#NewMR Blog, June 2014 – After spending my childhood on a farm in rural Oregon without television or even a touch tone phone, I was determined to spend my early adult/post University years as an ‘early adopter’. I spent much of the late 90’s proudly sporting a Palm Pilot (then a Blackberry, then an iPhone) and becoming the go-to person in my circle of friends and colleagues for information about all things tech related. I mastered LinkedIn. I thought I had this whole social media thing nailed.
And then there was Facebook. And Twitter. And Instagram. And Pinterest. If you’ve ever tried to use all six (and these are just the six I’m active on) for personal use…or business use….or (even more challenging) both, what I’m going to say next may resonate with you- I absolutely flailed. My social media presence was a disorganized time suck and I backed away from the whole mess of it.
When colleagues asked why I wasn’t active on Twitter and Facebook I said I didn’t have the time. Or that I just wasn’t interested. Or that I didn’t think social media worked for my business. The truth is that I did, I was and it could. I just needed the right strategy.
Today I’m a social media junkie. I use LinkedIn daily to connect with prospective clients and colleagues. With over 3,400 Twitter followers I was recently named one of the site’s top 100 branding experts. I launched a Market Research group on Facebook that today is the largest in the industry with over 4,500 members. I’ve mastered using both Instagram and Pinterest.