8 Ways I use Social Media as a Branding & Marketing Tool
I found 8 ways that I use social media in my branding and marketing business:
- To find where one of my past business buddies went to work, double check a spelling of a name for a potential new client and see who else they may know that I know - LinkedIn
- To learn how to install Lame with Audacity (convert a file to an mp3 with editing software) - YouTube
- To fix my notes from a recent seminar (when I can’t read my handwriting) - Google Blog Search/blogs
- To get inspired about how to create a powerpoint that people want to watch - SlideShare.net
- To figure out where everyone is meeting for a drink after the seminar - Twitter.com or Plurk
- To check on my kids and their friends to see their current status - MySpace & FaceBook
- To double check someone’s birthday because I forgot to send a card - Facebook
- To save the links to my favorite blogs to read when I wake up - RSS feed reader
- To find out which of my blog posts are the most popular - Feedburner stats, Wordpress Stats
- To instantly (under one minute) write and post a blog with a photo with keywords- Flickr.com
- To build relationships and learn from other branding & marketing experts - Brandingwire.com blog, Age of Conversation
Okay, so I added 11, not 8 – That’s because number 6 has nothing to do with branding & marketing — so I gave you two bonus ones. (Note: I’ve written about personal branding in this blog before — and I believe that the photos you put up and comments you make on MySpace/Facebook, even joking, can (will) come back to you. So what my kids & their friends post on line does reflect on their personal branding… AND I know employers actually do check out social media pages and photos before they hire!)
This post was inspired by my London friend Lolly at Blog ‘Til You Drop — we met on line about 2 years ago and met in person about 18 months ago — best of luck with your new job, Lolly!!
How do you use social media? Leave a comment or write about it on your blog with a tag/trackback to this post. I’m tagging: Steve Woodruff StickyFigure, Director Tom, Ben Jones at Ben Means Business.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Chris, nice work! a lot of people know of these tools now but aren’t really sure what to do with them. I think how you showed how you’ve integrated these into your family life too.
July 5th, 2008 at 10:21 am
[...] 8 Ways I use Social Media as a Branding & Marketing Tool the writer describes the use of social networking tools and how a number of them dominate our [...]
July 8th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Good stuff as always, Chris. What, indeed, did we used to do without Linkedin? It sure makes keeping track of my ever-expanding circle of business friends an awful lot easier.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Enjoyed the post - i keep up via Bloglines but first time commenter.
I do think there’s more value to Facebook than just checking in on the status of kids - it’s got some positive business application as well. I’m amazed at how easily it is to connect with new and old friends.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Randy:
You’re so right, there is more to Facebook than that, but I find Facebook annoying because I have to keep adding mini applications to my account, so I’ve slowed down my use of it. I guess it’s a control issue for me!
John:
I spoke to a group of 15+ entrepreneurs in Akron the other night and that was one of the first things I suggested they do if they didn’t have a LinkedIn account. It’s a great way to get an introduction to someone you want to meet. Thanks for your comment.
Chris
July 18th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Hey Chris,
Thanks for doing the meme and for the interesting answers. Hope all is well with you?
Have you head of the Common Craft show - they have a ‘LinkedIn in plain English’ video…. always useful for clients who don’t get social media :)
http://www.youtube.com/user/leelefever
http://www.burningthebacon.com/2008/07/18/linkedin-in-plain-english-ahhh-now-i-get-it-i-think/
July 21st, 2008 at 10:12 pm
thanks for the interesting tips… these social sites always offer a different way to use it.. i for example use sites like stumble, digg, youtube to find blogs to comment on… here is where you can read my article on youtube blogs
http://www.traffic2mypage.com/increase-web-traffic/using-obp-to-build-your-web-traffic-part-iii-youtube/
September 21st, 2008 at 12:35 am
I agree, excellent post, full of great ideas and all in one handy place! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!