Social Media in Real Life
On the way home from Vegas I was tired. My feet hurt, my body hurt my shoulder was about to fall off and I was recovering from some toxins (wine) and information people meeting overload. I stepped out of the taxi that I share wiht Melinda from Earth Mama Angel Baby and did self check in. Without thinking twice I decided to upgrade to first class and just ignored the extra charge – I felt deserving.
After having a glass of wine in my plush first class seat and reading the newspaper I closed my eyes and relaxed. I opened them and saw the nice gentelman sitting next to me open his laptop and Fisher Price pop up. Hmmm, I suddenly perked up and saw my expensive seat as an investment and opportunity. Being the soical person I am we struck up a coverstation and it was a flight that was filled with eco-friendly product development talk, consumer demand, toy engineering (he was the lead engineer for toy development), packaging, Fisher Price history and corporate carbon footprints. A man that had worked for Fisher Price for 20 years and was obviouslly loyal but also eco-friendly in his own right; buying a push mower that was fueled by his muscles and energy as well as recently using vinegar for his fabric softener.
The point to this being that sometimes it helps to network online and be social but in real life it also helps to live on the edge and be social. Take off the headset, stop chatting with your own circle of friends and branch out and see just who is that person sitting next to you – he or she might become a good friend, business contact or help you network. They might know someone that knows someone who is intrested in your business or services. With any luck the 3 Green Angels will get lucky (Clear Throat: Fisher Price is not on Facebook or Twitter and a eco-friendly line…nope!) Good thing I upgraded to 1st class! Have you ever had an experience like this?
Social Media Impacts Green Business Practices
It was recently reported that social media influences how businesses are handling their eco friendly practices. It makes sense seeing that 15 million people use Facebook and companies such as Ford are hiring Mom Bloggers to help with social media campaigns. Companies are engaging in social media to hopefully learn more from their consumers but to also put it all out there and let the consumers understand their business practices and efforts.
Social media to a mom blogger and business person mean different things. As a mom I think of social media that same as I would think of calling my friend to tell her a movie was bad or that I loved a new soap I tried on my baby. It means conversation and making friends the same as I would at the library or park with my kids. I wouldn’t expect a stranger to take my word but someone who I see every week at the library and who begins to trust me; I would think my advice and word would hold some weight and visa versa.
For companies I think of social media in the same way, a conversation but one that involves more listening and understanding. Free market research, advice and a great way to really hear what people are saying because there are lots of different “rooms” so to speak to be that fly on the wall. Engaging as a business is more than just blasting a message out there but if you’ve listened, had a dialogue and become trusted because the business is genuine then the result is much the same as it is for the mom.
Companies ask me often whether I believe social media and blogging will become commercialized and that there are concerns that there is Twitter on the news and wonders if people will tune out like they do with commercials or other forms of advertising.
It depends on what goggles you are looking through. For me, I think it means success to see moms being rated by Nielsen and Twitter on the news and my husband realizing that I do something important. I also think if you’re using social media to communicate, engage and listen with full transparency and to learn with the rest of us – those that do get too commercialized will fail and others will blow by them.
Are you engaged as a business?
Top 5 Reasons for Using DISQUS Comments on Your Wordpress Blog
I learned about the DISQUS comments plugin from two of my favorite social media mentors, Chris Brogan and UnMarketing. It was super easy to install and quickly became one of my all-time favorites! DISQUS is really more than a simple plugin for handling comments – it’s a social networking system that saves you a tremendous amount of time and energy!
Top 5 Reasons to Use DISQUS:
How to Use and Install DISQUS
Seems like such a complex system would require dealing with countless issues and complicating programming when shifting to DISQUS, doesn’t it? Well no, it doesn’t. It’s shockingly easy to install . . .
All you have to do is register for a free account with DISQUS and install the plugin. Then you can easily choose your display options and rules, make simple styling changes, and import your other comments. When ready, it will remove your current commenting system and replace it with DISQUS. So it seriously only takes 5 minutes of work!
*NOTE: When you first install DISQUS, your comments may seem to disappear – but don’t worry – give it a little time and they appear in their whole new format soon!
>> READ about many more reasons to use DISQUS here.