When: April 15th, 2009, 6pm-9pm
> Encore Seminar: May 7th, 2009, 5:30pm-8:30pm
Where: Business Incubator Center (Grand Junction, CO)
Cost: $35 ($30 for GVYP members)
Register: Call the BIC at (970) 243-5242
Social networks are quickly proving themselves useful across a broad range of applications for businesses. They’ve broadened the reach to our customer-base, provided an excellent means for creating brand-awareness, improved our ability to connect and engage in a personal and meaningful way with our contacts, and much more. And best of all, they’re free!
On April 15th May 7th, I’ll be discussing various benefits and applications for a handful of popular social networking sites, with a focus on building your brand. You’ll learn how to create an effective presence, how to use the numerous features of each site, about proper etiquette, tricks for becoming more findable, and strategies for mixing social networking into your business marketing.
PLUS, I want to hear from you! I intend to tailor the seminar to the needs of the participants, so speak up! Post comments below (by clicking “Comments”) about any general or specific questions you may have and I’ll try to address them in the presentation.
I hope to see you there!
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After receiving several questions about the skill-level of this seminar, let me add a couple points:
1) This seminar is not focused on simply creating accounts, setting up profiles, and general site-orientation. This seminar will focus on concepts and strategies. It’s about using the tools of social networks to effectively market your business, grow your customer-base, generate referrals, bring traffic to your website, build and enhance your brand, and establish expertise. I will probably not spend much time on basic profile setup, but that’s not hard to learn and the process is quite similar across social networking sites. That said…
2) Even if you’re brand new to social networking, this seminar will be of benefit for you. You’ll come away with a broad understanding of how to put these tools to work for you, and what you can and should expect from using social media as part of the marketing mix for your business.
Thanks for the questions, keep them coming!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Interestingly, it’s come to my attention that the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce is holding a class “Social Networking 101: Get Connected” on March 30th. They’re requiring participants to bring their own laptop and the class seems to be geared toward basic profile setup and general familiarization with a few major social networking sites. The GJ Chamber event would be a fantastic precursor for anyone planning to attend this Social Networking for Business seminar at the Business Incubator, especially if you don’t already have profiles setup on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. See the GJ Chamber’s website for more. http://www.GJChamber.org
Related article came out in the Daily Sentinel today. Read it here: http://bit.ly/zBhe3
I am a professional artists, is LikedIn & Facebook legitimate place to show my art goods?
Thanks for the question, Piera. You’re not alone in wondering if social networking sites have benefit outside specific industries. I’ll definitely be covering ways that they are, along with various tactics for utilizing social networking sites regardless of your business. I look forward to meeting you there!
Andrew,
I have a few things of interest:
-Connecting our website, blogs, linked in, facebook etc. (integrating)
-Posting video content
-Posting articles using Sribd
-Best practices for keeping tabs on all your friends, in all the different social networking sites
-Imbedding links and tiny URLs
Looking forward to next week’s event,
Travis
Travis,
Good questions! Trying to figure out where and how much time to spend across social networks often feels overwhelming and like an ineffective use of time, which is an obvious turn-off for busy professionals. Integrating various social media in a convenient, manageable way will definitely be covered, including keeping track of multiple “feeds” and connecting all of the pieces of the social media puzzle. Understanding how to make effective use of your time is one key to making social networking work for you.
There are a lot of social networks that offer their own interesting features and each one could be a seminar in itself. Scribd and video-oriented social networks, such as YouTube or Vimeo, will get some mentions, but not a lot of coverage in this seminar. I’d suggest checking out an article here on the Elegant Insights blog on Quick and Easy Web Video for some basics on integrating video into your website.
Specific features of various social networks will be covered on this blog in the near future, so I’d also suggest subscribing to the feed (click the “Subscribe” button, top-right) and/or signing-up for the newsletter (right column, top) to stay informed of future articles.
See you on Wednesday!
The Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce is offering great “how-to” classes helping you setup and get started with some essential social networking sites. I’d strongly suggest you contact them and participate! http://bit.ly/6fspC
Hello Andrew,
I am the veterinarian who recently purchased Creature Comforts Animal Hospital. Would this be a venue which could help my business locally?
Hello Aimee,
Great question! Absolutely: Many local professionals are learning that Social Networking has significant benefit to them. It’s a way they can stay forefront in the minds of their clients/patients, offer useful and valuable information, build loyalty, cultivate relationships, send important notices of events or specials, and much much more. I believe this upcoming seminar will be attended by a chiropractor, an optometrist, a dentist and an MD (to name a few); local professionals in attendance of the last seminar included, among others, a pharmacist, a caterer, a psychotherapist and a personal trainer. I would definitely suggest you and/or a designated staff person in charge of client relations/marketing attend.
Andrew,
I have experience with social networking on a personal level, but I have not used it much as a professional tool. It has been great for keeping up with friends and I can definitely see the potential as resource at work. Networking is a priority in my new position, but it seems easy to blur the boundaries between work and my personal life. Any suggestions for keeping them separate? I am looking forward to your class.
Shawna
Shawna,
While each industry and each individual may differ in their styles of interaction and levels of exposure through social media, we’re seeing a notable blur in the distinctions between personal and professional etiquette. Even mega-corporations and Fortune 500 CEOs are having to learn to personalize their brand in order to effectively use social media. Considerable time will be spent in the seminar addressing this issue, and how it relates to the different social networks being discussed. I look forward to dialoguing with you more on Thursday evening!