About 5 years ago, I remember picking up the Daily Cardinal (UW-Madison’s school newspaper) and on the cover was “The Latest Craze to Hit Madison.” This article was referring to Facebook. After reading about the academic intent of Facebook, to connect students with their peers for the purpose of studying, I immediately seized the opportunity to join what would soon become a communication phenomenon. The academic aspect quickly fell by the way side as Facebook became a portal for the world to connect with one another.
Initially, many of my friends claimed they would never join the “fad” but one by one they all caved. The turning point for many was when Facebook introduced the ability to upload photos and create albums. This was about a year after its inception, I was a senior in college and I remember being late to class one morning because I was uploading pictures to Facebook. My professor did not accept that as a valid excuse.
I remember my first feeling of rejection on Facebook, I “friend requested” the founder, Mark Zuckerberg, (Harvard student worth $5billion). I was curious to see his relationship status (something only available to friends). Mark denied my request and my dreams of being the first lady of Facebook were shattered. Seriously though, I wanted to see if Mark had a blog or a website posted on his profile which was my incentive behind friending him many years ago. Since then, I have enjoyed reading the social media guru blogs by Seth Godin and Chris Brogan (whom I still have pending friend requests out to – kidding).
The best social media marketing blogs, like this one aspires to be, are a mixture of personal experience, statistics, analysis and advice.
Facebook is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to social media. However, I will not overwhelm you with a list of social networking sites that will make you anxious because you are not a part of them. One step at a time, develop your presence on one site at a time.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because I am a social media marketing specialist. I help businesses use social media as a marketing tool. In the eight months I have been in this business the results I have produced for various businesses have been unbelievable. The newspapers will only get thinner, Twitter will be more frequently be over capacity and you will be lost at sea if you are not a part of the conversation.
My interesting analogy:
I am realizing more and more that social media is like a puppy. My puppy, Alfie has taught me a lot about responsibility.
Creating a profile on a site and doing it right is a commitment and an obligation, but, something you will love being a part of in the end.
You have to feed your profile with up to date information, just like Alfie needs fresh food and clean water. If you leave the same information on there for too long, it becomes stale and irrelevant which makes you look bad.
You have to make an effort to interact with others on social networking sites or the content you post will be speaking to nobody. Similar to when Alfie is ignored, my rugs suffer!
Before you can try to sell anything through social media, you must establish your credibility. Alfie will not flip on his back until he trusts you!
So the next time you think about ignoring your social media profile, think about what a puppy would do if you ignored him.
My client’s accounts are even more important than my own. Regardless of the situation, every client account I work on is checked every single day. I have an iPhone and I am never too far from my lap top.
Welcome to the Gossip Genie blog, enjoy!
