There are several different options available to help you manage multiple social media accounts at once. Among the most popular are Tweetdeck, Seesmic and Hootsuite. Depending on your needs and desire for access, then you might consider  each one of these for different reasons. All of them have a web version and apps for iPhone. Tweetdeck and Seesmic also have downloadable desktop versions.

For everyday non-mobile use, I have found Hootsuite to be my preferred social media management tool. Hootsuite provides you with a comprehensive social media dashboard for managing multiple social media accounts and platforms all in once place.

First built as a Twitter management tool, Hootsuite has grown to include the ability to post to LinkedIn, Facebook, Facebook pages, Ping.fm, MySpace, WordPress, Foursquare and importing RSS feeds.  With Hootsuite, you can pull in multiple Twitter accounts, multiple Facebook profiles, multiple LinkedIn accounts, etc.

For Twitter accounts, you can quickly and easily view your Home Feed, your @ mentions, your sent tweets, your direct messages, plus add columns for any of your Twitter lists, columns to monitor keywords or key phrases, and a pending tweets column for any scheduled tweets. You can have up to 10 columns for each twitter account showing at one time. I typically add a few columns for monitoring keywords and a few more columns for lists of specific twitterers for different purposes. For example, I might like to keep up on the tweets of my colleagues, social media people and local friends.

Hootsuite makes it easy to reply, re-tweet, send a direct message, add a tweet as a favorite, reply all (for tweets with multiple twitterers listed) or send a specific tweet to email. Another nice feature is the amount of information available about each twitterer including their Twitter bio, a link to their twitter account, their website, how many they are following, number of followers and the ability to report them as a spammer. What I really like about this feature as well is that it includes easy access to their timeline, their mentions, their favorites and links to their other social network accounts. You can easily follow, unfollow, direct message or add someone to one of your lists from this window as well.

For LinkedIn or Facebook, you can monitor the news feeds of your connections in Hootsuite and schedule status updates to go out to each of them. For Facebook pages, you can see all of your posts to the pages and schedule updates.

Hootsuite offers a handy link shortner that makes it easy to shorten a URL and include in it a tweet. There are analytics available for each link shortened using ow.ly so you can track how many times a link has been clicked or you can select a specific tweet and see that stats for that tweet. This is a great way to gauge what types of content your followers are interested in and respond to. Hootsuite recently added the ability to bring in your Google Analytics making it easy to monitor yet another piece of your online activity from one place.

You can also bring in the RSS feed for your blog so that when you post on your blog, it will automatically post to any of your social networking accounts. Other RSS feeds can also be pulled in and set to automatically post to your accounts. For example, each Delicious account has it’s own RSS feed. I set mine so that when I bookmark something in Delicious, it will automatically post that article or website with a link to Twitter. I preface these tweets with “Bookmarked:” This lets my Twitter followers know that I’ve just bookmarked something that I found interesting and that I thought they might like too.

Hootsuite allows for multiple users to manage different social network accounts from their own respective Hootsuite accounts. Hootsuite confirms who is the “owner” of an account and then you can give access to someone else to that account as a team member. This is very helpful when multiple people need to manage an account and especially in the work that I do. This means when I reply to something in another account or if I schedule a tweet to go out, then the other person with access to that account will see that I’ve already replied or can see what I have scheduled to go out.

Update: Hootsuite recently announced they will start charging for different plans with different levels of features. They will have one plan that remains free with limited features. You can find more information here about the new Hootsuite plans.

Image via CrunchBase

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Social media and the internet make it easier than ever to reach other people, other markets and other businesses anywhere in the world. So sometimes, it seems as though what is most often overlooked is how easy it is to use social media to connect with local people and businesses.

As a Virtual Assistant, my business model is built around being able to work with virtually anyone, anywhere. When I first started using social media for marketing, I did not focus too much on networking locally either online or in person.  However, when my husband and I started an e-commerce business, OTC Sports, part of our business model for was centrally built around reaching the local market.

OTC Sports Fleece

Around this same time, I made the acquaintance of Gary Powell with ImageWear Solutions on Twitter (@imagewear).  Gary and I exchanged a few emails as I helped him figure out some of the inner workings of using Twitter and Facebook for business.  He also reached out to my husband, Jeff, on Twitter (@OTCsports), communicating back and forth about different sports related topics. Gary is a great example of what a local business can do with social media. He reached out to other locals on Twitter and Facebook, offered a helping hand, and was always willing to help spread the word about other local businesses.  Gary doesn’t use social media to be self-promoting, he uses it for connecting with people.

