Chris Brogan who in my mind, is the definition of social media has written an excellent starter piece for those looking to tap into social media. The post takes a look at three different scenarios. Personal, business, and Non profit use. There is one particular piece of information that Chris gives that I don’t agree with in a sense and that is,
Avoid writing “me too” blog posts about the latest news in your vertical. Chances are, someone else is doing it better, and your “me too” is just a throat-clearing proof that you’re not creating original content.
What is so bad about writing content that has inspired an opinion or a thought process and then sharing that on the web through the means of a blog post? Granted, if all the post contains is “me-too”
then I fall in line with Chris Brogans comments. However, if the post is a continuation or a different path of the original conversation, isn’t that one of the beauties of blogging in general?
Back on topic, I believe that it takes a special breed of person to tap into the power of social media. Chris is one of those people and there are many like him in existence out on the web. I’ve tried to tap into this social media craze and I’ve had some success through the use of Twitter but overall, I just can’t seem to put enough time or effort into the various networks to make them worthwhile. I acknowledge the existence of what social media can do but I’m not one of the ones making a living through it’s power.
To anyone who partakes on a social media journey, I wish you luck. For those who have had success riding the social media train, please leave me a comment and tell me about your experience thus far and how social media has helped you in your endeavors.
5 thoughts on “Starting Out In Social Media”
With social media, I think it is a case of being patient and getting out of it what you put into it. Using Izzy Video as an example, he said he has been at it for three years, and judging from the number of followers / friends he has through Twitter and Facebook, I would imagine he put a lot time and effort into reaching those numbers.
I also would add I believe you have to have something to offer people in order to be successful at social media. Whether that would be useful information, an opportunity that is only available to those who follow you, or even just notifying people when your blog / site updates. Giving something of value to followers helps immensely.
Wesley
The Geek Entrepreneur
This article gives me hope, I’ve been searching for a good learning tool and this is it!
Hmmm.. I see stories of people having success with social media but for some reason I havent had such success. Thanks for sharing though..
Joseph Mathews
Wow, that is a really great story. Thanks for sharing. I guess I should really take a step back and re-evaluate what social media is and really figure out the secrets behind it’s potential.
My experience with Social Media has been incredibly convincing regarding the power it has. It has been a three year journey from rolling out episode one of my video podcast to now where I’ve quit my “day job” and gone full time in video production, where my sole income source comes from the three video podcasts I produce. Realistically, social media made this all possible.
A recent example of success —
On a Thursday I realized I was short of my sales goals for the week, so I ran a promotion only to the people who follow me on Twitter and Facebook (Mind you I’m not a power user of either of these. I have less than 1,000 friends on Twitter and 500 on Facebook.) The promotion was a huge success. I offered a 20% discount across the board, and in one day hit my entire week’s sales goals.
That’s the power of social media.
Chris Brogan is brilliant, and I call him a friend, but he’s got thousands of friends like me. Me? I have less than 1,000 followers on Twitter, but the opportunities that find their ways to me weekly via this medium are incredible; I can only imagine how many incredible opportunities Chris encounters daily with 20,000 followers.
I guess you could say I buy into Social Media. I’m not the multi-tasker Chris Brogan is, but Social Media has changed my life (and business) for the good.
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