Getting Started in Social Media

Every day we are bombarded with information about social media. Yet, for many people, the entire social media landscape is daunting.  
 
Should you be on LinkedIn? Facebook? Should you post videos on YouTube? And, of course, should you be "tweeting" on Twitter?  
 
To get answers, I talked with Irene Koehler of Almost Savvy. Irene is a leading social media consultant and coach who helps people get started in social media. Her website is http://www.AlmostSavvy.com.  
 
Here are the highlights of our conversation.  
 
Q. Why should we care about social media? Why add something to the "to-do" list?  
 
A. Two primary reasons.  
 
For a long time, we believed that people would go to our websites to get information. Today people today prefer that we find them and deliver content to them.  
 
This is a major difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. It's the process of finding your audience and engaging with them wherever they are. It's a different approach. Instead of broadcasting information out, with Web 2.0 we listen to our audience and engage in a conversation. In fact, little of social media should be promotional.  
 
The second reason is that our brand and reputation reside in social media. If someone is looking for information about me, they will probably go to Google, not to my website. They'll find my content and content others have posted about me. I want to make it as easy as possible for them to find information that puts me in the best possible light.  
 
Face it, it's one thing to have testimonials on your website. But do readers really know these people said those things? It's another thing to see those comments coming directly from people in social media.  
 
Q. That brings up another issue. How do you balance the professional and the personal online?  
 
A. You need to decide up-front who you are, and be that person everywhere. That means never, ever, put anything online that you would not feel comfortable with everyone seeing.  
 
At the same time, it is not bad for people to know we have lives, that we enjoy soccer, that we do volunteer work or the like.  
 
The problem comes when we see a professional image on LinkedIn and something totally different on other sites. Who is the real person?  
 
Remember, everything on the Web is public; it never goes away.  
 
Q. That said, how do people develop a social media strategy?  
 
A. Strategy is important. Many people get involved with the social media tools without deciding what they want the tools to do.  
 
The tools can work for you or against you. So decide what you want to accomplish. Who do you want to engage? What do you want them to learn when you get their attention?  
 
Then you can decide how to best use the tools. There is no cookie-cutter approach. Every business does not need every tool.  
 
Q. Assuming you have determined a strategy, what are the best practices for getting started with social media? 
 
A. It's the same as with any networking, any relationship. It is not all about you.  
People would tune you out at a networking event if you sold too strongly. But people forget that in social media.  
 
There are real people on the other side. Social media lets us engage with people we would never have the opportunity to connect with otherwise. So be respectful. Follow the same best practices you would for an in-person networking event.  
 
Q. What about Return on Investment (ROI)? Many people feel they have to justify their time in dollars and cents.  
 
A. Yet most people think a networking event is a good use of time. So if networking is good in person, why wouldn't it be good to connect with a much larger audience?  
 
For those who want hard data, you can measure the "effectiveness" of social networking through various online tools that track click-through rates and the like.  
 
Q. For many people, social media is a time sink. How can you be effective and not have it take over your life?  
 
A. Social media can become overwhelming and some people do spend too much time on it. But that's no reason to avoid it.  
 
I encourage people to open themselves up to a new way of doing business. Anything new takes time to learn. The point is that you're not doing social media in addition to what you're been doing. You're doing things differently.  
 
Some companies have even abandoned their traditional marketing in favor of social media. I don't necessarily recommend this. However, these businesses chose that route because social media has been so effective for them.  
 
Q. What are the first steps for people to get started, assuming they have a strategy?  
 
A. Choose your first platform. I strongly recommend LinkedIn, which is a powerhouse and a good place to start partially because it moves slower than the other platforms.  
 
And chances are good people would do a Google search if they wanted to learn more about you. One of the first results is the LinkedIn profile. So even if you're not actively using LinkedIn, develop a good profile because it has great "Google juice."  
 
Beyond that, each platform has its own culture and style.  
 
Q. Any specific advice for Facebook?  
 
A. Facebook changes every week. They keep rolling out new features and functionality.  
 
One thing to know is that you can create "buckets" for your friends. Face it, many people we've "friended" are not really our friends. Are we comfortable with all of them having access to the same content?  
 
So set up different permissions around each group. It's important to understand the privacy settings on Facebook. I have lists for friends, family and virtual networking contacts, for example.  
 
Q. Any advice on Twitter?  
 
A. I think Twitter is great, but it comes back to your strategy. Twitter is conversational; it's all about the engagement.  
 
I recommend people sign up, do a complete profile, one "tweet" and watch. You'll find interesting people to follow. Read what they tweet. Get a sense of the culture. And then start tweeting regularly.  
 
Q. What about YouTube?  
 
A. Set up a channel if you have content that lends itself to video. 
 
Just realize that, if you use the same YouTube user name for professional and personal material, you might confuse people.  
 
And sometimes different personas don't work because most personas are tied to e-mail addresses. So people will still be able to connect those videos to you.  
 
Q. Any final comments?  
 
A. I encourage everyone to keep an open mind and don't just buy into the social media stereotypes.  
 
Some people believe that social media consists of 20-year-olds talking about lunch. In reality, all ages are online. The fastest-growing age group on Twitter is between 35 and 54.  
 
Another stereotype is that you have to have great tech skills. That's not true.  
 
It's easy to dismiss social media based on the stereotypes. But I have made great connections online. I have gotten clients, speaking engagements and business partners.  
 
I encourage you to approach social media with an open mind. Give it a shot.  
 
Besides her social media coaching, Irene does webinars on LinkedIn and Twitter. For more information, go to her website at http://www.AlmostSavvy.com, e-mail Irene@AlmostSavvy.com or call 510-438-0735.  
 
You can follow Irene on LinkedIn at http://linkedin.com/in/irenekoehler and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/irenekoehler.  
 
You can also subscribe to e-mail updates to stay on top of her blog posts and events. And join the Almost Savvy page on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/AlmostSavvy) to learn more about social media and technology for business.

          

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