Feeling like you have been left behind in having a social media presence? Not sure why you should have one? Don’t know where to start?
When considering a personal social media presence for the corporate world you need to think about what you want to achieve:
- Promote yourself &/or your company?
- Connect with colleagues, business partners, clients and like minded people?
- Find and Create new contacts?
I personally use social media in a work context for the following reasons:
- to connect with people via social media rather than store business cards – stay connected even if I move jobs.
- to research people and companies
- to be a part of industry groups and join in on conversations
- to introduce people or be introduced to new business contacts
Social media can seem very overwhelming to many and the answer I hear from colleagues is that they ‘don’t have time to keep up’. In all honesty I probably spend 30mins a fortnight if that on keeping details up to date.
Is there a simple place to start? Yes, I think if you are new you only need concern yourself with one site – linkedin (www.linkedin.com). I discovered this site around 6 years ago and have used it ever since as my primary corporate networking vehicle. I also use Plaxo (www.plaxo.com) and some others but to a lesser extent.
Linkedin is free to join at a basic level (that’s all I am) and you update your profile and create connections with colleagues, partners and clients. You can then search for industry groups, peer groups, school and even your own company – there are more than 300,000 groups.
You can read the following two articles which cover why linkedin is being used by so many around the world.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/15/linkedin-career-networking-intelligent-technology-connections.html
http://windmillnetworking.com/2009/08/26/what-is-linkedin-and-why-should-you-join/
So you have taken your first step! That wasn’t so hard? Write to me and let me know how you use social media for your corporate life. Thanks.
Great tips you have on your site. I am a new blogger and learning to write effective contents. I had started to jot down notes so the idea will not slip out when I sit in front of the com.
Come on dude, these facts* and proof* i mean who is posting* lol
Colby, thanks for comments. I don’t really understand what you are asking – there are no facts claimed other than there are 300,000 groups on linked in ? The proof is from multiple independent sources. Happy to discuss.