If you know me, you know that I am enamored with social media. I am one of those crazy people that always has Twitter open when I'm online and most of the time, I have Facebook open as well. While I am well versed in the growing importance of social media, it wasn't until around September of 2011 that I finally really started realizing how important websites that connects people are.
First, let's start with the little bird that has gripped the nation.
I've had a Twitter account since about 2009 but to say I wasn't using it to the best of my ability is an understatement. I only had about 20ish followers and probably half of them were spambots. I also only tweeted my articles, I had no dialogue with any followers and I bet to most of followers, I was about as good as the spambots.
Finally in September, the switch flipped that had me think "hey, maybe this is a good way to get my name out there and brand myself". Little did I know that it would become so much more.
I started out by talking to a ton of people, both from school and the people I followed. Slowly but surely, I gained more followers and started networking. Not only was I talking to my friends on Twitter, but I was also having meaningful conversations with people in multiple industries. By having those conversations, I slowly worked my way into what industry I mainly want to focus on (the horse racing people I talked to quickly reminded me why I should return to the horse industry, hence part of my blog a few weeks ago). With the positive response I got from these people, especially when holding a conversation about important issues, I stretched out farther and it paid dividends.
Finally, I was being recognized for my horse racing articles in the NTRA Notebook, something I consider to be a huge deal. I also made it into the Paulick Report, by giving opinions on questions they asked. To say Twitter helped me get into an industry that I may have had trouble getting into without the resources it provides would be a discredit to the technology.
I have much the same story with Facebook. I've probably been on Facebook since my Junior year of High School but *gasp* used it more like Myspace. However, again like Twitter, I realized the power of it this school year. It did take me a little more time to adjust to making my Facebook more professional (something I still struggle with at times) but out went the old too personal posts and in came a new group of "professional" friends, including some athletes that I cover on the school's sports teams.
At first, I used this new power to connect for interviews in addition to getting to know the people I was talking to on a regular basis better. But as my confidence grew with both my experiences on Twitter and Facebook, I decided to reach out and see what would happen if I approached one of the people I admire most in any industry.
I am a HUGE fan of Three Chimneys Farm and when Jen Roytz joined the farm a few years ago, she became my inspiration for school. So when she accepted my friend request on Facebook, I was ecstatic. I mean, come on, one of the people I admire most became my Facebook friend. Then I decided that I had nothing to lose by trying to talk to her and sent her a Facebook message. She replied and that's about all she wrote (no pun intended) when it came to me getting stuck on social media (and reaffirmed my teenage self's idea that the horse industry is the friendliest one out there).
My love of social media has grown ten-fold in the past few months and as I get closer to graduating, I see just how important it is. Not only do I feel that social media is important to growing one's own brand but it is important to industries that want to not only survive but bring in more fans.
Now it's time convince said industries that making their way to social media, and effectively using it, is worth it. I'm seeing a lot of baby steps happening in communications departments in coming years,
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