For the past few months, I have been traveling around the Southeast and Midwest, helping Gen X and Baby Boomer executives develop social networking strategies for their businesses.
The following is a list of the most common questions my partners and I have heard during our sessions:
1. Who really cares about social networking?
Answer: Several million more people than last week. This is a fairly odd question, given that the inquisitor registered for our event, but it comes up in every city.
2. I have a Linkedin.com account. Do I really need to mess around with the other stuff?
Answer: Absolutely. Especially Twitter. And Facebook. And Blogging.
3. Should I be building profiles for my business or myself, personally?
Answer: Depends on the business. My initial response is that you should have both organizational and individual accounts. However, if your personality is closely tied to your business or brand, you can likely get away with just individual accounts.
4. How much time should I spend on this stuff every week?
Answer: As much time as you need to make it productive. I generally tell executives to dedicate a weekend to “setup and exploration”, after which point they can determine how much time to spend on Linkedin, Twitter, etc. The goal is to use these networks as time-savers, eliminating less-efficient traditional tasks.
5. How can I find latest and greatest technologies and applications to streamline my networks?
Anwer: Look on the social networking sites, themselves. Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook users love to share, brag, and ask about new apps in discussion forums and threads.
In other news – Everyone in Nashville should check out “SocialNet”, Nashville’s first in-person and social networking event. It will be held downtown on June 4th. Read more at:
https://secure.sitemason.com/form/izWTJu
