Finding Your Inner Geek

Going social in today’s online world can be overwhelming, especially for business-owners looking to reap the benefits of these new technologies. In 2008 alone, there were more than 130 million blogs documented on the web, at least 350 different social networks used, and over 82 million Americans who created user-generated content online. In an industry that is saturated with connections, networks, and content, individuals and businesses are all wondering, “Where do I get started?”

Alexa Scordato and I invite you to participate in a two-hour beginner workshop that will give you a clearer sense of how to use social media for both personal and professional uses.

PART I
During the first hour of the workshop, we will:

• discuss the basics of social media and its implications on the world today
• outline real case studies from individuals and companies using social media effectively**
• describe how Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn may be used to build a personal brand

PART II
In celebration of historic Hotel 140, the second half of this workshop will focus solely on Twitter:

• What is Twitter and why’s everyone talking about it?
• Getting started - where to begin and how to avoid common mistakes
• Who’s doing it right and what’s the ROI

**John Pepper, CEO and founder of Boloco (our wonderful food sponsor), will give a short presentation on his use of Twitter and what it means for brands to market themselves online.

This event will be hands-on so don’t forget your computer. If you don’t have a Twitter account already, by the end of the session you will! Plus, you will have a bunch of new friends to begin tweeting with.

Date: Thursday, 7/23
Time: 6 - 8 PM (Food and non-alcoholic beverages will be served. Assorted wraps courtesy of Boloco)
Location: Hotel 140, 140 Clarendon St, Boston (across the street from the Back Bay T station and walking distance from Copley Sq)

Questions, please contact Alexa at alexa.scordato@gmail.com or me at maria@mediaawaken.com.

What First in Social Media?

A question that I get all the time is “How do I get started in social media? There are a million blogs out there, which ones should I start with?” Since I frequently tell people basically the same answer, I figured I should probably blog about it (although, if they are a complete newbie, they probably aren’t reading my blog, so perhaps I’m launching this into the echo chamber, but nevertheless, here we go…)

One of my favorite first stops on the getting your feet wet highway is the Common Craft Show. This site has a myriad of intro/how to/in plain English videos. One of my favorites is Social Bookmarking in plain English. Last summer, my mom asked me what delicious is and why she would ever want to use it. After tripping and stumbling over my tongue for a few moments attempting to figure out how to explain it to her, I turned on my computer and showed her this:

After watching it she said, “ok, I get it” and then she actually started using it! My goal this summer: get her on Twitter.

Now onto blogs:

There are quite a few quality blogs out there. All of them require a newbie to comb a little, but there are definitely nuggets of gold to be found. A few good places to start are Chris Brogan’s blog, for microblogging (aka Twitter) Laura “Pistachio” Fittons’s blog, Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel is also great. I recently blogged about a list that Viralogy put together of the 10 best marketing blogs by Gen-Yers. If you are interested in affiliate marketing and how to make money from you blog, and about blogging in general definitely check out Darren Rowse over at ProBlogger. If video blogging (or vlogging) is your thing, then Steve Garfield is your man.

Now, before I hurt any one’s feelings for leaving them out… I want to state loud and clearly that there are a TON of amazing blogs out there on a TON of topics. Many of which I read almost daily (I definitely don’t have time for the newspaper anymore, but with all the great content out there, who needs a newspaper?!) The resources I listed above are simply what I view as a good starting places to begin the adventure that is social media.

With all that being said, what do you think? Is there a blog or a site that you advise people to read when they are dipping their toes in for the first time? I’m always looking to be a better advice giver, so please share :)

Photo Credit: Bartek Kuzia

Social Media Jungle Boston

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Social Media Jungle hosted by Jeff Pulver here in Boston (well, Waltham actually, but close enough). It was a great day with a lot of amazing speakers. The format was casual, which I’ve come to expect at social media conferences and events. Each presenter had 20 minutes to present their thoughts/ideas with no PowerPoint slides. Jeff encouraged all the speakers (and the audience) to think of each session like a blog post–floating ideas out there for people to interact with and comment on. Some sessions were more interactive than others, Laura @Pistachio Fitton had us raising our hands for polling purposes, Steve Garfield had us uploading pictures to the web real-time and Christopher Penn has us shouting out what numbers matter to us like a game show. Lots of other amazing people presented that day and I highly suggest checking out the assembly of blog posts that came out of the day. And don’t forget to check out the Twitter stream from the day too.