When the time came for us to order promotional apparel for OTC Sports, Gary was the first person we called upon.

OTC Sports Beanie

Completely knowledgeable about promotional products and apparel, Gary made the process easy and seamless. He was even kind enough to help push the order through to meet a deadline for us. We were thrilled with the items ImageWear had made for us. The quality and workmanship was outstanding.  And what’s more, is that we have gone back for more as I ordered some beanie caps as a Christmas gift for my husband with the OTC Sports logo on them.

This is just one example of how businesses can use social media to networking locally and get seen, get heard.

If you’ve been thinking at all that maybe, just maybe, you need to figure out if you and your business should be getting involved is this whole “social media” thing, you should watch this video. It really makes the point about how social media is here to stay. What are your thoughts about the necessity of having a strong social media/ social networking presence?

A new report out by Wetpaint and the Alitmeter Group showed that companies with the greatest engagement in social media in the past year grew their revenues by 18% while companies that were the least engage showed about a 6% decrease in revenue. The study included the top 100 brands and include such social media channels as blogs, wikis, Twitter, Facebook and discussion forums. Not surprisingly, the top three brands with the highest levels of engagement included Starbucks, Dell and Google.

Where it gets interesting is that the analysis revealed that these companies had dedicated teams of people who were actively engaged in using the variety of social media channels. WebProNews reports that:

Basically, it shows that it pays (literally) to have a team working full time on engaging with customers via social media. Even if that team consists of one person, it means they will not be distracted by other tasks and can give the social channel the attention required for it to make a significant impact.

What this means for the small business owner who may not be able to afford nor need a “dedicated” staff of employees to help them engage with their customers using social media, but they do have the ability to work with a Social Media Virtual Assistant and make an impact on their overall online visibility and more importantly, their bottom line. Social media becomes an effective marketing channel when it is used as part of a strategy and with continuous and ongoing efforts. The small business owner or entrepreneur who may not have the time or the capacity to get started and maintain their social media/social networking initiatives can benefit from being able to work with a Social Media Virtual Assistant.

By working with a Social Media Virtual Assistant, small business owners are able to contract for just the number of hours needed plus a SMVA is well versed in how to get them up and running with their social media in a minimal amount of time. There is also the added benefit that working with a SMVA over time will make them familiar with your business, your style and your goals which means they essentially become a partner with you in your social media marketing efforts.

What are your concerns in getting started or maintaining your social media efforts as a means to connect and engage with your customers or network with colleagues?

I was thrilled to be included as one of the people interviewed for this article about working with a Social Media Virtual Assistant for help with social media tasks and managing your online presence. Dawn Pigoni of Be Social Worldwide, another Social Media VA was also interviewed along with social media greats Chris Brogan and Lon Safko. It was an honor to be included and portrays a good representation of how a social media virtual assistant can help with one’s online visibility and their social media tasks. Many thanks to the author, Lydia Dishman for writing up a great article. Here is the article in it’s entirety.

Should You Outsource Your Online Presence?

You can save time and money by leaving social media marketing to the pros.

July 7, 2009

Between blogging, tweeting, Facebooking and updating a LinkedIn profile, it’s a wonder how a business owner has any time to answer e-mails and phone calls, much less run a company. But the time invested in social networking is well spent in this age where maintaining a social media presence can be a necessary piece of a successful marketing strategy.

Trouble is, as the number of platforms grows, so does the time it takes to feed and groom each account. Not to mention the front-end investment of setting everything up.

For those caught up in a social media blitz–and those contemplating taking the plunge–why not consider outsourcing? A virtual assistant can tackle those time-consuming tasks.

What Can a Social Media Virtual Assistant Do?
Many administrative professionals who provided support services such as correspondence, search engine optimization and event planning via the internet are now expanding to include social media. Now they can help with everything from recommending the right SM platforms and setting up profiles, to finding potential clients and networking groups and maintaining communication with them.

Conduct a Cost/Benefit Analysis
Busy business owners may be tempted to add those social media duties to an existing employee’s responsibilities. But Kimberly LeRiche of JK Virtual Office Resources cautions that keeping a personal profile on Facebook is very different than understanding how it can be used for branding.

“Unless they already have an employee who is well-versed in social media for marketing and increasing online visibility, the only advantage would be that they already know the business,” she says
Another advantage is cost savings. The business owner can save hours trying to add widgets to blogs or searching for relevant industry links and put them back into running the show.

