Social Media Marketing

Live and Breathe Social Media

Social media introduces a new facet into your life, one that is exciting, valuable and when done right does not require a huge time commitment. In fact, you can do it on an impulse basis – which often proves to be the best moments of clarity. These random thoughts will accumulate, and you will soon become comfortable with actively using social media in your everyday life.

This book-as-a-blog is written for the social media beginner to intermediate social networker. If you are a self-driven individual who enjoys learning new skills, this is for you.

Remember, it’s about collaborating, acting, sharing, networking, participating, and inspiring. And as Dan Schawbel, author of “Me 2.0” said, “There is no hiding anymore and transparency and authenticity are the only means to survive and thrive in this new digital kingdom.”

Social media users interact to find friendship and commonalities, and this requires that you have something interesting to bring to the conversation, that you show respect, and that you don’t impose on others. A friend remembers you and what you stand for.

That Spark of Inspiration

My initial idea for this eBook was to help myself better learn about social media for job search functions.

When I want to learn new skills, I rewrite what I’m learning in my own words to better retain the new knowledge. I have several Moleskin notebooks dedicated to specific books.

Then I started meeting more and more people who were also in job search mode.

More jobs were evaporating than being created and recruiters were receiving hundreds of resumes within hours of posting positions on their web sites.

To combat the deluge of resumes, recruiters were beginning not to review the resumes they received through their web sites. Instead, they quietly exchanged names of good candidates among themselves. It was a matter of efficiency and quality versus sifting through hundreds of resumes.

Layoffs continued to pour people onto the streets of Seattle by the hundreds, just like they did across the rest of America.

I witnessed people become progressively more desperate to return to work after overcoming sticker shock of salary reductions of drops of 15-25% or more in an environment where the employer set the price – not the market – to lower salaries that would keep their companies afloat. It was painful for us all.

In April, 2009, I attended a LinkedIn 101 class and about 50 people came, filling the room to capacity. As the speaker began, I glanced around and guessed the average age was mid-40’s, with an even mixture of men and women. I noticed great fear on their faces.

The speaker surveyed the crowd regarding their current employment status. Many had been with the same company for over 10 years and in their careers for over 15 years. They were hardworking and loyal marketers, engineers, programmers, network managers, project managers, finance and human resources professionals – the gamut of American middle-class, white-collar workers. The American Dream never felt more out of reach; more like the American duping.

As the presentation proceeded, the full advantages and special tricks of LinkedIn were explained. I learned some great tips I now use everyday. When the discussion shifted to take questions and offer answers, I glanced around again.

This time, almost every member in the crowd had that classic look of a deer caught in headlights.

And This Book Was Born

This LinkedIn 101 class reflected what I have encountered at other social media events: “I’m on LinkedIn but I don’t really use it.” Or, “My kids use Facebook but I don’t know what it is.”

How could these otherwise intelligent, and modern professionals not know how to use some of the most powerful and free technologies, the very tools that could most help them find new careers?

After seeing the scary expressions that night, and hearing this reaction a few dozen times over at the many networking events I attended, I decided to address this dire need for a straightforward book that explained all the social networking platforms in a way that would be friendly, achievable, accessible and manageable for an audience who is smart but feeling inept at marshalling the tools and benefits of social media.

By researching, testing, and combining the best of the best online resources, I have distilled these into a winning set of core skills to give you the simplest, strongest and most basic solutions to marshalling social media.

This book will get you up to speed quickly with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and blogging tools that empower you to use them in an integrated fashion.

This will minimize your time managing your social networks and enable you to make meaningful contributions that simultaneously create solutions for your needs—in ways that also support others.

The Internet Is (Over)Loaded With How-To’s

Social media can be like drinking from a fire hydrant. This book turns down the flow of water to a manageable rate so you get exactly the amount you need and don’t drown.

While you can easily find much of this book’s contents through a search on Google, the sheer number of choices available is overwhelming. That is part of what I mean to address: which resources will serve your particular wants and needs?

Recognizing how frustrating deciding which venues might help you the most can be daunting. That is why I have collected and refined it all into a single source that provides multiple jumping-off points that help you explore specific topics in greater detail.

My second goal was to support you, the reader, in building these lessons into a progressive, start-to-finish method that gives you the following: (1) gets you on the right track using best practices, (2) keeps you up to date on the latest enhancements and tools, and (3) opens a precise, just-right approach that removes the confusion and intimidation.

Just an Hour a Day

If you worry that using social media sites requires a lot of attention and maintenance, then remember that you are in charge of your time and how it gets used. Don’t let the technology monopolize your time or distract you from your primary concerns.

Devote one hour-a-day to working on one chapter of each unit (set a timer to help you). In one week, you can finish the book with a stellar online reputation.

While you can share updates of your cat’s odd behaviors or your child’s antics, most social media pros do not recommend that you do this. Remember when your mom learned how to use email, and began sending you animated, glittery teddy bear grams 10 times a day? Don’t be your mom.

Use these tools productively! Do not spend all day online. Once you get started, though, you will likely find it rewarding enough that it quickly becomes a part of what you do daily. You will become more conscious of, “I should post this on Facebook” moments.

This book shows how to focus on being a contributing member instead of a person falling into the black hole of frivolity that can also be the shadowy feature of social media.

What helps me each time I get on to a social media site is this modern truism: “By giving value, I get value in return.”

Social Media Is About Sharing

If you find that this blog helps you, please share it with others.

Remember, pay it forward by helping other people get what they need and want. You will then find those same people helping you with what you need and want. This eBook on social media can get you there, especially in the new world that practices collaboration over competition. With the gifts of social media, there’s no doubt that we’re moving from a me culture to a we culture.

Not Sold Yet?

Want to ask a few pre-sale questions before committing? We can’t give you a toaster if you act now but we’ll put your fears at ease. Post your question in the Comments section for a response.