Why Use Twitter?

Social Media is the new frontier and if you aren’t making your way to learn how to get involved, you’re being left behind. It doesn’t matter if you have a home-based business or a Fortune 500 corporation, you need to be using these resources, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and more!

Facebook and Twitter are two of the most used social media sites yet they work completely differently. Facebook is like a networking mixer or cocktail party, you meander in, look around, see who’s there and reply to people who have left you messages, or as we say, written on your wall. It’s a leisurely pace. Twitter on the other hand is like a super highway, always moving and sometimes fast!

Twitter, for as many people as it has signed up, is a really small community of regulars. When you join in and start following people, you will see what they do, what they are doing, who else they are talking with and more importantly, building real relationships. Where else can you go and chat personally with CEO’s of major companies and A-list movie stars? Big businesses are offering specials and freebies only on these sites, they are hiring, and doing business with smaller businesses they can see are using these same tools and resoures. It’s not unusual for big business to take the Twitter opportunity to learn from the younger, more tech savvy generation of entrepreneurs – and their customers! Twitter and all the other social media sites are about connecting and making lasting connections, not only for business but also for pleasure. Twitter is the super highway of social media – Merge on, keep up, enjoy the journey, exit – Repeat often! Wonderful.

Follow me on twitter: @Kdpartak


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Balance In Business

This post has been on my mind for a while now and the time has come to write it. Every business owner knows how important it is to promote and grow their business, without doing so would likely cause the doors to close. Is it possible that too much promotion could turn people off as well? I think so.

Social media has opened so many doors for small businesses and entrepreneurs to reach the masses for darn near free. Sites like facebook, LinkedIn and twitter (to name just a few) are connecting average Joe's like me to CEO's of major companies and dialogue is happening. That's exciting! The problem as I see it, is this social media arena is still so new that people don't know how to do it. Oh sure, they can create an account and post about their business, but they don't know that etiquette applies in the social media arena just like it does in the face-to-face world. It's possible that it's even more important because it's so much easier (and faster) for someone to "unfriend," "unfollow," or disconnect from you. It's my opinion that you have to mix some of who you are personally with what it is you do for a living because if you don't why not just have a web site? The whole point of social media is that it's social - to me, that errors on the side of personal. As my good friend and social media expert Kevin DeSoto says, "You have to humanize your brand." How can you do that in the social media arena if you aren't getting a little bit personal?

The other piece of this equation for me is that people who used to be my personal friends are so caught up in their online presence, that they simply don't communicate with me on a personal level anymore. At first I figured we must not have really been friends to begin with, but that's not the case. There seems to be some prestige in the number of friends or followers that one has, but nary a "Hello! How are you?" comes across the line to those of us who really are their friends. A personal e-mail comes only to ask about a charitable donation, or to share with me how the class they have for sale is right up my alley! It only costs this many thousand dollars and of course, there is a commission to my "friend" when I register.

Here's my thought, why don't we have one online place for our business and another for our personal interactions? People who want to be a part of your business will be there and that's not to say they can't be your friends, too. When it's time to stop working, stop working - on facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, at the restaurant, or at home on the phone. Put your iPhone away when you are sitting with live bodies who are there to be with you. Connect with these people and share something personal, something that you wouldn't necessarily share at your place of business.

Utilize these amazing tools to enhance and grow your business, but come back to the smaller, more intimate circle of the people you love. Finding balance in business is knowing when to go all out and land that big account and when to hang the "Closed" sign and go home - virtually or literally. Just my two cents.

Social Media. Do You?

Do you twitter? I bet you at least have a page on facebook. If not, why?

Facebook has been a great place to reconnect with friends from high school, former jobs, and other cities you may have lived in. You can simply post bits and pieces of your life and interact with people via e-mail updates on your facebook wall. You wall is the place people post notes and messages that all your friends can see. There is also a message feature that works much like e-mail and it's private. Facebook has so many other things to do, I won't even go into all of that. If you're so inclined, you'll snoop around and see the virtual world you're missing out on! Search me and add me as a friend! www.facebook.com

Twitter is a little different. It's what's known as micro-blogging, so you can only tweet 140 characters at a time. Twitter is much more like the old fashioned aol chat box...remember those? The difference is that the culture has changed and it seems that more professionals are using social media to connect with clients and potential customers. You can find me on twitter by searching @Zbgloves and @Kdpartak. www.twitter.com

Check it out and see what you think. You don't need to spend hours on the computer, 15-30 minutes a day can bring many new, wonderful friends into your life!

Say Something Original

I'm loving my friends on twitter. If you don't engage in the social media circles like twitter, facebook, and myspace, let me invite you to join us. For the most part, we all just your average Joe's (except for the celebrities), and we are building real relationships. My only complaint is when some people on twitter have nothing to say. They follow thousands of people and Re-tweet those people all day long. Re-tweeting or RTing is when you send along to your followers what other people you follow have said. It's certainly fine when someone says something obviously funny, or poignant, but every little thing? Not so much.

For me, it's so much more fun to have real conversations and share our lives than it is to quote Henry Ford, Zig Ziglar, or any number of other over-quoted successful people. Aren't we all successful in our own rights? I think yes! Say something original and make my day. Heck, I might even RT you! Smiling!