LeRiche points out Social Media virtual assistants usually charge by the hour, only for the time spent working. Though average hourly rates vary, a 2007 survey from the Virtual Assistant Networking Organization lists median fees between $30 and $40 and information from AssistU indicates rates can go up to $70 per hour depending on specializations and certifications.

The hidden costs of full-time staff disappear also. Business owners won’t have to pay for employment taxes, benefits, office space or equipment. If the relationship with the SM virtual assistant doesn’t work out, their contract can be terminated without the expense of unemployment insurance.

“A virtual assistant is also a business owner,” LeRiche says. “They often view themselves as a partner in the success of their client’s business.” She adds that this dynamic creates an entirely different working relationship than the one between an employee and an employer.

Have a Plan
If analysis favors hiring an assistant, it is time to think about goals. LeRiche says it is important to determine if help is needed beyond creating and maintaining profiles, such as implementing an overall social media strategy. “Having an idea of what they want the SM assistant to do will help guide them to the person with the right skills, qualifications and knowledge.”

She says business owners should be comfortable delegating and communicating consistently. “It can typically take between 60 and 90 days for an assistant to fully integrate and understand the client and their business so it’s important for them to be prepared to provide information and be responsive during the early days of the working relationship.”

Find the Right SM Virtual Assistant
Dawn Pigoni, owner of Be Social Worldwide, says one of the best ways to investigate a potential SM virtual assistant is by checking that person’s existing social media profiles. “They need to show that they are participating in conversations and providing value,” Pigoni says, adding that they should also have excellent references. Active participation is the way for any business to grow quality content, Pigoni says, and if the virtual assistant is already involved, they are more likely to be able to do the same for the business.

Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs, believes the assistant should understand the operations and online etiquette of the top social media sites, as well as the mechanics of maintaining a blog and other current tools. For novice users, Brogan advises asking for past results. “If the results simply involve using the tools themselves, skip them. Ask them to show business objectives that were met by their efforts,” he says.

Brogan also says the assistant should know when not to use certain tools. “This is worth more than someone who makes a business jump through every hoop like they’re checking boxes,” he says.

Avoid Phony “Experts”
“Unfortunately the rapid rise of social media has seen an equally rapid increase in the number of experts, gurus and evangelists,” Pigoni says. “If someone has to call themselves a guru, there is a good chance they are not.”

LeRiche recommend SM virtual assistants who clearly present themselves as business owners. Ask if they do this full time or in addition to working another job, and find out if they have clear policies and pricing structures.

Pigoni adds that having certification from the International Virtual Assistant Association shows a commitment to the industry standards.

Put Your Best Face Forward
Opinions vary as to who should be creating the social media content. Lon Safko, author of The Social Media Bible, says he had an intern do the administrative set up for a lot of his accounts. However, he says, “Social media is about authenticity, sincerity, and transparency. Having someone write your blogs and tweets can be dangerous unless you are honest about it.”

Safko says it can be done if an SM virtual assistant is open about the relationship, or if a busy executive dictates ideas into a digital recorder and the assistant transcribes them directly into blog posts.

Whether going it alone, or with the help of a virtual assistant, Howard Lindzon, entrepreneur and creator of Wallstrip, says, “We are in ‘Day One’ of social media and your customers are now everywhere. Knowing how to leverage the tools gives you an edge.”

The Brooklyn Art Museum has a Twitter account and at last check, they had over 21,000 people following them.  The Museum uses the account to tweet about happenings at the Museum such as events, announcements, new blog posts from the Museum blog and to interact with patrons. They also tweet links to their other social media accounts such as Facebook where they have they have a Group with almost 800 members. According to recent Facebook statistics, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, with over 2,500 fans, is one of the fastest growing Facebook fan pages with a weekly growth rate of over 600%.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is also on Twitter with almost 12,000 people following them. They are tweeting about events such as an Art Hunt, the announcing of their website redesign, to answer questions from people and to tweet about Art in the news. Both museum twitter sites indicate the name of the staff who are doing the tweeting. This is important because even though the accounts represent an entity, people prefer to interact on Twitter with a person.

A quick search on Twitter for other arts organizations include the Atlanta Symphony, The Chicago Symphony, the New World Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Houston Ballet, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and the San Francisco ballet, while not actively tweeting, has gone in and “reserved” their twitter name for future use. The Smithsonian has also joined the Twitter world.

