Twitter second to none for networking with a specialized audience

I've been tweeting regularly for the past couple of weeks @MyFitLife2Day. My goals for doing so weren't so clear when I started. I really didn't "get" Twitter. I thought it was just for celebrities and people who wanted to keep track of them. But what I have found is that Twitter is an amazing way to gain access to and network with professionals, peers (and even potential clients) within my realm of specialization - and it's cheaper, easier and more effective than any professional conference I could attend!

Just one week into my time on Twitter, I was thrilled to be re-tweeted by the man I would most like to model as I mold my career as a life coach, educator, author and motivational speaker - Anthony Robbins (@tonyrobbins). When that re-tweet went out to his two million followers, I gained more than 100 new followers myself within the next 24 hours. I'm probably still getting followers from that re-tweet, and from it, I have gained two new clients for my life coaching practice.

Glad for Gunnar's retweet and mention!

Celebrity blogger and fit-life promoter Perez Hilton replied to one of my tweets about a week later. While his tweets go out to around 5 million folks, I didn't get as much play from it for two reasons - 1) It wasn't a re-tweet but a reply, or a mention, and 2) Only a small portion in comparison to the whole of Hilton's followers are interested in his FitPerez brand (the folks most likely to follow me in response). As a result, I gained a few new followers from that mention, but not nearly as many as I did from Robbins'.

This brings me to my latest - a re-tweet and a mention by Gunnar Peterson, a famous personal trainer to the stars who has trained many A-list celebrities and been on countless morning talk shows and such. It's only been a few minutes since I got the mentioned by Gunnar Peterson, but already I'm getting new followers as a result. The thing I love about Peterson is that he isn't just focused on the A-listers - his mission seems to be getting people started and continuing with an exercise lifestyle. I like this a lot, as it's similar to my own mission of getting people to treat food as fuel, not as a friend.

The point to this soliloquy? I'm damn glad I signed up for Twitter, and am glad I have at least some amount of social media savvy to be able to make the most of it. There's still a lot to learn, but I think I'm on the right track!