One of the many, MANY things I will be doing to move my business – more accurately, my brand – forward once these two weeks are over is to review and expand on the length and strength of my reach online. I’ve liked the concept Chris Brogan has been talking about lately regarding your online spaces and how outposts can improve your strategy with social media. There, Chris talks about your ‘home base,’ ‘outposts,’ and ‘passports’ online. AnnieSorensen.com is obviously my home base, and one that I have many plans to expand.

I currently consider Twitter, DailyBooth, Facebook, and Corkd as my outposts; those areas online where I consistently spend time conversing and connecting. The purpose of these outposts is to have fun, network, and eventually filter folks back to my home base.

Passports, however, represent a huge growth area for me. I think of passports as areas online where I’m reserving and representing my brand, yet not actively playing in the space. And the work I could do on my passports is massive. I mean, LinkedIn? Ugh, let’s not even get into how much I’m leaving on the table in that space. That’s a current passport I DESPERATELY need to turn into a solid outpost.

Then there my other passports; Tumblr, Flickr, Ustream, Amazon, YouTube, TubeMogul, StumbleUpon, and…hmm, I’m sure I’m missing others. I will soon have much more time to develop my brand, which items from this list do I want to dedicate more time to and develop into outposts? Which would I prefer to keep as passports? What passports have I not yet even secured? Very important questions that I need to figure out how to answer.

Lots of work to do!

What say you – how do you decide what spaces to develop into strong, beneficial outposts of your home base? What spaces do you think are important in 2010 to, at the very least, secure a passport?

Don’t forget to follow Darren Hardy and SUCCESS Magazine on Twitter. And me, too!

So, what about you? Have you connected with someone “big” that you would have never had visibility to without Twitter? What about on another platform – Facebook, LinkedIn, DailyBooth, etc?

You can find Inbound Marketing here.

What Twitter Wins have you experienced? Share.

It’s the little things that make all the difference. What “one more” will you do today to give yourself the edge?

To be a teacher you must first be a student.

Think big thoughts…

Twitter is a networking platform, NOT an advertising platform. An online cocktail party. Who have you engaged with today?

There’s never a “perfect time.” Set your goals, decide to take action, and just do it.

If u are your authentic self, u have no competition. -@unmarketing

The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification is the indispensable pre-requisite for success. -unknown

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. -Walt Disney

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit. -Napoleon Hill

What have you been thinking about this month? What’s motivated you? What quotes or success tidbits are keeping you moving forward? Let’s add to this list!

…it depends.

What do you want out of Twitter? Upon reviewing your tweets, what updates would you have seen, what information gathered, conversations contributed to, or relationships sparked would make the time you just spent in front of your feed feel productive upon walking away? For me, the answer is: a little bit of everything. Answer the question for yourself, then determine who you follow from there.

I’m on Twitter to to network and build new relationships, to build my brand, to learn, to stay up-to-date, to be inspired, and to catch up with friends and family.

Therefore, I follow people on Twitter who:
- are my close friends, family
- make me laugh, smile
- regularily provide links to new, informative articles on topics I find interesting (everything from outer space and wine and interior decorating to personal branding and blogging and thinking positively)
- are local to my area
- provide breaking news or updates about the world
- are businessmen and women who have achieved a level of success for which I strive
- spark discussion topics and routinely engage in conversation with their ‘tweeps’
- are authors of books I’ve read or would like to read

Some Twitterers I follow fall neatly into one, specific category. Others span several or all categories. It doesn’t matter. If you find their tweets interesting, informative, and worthy of your precious time, follow away. On the flip side, if you’ve gone several days or weeks and have regularily NOT found a user’s tweets worthwhile, it might be time to unfollow (gasp!). Don’t be afraid to drop a follower or two. It’s YOUR time – don’t waste it.

So you’re on Twitter, now what? Have you thought about the reason you spend part of your day (or many parts!) reading and posting tweets? Does that purpose match up with your Following list? What category or categories of Twitterers do you care to follow? Do you find your Twitter-time worthwhile?

P.S. While you’re perfecting your Following list, come say hello.

@GuyKawasaki: Co-founder of AllTop.com, “an ‘online magazine rack’ of popular topics,” Guy not only tweets links to interesting AllTop articles but entrepreneurial quotes, insightful comments, and sites, too. Plus, he’s incredibly highly regarded in the entrepreneurial community. Definitely a guy (eh eh) to pay attention to.

@GaryVee: Gary Vaynerchuk, a New Jersey wine-shop guy and founder of WineLibraryTV, has quickly become famous on the internet for his passionate talks about social media, personal branding, and business sense. It only takes listening to a few seconds of one of Gary’s talks to inspire. And I’m not talking a run-of-the-mill jolt of inspiration, but a butt-on-fire, lightening bolt, rocket fuel-induced motivation that will leave you wondering what you did to get anything done BEFORE you listened to Gary. He tweets inspirational tidbits, his daily going-ons, updates on his book, Crush It, and details about his business ventures (always varied and increasing in number). Don’t miss out on the entrepreneur everyone else is talking about.

@J_Canfield: Co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and motivational speaker, Jack frequently tweets about personal development topics. Readers will like how he often tweets multiple times on the same topic in succession, eliciting discussional responses. Perfect for self-improvement junkies and business-minded folk of all kinds.

@zappos: Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh is the kind of entrepreneur who is using Twitter for all the right reasons – to extend the reach of his brand and make a personal connection to each and every one of his customers. The vast majority of Tony’s tweets are personal observations (which, I might add, are hilarious) about his normal day-to-day. So he’s not a tweep to follow to get advice, but one to pay attention to as an example entrepreneur who’s doing it right. Or at least pretty well. Way before Twitter came along, Zappos had built it’s brand to be known for customer service, connecting with their customer on a personal level, customer service, and did I mention customer service? Tony’s Twitter use is a perfect example of how a CEO can indirectly support his brand by extending a personal voice to a growing company. Well done.

@mashable: Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable.com, a blog dedicated entirely to social media and Web 2.0, frequently tweets recently posted articles and the day’s most popular posts. Ensure that you’re up-to-date on everything social media by following Pete and spend some time digging into Mashable. The amount of short, informative articles on everything social media is enough to take care of ANY unanswered SM question. Also, if you’re ever feeling left out because you’re not familiar with the latest buzz-word floating around Twitter, you’ll know where to go. If it’s been flying around the Twitterverse for more than, say, 15 minutes, there’s no doubt Mashable has at least one write-up about the topic. Yes, they’re THAT up-to-date. An entrepreneur today knows the importance of social media and personal branding; keep yourself educated.

Your thoughts – what tweeps do YOU think are most important for entrepreneurs?