A blog post of an interview with Marc van Bree, the PR coordinator with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra about their social media and online efforts. In referring to their Facebook fan page, they offered people the chance to win a new CD of one of their recent recordings and within a week they had over a thousand fans.  He notes they have primarily used the page for distributing information about the organization but they would like to see it become more interactive with their fan posting content and interacting with each other. Over half of their fans are under the age of 24 and 85% of them are under the age of 34 compared with the average age of classical music patrons which is usually between 50 and 60. Facebook is an additional avenue by which they are able to reach out and connect with a younger fan base.

YouTube is another increasingly popular platform being utilized by arts organizations and non-profits. The Anaheim Ballet’s YouTube channel has over 500,000 channel views.  The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust also has a YouTube channel which they use to provide information and insight about the city’s fine arts community. The Pennsylvania Ballet is using their YouTube channel to post video of performances, interviews with choreographers and chronicling the building of stage sets.

A recent article on how Philadelphia arts organizations are utilizing social media as a way to connect and engage a younger demographic. Almost every arts organization in the city has a Facebook page and others are using Flickr and YouTube as ways to reach their audiences and patrons. The Arden Theatre which has a Twitter, MySpace and a Facebook account, recently promoted reduced ticket rates on their Facebook page and increased the number of fans to their page by over a hundred. They are quoted as saying that they believe these efforts have resulted in a more loyal audience who better understands their overall mission.
Shawn Stone, the Philadelphia Ballet’s marketing director hits the nail on the head about why arts organizations or non-profits can benefit from using social media, “Using social media and e-mail marketing is a much-less-expensive way of marketing. It’s more targeted and can save your organization money. It’s also creating a direct line of communication with potential audiences of the future.”

Social media is creating new marketing avenues that arts organizations and non-profits are taking advantage of even as budgets continue to shrink. Not only does it seem to be helping them to connect with younger and target audiences, it’s also about having a strategy for getting the results and outcomes they want.

What non-profits or arts organizations have you seen using Social Media?

Social Media is now being used by small business, entrepreneurs, big business, non-profits and a multitude of other organizations. Using Social Media to market and network online is quickly becoming the norm as the number of people using and participating in Social Media grows exponentially.

Consider these numbers:

• In 2005, 8% of all adults online had a profile on a social networking site. Today, this has increased to 35%.

• In December 2008, 76 million people visited MySpace which was a 10% increase over the previous year.

• In December 2008, 54.5 million people visited Facebook which was a 57% increase from the previous year and it’s estimated that 22% of all adults online have a profile on Facebook.

• Facebook’s fastest growing demographic is among users ages 35-49 in 2008.

• In August 2008, 23.7 million people visited YouTube and 1 out of every 3 videos viewed online is on YouTube.

• Globally, in 2008, more internet users accessed a social networking community than used email, (67% to 65%).

• In December 2008, 4.5 million people visited Twitter which was an astounding 753% increase from the previous year. Five to ten thousand new Twitter accounts are created daily.

• The number of active people on Twitter in the past week is over 550,000.

• 73% of active online users have read a blog.

How Can a Social Media Virtual Assistant Help?

Clearly, Social Media is here to stay and it’s obviously become a marketing force to be reckoned with. As small business owners or solo entrepreneurs, many of us have limited time to be focusing on how to learn or manage what it takes to increase online visibility or to adequately manage all of the “places” online that we are told we “need” to be. That’s where a Social Media Virtual Assistant can help. I have spent the time learning and understanding not only how Social Media works, but how the various Social Media avenues can be used for marketing one’s self or one’s business online. Further, I know how the various platforms work…those icky, sticky details of how to do something within Facebook, how to best manage your Twitter account, who to follow, what does an @reply mean…all things that can take precious hours to learn and understand. As a Social Media Virtual Assistant, I become your short-cut into jumping into the Social Media fast lane. Further, I can help explain to you “why” you want to be involved in Social Media and Social Networking. There are other benefits that are not just about connecting and engaging with your target market.

Stay tuned this week for additional posts which will cover exactly what I can do help with different Social Media platforms, real world examples of how Social Media is being used and other information about why it is important to establish a strong online presence.

Resources:

http://www.primalmedia.com/blog/social-media-non-profits

http://mashable.com/2009/03/09/social-networking-more-popular-than-email/

http://tweetrush.com

Image by fredcavazza via Flickr

Within Facebook you have the ability to add an application which will sync with your Twitter feed and supply all of your tweets to your Facebook Status. There are a couple of benefits to using sending your twitter feed to Facebook. The first is that it will often place you on your friend’s home page so they will see it almost every time they log in. This increases your visibility on Facebook. It may also garner you more twitter followers who like what you tweet and will go choose to follow you.

