In a series of articles about Twitter, we talk to Glynis Rosser, Human Resources Manager at Wallmans Lawyers, about Twitter in business, the media and the community.  Please note that Glynis' comments reflect her own personal views and experience on Twitter and not those of Wallmans Lawyers.

VUE: How do you find topics and time to Twitter?

GR: I maintain two accounts. One is @gdrosser and the other is @HumResSources Each of these accounts has a different type of follower.

With regard to @gdrosser this was an account I set up to find out what Twitter was all about and how to use it. During that period I made contact with social media experts, mostly in PR and mostly local to Adelaide. As I developed and engaged with followers the account evolved into one of principle influence about Adelaide, charities and philanthropic and safety subjects. I pick up the topics from discussions online, articles I read at leisure and from others I follow too. I tweet on these subjects in my leisure time. When I started this it took a great deal of time but now I am efficient and it takes probably about 20 minutes in a day. I do this whilst waiting at a doctor's surgery, waiting for the tram, waiting for my coffee.

The @HumResSources account is more formal in style. It started as a Human Resources portal for law firms. I would just retweet law firm relevant HR material. I started this account by following a lot of professional organisations. I picked up followers on this account faster than the casual account above, particularly when I started engaging with the follow group. The account has grown and now is a professional services portal. There is an HR focus and predominantly a legal focus but also a strong following from health professionals and engineers. The readings for this is from my normal professional reading eg HR journals, business journals, and I have a personal interest in science so also can filter articles of interest in the other areas. This takes about ½ hour a day. From this account I also upload articles of interest too via Twitter to my LinkedIN page. I do not access this account daily due to time restrictions. I am more likely to do this work from my desk at work or at home.

VUE: What measureable business impact have you seen from Twitter?

GR: I have not been managing my Twitter accounts with any endorsement from Wallmans, my employer. One of the reasons I undertook to study Twitter was because I felt it important for our employer branding and recruitment. I maintain that and anticipate as part of our digital refresh next year that we will have a dedicated Wallmans account. However, I did utilise FourSquare (a Twitter app) when attending careers fairs and was able to engage the university PR depts. and students immediately which was interesting. Until our Wallmans account is set up I cannot fully test Twitter as a recruitment tool.

My personal brand has achieved an exponential burst of publicity! As a result of engaging with professionals via both accounts in the last 6 months I have received 4 speaking engagements and am involved in a high profile charity fundraising activity which has given me the opportunity to network with a group of professionals in Adelaide I did not previously have easy access to (doctors). I have also been approached by two organisations seeking to employ me. As a result I am continuing to develop the Twitter accounts as I deem them to be a powerful branding tool.

It should be noted here too that Google loves Twitter. Caution is advised for any comments made as they can quickly appear on Google under any search on your name. However, on the plus side, if you receive a negative posting from anywhere that comes up on a Google search of your name or business it is easy to drown it with lots of tweets because the tweets will push the negative comments to page 6 or later after just a few days to weeks.

VUE: What are your tips for building a presence on Twitter and gaining followers?

I suggest finding someone whom you know uses Twitter, follow them and carefully peruse their follower/following lists and choose from those people who you are interested in following. Then from those others you've chosen to follow, carefully look through their lists too. While you get used to Twitter, just dabble in engagement by retweeting interesting tweets or articles. Consider the type of people you want to have follow you, your target following. Be very careful not to be contentious on Twitter unless that is your brand. It is quite easy to engage without committing to any statement that is likely to offend.

Don't just collect followers for the sake of having a large number follow you. You want followers who are going to be engaged by your tweets and who are relevant to your business or personal brand. I often block followers. Probably at least 3 a day on each account. Mostly those I am not interested in I don't follow back and they either lose interest in me because all they are after is collecting follower numbers, or they will stay because they are genuinely interested in what I tweet. It is the extreme bad look followers and the spammers whom I block. Usually of the XXX variety or those who tweet about earning a fortune each day by working from home. I block them so that they cannot share my follower list.

VUE: What’s been your biggest learning experience on getting the most from Twitter?

GR: My biggest learning experience was that it is not the numbers of followers that are important but the quality of the numbers. Also that you can develop very useful relationships by engaging with quality 'tweeps'. Also, if you are selling yourself or a product, be subtle. If you share useful information with your followers, no one minds if you unashamedly plug yourself or your product every, say, ten tweets. Do it too often though and you will be regarded as a spammer. Also, the value of DM on Twitter should not be underestimated. You can make very good business progress by a DM comment on someone's tweet.

VUE:  Thanks Glynis!  You can follow Glynis on Twitter at @gdrosser and @HumResSources or connect with her on LinkedIN.