The word Social Media either makes you cringe or perk your ears up with curiosity and wanting to know how to utilize it for personal or professional purposes.  I remember that the term social media wasn’t used until around 2008 and I recall eyes rolling in a person’s head, scoffing at the idea of using it a marketing, communication, and even a relationship building tool.

My Early Years in Social Media:

I was drawn in first from curiosity: What is Twitter and what is the big deal? How on earth would a person use Twitter, then later Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn as a marketing/communication/relationship building tool?  My love for organization and technology propelled me into the world of “social media” and I fell in love with all of it. I am a detailed oriented person, so I dug in deep, into the weeds learning all I could about each channel and how to make it work for me in an efficient manner and what tools could do it best.   I enrolled in Online Marketing courses and learned how to create an online presence with article writing, video, and local marketing tactics; then jumped into social media training where I learned how to build a platform, based on goals and objectives, integrating tools for efficiency, time management, monitoring and measuring results. I applied all I learned towards myself, and then decided to offer it as a service for people who didn’t know how to set up an online presence with social media.

My Confession:

So what is my confession? I can relate to people’s resistance to the use of social media.  It does take time and effort, and a willingness to develop a new habit.  Most people resist social media because it appears over-whelming, challenges their technical abilities, and well, forces you out of a comfort zone – social media is non-traditional, and you’re welcome to think outside the box when it comes to strategy, connecting with people in different ways, and not being afraid of how people will respond to your tweets, Facebook posts, Pinterest boards and so on.

I spent the past five years learning how to be social online and how to utilize tools to measure, analyze and manage my time across social channels.  I like the early learning phases because I went in with an innocence, and it was super easy to read, share, and add value not worrying about what people thought of me.   As I progressed and learned the nuisances of each channel, the evolution of social media wasn’t so much about being online, but about creating a way to attract and retain people’s attention, getting them to respond to a call to action, participating in a “conversation”.  I began to feel a personal responsibility toward the people in my communities, not wanting to “pollute” my channels with garbage but with valuable content.  I feel that if someone is following me, I better give him or her something entertaining, info-worthy, valuable, so sometimes being social is a burden.  I’m not complaining, I have a love-hate relationship with social media, but if I’m going to help you with your social media, I will put myself in your shoes, and I will bend over backwards and anticipate what you need now and in the future and put those strategies and tools in your hands.

Social Media does take a lot of time.  Researching, Planning, Putting it all together in a way for people to digest and consume, as well as able to store it somewhere for future use.  My confession is Social Media is useful but a responsibility and a burden.  I need you and we all need each other to make social media platforms a better place for parents, kids, college students, professionals, teachers, speakers, coaches, other marketers, and human beings.