Welcome to Twitter, Birth Pro!

Hello Birth Professional! We are *so* glad to see you here.

Maybe you’ve been on Twitter for awhile and are just setting up your professional account. Or maybe you are touching your toes into this social media platform for the very first time. Either way, we really need you and your genius in the twittersphere.

More specifically, the 2.0 mom needs you.

The 2.0 mom – that digitally savvy woman who googles her question about birth, pregnancy, or breastfeeding *before* she calls her doctor or midwife – is clamoring for evidence-based information about the childbearing year. And we here at BirthSwell want to be a part of a community of birth and breastfeeding professionals who are excited to meet the 2.0 mom right where she’s at.

Just in case you are new to Twitter – or new to Twitter’s birth community – we wanted to say hello and share with you resources and strategies we found useful as we got our start.

Here’s a few to get you going:

Meet new birth pros.

BirthSwell holds a monthly twitter chat of birth pros, which is a great way to meet likeminded folks and share skills. Here’s a guide to how to join in!

Use hashtags!

Hashtags are a way to sort out the tweets on topics of interest. Here’s the hashtags we’re following to help us stay up-to-date. Apps like Hootsuite can help you organize your faves into easy-to-use columns.

Follow the pros.

Here’s a great list of birthpros who have participated in the BirthGenius chats and are building strong tribes. Follow them to see how’s it’s done (and don’t be afraid to introduce yourself and say hello).

Make yourself useful.

Like all social media platforms, Twitter is about talking with people, not at them. Share your favorite on-line resources with women looking for info – if you are using the Twitter native app, it will automatically shorten your link, saving valuable real estate in your 140 characters.

Develop a routine.

We’re working on a post right now to share with you our routine (sign up now to make sure you get this and all our posts). But in the meantime – keep it simple.  Swing by twitter one time a day, three times a week. Each time you get there, set some small goals – follow five new people, send out one post about what you are doing, share one great link, and respond to a handful of interesting tweets. Then get on with your day!

Enjoy your new community.

I am constantly in awe of the amazing community of birth and breastfeeding professionals I get to interact with every day, all thanks to social media. Find the folks that make you happy to sign in to Twitter!

Please think of us as the Birth Pro Social Media Welcome Wagon – and your personal help desk. Have questions about Twitter, Facebook, or other social media platforms? Come say hi – you can find us on e-mail, Facebook, and of course, Twitter.

Birth pros: what are your tips for Twitter newbies?