Social Media Uses for Business
May 1st, 2009 by Tracy Fox
Social media - everybody’s talking about it and trying to figure out how to use it for their business. There was a great panel discussion on Friday at the Hartford Business Journal’s eTechnology Summit which confirmed that it’s all so new that no one can really claim to be an “expert” yet, but there is so much opportunity. I’ll talk about my own experience and hopefully that will give you some ideas of how you might be able to leverage social media.
I started using Twitter and set up a FaceBook page for my “business self” several months ago. I had several goals in mind:
- Although I have 20+ years in the technology business, I changed firms and came to ForeSite Technologies about 6 months ago. I am always looking for ways to get the word out so that folks I have met in my previous life can easily find me.
- Former coworkers who know and trust my work are a wonderful source of referrals, and I love to be able keep in touch and help them too. But the more time goes by, the less you find yourself sending an email or picking up the phone just to check in.
- Through face-to-face networking, I meet a lot of great people who work with the same types of clients as I do - small businesses, nonprofits, and schools. Twitter gives me a way to send out short bits of information on my projects, events I am attending, and little tidbits about my day to help them get to know me better without a big time commitment.
The benefits so far:
- People reading my tweets on Twitter are linking back to the ForeSite web site. This is enabling me to share information about ForeSite with people I have never met and increasing awareness of our network and web site solutions.
- A former coworker that I hadn’t been in touch with in years reached out after a layoff. ForeSite was considering adding a new role, and now we’re working together again.
- Clients and folks I see at networking events know me as a suit-wearing professional. I find they bond with me more when they learn that I eat Skittles by the handful and can wield a Nerf gun with the best of them. People do business with and recommend people that they trust, and they more they get to know me, the greater confidence they have in sharing problems that they or their clients have to see if I can help.
Things to consider:
- It’s great to show your human side, but don’t forget that you are addressing clients, coworkers and others that you hope to do business with. If you wouldn’t say it face to face, don’t say it.
- I recommend maintaining a separate FaceBook account for family and close friends for posting funny anecdotes and sharing of family photos.
- Don’t start and stop! You can’t build a following if you tweet once and go dark for months. Make updating your social media sites part of your daily work routine.
It will be interesting to see how my experience changes as social media continues to evolve. Stay tuned!
Tags: etechnology summit, hartford business journal, Social media, uses of social media