Getting Social - Women's Dream Conference April 13, 2012

This breakout session at the Women's Dream Conference included the "Who's Who" in social media presenting their Dos and Don'ts to build your social media presence.  The panelists included:

(Left to Right)

Jen Knoedl - Jen Chicago Productions

Beth Rosen - Four Keys Media

Barb Rozgonyi - Wired PR Works, CoryWest Media

Candace Karu - Cabot Creamery Cooperative

Sandi McKenna - Midlife Road Trip

MJ Tam - Chicagonista

Hope Bertram - Windy City Social

This session was jam-packed with tons of great information!  Here are the highlights:

Musts for Building your Brand:

• Have open communication
• Build authentic relationships - Social Media can "smell you out" if you aren't real!
• Use your personality
• Get out in REAL life - don't just stay behind your computer
• Position yourself as an expert in something
• Ask questions
• Engage others
• Weed out your Facebook and Twitter accounts - get rid of things that don't add value
• Know who YOU are and what you WANT

Creative Approaches To Social Media:

• Don't get too focused on what other people think.  Stay true to yourself.
• Continue to stay relevant
• Be a super-connector in real life
• Curate a lot
• Know your followers in person
• Get on Twitter if you aren't.
• Host Twitter parties

How do you know if you are getting Return on your Investment in Social Media?

• Use things like Hash Tracking or RO Feeder
• Hash tags in Twitter are vital
• You can use hash tags in Facebook too
• Use other social media applications that track like Tweebie, Klout, Google+, Sprout Social and Hoot Suite.

You Should NEVER - 

• Underestimate your audience
• Remove auto follow function on Twitter
• Be negative.  Complain = digital pain
• Only talk about what YOU are doing
• Use the Twitter / Facebook auto feeder

You Should ALWAYS - 

• Tweet people after you meet them
• Don't be stingy with your ReTweets or Likes
• Take a lot of pictures
• Share your best knowledge and content
• Always put different content on Facebook and Twitter (different audiences)

Favorite take-away from this session:
Beth Rosen recommending using the "Wizard of Oz" approach to social media.  Have the Courage to jump.  Use your Brains but don't be someone you are not.  Have a Heart - build authentic relationships.  All of the panelists agreed that you need to know where your audience is.  Ms. Rosen suggested that you look at these three social media outlets in this way:

• Twitter is like a cocktail party.  Helpful.  Relevant.  Useful information in short bites.
• Facebook is like a backyard barbeque.  It's longer and more "get to know your life story".
• LinkedIn is straight to the hard sell.  Pure networking.

If you ever have an opportunity to attend a blogger or social media conference where any of these women are speaking, I highly recommend that you DO IT!  Their experience and knowledge is invaluable and they are all fantastic!



You can find these panelists on Twitter:
Jen Knoedl @JenChicago
Beth Rosen @BethRosen
Barb Rozgonyi @wiredprworks or @corywestmedia
Candace Karu @candacekaru
Sandi McKenna @MidlifeRoadTrip or @McMedia
MJ Tam @MJTam or @Chicagonista or @SocialRevUp
Hope Bertram @WindyCitySocial