Social Media Networking at Central NJ Libraries
Three Thursdays at Three Libraries in Central New Jersey
Last night was the “inaugural” presentation of our Social Media Networking Talks with Eva Abreu as our “Social Media Tour Guide.” Annie Boccio talked about the many friends she has made via social networking. We had a presentation by Paul Grzella about Getting Published in Daily and Weekly Newspapers and MyCentralJersey.com. I presented “Twitter, Blogs and Websites” — more about my presentation in a separate post. Adam Wolf showed ways to target audiences in Facebook; he used his wife’s business, Places Everyone, as an example of how one can attract attention to your site using Twitter and other social media. Jessica Levin taught us how celebrities used traditional media like television and magazines to brand themselves; one can now use social media as a way to brand one’s business or organization.
Thank you to Graham Gudgin for his important role in arranging last night’s talk at the Edison Public Library.
Next week at 7 pm: Highland Park Public Library, 31 North 5th Ave.
One woman asked a question about poor spellers. Can one advertise one’s business via social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs) and misspell words? If it’s a small business, what do you do? Suggestions?
AscenderRisesAbove says
awww - thank you so much. You made my day! Wishing you could come and speak here. Though I had to gulp on the "poor spellers of he world 'untie'". I am notorious for not slowing down to check my spelling. I worked doing graphic design for a statewide newspaper for many years and had a person who oversaw looking things over before they went into print so I never really learned to slow down and look for those kinds of things. Some times those editors made me pull my hair out; 'move that word here', 'a colon goes there', 'change this word'... can't they just appreciate the beauty of the image! ;-)
Leora says
Note to readers: I mentioned AscenderRisesAbove in my social media talk as an example of someone who blogs and sells her (wonderful) artwork.
Perhaps a poor speller might be a good photographer? One could communicate through pictures and spend LOTS of time with spell check to put a few words on each post for the search engines to pick up.
Graham says
It's a shame that we didn't really have time to address that question. We could have done with an extra hour!
As far as blogging is concerned, I would encourage any blogger to find someone who is willing to proofread their posts. Even with spellcheck features, it's still easy to let spelling, typographical or grammatical errors creep in. It's understandably exciting to want to hit the "Publish" button as soon as you've typed the last word. But I think that putting across a professional image is important. Even though my blog is not promoting a business, I found an online friend who was willing to check my posts before I publish.
As far as Twitter is concerned, the immediacy of that medium prevents much checking. But I still review my posts just before I hit Enter. An odd typo isn't going to really put someone off. If you're doing it all the time, it is going to have a negative effect, I think.
Leora says
Graham, that's great that you have an online friend to proofread. I proofread my own, and sometimes my regular readers have pointed out typos, which I have fixed. But if your blog is really key to your business, you really do want to pay attention to the proofreading as much as possible and have outside help.
Yes, we really didn't have time to address all the many wonderful questions the audience presented in the beginning! I am hoping this Thursday night to pay lots of attention to the early questions to see if I can address some of them when I talk.
One possible way of dealing with Twitter if you are prone to spelling errors is to concentrate on cutting and pasting headlines with links related to your industry. That way you provide a service to followers by giving them information but lessen the possibility of spelling errors.
Graham says
It's always best to have another set of eyes to proofread, I think. I'm pretty good at proofreading, but I'm sure I'd still miss silly things if I did it myself.
As far as the program is concerned, part of the problem with time was the number of questions the audience had. I'm not sure what the answer is, but answering questions during the presentations certainly ate into the time everyone had.
I'm not sure about your suggestion of copying and pasting links. I find that to be in the realm of talking AT your followers, rather than engaging with them.
BTW, am I imagining it or did you say a little while back that you had difficulties with public speaking? I thought you did a great job, and came across as very enthusiastic!
I would caution all the speakers to be careful with the use of jargon. It's easy to do, because we use it all the time, especially in the 140 limitations of Twitter. But some people were obviously lost with some terminology. Fortunately, there were people there who were not afraid to ask if they didn't understand ("What's a Tweetup?").
Maybe a sheet with a glossary of common terms might be a useful handout!
Graham.
Leora says
difficulties with public speaking
Not enough practice in public speaking: Yes, I was incredibly nervous beforehand! Thank you so much for your compliment; it will help me ease my public speaking fears. The more I do so, the more confident I will be.
Some of my links on my handout might help with some jargon. However, there is SO much jargon. It's good someone did say "What's a TweetUp?" (TweetUp= gathering of Tweeters in person, face-to-face).
Regarding copying and pasting links, I follow some who do that, and they have many, many followers, so they are doing something right. Usually they do some @replying in between or add one or two personal touches every now and then. It's a question of priorities: do you drop Social Media all together because you can't spell, or do you do it a little? Copying and pasting may be a way to do it a little.
Please leave a comment! I love to hear from you.