Social media as a networking tool

USING social media is key to employability and brand building, according to two recent graduates of Uclan.

Simon Harrow and Nigel Barlow set out some key reflections on how students and companies can embrace social media to get ahead, during an event on Equipping the Entrepeneurial Journalist.

You can follow Simon on Twitter http://twitter.com/simonharrow and Nigel Barlow on @nigelbarlow http://twitter.com/NigelBarlow

Social media should be seen as the new interpretation of Network Theory: where connecting with people is not about everyone - but finding the key people you need to know to get ahead.  Working on the mathematical model of six degrees of separation, companies and brands should consider connecting with and finding a hub: the one person with a 1,000 contacts who is the centre of any one community and topic rather than connecting with 1,000 contacts who all know one person each.

It's important stuff when you think about harnessing social media in the most effective way possible.

If in social media we can connect with the key people you are more likely to increase the brand exposure you need.

Reflections included the need to use social media as a strategy: not one tool such as Facebook, but a myriad of platforms all linking together. Social media are channels and a way of staying ahead of the game. In Simon's words: social media it's not bullshit it's branding.

He advocates the use of LinkedIn, Ning, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Slideshare together to cross over the impact of social media. He also set out the power of using an hour a day to check out all relevant RSS feeds and Twitter updates with skim reading, just to get a vibe of what is out there. Remember that if something is worth knowing it will hang around for a few days as the conversation moves from the early innovators to the laggards!

And there is no denying that what is out there is changing all the time: the pace of change is phenomenal.

Here are some tips on harnessing social media to extend brands for the Net Gen:

• social media is a way of staying ahead so build up a strategy for distributing and targetting content
• social media is organic - don't forget it. It works by filtering the good stuff to the top so it can't be bought.
• develop your brand step by step. You can easily open a blog and block comments or lock Twitter accounts while you settle into a tone and niche you are comfortable with
• social media is one channel - it is a tactic. Use it with other tactics to form your overall strategy
• social media is not free - it is time consuming but rewarding. You have to be out there giving as well as receiving
• social media is a conversation prism and can't be independent of other marketing strategies
• find the 'hub' of your niche market and use them to get information out to lots more people - that is what being connected really means
• create an online persona and this can be different from your 'social' social media
• create a space and links
• create quality content

If you follow these tips there is no reason why social media can't do the following for you:

• build a brand
• create a network
• enhance SEO
• drive traffic
• drive sales
• improve data capture
• crisis manage

Comments

[Ali]

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