Week 9 HW #13 - Martha's COIN 72

#13 HW on Book 7 Multimedia Marketing, due by Sat 3/10

#13 Bk 7 Ch 5 OPTION A: Our book says that you can attract a lot of followers and friends (true ones?) by investigating LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo!Answers, and Plurk  (how is this different from Twitter?) on p. 715-719.  Try using these in the way the book describes and write up what you learned about the kinds of 'like interest' people there may be out there that you may want to connect with to market your business (or be marketed to, if you don't take charge!).

My social media marketing explorations:

• LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/) - I was already a member of LinkedIn, but have not done much yet. I have not given an accurate (or complete) profile (no avatar, no past work experience, no interests). What I have listed: a category (Web Development and Design) and a company Website (but the address doesn't show!). Some of the information, however, is not correct. The position as webmaster of NARFE Chapter 65 needs to be updated to 2012, and it needs to be listed as a current position, not past. Also, my public profile is squirrly - nobody would recognize me as mjraup! And, I've left out key portions of my career - 33+ years as a letter carrier! In any case, much editing needs to be done to my profile to make it useful - for ANY reason! Take a look at this profile (James Little), of someone in the Group NARFE Woodbridge Chapter. This form, Edit Profile, indicates what information I should/could supply. But am I ready to do that?

Unfortunately, updating my profile is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm actually at an impasse with how to use LinkedIn. Should I describe myself as an officer in an organization (1st VP of NARFE Chapter 65, or the co-Webmaster)? There does not seem to be a possibility of representing more than 1 industry or occupation - that's so limiting! How do I keep personal connections separate from professional/public connections? I have been exploring this site a lot, but have not made peace with it. What I have done is this:top

I did a search for NARFE. I thought I joined a Group called NARFE, but apparently I joined a job with that name (the national organization?). There is no general, national group, so it looks like I need to set up my own! I did find out how another chapter defined themselves, which may be helpful as I construct our Business Plan. As for Connections, I did send an invitation to two people I know to be in the California Federation of NARFE Chapters. However, the first one I failed to identify myself, and the second one I'm not sure if I actually SENT the invitation. I received a LinkedIn suggestion to connect with an acquaintance from the letter carriers Union. But that just made me suspicious - how did they find out I was a letter carrier? Other concerns - I have a childhood friend who's a landscape architect - should I ask him to connect, or would he be embarrassed to be in/on my network? I don't feel comfortable yet with the ins and outs of this arena. It feels too scary, particularly because it is about people's jobs. Facebook feels more approachable - it is about family and friends. At least, it used to be! Suddenly it's morphed into the prime tool of businesses for targeting their customers... top

Then there's the question of how to market our organization - are we a government agency? a non-profit? a political advocacy group? What will we focus on - legislative issues? social gatherings? membership tools? Beyond the organizational issues - a fundamental unanswered question is this: Who shall speak for our organization? Am I the one? What responsibilities does this bestow on me? Am I really sure I want to do this? If not me, who? And then there's the question of timing: Is this the right time to begin all this? Even more basic than that: Is LinkedIn the most important part of our social media marketing needs?

Here's a little more that I found out: LinkedIn has applications (listed on the Application Directory) that may be useful: about half of these applications look interesting. But would they be for me, or the organization? It also has tools, but do I really want or need one more toolbar? Somehow, this "opportunity" seems to hold too many challenges for now. I will continue to explore the options, and expect that I will one day make better use of this site.top

HootSuite (http://hootsuite.com/) - I joined this, and will continue to explore it in the future. It is visually appealing, has the "fun" factor, and looks fairly easy to use. They have a nice touch about their approach to newcomers - not only did I get a welcome letter, but I got a next-day letter, with links to useful videos, and the promise for another letter soon. They are willing to walk me through the steps of this site, and that is just the help I need! However, I have tried to add a few things to the site (a feed, and a blog page), and then haven't found them. SO, looks like I'll have to spend considerable time here. And I may not actually need this site for now. I don't have so many social media sites that I need assistance managing them. This may be overkill...

Plurk (http://www.plurk.com/) - This site look too unprofessional. And, I'd never heard of it before. SO - for now, I won't even bother to explore it. top

Social Media Desktop ((http://djnmarti.com/foothill/coin62/assignments/13/MyYahoo/socialMediaDesktop.pdf) - This is actually what I spent the most time exploring this week. It took considerable time and patience to set up my desktop, but I think I've set something up that will prove useful. I decided to go ahead and use the tabs on the MyYahoo! site. I added two new tabs - Retirement (for articles of interest to NARFE members) and Social Media (for feeds related to Web Marketing). I'm not sure I have the right feeds chosen yet, but this is a place to begin. Already I was able to link to several sites I had never heard of before, and found articles of interest. The problem will undoubtedly be - it is addictive! I'll need to set time limits...

StumbleUpon (http://www.stumbleupon.com/) - This was a problematic exploration. I have had ambivalent feelings about using this site ever since I felt betrayed by Google's "privacy" policy changes. Finally, I decided to create an account, and actually stuck with the attempt 3 times. Finally I gave up - my application for membership was simply ignored. The page cleared the data I entered - and went nowhere. Puzzled, I quit trying. Later I returned to give it one last attempt. This time I think I got the answer: I had unchecked a box that gave the site the right to contact all my friends by email. At least, that's what I think they were asking, but I have no idea - nowhere was there a way to find out what had gone wrong. Clearly this site has some carelessness about it. I'm not sure whether I'm willing to try it again - I'll wait till they get their act together (or I get my courage/trust back).top

Twitter (http://twitter.com/) - YIPES! This site seems so foreign to me, I don't think I'm ready for it. However, I can see where it might be useful.

Yahoo!Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com/) - The odd thing is this - I use MyYahoo! as my home page. And, I have occassionally seen Yahoo! Answers in the Search Results Pages during Google searches. However, I never took it seriously. It looked too "juvenile". Now that I know what this site is all about, it looks a lot more interesting to me, and may even prove useful. In fact, this kind of feels like "my cup of tea". Chapter 3 talks about archetypal social media styles (p. 675), and one of them is the Maven: an expert who loves to help others (and thereby demonstrates her knowledge and expertise). This is a role that appeals to me! However, I've also got a lot of the New Kid in me , so I might begin with this role first...top

Other Explorations - I followed two About.com tutorials, one of which was on social media. I also viewed various videos. It all adds up. I am finally becoming convinced that this is a necessary endeavor for our association, and worth the effort of learning how to navigate the rapids and stomach the ride. So, I'll stick with it. But, I expect more rough waves ahead...