Social Media and Small Business. Part 33 1/3 (In the tradition of Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult)

This is the third Social Media and Small Business installment in our special Blue Bike mini-series. Side Note: Every time I hear "mini-series," all I can think of are cheesy made for t.v. movies that I was forced to watch as a kid. Last time we covered Facebook and Twitter. Today we are going to discuss LinkedIn and Myspace. Get excited!

Alright, let's get the ball rolling with LinkedIn. When it comes to Social Media and all of the benefits it offers, friendship is one of the default thoughts that come to mind. LinkedIn isn't so much the place to foster and cultivate friendships, it is purely a business networking social media forum. All of the small business owners out there who are new to social Media are surely saying to themselves, "That sounds like a pretty good option for me!" And guess what, it is! In some ways. LinkedIn offers valuable resources for small businesses, but it lacks an essential component necessary for creating brand loyalty with your clients because it doesn't allow for any personality or human authenticity to shine through. Your clients want to see the authentic and unique aspects with which they can create a bond. Am I saying not to use LinkedIn? Hell no, just don't focus all of your social media efforts on it.  

Myspace, on the other hand, is on the opposite end of the spectrum from LinkedIn. Myspace largely acts in the same way as facebook does when it comes to Social Media Networking, however the difference lies primarily with the user a.k.a. your audience. Myspace is often utilized as a resource for its users in finding and listening to new music and music industry promotion. The Myspace audience, at least concerning its most active users, has a much, (very much) younger feel than the rest of the SM outlets we have discussed. Am I saying not to use Myspace? Yes, that is to say unless you are a band or 14 year old girl. 

In my next post I am going to address the specific benefits SM provides SB. Hold on tight folks, I know you're on the edge of your seat!

The Second Waco Social Media Breakfast.

I've decided to take a brief blog intermission from my SM and SB series (that stands for Social Media and Small Business, for those of you who have not read my previous posts) to recap the second Waco Social Media Breakfast. The breakfast was at Rudy's again (I wonder if Lolita's could handle our next SMB?) and our early morning hunger was quelled by the breakfast tacos with a little B-B-Q flair. If you remember my recap of the last Waco SMB, I spent a lot of time writing about the weather. In order not to stray too far from precedence I feel like I need to talk about the weather situation at least a little. I'm not sure if the combination of my Jeep CJ5, Social Media and breakfast in the wee hours of the morning creates some kind of cosmic reaction in the universe that results in less than pleasant weather. The morning of the first SMB there came a flood from the heavens, this time around we had sub-freezing temperatures and rain. So, what is the lesson I learned? I need to get a top for my jeep, then it won't matter what the damn weather is like! 

Okay, now we can actually begin discussing Waco's 2nd SMB . . . This month we had the pleasant experience of two guest speakers who use Social Media in higher education. Autumn Outlaw the New Student Orientation Coordinator for Texas State Technical College was our first presenter, followed by CJ Jackson Director, Communications and Marketing for Baylor's Hankamer School of Business followed. Sarah-Jane Sanders and others gave some guest tidbits concerning TSTC's use of SM. Autumn did a great job of illustrating the ways Social Media helps TSTC connect with their students and keep the student body informed about campus happenings. CJ Jackson discussed a case study about Using Twitter to Strengthen and Promote Research and presented the first statistics that I have seen concerning the ROI and SM, especially concerning Twitter.

All in all, this month's Social Media Breakfast was really informative and helpful to learn about the different ways in which Social Media is beneficial for a variety of people. 

All of you Waco folks should keep your ear to the ground about having a Tweet-up at a local pub, which I would really enjoy for the very fact that it isn't at 7:30 in the AM.