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Disclaimer: Let me say this, I am about as far from being a Social Media “expert” as anybody you are likely to encounter. But I do know enough to be dangerous. Some might say, very dangerous (smile). So, this is by no means the only way, or the right way, to get involved with Social Media. What it is is my way and how I did it. I do need to give some props to Jen Harris over at Caffeinated Marketing. Jen did the same thing for me and for our group, NetWorks!, which I now repackage and pass on to you. This will get you started, and started only, if you have not already done so. It is more of a how to than a why do. There are millions of resources out there, including this site, that can tell you more.
Step #1 – Get Educated: There is just a huge and overwhelming amount of information out there on the web and trying to find it and keep track of it can easily exceed a full-time position. I would suggest you do the following:
- Get a Gmail account. This will also allow you to set up an iGoogle page which I use as my home page. Already have other email accounts and maybe too many? No problem. One: you don’t have to use it and, Two: you may want to use it to track just your social media efforts. Kind of like a folder. Your iGoogle page will allow you to display tools and feeds that are important to you. I have various news feeds, my Gmail inbox, the weather, other goodies, and my Google Reader.
- Set up Google Reader: Google reader will allow you to subscribe to, and automatically get new posts from, information sources you find to be of value. It eliminates the need to constantly check back on these sites to see if anything is new. Your reader box will show you a title and source which you can then click on to see a simplified version of the article and then will also allow you to go to the site, if desired, to see the original complete article. I would start by subscribing to two invaluable resources: Mashable and………..this blog (smile). Once you have reader set up, many sites including this one, will have a subscribe to entries box somewhere visible on the site. You can also add sites manually to your reader if a subscribe to option is not available. Mashable is all things social media. I call it the “bible”. (more…)
Started my morning out with with three referrals on signs that could potentially mean about $20,000 in revenues. This really gets down to the core of networking. I split my time fairly evenly between the networking activities as it pertains to our group and the other half of my time to the sign bidness (smile). Better than 90% of my clients are either repeat business or referral. And, closing ratios are reflected in those types of relationships. 
