Social Media Beyond Basics.
I was invited to be a co-presenter at a LACE Toastmasters International Training Day for the members. We were to talk about our personal experience on social media.
Here is a snap shot of our Topics that we presented:
Why I am on Social Media:
1. I like the Internet and it is fast and vast interaction.( Easy to learn)
2. Exposure (You and/or your business or organization)
3. Branding. (Personal or Business)
4. Making New Online Friends.
What I have gained from Being Active on Social Media:
1. Possibility of generating business(if that is one’s focus, I recommend using Fan Pages for business or organizations)
2. Making good Offline friends from initial Online contacts.
3. Building your Reputation. Your friends are watching you, and trying to figure who you really are based on your posts and comments.(Online and Offline)
4. It is an Easy way to keep track of your ‘freinds”, what are upto, including your competition (if one is using social media for business etc)
What should My Objective be on Social Media:
1. Engage! Post comments and join in on conversations. Get to know your friends friends. This will give you a lot of exposure.
2. Drive Traffic to your Webiste. By posting or engaging, you can have links and drive traffic to your site.
3. Be Real. Post things or comments that you are passionate about. Be You. Be Real. Don’t pretend to be someone else. Your friends will get to know who you really are online. Be Genuine!
4. Be consistant.
Tips and Tricks:
1. Use leverage and efficiency while posting. e.g. If I write a blog say on wordpress.com, it can auto post to my Facebook Fan page, which auto post to Twitter, which auto posts to my Linkedin account….One click to many site at once.
2. Use sites like Ping.fm or Posterous.com to post on multiple accounts at once. I have registered on over 40 social media sites. So if post, “Have a great Monday” on Posterous.com or Ping.fm, it will automaticaly post on all the site with ONE CLICK!, I don’t have to manually post on all sites individually.
3. To post comments on site on a regular basis, while at work or while you are on the road, you can use sites like hootsuite.com. It lets you auto post on hourly or set times, once you have entered the commets.
4. To find people that have similar interests like yours, or have similar business or organizations, you use sites like search.twitter.com. You can find them by area, or zip codes or by categories etc.
Conclusion: Social media can be fun and excitng if you make it so. It can be frustrating or hard if you make it so. Spend a limited but consistent time on it daily. Dont waste too much time with it. It can get distracting. Make friends online and share comments and ideas! Drive traffic to your sites! Most of all have fun with it. It is here to stay, and yes it will be everchanging.
Please feel free to LIKE my Fan page! I would really appreciate it! Click on the box below!
Posted by Mike Patel 