A few of my take-aways from the day:

• Be human, be real, be vulnerable — we are people talking to people. Not brands talking to brands or companies talking to companies.
• One email can make all the difference (of course this is one of my take-aways, it was mine and Alexa’s session ;-)
• We need to stop talking about social media in social media. Time to spread the gospel. Or time to just use the tools without always talking about the tools.
• Be HELPful - Hustle, Engage, Listen, be Passionate
• Engage each generation, utilize each one of the generations’ specific talents. No one is irrelevant, no one is too inexperienced. Each generation brings a unique perspective to the table. Be cognizant of that and use it to your advantage.
• Numbers matter. But don’t let them matter too much. (CC Chapman first spoke about how the numbers don’t matter, then later in the day CS Penn rebutted with how certain numbers do matter, and matter a lot. The balance of the two points of view was perfection.)
• The influencer doesn’t matter. The message matters. If you say something good, and say it for long enough, people will hear. You don’t necessarily need a loud speaker. And having one doesn’t necessarily mean that people are going to pay attention.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to passion. BE PASSIONATE about what you do. Excitement can be found in the most mundane of details and tasks if you look hard enough. And in this crazy world we live in, with the economy spiraling out of control, my one little piece of advice–keep breathing.

SocComm Wrap Up

You never know what you’re going to get at a social media conference.  Sometimes you get fired up, excited, empowered.  Other times, you end up feeling like you’re trapped in the echo chamber, hearing the same stuff, with itsy bitsy differences.  

 

SocComm had a pleasant mix of the 101 sort of speakers and higher level, philosophical content.   There were speakers that got us riled up (a la @garyvee), and there were speakers or panels that rehashed the usual topics on privacy, work/life separation, and the history of the ‘Net.  Also, there were speakers looking at social media usage in sectors I hadn’t heard discussed before–social media for actors, legislation that may effect the industry (i.e. privacy law), and mobile social (a topic that people love to talk about but not usually in too much detail).

 

 

The best part of the conference, per usual at these types of events, was in the hallway.  Aside from the bathroom signs, which were entertaining, the conversations where fantastic. 

 

 

In the hallway, nursing a cup of joe, I met Jordan Epstein, founder of VolunteerBIG.com.  An awesome idea, though not up and running yet, VolunteerBIG is (or will be) a collaboration network complete with tools to help organizations do more for the community.  

Also, I ran into a man I knew from a past life, Larry Weinberg from Israel21C.  When I was in college, I was heavily involved in the cause of the Israelis–still feel strongly about the issue, but I would say I’m less of an activist now (out of necessity).  That said, I met Larry at a summit his organization put together to teach us college activists about positive discourse.  “A Focus Beyond the Conflict” is their tagline and scope of work–there’s so much more to the entire area than war, violence and terror, and Israel21C really emphasizes bringing the positives to light.  Great, powerful work.    

Back in the theatre, @GaryVee energized the crowd.  “If you’re not doing what you’re passionate about you’re an idiot,” he said, then dropped a few f-bombs for emphasis.  Brilliant, hilarious and incite-ful.  @GaryVee was certainly a highlight.  

 

Can We Make it Better?

All in all it was a great event, but a few of us have some thoughts for next time:

 

• Move the basics to the front: establish a baseline for those who are newer and allow those who know what’s up to catch a few more Z’s. 
• Get an egg-timer: the real challenge at an event like this is getting people to stop talking when their alloted time is up. An egg-timer says stop like no real person can.  It’s simple and there’s no one to get mad at when the egg-timer says to stop talking. 
• Make the cheerleaders the end caps: GaryVee and Chris Brogan got us pumped up and energized, but before there was time to digest there was already another presentation getting started.  Put the heavy hitters before breaks and they’ll be the topic of conversation through lunch, coffee, snacks, etc.  

 

 

With that said, I’m already looking forward to the next one!  See you soon at the next #SocComm.