Everyone these days is telling you you have to “get out there.” What they mean by this is that you should be using social media. But where is “there”? And how do you get “there” from “here”? It’s not enough to set up a Twitter page and call it a day. You need a purpose, an audience, and a plan.
Perhaps, on the urging of a friend, you now have a Twitter account. Welcome, whatistwitter95! You also now have one tweet: “Okay, I’ve finally joined Twitter!” You have four followers, you vaguely understand what RT stands for, and you’re feeling like a tech-savvy rock star. Now what? How can you turn this meaningless stream of tweets into something meaningful to you and your career? Now add a blog, LinkedIn, Visual CV, Digg, Flickr and the countless other “must haves” and you have…a big mess.
I recently went to a social media seminar where a member of the internet communicatins team for the Government of Alberta, Nikki Van Dusen, said something great. “Social media is not the field of dreams.” Sorry, but just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come.
In my short experience, I have found that the key is not to be on every social media site known to man. Ask yourself: what is this doing for me? Many people advise you to get out there and play around with every new site, and that is sound advice. It helps you decide if that media is of any use to you. I don’t think you should feel pressured to have a regularly updated Flickr account if there’s nothing that technology can do for you professionally. Personally I have this blog, a Twitter account, and a LinkedIn account. I think that’s more than enough to keep track of and to help expand my professional network for now. I’ll let you know if I eat my words.
What are you doing to “get out there”?
Hey congrats on your first blog. It’s a good read.
Thank you for not using big words; you know how I am with 4+ syllables.
Congrats on your entry into the world of blogging and social media!
I agree that you don’t need to be on every social media platform out there. I don’t know of any social media people saying that. If they are, I wouldn’t listen.
There are so many options that it’s overwhelming. I’ve tried out a bunch of them and stuck with the ones that I like and suit my style and interests.
I don’t just participate in social media that I feel are going to help me professionally though. I’m not that mercenary about social media! I am on Flickr, but I’m not a professional photographer. It’s my hobby.
While I’ve learned a lot about social media, I still feel I have a lot to learn. It’s constantly changing. I guess that’s the fun part.
Alain
I have Flickr and Facebook, but just for fun.
Nothing wrong with that!
I think that in this day and age, there are so many “social media experts” that people, especially students or those new to social media, get confused. I’ve listened to advocates of social media talk about 20 different platforms in as many minutes. There’s a lot of pressure out there to be on top of every new, shiny communicator that comes out. It’s just unnecessary. I’m an advocate of “do what works for you.” As a student, there is pressure to not be left behind, while other more savvy students rake in jobs and fame via social media!
Do I really think Twitter has this power? No. But it does present a unique networking tool. With that, my LinkedIn profile and my blog, I hope to be a name someone might recognize on a resume or give an employer something to find when they google me. Or meet someone who might know of a job. Or just have fun talking about my favourite subject – PR! It’s all an experiment, and I’ll be first to admit I’m not too sure of what I’m doing!
I better stop writing before I finish a whole other blog post here, haha. Thanks for commenting!
Ahh yes, the social media expert. Funny how everyone’s an instant expert these days. As a PR practitioner also, I realize that it’s an important skill to be able to separate hype from reality. I can’t count the number of times I hear pitches about how if I’m not on this platform, I might as well not be in marketing or PR.
I think it’s important to be aware of existing and new communications platforms. Depending on the size of the organization, it might make sense even to have a token presence on all of them. There are some SEO benefits to this strategy, not to mention personal reputation management benefits.
It doesn’t mean you have to actively participate in all of them, but if the organization is large enough, perhaps they can be divvied up amongst the PR people?
The tools I’m a big fan of now are Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and Stumbleupon. It’s always interesting talking to others and hearing about their favourites and why they work for them.
Alain