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 < 5 *Millions

6. Facebook • Where you spend time with people you know • Part blog / part community – much of what’s 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 you’re doing and posting examples of what you’ve 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 – don’t expect anyone who isn’t 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 it’s interesting, fun, & expected • Opt-in connections – choose who you want to follow • Can be trivial or useful • If you don’t 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 • Don’t do it to make money (though it’s 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 Brogan’s 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. What’s 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/