`re really just wasting your time.

Don`t Let Twitter Kill Your Productivity

If you`re only on Twitter to consume the valuable content found in other users` streams, you`re going to be buried with useless information that will only distract you from actually getting things done. And what`s worse, most of the posts are filled with links — to the latest gossip column, or YouTube hit. Meaning, you have tons of dead-end links to distract yourself with. Or, if they`re not dead-end, they lead you onto plenty more time-wasting urls.

A Few Tips

Step 1: Start out with 50-100 users you`d like to follow and go to their homepages (you can add more later). Only choose the ones who`s tweets provide you value — that somehow relates back to your product or service.

Step 2: Subscribe to those users` tweets through an RSS reader. You can find that orange RSS icon in the right sidebar when you scroll down on their page. From there, you can choose how you`d like to view the updates.

Step 3: Consume those updates when you can strategically plan some break time. If one of your favorite websites is doing a special giveaway, you won`t miss out on the messages. And you`ll actually be better able to spot the important updates because the feed won`t be cluttered by noise from other users.

Step 4: Only register and log in to your actual Twitter account when you want to accomplish one of the following:

* Find out what topics are trending on Twitter

* Seeing what users around the globe are saying about particular current events, perhaps using hashtags

* Research what people think about a certain product/movie/book/idea by using the search bar

Productivity, Twitter and You

You shouldn`t be on Twitter unless you`re building a brand, or already have a business or cause that you actively promote. That gives you something back in return (money, resources, satisfaction, inspiration).

Twitter is all about reach — how far and wide a tweet can spread. Your reach won`t be much unless you have a lot of followers (or a few power users who happen to re-tweet your content). You won`t have a lot of followers unless you consistently offer valuable content. You can`t afford to consistently create valuable content unless you get something in return. Something that translates into a business or a brand and thus sustains you in a meaningful way.

So if you`re not aiming to use Twitter to get something back in return and improve your productivity, avoid it altogether, or use the RSS feature instead.

Tell Me What You Think.

Do you think Twitter can be productive even if you`re not building a brand?

Do you use Twitter productively?