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"People are in social media to be socially active, not to be sold."
Earlier this week, I attended a Social Networking seminar at Western Dakota Tech, put on by the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce. It was really quite interesting with approximately 85 people from local businesses in attendance.
I was particularly interested in what Adam Beshara (Marketing Specialist at Golden West Technologies) would share about Twitter and then how Realtor Lee Alley (with Prudential Kahler Realtors) would talk about Facebook for business. Both of these presenters impressed me with their realistic take/talk about social media for business in general. So much so, I want to share some of their key (form my perspective) points.
Most of us who are active in social web spaces (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc.) do it privately – that is to say, we’re engaging online with friends and family. But what if you’re doing it for a business? How should you present yourself?
It can be difficult to know where to draw the line between the personal and professional when dealing with brands, vendors, clients, customers, etc. After all, you are YOU, and though you may represent your organization, you’re still a person. And people engage with other people.
Look, I “tweet” personal stuff all the time. Granted, I’m not the principle of the organization, or even a high-level operative (so to speak). So although I do represent my company to a degree, I’m safe from being seen as “the company voice.” Not so, for others. Being seen as the representative of the organization can put you in a tight spot where the line between personal and professional gets a little blurry. …Read more »
Social media is all the rage these days. It is no longer just the interest of your 16 year old daughter or the chronicles of life on a college campus. These past couple of weeks, I have had several people (outside of work) ask me about social media – what it is, how to do it, how it works, etc.
Meet Mr. Social. He’s practical, sensible and sensitive.
From my cousin asking about Twitter or my boyfriend’s mother about Facebook, to random people I meet that gripe about social media being a waste of time, it seems to be everywhere I turn.
But why?
What makes social media so special?
Whether you look at it from a marketing perspective or simply as a way to stay connected to friends, family and the rest of the world, social media is quite practical in our modern, speed-of-the-web society. Here are 14 practical uses for social media.
Despite the mass of “What Is LinkedIn?” articles out there on the web, LinkedIn still remains a mystery to many. The main question seems to be “why is it useful?” And that’s not surprising. Our free time is limited, and we hardly want to spend hours on yet another website that offers little value.
The value of a website can be measured by what we each get out of our time spent on that website. So for some people LinkedIn will be a waste of time. For others, it will be the most valuable website they ever used. So how can you find value in it?
LinkedIn is a professional networking destination. If Twitter is the cocktail party and Facebook business casual, LinkedIn is the business suit (h/t @paulchaney). Here are a few brief reasons …Read more »
As my final comment on the South Dakota Tourism Conference -I saw fantastic potential for 2009. The mainstay will be to continue building our tourism network of friends via social networks on the internet. Here are a few testimonials on how the State of South Dakota is using different partner programs to promote opportunity for all tourism-based businesses in South Dakota:
I’m excited – There’s nothing like being around people that are part of a common goal and vision for their industry – It’s great to see tourism friends and hear their perspectives on how their year went, how they are planning for the next year, and especially how their family is doing back home.
Overall, the conference had some excellent speakers for the seminars. My favorites were Garrison Wynn, Beth Terry, and Matt Baily. They were professionals that lead the way by teaching and encouraging an open forum. They also, like any good speaker, had great quotes: …Read more »
I’ve always considered myself a fairly Web savvy individual – I stay up on the latest world happenings by logging on to the various news organizations from CNN to the Rapid City Journal. I’ve reconnected with several friends through Facebook. I’m “Linked In” with some current and past colleagues, and I’ve even started “Tweeting.”
But those Internet gods seem to always keep me on my toes. I’m pretty sure many of you have already delved into the world of Google Reader but the application is fairly new to me – hey, it’s a full-time job keeping up with Internet technology.
I’ve been asked by several people in the last couple months, “what is the point of Twitter?” Having read Jillian Anderson’s recent post on social media, you might be asking yourself the same question. After all, Twitter doesn’t seem very useful at first glance. But like many social media services, how you use it is more important than what its “point” might be. Yet in order to explain why Twitter can be useful to you, we need to clear up a few things. …Read more »