There can be a couple of downsides to consider as well. Being constantly on the homepage with updates from your twitter conversation may be annoying to some people who can then choose ask for “less” about you in their home page feed. If you tend to be a prolific tweeter, your tweets will also fill your Personal Profile page as it will be considered a new “status” every time you tweet. So, it’s best to consider the positives and the possible negatives when adding this application. However, if you do add it and decide that it’s just not for you, then you do have the option to remove it as well.

Here’s how to add the application:

1) At the bottom of the Facebook window, click on “Applications” and a small box will pop up. At the top of the box, click on “Find More”.

2) After you’ve clicked on “Find More” a new page will come up and in the upper right hand corner, there is a search box where you can enter “Twitter” and hit search. The Twitter application will most likely be the first one to come up.

3) Click on the link to that application will take you to the Fan page for the application. Once there you can click on “Got to Application” to add it your Profile page. If you have a Fan/Business page, you can click on “Add to Page” to add it to your page.

4) Whichever button you click on will take you to another screen asking for your permission for the application to be added. Click on “Allow.”

5) After the application is added, then you will be asked for you Twitter ID and your Twitter password. Enter these in and you are all set to go.

I’ve also added a link to this application’s page on my Business Fan Page under “Favorite Pages” as another easy way for you to find it.

Daily you can find me checking out new posts and adding my two cents over at the Virtual Assistant Forums where there is not only a wealth of great information but a great sense of community with all my Virtual Assistant comrades. Recently, an awesome new feature was added which gives all members the opportunity to create their own blog there. So, I decided to try out this new feature and created a blog post titled, “Twitter Tips for Virtual Assistants.” There are many Virtual Assistants who are just getting started on Twitter as well as those who are new to the Virtual Assistant industry. I believe it’s important that Virtual Assistants as an industry help each other out and support one another. With this in mind, I posted what I thought were important tips for my fellow VAs to consider for their tweeting journey. I’m posting the majority of that post here for other Virtual Assistants (and anyone else who needs some good twitter tips) and for other readers of my blog. Many of these tips can easily be applied by any small business entrepreneur who is just getting started on Twitter.

I’ve only been using twitter for a couple of months and I will freely admit that I’m thoroughly addicted. When I get up in the morning, I check my email first and then moments later, I log into twitter. All this usually happens before I’ve had coffee or breakfast…(and embarrassingly sometimes even before I’ve made breakfast for my son. Shhh, don’t tell anyone!)

In using Twitter I have:

1) received a referral from someone who saw me tweeting and referred me to a colleague

2) had two people contact me directly about working with me. One of whom will be signing on in January.

3) been asked to join a fellow twitter’s online networking group.

4) been able to “converse” directly with experts in many industries who I might otherwise not have ever come into contact with.

5) commented on a fellow tweeter’s blog about how a virtual assistant could help with the topic he was writing about and he went back and edited his post to include a link to my website.

6) been asked by a fellow twitter to comment on their new twitter related site and in return they placed a link to my twitter profile on the site.

7) received 50 free flyers printed by a graphic artist/printer on twitter because I responded to their post first. She later became a resource for me to get some business cards and letterhead printed for a client- who loved them!

Here are some tips for how I believe Virtual Assistants can effectively use Twitter:

(*) Interact with other Virtual Assistants that you either know from other places or that you do not know at all. This not only provides you with good networking, but you also gain insight into how other VAs are using twitter.

(*) Tweet about Virtual Assistant industry. This shows you are knowledgeable about your industry and that you are “in touch” with your profession and industry.

(*) Occasionally tweet that you are a Virtual Assistant and how you can help. Do this sparingly as people are rather adverse to blatant, constant, in your face marketing. Twitter should mostly be seen as a tool for creating connections and relationships.

(*) Tweet intelligently and professionally but also as a person. Let your personality show but keep in mind that people will be watching your tweets to gage what kind of person you are and how knowledgeable you seem. People will easily be thinking, “Is this someone that I can see myself working with?” “Can this person bring value to me and represent me in professional way?” However, keep in mind, that people also want to see the human side of you and who you are as a person.

(*) Use the “Search” feature at the bottom of the page to search for the terms “Virtual Assistant” or “Virtual Assistance” at least once a day. Read these tweets to see what people are saying about VAs and also to look for people who may be tweeting about needing a Virtual Assistant. You can also search for other terms as well. And if you’re really serious about it, you can add that search term to your RSS feed reader and get notification in your feed reader everytime that term gets mentioned. There are also other applications out there that will help you track keywords or specific terms as they get tweeted- which I’ll post more about later on.

