I was visiting with friends over the weekend and as we were chatting about everything under the sun, the conversation turned to social media. They were a littled baffled as to what to do and why! They also commented, as I've heard with countless others, how overwhelming it is! I think in the beginning, it is overwhelming! There's really just no way around it! If you're a small business owner, social media is something that you want to be involved in. No, excuse me, you have to be involved in! It's not going away! It's only going to become more and more challenging! And when I say challenging, I mean there are going to be even more platforms to be familiar with in order to decide what's the best fit for you and what your goals are. Even if you are able to outsource this, you still want to have some degree of understanding of the basics!
When I think of Facebook, I think of it like going to a party. If you go to a party and everyone knows you're there, but you're in the corner, alone, and not engaging with others, then you're likely to be alone. Now, if you go to the party and you're laughing and talking with everyone and having a great time, people are going to gravitate to you and you'll not stand alone! Facebook is no different! When I first joined, I literally did nothing! I didn't do status updates, I didn't comment on the updates of the few friends I had; I did nothing! However, when I decided to put forth the effort and send friend requests, accept friends, and just really engage with everyone; oh my, things changed drastically! In a nutshell, what I have found with Facebook, it is a platform where the more engaging you are, the more engaging your friends will be! And yes, this does mean spending time there! Now, as to how much, well that depends on what you're trying to accomplish.
Twitter! Tweet, tweet, tweet! I have actually grown to really love Twitter! I remember signing up for it and not having a clue as to how to tweet, what to tweet, when to tweet, or even why I should tweet! Here again, if you're a small business owner, tweeting is a great way to get out a quick message about a service or product you offer, or even just a tidbit of information. Afterall, you only have 140 characters to do this in, so it must be short, sweet, and to the point! You can tweet links to a website or a picture. You can re-tweet a tweet of someone else's that you want to share with your followers or just browse the timeline to see what's going on! It is a great way to stay connected in real time without using a lot of your time! I have learned so much by monitoring the timeline of everyone I follow! You may have guessed that most of those that I follow are in the design industry; interior design, architecture, fashion, photography, etc., etc.! I do follow the few friends that are on Twitter, although a great many of them have not embraced it, I'm sure, for one of the same reasons it took me so long to begin tweeting!
So, the conversation was placed on pause after explaining the "why" of Pinterest! They, again, were wondering where did I get some of the images that I feature on my blog! Well, I've always used Pinterest as one of my resources because it was just easy to be on a website, or people that I'm following, see something that inspires me, and click the "pin it" button! Pinterest is just a great way to keep up with and organize images that are inspirational onto different boards that you compose. I liked that it also captured the origin of the image so that the source would be cited to eliminate the dilema of copyright issues. There are times when you need to search for the origins of the image, but since Pinterest has made some adjustments, the need isn't there as much as it was before. However, if you run into not being able to know the original source to cite, Google image search is a great place to start!
I've only scratched the surface of these three social media platforms! There is so much more to it; especially as it relates to how it can benefit the user! And oh my gosh, there are so many other social media services to choose from! My iPhone and iPad are full of apps that I use to quickly access all of the ones that I use! Maybe we can talk more another day about social media! It is mind boggling!
Make it AMAZING!
Rhonda
*Images via Google and my Pinterest
*Some other Social Media Platforms I utilize: (4) Linked-In (5) Blogger (6) Tumblr (7) Google+
(8) Instagram (9) Olio Board (10) Polyvore; and trust me so many others!!!
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