socialmedia 4 success - best practices for facebook, twitter, linkedin, and other social media

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Social Media

4 Succes

s

Robin Fay, robinfay.net

We’ll cover: Social media

What it is Why it is

important Best practices Privacy in a

social world Tools to

streamline your time

Social Media 4 Success

Social media (also social networking) is a term used to describes websites where users connect and share with each other.

Users generally create an account through which they communicate with a network, sharing photos, video, stories, documents and links to other websites.

Gaming and commerce (such as groupon) are increasingly becoming part of the social media landscape.

What is social media?



Although Facebook and Twitter are 2 of the biggest social media websites in the U.S., there are many social media websites. Some are more niche oriented (Flickr for images; Youtube for video; MyArtPlot for artists).

What is social media?


Content may be personal, professional or a combination depending on the site and also how the user chooses to use the site.

If you are doing social media on behalf of your company, organization, or institutions you should be aware of any existing social media policies or IT usage policies.


a visual…

A few stats…

Two-thirds of online adults (66%) use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn.

Among internet users, social networking sites are most popular with women, young adults under age 30, and parents. Young adult women ages 18-29 are the power users of social networking; fully 89% of those who are online use the sites overall and 69% do so on an average day.

But….



Most notably is the rise in age of Facebook users:

It’s no secret that Facebook, which started as a networking playground for college kids, is graying, and that the percentage of active members who are over 25 years old and out of school has risen to some 40 percent of the overall population of about 45 million. (New York Times)

And the average age has risen to 38. (Pew Institute)



So, why is this important? Our colleagues, friends, employers,

employees, patrons, customers (if a business) and families are likely using social media.

Social media can be a way to develop a professional presence without learning how to code a website.

A communication tool with few barriers.

Some have said social media will be the next digital divide – you are either there or you are not. It’s not about being hip or “with-it”, it’s about having the necessary skills for this information age.


We will look at the Big 3: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and the new player Google+

TwitterEither private or public Posts limited to 142 charactersCan create reading lists Ability to private (direct) message (DM)Can participate in trending topics and learn about

realtime newsConversations are harder to follow unless using a 3rd

application (seesmic, tweetdeck)People will often follow you on twitter who would not

facebook or email youTwitter can be used to pull into facebook, blogs or

other resources



Twitter is good for finding communities and

professional networking following trending topics and

realtime newsPRSharing informationFollowing or participating in

conferences and workshops Getting answers to questions Can be customized and is

searchablePotential for “viral”



Twitter is not good for

refined privacy settings long posts or conversationsarchiving (although Library of Congress

has archived some tweets)sometimes can feel like shouting into

the wind or walking into the middle of a conversation

can be used professionally or personally but need separate accounts to truly separate identities (can use software like seesmic to manage)



Let’s look at twitter



http://www.twitter.com/

LinkedInMore of a resume/CV site but expandingYou control how much info is displayedCan pull in feeds, subscribe to list Email contacts/network Import/suggest from email or networks


LinkedIn is good for

Professional networking/ professional work Finding colleagues and professional peers Finding or starting professional discussion groups Job recruitment/consulting workBuilding a professional presenceJob seekers, mentors/mentees, etc.



LinkedIn is not good forBlogging More personal interactions Truly focused on professional activity and presenceStandard interface; little customization or

personalization PR – really not designed for PR Image sharing or sharing across other social media

sites – although it has some features, limited



Facebook

Mix of personal and professional depending on user

Somewhat complicated privacy settings but some parts (interests, etc.) are public info

Can have a public account which users can subscribe to

Standard interface; little customization Very hard to find older information Pages may be a better way to connect

professionally



Every Facebook item is tied to an account. An admin is the user who sets up a particular type.

Facebook types:Pages are profiles for businesses, entities,

institutions, artists and more – content (discussion, images, video, posts) can either be from the organization or group, or a mix. Pages support a stronger design, a categorical listing of pages, ability to link to similar pages, statistics, and more.

Browse pages at http://www.facebook.com/pages/



Facebook Pages featuressubscribable! provide tools such as widgets to use on your

website are publicly indexed on the web can be shared with others outside of Facebook can be designed using Iframes and widgets to

provide a more customized interface help establish identity and brand can be a centralized presence more control in terms of usersstatistics


Facebook types:

Events are a single event (for now); private (invitation only) or public (shared with others). Depending on how the admin sets up the event, attendees can share images or video.

Groups are generally discussion oriented (think forums, messageboards), often organized around a cause or topic. Groups can be private or public. Group members create the content which is presented as a threaded list. Groups can include images and video.



A few uses of facebookPR (Groups, Fan pages)Share links BlogDiscussion groupsEmail / IMRead blogs /get newsNetwork /recruit/ headhuntPlay gamesLearn GenealogyOrganize eventsCreate a digital identityShare photos/video (image gallery)

A few Facebook pointers: If you are doing outreach or using social media for

your own work (or networking) use lists to determine who can see what (photos, video, posts, & more).

And perhaps, more importantly, if you are doing social media on behalf of your institution using a Page is a good idea, vs. your own personal account.

Control what you need to (commenting, etc.) but remember, social media is about community and dialogue.


Google+ (June 2011 launch)

Incorporated into GoogleUses circles to control user groups – can be as

granular as you want Posts similar to twitter or facebook; images through

picasa web albums Still new – lots of changes on the way Started out as invitation only; very tech heavy Pages for businesses in previous few months, but

not originally supported


Google+Not many tools to help with posting, but some

addons for ChromeIt is growing, but future is somewhat

uncertain, given how new it is


Best practices:Read the TOS and Privacy statements. Yes, they

are boring and confusing….and they sometimes change. (pinterest just did)

Always doublecheck preferences or options in any social media site especially privacy.

Think about the information you give away. Use a “throwaway” email address if possible.

Don’t make your private life public (unless that is your goal). Be aware of social networking etiquette.

..and always be aware of your institution’s or organization’s computer usage policies or social media policies.


Tips for professional networking

Develop your community:Search for colleagues you already know and respect. Search their friend/follow lists to see who they follow.If using twitter, watch the #FF or #followfridayIf using a service with groups (such as linkedIN) join

groups that fit your professional development needs.Always include a personal message when sending a

friend/follow/network request.Discuss, communicate & participate.Use tools to help manage your time.



A tiny bit about privacy:Google yourself. Regularly. Use

google.com/alerts/ to notify you of new content about yourself.

Create your own digital identity using social media and other tools.

Always check privacy settings. Default is often public.


Speaking of tools Focus on automation

Automatically send blog posts directly to a twitter account> twitterfeed.com

Selectively send twitter to post as facebook status: selectivetweets app in fb ; then add #fb to the end of a tweet

Automatically send blog posts to facebook> Use networkedblogs app in facebook (need to setup account at networkedblogs, too)



Speaking of tools

Focus on batch processing

Batch work:Schedule tweets ahead of time

(futuretweets.com, hashable.com, or bufferapp.com, seesmic – manage multipe accounts,too!)

Schedule blog posts – use the post date to schedule posts ahead of time

Use picasa or flickr to batch process images





Be a social media superstar!

socialmedia 4 success - best practices for facebook, twitter, linkedin, and other social media

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