Importance of using Social media

Hi friends!! After reading this article, I was awaken from my misuse of Linkedin. With all of the facebooking, twittering, google posting, pressing, pinnng ...and Linkedin; its hard to keep track of what each site is unique for. Facebook is primarily for reconnecting and connecting with people from your past and present. No, this does not mean you should be looking up your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend and stalking them! You should be finding people from your past who have the same interests as you, same likes..or people that you had a good relationship with in the past and somehow it just went out the window, for whatever reason. Why is this important? You never know when you'll need a connection for your business, (present or future) or if you need a job lead. If you have QUALITY relationships built with friends on facebook; they'll more likely be there to help. Linkedin...is similar to facebook , yet its professional. Posting your family vacation photos would not be acceptable on linkedin. Who do you want to connect with? primarily the same..people from your past. Linkedin is powerful for groups. To make the most out of your groups, be ACTIVE in them and Engage in the conversation. This is how people will ADD you. you don't want to become an "adding" machine, it's best when you have people adding YOU!!

Twitter...is good for following the latest news and trends. Whether its CNN, health, fashion, cars..whatever you're interests are...you choose what you want to follow. For business owners, this would be your "selling" platform. Although, doing it in a sharing way is more powerful than that sales pitch.

Pintrest...is great for sharing what you love . Do you have that DIY nitch? Ever want to be that fashion editor ? Now you can with pintrest. What's great about pintrest is you can connect with people on your facebook and twitter. Like other people's trends and create your own. Also a good business tool.

Most important thing to remember is to not be discouraged if you don't get the results you want right away. It takes time and patience. You also have to be consistent. Consistency is probably the most important thing to remember when using social media. Will that long time friend really be your friend after one talk/tweet/post/share? Most likely not..it takes time..same goes for Linkedin..don't just message once or post once and expect an instant job offer. You have to develop the relationship (the same way you do offline..can be done online); then maybe one of you find a way to help each other out.

Which social networks are you using? Any better than others? Stay social my friends Julie