Social Media: I'm giving you one (or several!) good reasons
Growing up, my dad and I would always read Prince Valiant in the Sunday Comics. I never got that into it, but I vividly remember one comic, where Prince Valiant has to ask a difficult, almost unanswerable, question. He asks, simply, "Why?" The villian, unable to answer, gave up. The answer?
Because.
Why should you give social media a shot? Because! Okay, there are more detailed answers than that, but, when it comes down to it, social media is a great thing to try - it requires minimal financial investment and there are tons of resources online (like this site!) to help you along the way! More specifically:
Why blog?
Blogging is a great way to tell a story. It's easy to incorporate photos, videos and links, so you can connect it to other sites. Many organizations integrate their blog with their website. You can add several authors to a blog, so each person in the organization has a chance to contribute.
Why Twitter?
Reason #1 is because you can't afford not to. In the past year, Twitter's unique visitor count has grown 1,192.13%. Granted, user accounts are being opened and abandoned at high rate as well, but it's still growing - and is now the #3 social media network. Plus, Twitter's benefits, from conversations to a wide range of user search and metrics functions, make it a great place to start a social media campaign.
Why Facebook?
If you're going to start anywhere and you want something quick and easy, try Facebook's Pages. Facebook's system allows you to add information easily and select applications that are right for your page. The pages system was recently reworked, making it very similar to Twitter.
Why Flickr/YouTube/Vimeo/Blip.TV/etc.?
Odds are, your organization has a camera (whether it's 5 years old or older remains to be seen) or maybe even a camcorder. Start taking it with you to events and uploading what you capture. Your videos may be dark, your images blurry, but having a multimedia presence is more important than your photography skills. Plus, if your photos and videos are a hit, all the more reason to put in a reqeust for some new equipment!
Why social bookmarking?
Social bookmarking is just like regular bookmarking. If you're already using the tools your Internet browser provides, it's just one small step from there to sharing what you're saving. Start an account on Delicious or StumbleUpon and install the right Firefox add-on. (You are using Firefox, right?) Now you're bookmarking and sharing.
So go give it a try! Really! Got questions? Leave a comment or contact me!
