Listen, Engage, Connect: 5 Hours a Week
By Jason Moriber • Mar 18th, 2010 • Category: Strategy & Planning, ThinkeringIn my presentations and consulting I suggest that creative professionals use social media at least one hour a day (or 5-7 hours per week). This includes a great deal of “listening” as well engaging. Yes, I’m a marketing communications consultant and am therefore biased, BUT these suggestions are not based on turning you into a social media consultant, they are geared to get you the best marketing value for your time.
Social media is not only Facebook and related social networks, but includes blogging and commenting on blog posts. The gist of my suggestions have three components:
1. Listen
2. Engage
3. Connect
Listen:
Social Media offers current “intelligence” on topics, keywords and people. Use LinkedIn to research the companies you want to do work for, find new contacts, and see if you have any friends in common. Use Twitter’s search function to get a sense of what’s going on. Or use an aggregate-service like Lazyfeed to see what’s trending.
Engage:
Find and make conversations. If you’re not writing your own posts (and even if you are), there are many-many blog posts out there you can take time to comment on. Making comments on blog posts opens up a dialog. Engage with your peers. Make friends, and similar to networking, see what new opportunities arise. On Twitter or LinkedIn respond to the tweets or updates people post. Add your voice to the conversation.
Connect:
Take your current contact list and seek them out on social networks. Connect with them there. Find new contacts through your research and add them to your friends list. Reach out to them with a simple note, make new connections and get re-connected with old ones, then listen and engage.
Maybe even more pertinent are the new ideas and directions that are emerging via social media and its influence on the creative professional marketplace. Social media has put a bright light on the industry, a transparency, which is pointing out the artists who have a few more tools in the toolkit are thriving, rising, to match the expectations of the post-recession economy.
The market has shifted, there is no going back to the way it was even three years ago. Being active in the marketplace is worth 5 hours a week.
Jason Moriber is a veteran product/project/marketing manager, underground artist/musician, and online community developer, Jason expertly builds/produces/manages clients' projects, programs, and campaigns.
Follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/jelefant
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Nice thoughts. I’m going to share this with my creative clients.
Thanks Kenan! Let us know what other topics we can cover that would be useful for you.
-Jason
Thanks for this concise direction on using social media beyond the countless seemingly meaningless hours I spend on Facebook.
Thanks for your comment Rowan!