Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Social Networking for Busy People - It's a crazy world out there!





I've been talking about social networking for busy people for many months now...the problem is this: I, like you, have a crazy full calendar already and adding time to keep up with all the sites and new mediums can be overwhelming.

After hosting a panel for the Beaverton Chamber of Commerce in December I was encouraged again to invest time researching how to help my readership of busy people use these outlets for business development, branding, and increased visibility. Watch the video - we really get started about 3 minutes in

Even though I had a million things to do in December...I actually took the time over the holidays to figure out how to decide where to show up from those who know and implement tools (recommended by those who know) that make keeping up online easier for those of us time challenged. Do I have your interest yet?

  • Twitter - Is it "tweeting" really the hot new thing? Take a few minutes a read these interesting perspectives.
    Fellow
    Biznik-ite Joe Hage's observations on his Twitter experiment and why YOU should Tweet.
    BusinessWeek
    talks about Twitter
    Barry Hurd, 123SocialMedia.com gives the best review of
    Twitter How-To's
    You can follow me on Twitter www.Twitter.com/kathienelson
  • Keeping up with blogs. Hey, I know keeping up with my own blog takes time so how am I supposed to keep up with others I want to follow? It truly is a great way to keep up with trends in thoughts and ideas. I'd been hearing about aggregators for the last year or so but never had the time to figure them out...I decided to do so over the holiday. I am using Google Reader since I use Google more and more but others have been recommended as well.
    Fellow
    Biznik-ite Elge Premeau wrote an excellent article on How to Blog without Having a Blog and recommends her favorite, Bloglines.
  • Keeping up with Social Networks (or even choosing what to add with all the invitations you get). I jumped into social networking many months ago to test and report back where and how to best use the medium for business development. I was expecting a very straightforward process with easy to report results. Guess what...it was not straightforward due to the nature of the medium. The audience (us) is constantly morphing the medium by our use and new providers join the race all the time. It can be a little maddening for those of us who like to learn things once and move on!
    Article on
    Social Networking Strategy
    Excellent Article on
    What You Need to Know Today about Social Media by Barry Hurd, 123 Social Media
    Article on
    Ways to Get Involved with Social Media in 2009 for those just jumping in

Hey, I am a slow adapter of technology or tools until proven they are a good investment of time. I think Social Networking and all that it entails is here to stay. It can be crazy but start by managing the time and how to best use to meet your goal to make the difference for you.

  • For Social Networking Newbies - I encourage you to browse around. Ask your peers how they use their social networks. Best case, find a blog you like that provides truly helpful information and subscribe!

  • For those of you who are Portland, OR based I am anchoring a series for the Beaverton Chamber of Commerce of "How-to" classes on the 2nd Wednesday monthly. In addition to learning social networking strategy you will hear from experts on Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, & Plaxo in a computer classroom setting. I hope to see you there! Easy registration here.

If you have favorite Social Networking blogs, sites, or articles please share with us!

Happy Networking!

No comments: