How do you use social media?

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Permalink Reply by RKinzie on February 24, 2009 at 9:30pm

This is how I use social media... http://www.bokcenter.com/index.asp

Buy TIckets...

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Permalink Reply by Nicole Nascenzi on February 24, 2009 at 10:01pm

Ryan - How exactly do you use social media to buy tickets?

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Permalink Reply by RKinzie on February 26, 2009 at 3:21pm

I was only kidding... I did it in class. I can however justify my post... I use social media such as Facebook, MySpace, and (thanks to you) Twitter to contact "friends" about upcoming events, ticket purchasing, and show overviews via messaging, status, wall posts, etc. It's become a great way to contact several hundred people with a universal message instantly and has completely revolutionized grassroots marketing efforts.

Not to mention the advantage it gives to companies by allowing them market their products and services to a select demographic for no costs.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Hukill on February 24, 2009 at 10:16pm

I'm involved on several social networks, but the ones that have been most impactful on my business and personal life are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Incorporating these three networks into my daily routine has helped me forge new relationships with consumers in my local market, while also strengthening existing relationships - both locally and nationally - by giving me an additional extension of ongoing communications.

Twitter and Facebook aren't viewed by most consumers as intrusive means of communication, like drip email campaigns, newsletters, or cold-calls can be. They're permission-based, so only consumers who are interested in reading what I have to share make the effort to connect, by 'following' my 'tweets' or 'friending' me. My tweets (micro-blog posts) provide my followers with up-to-date market information, notification of new blog posts, videos, or statistics, and an insight to my day-to-day activities and my personality. It also gives them an open line of communication with me when they don't feel they're ready to pick up a phone. The result has been a couple dozen new relationships with local consumers (over the past 2-3 months) who will eventually become clients. A few have already become clients and/or friends. In fact, 1/2 of the transactions I'm currently working are a direct result of my social networking efforts. Additionally, I've received multiple referrals from out-of-state Realtors.

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Permalink Reply by stargardener on February 26, 2009 at 8:03am

Nicole, what an innovative tool for your students! Much of what Chris Wilson mentioned hits it for me. And I have introduced a client of mine to the "unintrusiveness" of promoting her business on Facebook and Twitter, as mentioned by Ryan Hukill.

With regard to building relationships, I have been fortunate to have discovered my niche as a freelancer via social media. Although I dabbled with Twitter (and had a Facebook page due to my teen son's prodding) prior to said discovery, I never realized the opportunity of until I dedicated some scheduled time to Twitter.

That was August 2008. Since then ... It has been quite an adventure and proved to literally mold my next career. I was studying for the GMAT when I decided to connect with other folks in the midst of obtaining, completing or just pondering their MBA on Twitter. From that point, I began to "tweet" with others about a wide range of topics, issues, careers and even hobbies!

Which led to an exception opportunity to learn and to mentor as well as numerous new connections, personally and professionally.

In the past several months, I have: expanded my blogging; become a contributor for two online e-zines; joined (and founded) twitter groups; created a LinkedIn profile (as well as Tumblr, Delicious and StumbleUpon accounts); subscribed to blogs with Google Reader (such a time saver!); purchased a professional Flickr account — and I created a Digg account this week! One of my students recommended FriendFeed but I am still assessing the value (and my ability to manage one more thing!)

I have been online since dial-up and participated in countless online activities and services since then. However, discovering the tools of social media — and how to best utilize them — as well as its reach and impact, has introduced me to a "wide world" of possibilities!

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Permalink Reply by mkokc on February 26, 2009 at 10:22am

My answer is going to be different, since I coming to this from the journalism side - plus how I use social media personally.

On the "reporting tool" side of things, I think that social media holds great promise for allowing us to communicate better with our readers and our sources. During the last few months, we've seen many great web tools emerge, such as CoverItLive.com's free chat software, which has given us a direct communication line with readers during big events. We used the serious weather and during the national championship. There was a give and take that planted the seeds of great story ideas and helped us find trends in what people were wanting to know. That immediate feedback helps us do our jobs better.

Twitter worked in a similar way during those big events. Our ability to tag something and then set up a tool to feed tweets tagged with that topic gave us a reader-provided stream of comments and news updates, especially during the storms. It was actual citizen journalism, a goal long sought in the business, but not often realized.

As for little old me, I've benefitted from social media by discovering this great group of engaged first adapters who love to share ideas and feedback and encouragement. I've found people to just shoot the breeze with or others who know about the trends effecting my business and theirs and what they can do about it. Folks like Rob Crissinger, Sam Sims and Bill Handy, plus all of the techies who work for Opubco and around the city. It's a real community and for that I'm grateful.

mk

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Permalink Reply by Mercedes Millberry on February 26, 2009 at 12:09pm

I am using social media for personal, professional and community activities. Nicole helped me get started and now I have developed Facebook pages for work and the various boards that I serve on. I am still working up to some of the more advanced ways to use Causes and business pages, but at least I have started. I also use Twitter as a source of reading materials and contacts for social media questions, among other things.

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