(*) Post your twitter ID everywhere you can think of putting it without looking thoroughly obnoxious about it. I post mine at the bottom of comments I write on blogs. I’ve posted it on the Wall of several Facebook groups that I joined. I put it on my personal and business facebook page. It’s on the front page of my website and it’s on my blog. The key is get people to follow you. This increases the audience to which you are tweeting- all of whom can be potential clients, leads or referrals. After only a couple of months, I have almost 650 people following me. Guy Kawaski said it best on his blog…there are two kinds of twitters- those who want more followers and those who lie. True ‘dat!

(*) Respond to other people’s tweets with a good, quality response. People love to be acknowledged for their tweets, it gets you “seen” and possibly remembered by that person.

(*) ReTweet other people’s tweets. If you see a tweet that you like, think is good, or simply want to pass on, then Retweet it. People really appreciate it when you Retweet their tweets. And hopefully, they will do it in return for you- this means that one tweet could not only be seen by all of your followers but also by all of that other person’s followers and so on.

(*) Post good quality links to pages or items that you think people following you will be interested in. This helps people to see you as knowledgeable and as an information resource. I have several terms set up on Google Alerts and I’ll go in about once day and post several social media links since so many on Twitter are into the most current and relevant social media links. This has gotten me several Retweets. I also make sure that my last tweet of the day is one that includes a good link to something newsworthy or interesting. This is a good thing to do because when people first go to look at your profile they are going to see your last tweet first and in the biggest and boldest font. You want to leave a good first impression until you are able to come back to twitter.

(*) Speak highly of the other Virtual Assistants you “tweet” with. Give them shout-outs in your tweets. This helps create the impression that Virtual Assistants are a unified industry who supports one another- something that I personally think is very important.

(*) Check your @replies frequently and tried to respond to each one. Not only is this a courteous thing to do, but have some “conversation” with others on twitter provides others with the impression that you are using twitter for more than just a marketing tool but also as a means to actually interact with others. It’s not really advisable to carry on a several tweet conversation with someone though as many of your followers may only see your side of the conversation which makes your tweets not all that interesting to them. You can always take direct tweeting to the Direct Messages feature.

(*) Do not sign up to send an auto response Direct Message (DM) to new followers. Most people hate this as it is rather impersonal. And especially don’t use it send an auto generated Direct Message with a link to your website or blog. This is considered to be spammy and off-putting.

Okay, I think that’s about it for now. I’m planning a follow up post to this one with some twitter resources, tools and helpful sites that I use for my twittering. Please Feel free to add how you use twitter as a Virtual Assistant or to ask me any questions about using twitter in the comments area.

Happy Twittering and Come Follow Me!
@jkvirtualoffice

Image by kopp0041 via Flickr

A recent blog post by Ari Herzog asks the readers to define social media in 140 characters or less ( a la twitter style.) This is an exceptional idea since social media is exactly what it’s users make it. It’s about so many different ideas, thoughts, relationships and people that I’m not sure that it can be easily defined. I mean isn’t that like trying to define the result or outcome of every single interaction we have with each other online? On the other hand, the beauty of trying to define social media via the style of one of the bigger social media sites almost perfectly epitomizes the whole of concept of what is social media.

However, I’ve also been reading other opinions about how social media has been died or been killed or has become the green eyed monster of ME, ME, ME where people know they are “supposed” to be creating relationships and connections but not blatantly selling themselves, but that in reality so many are just pretending to create relationships and be personal while covertly selling themselves.

So which is it? Is social media about the users creating these connections and relationships with other users or has it just become another form of media that will be used to sell us something? In my opinion, it’s both. People are still using social media to form relationships and make connections while marketing themselves and their business at the same time. But there’s a right way and a wrong way. Using social media as a social tool first and as a marketing tool second creates more trust in you as a person and a business so that your use of social media for marketing is effective. Joining the social media bandwagon soley to market your products or services is a big no-no, is most obvious and usually seen as unauthentic and annoying- which totally defeats the purpose of using social media in the first place. Recently there was a great guest blog post on Chris Brogan’s which related this type of fly-by participation as “blurting”- especially when it happens on twitter. The point is, with social media, you have to remember to participate in the “social” part of it.

So to get back to Herzog’s original request about what is social media, I submit my definition of Social Media in 140 characters or less: Social media is collection of users connecting thru various social streams, platforms & niches to relay and receive the messages of others.