Preparing for a Social Media Speaking Gig

I was asked to speak at the May meeting of the Senior Services Network on the topic of social media. I had a great time and enjoyed meeting everyone.

When preparing for a presentation such as this one, it is extremely hard to decide what to include as the experience level of each attendee is as varied as the number of attendees. This event had a full house!

How do you keep the audience engaged knowing you are going to see the follow three categories of learners?

1. The already-know-it attendee. I spoke with a gentlemen after the meeting who introduced himself as my twin. A fellow geek who was as proud of that moniker as I am.


2. The I-am-so-ready-to-get-this-stuff. I love talking to these people. They are not afraid to ask questions. Sometimes these questions and people make me go somewhere I had not planned to go with my presentation but I love their curiosity and willingness to learn.

3. The how-many-more-of-these-social-media-presentations-can-I-listen to? This classification has heard presentations about social media over and over (I mean, who hasn't in this day and age) and still don't get it. The don't plan to get it. That's okay. I like these individuals too. I try to convert them. Heck, it doesn't hurt to try.

Where do you fit in? What kind of learner are you when it comes to social media?

New Twitter App: Bufferapp.com - UPDATED

I recently blogged about my new BFF and now that we have been together for a month, I thought I would update you on how things are going.

I'm still in love. I was at a conference on Thursday where the topic was social media. I was singing bufferapp's praises up and down the hallway -- even in the restroom during a break -- where I had a fairly large crowd. My apologies to all of the women who were trying to get to the sink but we had SERIOUS business to discuss. :-)

My presence on Twitter has increased just over 30% in my first month and I cannot wait to see what the second month brings. Oh, I've lost a few here and there but the number of new followers has offset that easily.

I have used HootSuite for a long time and will continue to do so to reach my Facebook, LinkedIn and other accounts. The ease of bufferapp to schedule tweets is what sucked me in. In the words of Ron Popeil, "Set it and forget it."

Do you have a favorite app that makes your social media efforts effortless?

Thinking of Jumping Into Social Media? Five Things You Need to Think About

Everyone is jumping on the social media bandwagon and then finding out there is a lot to digest. Before you go biting off more than you can chew, here are some things to consider:

1. What do you want to accomplish? Determine why you want to utilize social media and whether it is just conversational or marketing a service or product.

2. Define your goals and determine how you will measure success. One of the most debated topics with regard to social media is how to measure ROI. One company might wish to raise their Google search ranking while another might measure their success by the number of fans/friends/followers they have.

3. Who is in charge? Is it the executive? Staffer? Marketing Department? Intern? Someone needs to head the project and be responsible for the success (or failure). You must have a commitment to make it a priority and become as much a part of your company’s culture as checking email.

4. Meet criticisms head-on. You should deal with any non-positive comments in an open and friendly manner. If you want to maintain your integrity within the community you are building, do not delete these less-than-flattering comments or pretend they do not exist. Simply ask the person who posted the negative comment how you can help them and make sure they are helped.

5. Does your company have trade secrets? Pharmaceutical reps can be fired if they discuss products or any aspect of their jobs on social media sites. Develop a social media policy to deal with these issues.

Once these items have been discussed, you can begin to formulate a more comprehensive plan of action and you will be one step ahead of the competition.

Outsourcing Your Social Media

I recently read an article on the Mashable website: Should You Outsource Your Social Media Efforts?

This article really hit home as these are the questions I have been asking during the first meeting with my potential clients. I am amazed at the number of companies that still think they should be actively engaging in social media because everyone else is doing it. Social media is more about strategy and time.

Here's the sales pitch -- if you need help, call us. We are more than happy to consult with you to increase your social media visibility, as well as develop a strategy that best fits your market.

Is There Such a Thing as a Social Media Expert?

I attended a seminar last week about social media. I've attended what seems like 1,000's of these over the past year and usually take away one or two juicy tidbits of information.

Let's talk about the word 'EXPERT.'

Early in my social media education, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal which stated that there was no such thing as a social media expert. The logic was that social media is changing so rapidly that not one person could claim to be an expert and know EVERYTHING there is to know about social media.

I have called myself a social media STRATEGIST as I felt that better defined my skill set.

The speaker in last week's session made a point of stating that you should use the keywords that your potential customers and competitors would be looking for. A quick search on Google results in 2x the number of listings for social media expert as there is for social media strategist.

The definition of expert:

1. A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject.
2. A person who has extensive skill or knowledge in a particular field.

I guess that applies. I am a social media expert.

Are you an expert at something that has come as a complete surprise?

New Twitter App: Bufferapp.com

Meet my new boyfriend, Buffer. Once you get to know him, you will love him too. I promise.

This is from the Buffer website:

Buffer makes your life easier with a smarter way to schedule tweets. Work out all your tweets at one point in time during the day. Then fill up your Buffer with your tweets and Buffer schedules them for you. Simply keep that Buffer topped up and you will then be tweeting consistently all day round, all week long.

The basic account is free which allows you to have up to 10 tweets in your buffer to a maximum of 10 tweets per day. It also has an easy to understand analytic tab to see when you get the most reads, retweets and click throughs.

I have increased my number of Twitter followers about 7% since meeting Buffer a little over a week ago. I have mine set for three each day with one set for 1:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and another at 6:30 p.m. I get the most response to the 1:30 a.m. tweets. Who would have thought that?

I'm anxious to hear if someone else loves Buffer as much as I do. Let me know.

How to Keep Up With it All

I'm feeling just a little overwhelmed at the moment. There is so much technology being thrown at us on a daily basis that I cannot seem to ever get caught up. It seems that just as I grasp the concept of one little small piece of the pie, someone cuts another piece which throws everything off balance.

Some things that I do to try to keep up:

Read White Papers/Articles: Print or put them on an iPad or tablet so that I can read them in my downtime (not that I really have any of that). Now that I have access to a tablet, I will probably stop printing and killing trees but I still find it useful to have that piece of paper and a yellow highlighter.

Tech Sites: I follow a lot of techies on Facebook and Twitter. Let them keep up with it. I just want to be the sponge to absorb their knowledge.

Weed Out the Static: Figure out what's important to me, my business and my clients' businesses. I'm sure it's important but is it important right now? I saw an article this morning on mistakes that small businesses make when designing their websites. I have at least four clients who are working on their websites right now! They needed that information, not information on something new with Google Adwords -- at least not right now.

What are ways you utilize to keep up with this ever-changing techno world we live in today?