Discover How to Use Social Media

Last year my youngest son was visiting me from Australia and he wanted to show me a new way to keep in touch with them.  He signed me up for a Facebook account so that we could share photos and stay connected.  What I did not know at the time, is this was my introduction to what is commonly referred to as “Social Media”.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into! Somehow I have managed to gather over 1,000 “friends” on Facebook, and close to 3,000 “followers” on Twitter.  What I have discovered in the process, is that it is an incredible way to develop relationships! The relationships that I have developed using social media has led to new business, local and long distance friends that I have met face to face, and also opportunities to help others in a time of need.

There is no need to be on every single social network ( although I am on many)  Twitter is my favorite, followed by Facebook and Friendfeed.  If you are new to social media or are considering it, here are a few quick tips-

• Be transparent and authentic. Relationships are built on that.  Let people know who you are, and all about your interests, business, and family.

• Use the same photo on all sites. That helps people to recognize you.

• When you get a new follower on Twitter, don’t auto-follow back. Spammers are counting on that

• When considering following back someone on Twitter, look to see if they have a profile photo first, then check out their website.  Pay attention to the number of people that they are following in relation to those who are following back.  The numbers should be close.

• Read their bio and see if they are interesting for you to follow. Also check the number of “updates” that they have posted. If you only follow a few people and one or two of them “tweet” a lot, you may or may not like that.

• On Facebook and other sites like that, don’t feel obligated to accept every friend request, or invitation to join a group. Use the same discretion as on Twitter.

• Never post a photo that might some day be something that could cause you embarrassment. Just think that “the Internet is forever” and you never know where those photos could end up. (there was a huge controversy over this on Facebook recently.)

Most importantly, NEVER give out your password to any of the sites that you are using. I have had the misfortune of  someone hacking into one of my social media sites and it wasn’t pleasant. Sometimes there are “applications” that ask for that information. Make sure that it is a trusted application before you give out that information.