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Leveraging Social Media
1. Leveraging Social Media
for Virtual Connections
Presented at Social Media Jungle
March 19th, 2009
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
2. Background
What is Social Media? Social media includes: search engines,
social networks, blogs, micro-blogging; vlogs, message boards,
podcasts, interactive websites, webcasts,e-mail; instant messaging;
SMS; and other online venues that allows for community
interaction.
The public’s use of social media is mainstream norm.
New trends and development in social technology will increase
the options and ways people communicate and keep in touch.
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
3. Social Media
Information Sphere of Influence Informati
on
Portals
1:1
BLOGS
1:
few/many
Message
Boards
Few:
Many
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
4. More On Social Media
Social media facilitates continuing that
dialogue and communication with your
intended audience. It is also a way to :
1. Exchange ideas
2. Keep in touch
3. Create connections
4. Maintain connections
5. Extend your circle
The 3 T's of Social Media are:
1. Truth - Veracity
2. Trust
3. Time
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
5. An Example of Social Media
Blogs 1:few/many
There are many blogs written by companies,
associations, and patients. These sites have a 1:many
engagement in that information is posted by one
blogger.
Though many viewers may read the information and
constantly go to the site, only a few viewers may actually
contribute with a comment.
Blogs have a smaller reach than message boards but
some blogs are very highly trafficked, like the Johnson &
Johnson blog.
Blogs serve to offer both an informational and emotional
need of the information seeker.
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
6. Leveraging Social Media in
Multiple Dimensions
Dimension Professional Political Personal
Website, Virtual Green Book Candidates running for office Twitter; FB page; Myspace;
Professional
listings; blog or holding office (ie: blog
Obama/Biden)
Website; E-mail list; Governmental Sites (change. Facebook; Twitter; Myspace
Political
gov, Recovery.org)
Linked In; slideshare; Join a Group, membership, Facebook Page; Video;
Personal
whitepapers; blog; articles on message board, volunteer on Pictures; blog; vlog; updates
professional sites; message group; website; online news on twitter and facebook,
board SMS; message/bulletin board
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
8. Social Media Etiquette
Social Media is a Two Way Street.
Politeness in communication works best.
Be Transparent – people are really smart and can see more
than you think.
There’s a good amount of altruistic behavior in Social Media,
businesses need to adapt.
You need to be Authentic in order to gain respect and trust.
Virtual friends can be leveraged and even turned into close
friendships; the first time you meet physically, best to assume
nothing, treat the meeting like an interview.
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
9. Best Practices
Add Value – if your interaction doesn’t add value, what’s the
point of it?
Learn to leverage various forms of social media to strengthen
virtual connections
Remember virtual connections are a form of strengthen real life
connections – life is a condominium
**Remember Social Media is here to stay!”
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
10. Lessons & Advice
There is a learning curve in using social media to achieve your
goals.
Choose the social media best to reach your intended audience.
Resist the temptation to quot;over informquot;.
Choose topics and contribute to discussions you're passionate
about.
Combine multiple interactive and traditional outreach tactics to
create, stregthen, and maintain connections (social media,
email, in-person networking, etc).
Evangelism from a convert is much more effective than
evangelism from the founder.
Quick, personal follow-up is essential. The half-life of a new
connection is very short.
There is a “fine line” between harassing and connecting.
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
11. Case Studies
Examples of Leveraging Social
Media for Virtual Connections
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
12. Case Study: Career Explorer
turned into Job Seeker
Holly Hester-Reilly, MS in Engineering
Goal: To Explore New Career.
Upshot: Incidentally, Holly found a job using as a result of
the Facebook comment to explore a new job and re-
connecting with former classmate.
Social Media Used:
Facebook Update; Twitter
Outcome: 1. Explored about new career with old classmate
who was in that industry. 2. Kept in touch. 3. When a job
opened up, the classmate contacted Holly and she got the
job. 4. Use Twitter to connect with Key Opinion Leaders.
