Last week I attended the Social Media Strategies Summit in Boston, MA. This was a conference for businesses and non-profits to discuss the use of social media in marketing, communication strategies, fundraising, community-building and much more. It was all about making use of the right tools at the right time and it was great.
I met several experts in the business and non-profit arenas and got lots of good ideas. Because I work for a university I was not really the target audience for some of the content but it was still worthwhile and I picked up several social media policy ideas and samples which will certainly come in handy. I also presented at the conference – I did a session on community-building, which seemed to be well-received. You can view it on Slideshare if you’re interested.
Above all it was nice – and quite validating – to hear much of the stuff I knew mirrored back to me from the “experts”. Something that is so new and cutting edge, that changes every day, is hard to stay on top of and I had some concerns about offering legitimately helpful and insightful information. Happily I was able to share my knowledge with confidence that came from experience with campus projects, research for grad school and opportunities to work with groups outside of campus. And it was neat to be able to hang out with people as dorky about social media as I am!
In other social media news, I posted another article for Examiner, this one on Google+. Check it out:
Google is fabulous at providing us with the things we need, often before we need them. It’s possible we really need an alternative to Facebook, we just don’t know it yet. Facebook has done a good job of pushing its constituents away by limiting privacy options and occasionally publishing our phone numbers without warning; there’s every possibility that someday there will be a mass exodus when Facebook goes a step too far and starts choosing our friends for us. Until then, however, the only people who seem to be inhabiting Google+ are the lonely few who truly hate Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg, or who honestly love Google and its own intensive stalking tendencies.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Google+: Three Months Later – Raleigh Social Media | Examiner.com
