I wanted to share some information on my thoughts today regarding writing things down and how this can impact the outcome.  I know it isn’t directly related to Social Media and Social Networking, but I feel it can have an impact in these areas.

Now that we are almost into the 5^th month of 2011 I have started looking back at what I have accomplished so far this year and begin to look at what I need to do the rest of the year to be on target with my goals I set.  One key difference I have made this year is really spending time to write things down on a regular basis and in some cases daily.

I have my goals for the year written down and review them regularly, I also have broken these down into smaller chunks and have focused on them in monthly, weekly and sometimes daily pieces.  I also have been 100% faithful about making a daily to do list.

I have found that my daily to do list is a critical part of my success in terms of my longer term goals.  This list also helps me see how I am spending my time on a regular basis and to make decisions and weed out what isn’t effective.

This list has also helped me keep on track with my Social Media activities.  On my list I include these activities on a daily basis and have started breaking them down further into measurable chunks, how many connections did I make, did I share links, information, write blog posts, etc.

In conclusion, try spending some time writing down what you need to accomplish for the day, both in your personal and professional lives and see what impact it has on you and your ability to get things completed.

Stefanie

How has Social Media and Social Networking tools changed your life

I wanted to post today about a conversation I had the other day with a business associate.  He has recently started to get on board with Facebook and Twitter for his business, but wondered if Social Media is just hype and if it will go away in the next couple of years.  I know part of his concern is due to implementing it into his business and the time it does take to implement and manage – but it was also from a personal side.

I can’t remember his exact words, but he made a comment something like – does everyone really care what we eat for dinner and where we go?  I had to laugh and say yes you have a point, but there have been a lot of changes in how people connect due to Social Media and maybe sharing what you eat or where you go on a regular basis is not the best use of it.

I shared that I read an article recently (unfortunately I can’t recall the source) that was about how experts , whoever they may have been, predicted that as we spread out into the suburbs and worked remotely more that we would become a very disconnected society – but just the opposite has happened due to Social Media and Social Media tools.  We are much more connected now than they thought we would be.

I also mentioned that Social Media tools have changed a lot of people’s lives.  I know that there are many people with disabilities that have experienced huge changes in the quality of life with these tools.  They can now connect online with others that share similar interests and have relationships online even if they can’t leave their home very easily.

Another associate chimed in and said how these tools allow her to stay connected for friends across the country.  Facebook in particular has allowed her to connect with friends on an almost daily basis and know what is going on in their lives.  She indicated that she doesn’t always have the time to pick up the phone, but this tool allows her to quickly connect and regularly too.

I know I use Facebook to connect with my family and friends and it is great.  It doesn’t mean that I see them less, but I am able to touch them and their live more than I would be if we were not connected with Social Media tools.

So – how has social media changed how you connect with others?

Now is the time of year that everyone is thinking about goals and plans for the year.  Often some of the typical goals include lose weight, get in shape, get out of debt and become more organized.  This year however I think you should also focus on goals for your Social Media and Social Networking activities.

I brought this topic up the other day with a friend and they looked at me a bit puzzled and then asked me, what do you mean by Social Media and Social Networking Goals?  What should these goals look like?

I went onto explain some of the key items that I have set as my goals for Social Media and Social Networking this year.  Below are the goals that I will be working on when it comes to Social Media and Social Networking:

Build Stronger Connections

I have been using Facebook for years and have used it to build connections with friends, family and people that I have done business with or that I want to do business with.  This year I want to focus more on these relationships and build stronger connections with my friends.  I want to make my connection know I care and take the time to learn more about them on a regular basis.

Currently I have my Facebook friends grouped into groups or lists that make it easier to manage and connect with.  In almost all cases I know why I am connected with all of my friends on Facebook, however there are a few that this may not be the case with.  One goal that I have and this may seem counterproductive to some is that I am going to verify my connections and those people that I don’t connect with and we don’t really have a reason to be connected I will probably drop the connection.  It isn’t because I don’t value them as a person or connection, but I am not sure I can give them what I feel I should as a connection.

I will be moving some of my connections over to Facebook Pages – depending on what the interest is and why we are connected.

Locate Strategic Partners

I want to strive this year to build some strategic partnerships with people on Facebook and Twitter that would be beneficial to both of us.  There are so many talented people in the world and tools such as Facebook and Twitter help open the door to these connections.  To accomplish this I plan on reaching out and connecting with the people that I admire and read their blogs or writings on a regular basis.  I will probably reach out on Twitter first so that I can learn more about them and start interacting and then work on figuring out what value I can provide them so that we can create something together.

