Understanding and Using Social Media

1
Understanding and Using Social Media

• So many people
• So many opinions
• Is any of it for me?

Sigmund Fidyke III www.octechexec.com October 2009
2
What I Will Cover

• What is Social Media?
• New way(s) to communicate
• Types of Social Media
• How do I use Social Media?
• View, participate, contribute
• Stay in character
• Expect no privacy
• How do I get started?
• 6 stages of using social media

3
What is Social Media?

• Online content created by people
• A shift in how people discover, read, and share
  news, information and content
• Moving from monologue (one to many) to dialogue
  (many to many)
• Changing people from content readers into
  contributors and publishers
• Does not require expensive equipment or a
  government-granted license

4
Types of Social Media

• Blogging
• A blog (or 10) for every subject
• Twitter (micro-blogging)
• Social Networking
• Facebook, MySpace, Classmates, Friendster, Bebo,
  Orkut, Hi5
• LinkedIn, Plaxo, Xing, cofoundr, naymes
• Bookmarking sites
• Del.icio.us, blogmarks, dogear
• Photo / Video sites
• Flickr, Photobucket, YouTube
• Virtual Reality
• Second Life, World Of Warcraft (WOW)
• Groups
• Google, Yahoo!, etc.

5
Which Are The Most Popular?

• Network Size (07) Size (09)
• Facebook 20 200-250
• MySpace 60 125
• YouTube 123 views/day
• LinkedIn 5 45
• Twitter 32
• World of Warcraft 11.5
• Most Everybody Else lt 5

Millions
6
Facebook

• Where you spend time with people you know
• Part blog / part community much of whats on
  your page is contributed by selected friends
• You can play with apps and take share surveys
• A replacement for email
• Professional networking sharing what youre
  doing and posting examples of what youve done
• Businesses fan sites where people to learn
  about the company, follow announcements and find
  links to the store site for orders

7
Facebook Fan Site
8
MySpace

• Where you find people bands and share interests
• Similar to Facebook blog online community
• Unique focus on music industry
• Buy tickets to performances, track show dates
• Focus on being found seen and finding
  seeing
• Customize look of your profile pages
• Beyond music, has a younger crowd than Facebook
• Businesses can display products and link to store
  sites for orders

9
MySpace Home Page
10
YouTube

• Where you watch upload videos
• 14 hours uploaded every 60 seconds
• YouTube has become an important place for both
  people and businesses
• Share videos of personal interest (vacation,
  pets)
• Share newsworthy videos (events, news, politics)
• Share videos of personal talents (music,
  interviews)
• Share business videos (product demos, pretest
  ads)
• Find videos about companies, products, people

11
YouTube Search Example
12
LinkedIn

• Where you make business contacts
• For professionals only dont expect anyone who
  isnt in (or wants to be in) the workforce
• Start with your work history and go from there
• Display your information for others to find
• Find people who know people you want to meet
• Special interest groups add community feel
• Different attitudes on who to connect to
• Various levels of geographic filtering

13
LinkedIn Profile
14
Twitter

• Where you follow people you want to know
• For the ADD in you microblogging
• A growing area where new things are happening
• Create your personal or business brand
• Advertising is out, unless its interesting, fun,
  expected
• Opt-in connections choose who you want to
  follow
• Can be trivial or useful
• If you dont like what you see, follow someone
  else
• Bing and Google now have real-time access to
  Twitter
• Searches now, more features coming soon

15
Twitter Using TweetDeck
16
Blogging (Web Log)

• Where you speak your mind show your stuff
• Part diary, part op ed commentary, part real
  journalism all with comments from others
• Started like Twitter frivolous, personal
  journals
• Dont do it to make money (though its possible)
• Do it to find a career show your expertise
• Do it to share a passion cars, sports,
• Do it to document your life as long as you like
  living in a glass house

17
Chris Brogans Blog
18
How Do I Use Social Media?

• Blogging/Microblogging
• Show what you know and what you can do
• Social Networking
• Connect stay connected with others
• Personal interest (music, shopping, sports,
  travel)
• Bookmarking sites
• Share web finds
• Become trusted source of information
• Photo / Video sites
• Share pictures and videos (and search)
• Groups
• Business, personal, special purpose

19
How Do I Use Social Media? (2)

• Regardless of where you go, remember
• Be Interesting!
• Expect no privacy (fatty paycheck example)
• Stay in character - ALWAYS
• Watch first and follow the accepted form
• Do not advertise or ask for help immediately
• Give first, receive later
• Alliance partners help each other

20
Using LinkedIn

• Just a couple of points (way too much said
  already)
• Spend more time on profile than on resume
• Include buzz words for searching recruiters
• Open your connections to others
• Try for 360 degree recommendations
• Keep active!
• Change status, join groups, answer questions
• Stay-connected emails
• Look for jobs and connections

21
Using Facebook

• Public or Private? (sorry, not a choice)
• More personal not direct job search, but
  staying connected to others
• Promote yourself and promote others
• Post recommendations and thank-yous
• Create fan page to broadcast thoughts events
• Stay on topic
• Be careful! Especially with photos

22
Using Twitter

• Know why you are on Twitter (brand)
• Speak to that topic (and keep on topic!)
• Set expectations, then meet them
• Create interesting content
• Expertise, trends, informed opinions, etc.
• Keep active
• Help with viral growth (retweet)
• Follow others, many will follow you back

23
Using YouTube

• What happens in Vegas, stays on YouTube
• Be careful with your image or name!
• Great for research
• Companies CEO interviews product demos
• People learn from their videos
• Post your own success stories
• Proof of success
• Your product demos

24
How Do I Get Started?

• No classes, no books, just do it
• 6 stages of using social media
• Inactive sign up, do nothing
• Spectator watch only (lurking)
• Joiner join some groups, still read only
• Collector have favorites that you follow
• Critic comment on what you read
• Creator create original content

Reid Carr of Red Door Interactive
25
Whats Next?

• 20 years ago no Web
• 10 years ago no Facebook
• Today Web 2.0 and Social Media, but mostly
  doing old things in a new way
• Near Future starting to find new things to do
  with this new media

26
References

• This PowerPoint www.octechexec.com
• My Twitter Feed sigmund3rd
• Recommended Blogs on Social Media (they all have
  Twitter feeds)
• Guy Kawasaki http//alltop.com
• Chris Brogan www.chrisbrogan.com
• Peter Cashmore http//mashable.com/
• Ryon Harms www.thesocialexec.com
• Tim Tyrell-Smith www.spinstrategy.com/
• Neal Schaffer http//windmillnetworking.com/
• Lists of Social Media Sites
• http//traffikd.com/social-media-websites/
• http//www.joe-whyte.com/2007/04/02/looking-for-a-
  list-of-social-media-sites-i-have-them-all-here/