When is Social Media Not Social?

Me and "Speaker Sue" at last meet IRL (oct 2015)

Coffee with my SM Hero Matt Bologna of BizBash

Social Media. Two words. Social is the active part of this combination. Media is a tool. What Jenise Fryatt taught us as #EIR in the early days of learning how to use this twitter tool = Engage, Inform, Retweet.  Engage with people - yes PEOPLE who are actively sharing interesting content and ideas - start and continue conversations because when you meet these people IRL (in real life) you will find yourself with new friends, colleagues and interesting conversations immediately. It is rather awesome the power of online conversations turning into a live, interactive, intelligent conversation, often with a beverage in hand.  (aka why I love IMEX- see previous blog for all the social media friends I have the opportunity to see there!)  

Engage. Note the word being overused - conversation. When Social Media is not social - ie a one - way dumping of information out, it is an advertorial, not social media at its best.  When you are not engaging with other content, or responding to any reaction to your content sharing - you are kind of missing the point - and mostly you are missing the opportunity social media brings - for you personally, for your organization, and especially if you have a small business you are trying to grow.

Inform.  Sharing content without interaction-boring. Sharing content others can interact with - good idea.  Sharing content with #hashtags to create conversation around a topic of interest to many - very good idea.  Being part of a community such as #eventprofs brings rewards, including friendships born out of common interests.  Being part of weekly chats such as #contentchat or #assnchat around topics that affect your professional life -- growth opportunities.  Sharing content you have created - now we are talking!

Retweet. So simple - hit the retweet button and BOOM you are sharing relevant content with those in your community. Add a comment, ask a question, add to the discussion and your impact is growing.  BTW this is the only one of the three that applies to Twitter only  in terminology - every platform has a way to like, share or comment - so consider the platforms that make sense for you and your business, get comfortable with a couple, and get sharing!

Want to learn more? Michelle Bergstein Fontanez joins me via skype to talk Social Media at a live Vancouver ISES meeting soon - join us if you want to delve into personal and business-friendly social media best practices.
ISES Educates November 17

Social Media vs Magazines

social-media-influencers on MeetingsNet

I LOVE magazines - consumer and trade. I love flipping pages, pulling out pages, adding post-its and sharing with friends. I recognize it is not the most sustainable choice, and I have not yet developed exactly the same love affair with digital magazines, but I am learning.  I am enjoying the layout and ease of finding information on the digital edition of Event Solutions and I am learning to get through the pdf versions of association magazines I have long enjoyed such as MPI's The Meeting Professional and PCMA's alternate approach to sharing Convene digitally, in a click and read format. What I was very impressed with most recently is MeetingsNet app, as I found the information was very easy to "flip" through, and my conversion may be starting...

What I love most about Twitter / LinkedIn / Facebook et al is the easy ability to share information, a quick link away, and you can while away an hour or a day learning about innovations, reading different perspectives and generally enjoying the mind-stretch. I was lucky to learn from Jenise Fryatt at the beginning of my journey, and embraced her #EIR - Engage, Inform and Retweet philosophy. More than three years later, I have continued to meet amazing people and hear inspiring stories and ideas on a daily basis, and I LOVE SOCIAL MEDIA for its knowledge and its connections. 

I was truly honoured when MeetingsNet chose me as one of their 11 social media influencers for this year, and I think most of us smiled when we saw it was first Richard Branson... and well then all of us who are focused on smaller audiences and rather more of a specific area or industry.  Likely many of you have had in your minds too the "dream companies" you would work for, and for me Virgin has long been part of my short list, so the irony of being so close and still so far was not lost on me! 

Anyhow... I had a lot of fun reading about these other influencers, and I hope you do too!