Contact: http://www.linkedin.com/in/hollyhesterreilly
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
13. Understanding the “Voice of the
Fibromyalgia Patient”
Social Media can be used to share information in a much quicker
way that allows peer to peer interaction in real time
Patients share their experience in many ways:
Blogs – Technorati.com reports: 2,113 results for Fibromyalgia and 640 blogs dedicated
to Fibromyalgia.
Message Boards – like ChronicBabe.com, Neurologychannel.com, HealthBoards.com,
Fibromyalgiasupport.com
Online Groups – Facebook.com has 283 groups on Fibromyalgia.
Videos – YouTube reported 1,850 videos in its results on Fibromyalgia.
What are patients saying?
Patients are:
Desiring to Increase Awareness of Fibromyalgia.
Their experience of living with Fibromyalgia - changes in their lifestyles.
Fibromyalgia is a real invisible condition – It is not in their heads!
They will not allow Fibromyalgia to take over their lives.
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
14. Get Me A Job Today
Https://getmeajobtoday.pbwiki.com
Goal: Wiki for job seekers in transition to share advice,
stories, and motivate each other for success in these
times.
Upshot: It is a wiki project to provide advice to laid off job seekers.
Social Media Used:
1. First, it was a Yahoo Group founded in 2003.
2. Now, it is a wiki on PbWiki;
3. Twitter
Twitter - Follow @GetMeAJobToday and search the
#GetMeAJobToday for work opportunities or people in need of their
own JobAngel
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
15. Job Angels
www.JobAngels.org
Goal: Help others find a job using the hashtag #jobangels.
Upshot: It started with a tweet on Jan. 29th by Founder and Head
Angel, Mark Stelzner. It quickly gained traction among his
marketing, advertising, and public relations colleagues.
Within 30 day, Jobangels has a site, strong twitter following with
over 4,500 members
Social Media Used: Twitter and now website
Outcome: 1. Connect “angels” with job seekers to find jobs.
Twitter - Follow @Jobangels and search the #Jobangels for work
opportunities or people in need of their own JobAngel
Facebook - JobAngels on Facebook
LinkedIn - JobAngels Group
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
16. Silver Starr Art Studio
www.ssasarts.com
Goal: Their primary mission is to promote artists'
work and provide artists with greater control over
their artistic career.
Silver Starr began in 1999 with no website. In
2002, Siver Starr had a static website. Now, it
has a dynamic website with constant updates. It
found it necessary to evolve to be in touch with
artists.
Social Media Used:
Website; Images; Email for Events; Facebook Update; Twitter
Contact: http://www.silverstarrartstudios.com/
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
17. Ultra Light Startups www.
UltraLightStartups.com
Goal: Graham Lawlor’s vision was to Create a
Collaborative & Supportive Community and Monthly
Events for Entrepreneurs who are bootstrapping their
startups.
Upshot: 1. In less than one year and 10 meetings after,
the group now has over 1,200 members.
Social Media Used:
email, Meetup, LinkedIn, and Facebook
Outcome: 1. Brought entrepreneurs together; 2. Gained
National Exposure.
Contact: Twitter: #ULS
http://ultralightstartups.com/
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
18. Acknowlegdement
Charee - CMO - JobAngels.org
Graham Lawlor - Founder - Ultra Light
Startups
Holly Hester-Reilly
April Tabor, Esq. - SilverStarArt
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
19. Contact Us
Marshall Sponder Leticia E. Colon, MPH
http://www.webmetricsguru.com Insights Digital, Inc.
http://www.theanalyticsguru.com Lcolon@insightsdigital.com
http://www.artnewyorkcity.com
917-570-5683
http://www.blogspeedway.com
Follow me on Twitter:
SKYPE # MarshallSponder
@LeticiaE
Cell# 917-214-6573
@HumanDigital
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
20. About Insights Digital
Insights Digital specializes in finding quot;hidden gemsquot;
for you through research and digital data mining.
Insights Digital is an independent research and
strategy firm specializing in: behavioral based
consumer insights; digital intelligence; and
interactive strategy.
Each and every project is spearheaded by a Social
Scientist and Expert Technology Leader.
By Marshall Sponder & Leticia E. Colon
- Insights Digital