Help Others

I want to strive this year to reach out to others when I can via Social Media and help them out in any way I can.  This may be answering a question, sharing a resource of just providing a compliment.  There are so many ways to do this with the tools that we have available to us now.  I will more than likely use Twitter for this activity since it is a fast way to reach out and there are many tools available to search for topics that I can help with, or even for the word help.

I have several additional goals for this year and a few more that are social media related, however I think if I focus on these three the rest will come.

I would love to hear what your goals are this year for Social Media.

-          Stefanie

I spent some time today catching up on some of my Social Networks and in doing so read an interesting post on LinkedIn regarding how to do you define Social Media.  This post had some great insights and definitions that I felt really hit the nail on the head.

I think when you think about Social Media and how it is defined it can be very broad.  The definitions may include the sites or platforms that are used for Social Media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and many more.  It may include activities such as blogging, creating videos, posting tweets, adding friends and connections, sharing links and more.  It also may refer to using a medium to market to your niche market.

However you define Social Media it is something that is here to stay and something that you can’t ignore – it is definitely a way to connect and communicate with others regardless of which platform you use and what you share while you are doing it.

Here is a link to the discussion for further reference:

http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&gid=1245667&discussionID=11314932&sik=1275866238156&trk=ug_qa_q&goback=.ana_1245667_1275866238156_3_1

As well as a couple of great videos on the subject:

I would love to hear how you define Social Media …..

As we wrap up the year and set aside some time to focus on our friends and family and celebrate Christmas and prepare for the New Year I wanted to take a minute and reflect back on 2009.

2009 in my opinion and many others is the year that Social Media and Social Networking came to life.  This year we saw many individuals and businesses jump into the Social stream and start using Social Media and Social Networking as a way to grow and market their products and services.  This movement also created a lot of success stories and cases to take note of.

Since 2009 is the year in which Social Media and Social Networking has come to life and jumped into mainstream marketing there was a lot of wonderful content shared.  This content was shared and spread with the following tools; blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and several other tools.

Here are some of my favorites for 2009:

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

Freebies for Social Media Marketing

101 Ways to Promote a new blog

50 Social News Websites from DoshDosh

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

This is why HootSuite is one of my favorite tools

If you Have an Extra Half Hour

Here are some great links to posts from others that are highlighting some of the top posts from the year:

Adam Vincenzini shares the top 99 of 09

SimplyZesty shares Top 50 Social Media Stories of 2009

I wanted to take a minute and wish everyone a safe and Happy Halloween today.

This morning when I spent my regular time online to catch up on news and events and what my friends and those I respect are up to it was great to also get a glimpse of what everyone has planned for Halloween today.

One huge difference that I see this year compared to last year’s Halloween is that I was able to get this glimpse of what everyone is doing a lot faster via social networking and social media.

Here are some examples of the info that I was able to check out today on Halloween that I wouldn’t have been able to in years past:

From Twitter I was able to check out pumpkin carvings and costumes:

cloudberrynine: Happy Halloween! Here’s my pumpkin effort http://yfrog.com/j4b0ij

gina_romero: Me and my little monsters: Happy Halloween all! http://moby.to/8uliz3

BinkyBird: WOW!! RT @DaveGorman: http://twitpic.com/nohmd – For Halloween, some pumpkins I carved a few years ago.Chicago, 2005.

MintMickey: http://twitpic.com/nppsk – My boys in their Halloween costumes just minutes ago.

From YouTube

How to make a witch costume:

And from Facebook

Halloween Wishes from friends

Matt Bacak Happy Halloween from the Bacak family ->> http://yfrog.com/e66ymj

Mandy Christensen Happy Halloween! Be SAFE and stay warm:)

There are many examples I could give but these are just a hand full.

Have a Happy Halloween

This post is a bit off topic, however it is one that I wanted to write to get things started on the right foot.

The idea for this blog has been floating around for a while and even had a few test runs, but the feel just wasn’t right.  I guess maybe I should say that the look and feel both were out of sync.  I know it is the content that matters, right?  But I am sure you would agree that the look needs to fit as well.

Today it happened – the look and feel came together.  I know this should have been something that happened to start with, but I had to mix both my personality and goals of this blog as well as those of the sponsor for the blog, SourceOne Technologies.  So now the look and feel gelled together and the train is ready to leave the station and start moving forward.

The goal of this blog is to keep a pulse on the Social Networking and Social Media scene for you and provide you with the needed insights and tips to help you be successful in this area.

A personal goal I have of this blog is to also be able to share my knowledge of email and browser technology that I have acquired over the years and mix it up with what can be done with Social Media and Social Networking tools.

Needless to say I am excited about the opportunity to write for this blog and move it forward.

Ok we are now moving forward so hang on and get ready.

~Stefanie