Social Desire

Written on April 2, 2009 – 5:04 pm | by Shana Albert |

It is Day 1 of IM Spring Break here in beautiful Deerfield Beach, Florida. And, Dave Snyder, Loren Baker and Jordan Kasteler have an entertaining and educational day planned out for us. Day 1 of IM Spring Break is dedicated to Social Media…. which I am totally excited about.

First off was Chris Winfield’s Keynote. Chris is the President and Co-Founder of 10e20. His Keynote was absolutely the perfect way to open up Day 1 of IM Spring Break. Chris spoke about Social Media in Business brilliantly…. I love how passionate and excited it was to speak about it…. Totally motivating. It was awesome to hear him speak.

Chris began his keynote by announcing that Social Media Marketing in Business is way more than just Facebook and Twitter.

Social Media is one big conversation.

Now, this is when Chris gets into the true nitty gritty of Social Media Marketing in Business. He begins talking about the question that many of us as Social Media Marketers have heard asked hundreds of times….

Why would a Business Want to get involved in Social Media?

A business should get involved in Social Media for a number of reasons. Such as,

• achieve recognition with a wider audience
• create/ improve reputation
• enhance credibility
• attract evangelists
• public relations
• link attraction
• traffic

Ok, so now we know why businesses should get involved in Social Media. But then what? What types of Social Media should Businesses get involved in?

No worries… Chris covered that as well. And, in great detail.

Types of Social Media Businesses should get involved in

1. Blogs
2. MicroBlogs (Twitter)
3. Social Networking
   • Myspace
   • Facebook - Facebook Ads & Facebook Pages
   • Niche Social Networks
4. Online Videos (YouTube)
5. Forums & Groups
6. Photo Sharing - (flickr & photobucket)
7. Yahoo Answers
8. Online Review
9. Wiki’s
10. Social News and Bookmarking Sites

Even after going into great detail on all of that Chris then went into making sure people know who you / your business are.

Let people know where you are

• Have your social links in your email signature
• Include your social networks on mailing lists
• On the business web site make sure you have links to where people can locate you online…. your other social networks / profiles.

Chris then goes into how to build up a network of people online.

How to build up a network of people

• Check their website - many websites list where you can find them on other social networks.
• Go to digg & other social sites’ profile page and see if they list their other social networks there
• on social sites there is usually a way to direct message them
• go to conferences and talk to them and find out how to connect with them.

Chris finishes his keynote by reminding us that, "Social Media is opportunity for you!!!"