Social media is on a growth spurt these days.
Anyone who is involved in social media for any reason is aware of the power that it has above everyone. Without social media, I would have not have used the practical application of marketing, connect with people in and around the automotive industry, increased people’s awareness of my writing, reconnect with friends from the past and family and establish new relationships with new folks – colleagues included.
This week gave me an insight on how much more there is to learn on the social media front. There are many spaces to put one’s self into for various reasons. It is a matter of exploring the possibilities of the newer tools to use for professional and personal purposes.
An inventory is needed here. A look at what I use – and how. What are my impressions of each one? What kind of future us there for utilizing them? Ehem…
FACEBOOK: Mark Zuckerberg’s juggernaut is the foundation for all social media exposure through today. I still use this as my primary social media outlet because of what it has done for many things in my life here in the Twin Cities. Facebook yielded the connection to you: People from my childhood, family, people in the places and stages of my life…and so forth. Now, I have two pages that are starting to be of use for The Heirloom and Victory & Reseda. I got Facebook to the point where it is easy to manage and utilize for a lot of things. Hey, I’m writing a public note on here…
LINKEDIN: Let’s not forget, this is mainly a professional and business networking site. I have not used it as much because I have not been able to find a groove in there. It’s good to be in contact with friends and potential connections, but there are times when I see it as professional development in areas where I may not be interested in. Still, there will be a way to use this to develop connections for Randy Stern Creative Services (the umbrella of Victory & Reseda). Not yet, though.
TWITTER: It takes 140 characters to say a hell of a lot! This week, I added a second Twitter account, @VictoryReseda, for the purpose of concentrating my automotive writing and networking under one roof. I began by migrating my automotive contacts over to that feed and began cultivating relationships there. The other Twitter handle, @DaHeirloom, was originally designed to augment my MLBlogs. I decided to use that for my personal and baseball Tweets. If you follow @DaHeirloom, you will see a massive decrease in traffic. I am using @VictoryReseda for my TweetChats with auto folks – now four of them every week! The plus side of Twitter has been the connectivity part with key folks in the industry. It has also parlayed into new social media ventures elsewhere…
GOOGLE+: Many people say this will take down Zuckerberg’s empire. It is intuitive on a level. I like the fact of the Circles that place people in “buckets” for future filtering of messages. The separation of the automotive contacts with other friends may seem segregating, but I do see a purpose. As I learned over time – not everyone wants to read what you have to say about subjects they have no interest in. However, I do see flaws. You cannot remove anyone from a circle easily. Nor can you remove a requested circle connection from your profile, either. Understanding it is in Beta, I see the potential for G+ as a third or fourth channel for both personal and professional engagement.
FOURSQUARE: Apparently, I had an account there. I finally was able to get my BlackBerry to use it properly. Now, I’ll use it as a location-based check-in tool – but not too often. I’d rather not allow myself to be stalked by people whom I’d rather not stalk me. I may use it for travel adventures in the future. I also see it as a Victory & Reseda tool for anyone wanting to see one of the vehicle subjects or to meet for coffee, a meal…or chat. We’ll see how this pans out.
BRUIZR: There are many times I’d love to say something on here or Twitter that may not be suitable for some of my audience. I believe I found a place where that could happen. I will say it is engaging – on a completely different level. I have to admit there are some perks to using this outlet…
The key to using social media sucessful is engagement. It work both ways: You comment, tweet or connect with another person, cause, organization or company - they'll engage with you back. It sounds simple, because it can be. It brings organizations and companies down to a person's level while maintaining the organizational voice. That's the art of making social media work for everyone - including those of us who use it for outright entertainment.
So, consider yourselves invited to join and follow along on this journey…all the protocols are above. Message me if there are any issues doing so. Have a great weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment