Dec 24, 2010

10 Ways to Build Social Media Expertise Using Personal Web Projects

When Timex sponsored a Twitter party in late 2009, it leaned on the social media expertise of Stefania Pomponi Butler and her partners in Clever Girls Collective to deliver a conversation that would engage women consumers with the Timex brand.
Web 2.0 Hot Apps Cool Projects ScienceBut Stefania's social media smarts weren't born from a corporate campaign or formal training: this former marketing pro got her start in social media by blogging about life as an urban mom. The success of her personal blog brought forth paid blogging gigs, which turned into editing gigs and then production gigs. Eventually, she had enough experience to start her own company connecting big brands to online influencers. A personal web project turned into full-fledged social media career.
Many social media experts and professionals started their current careers like Stefania did, with a personal web site or project. As I reflected this week on a recent personal project that had me testing out new WordPress plugins, Twitter tools and Excel macros, I was reminded of how valuable personal projects are in building social media expertise.
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If you're involved in social media efforts within your company, are trying to carve out a niche as a social media pro, or just want to understand what this new space is all about, personal web projects are crucial to honing your skills. Here are some tips for making your personal web efforts an effective part of your ongoing professional development:
Keep it personal. Choose a subject or focus that is completely (and I mean completely) unrelated to your work. That could mean creating a collection of nature photos on Flickr, a blog about local restaurants, or a Twitter roundup of the latest beauty products — unless you work for an ecological organization, a food distributor or, say, Revlon. It's great to have passions that intersect with your professional life, but if you do a social media project that is even vaguely related to your job, your employer (or their customers) may hold you accountable for the results. And that's not a safe sandbox to play in.
Be cautious. Personal doesn't mean intimate. If you're thinking about a project that involves your family, think carefully about the safety implications and especially before posting your kids' photos online. Until you are really fluent in social media, err on the side of caution by keeping private your family stories private or at least anonymous.
Start simple. Create your social media project on a fully hosted service so that you don't have to sort out the complexities of setting up your own site. WordPress.com , Flickr and Twitter are all good starting options.
Give yourself room to grow. Choose a platform that will let you extend your project in new ways and try out new tools. Get going with Flickr or Twitter, and you can explore a world of tools and applications that complement those services. If you start with a WordPress blog, you can move your blog onto a web host that gives you more control over your blog's set up.
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Give yourself a budget. While you can do lots of great stuff for free online, you'll have more possibilities — and perhaps more fun — if you give yourself a modest budget. You might want to spend ten or twenty dollars a month buying stock images to illustrate your blog; pay for a service that gives you more information about your Twittering efforts; or upgrade your blog to a custom URL.
Go easy on yourself. The social web can be a great place to get support or enforce your commitment to a personal goal like losing weight, building your own log cabin or reading all of Proust. But if you focus on a challenge that is already daunting, you're less likely to stick with it. You'll find most of your energy is focused on sticking to your resolve, rather than exploring and learning.
Be a night owl (or an early bird). You'll learn the most from your social media experiment if you're prepared to make a few mistakes — installing widgets that don't work right, making design changes that look terrible, embedding multimedia content that doesn't display. It's a lot less scary to make those mistakes early in the morning or late at night, when fewer people are likely to be visiting your site.
Find a community. Explore the sites and web presences of other hobbyists (or experts) in your space to see what they are talking about and what online tools they use. Introduce yourself and comment on their photos, videos or posts — and encourage them to take a look at what you're up to, too.
Balance tech with content
Some people use their personal web projects as a chance to geek out and try specialized tools and software, and upgrade their tech knowledge. Others focus on the content — shooting the perfect video, writing the world's most articulate blog post, snapping the greatest high-speed photos. But you'll learn the most if you divide your attention between content and technology, and develop both your creative and technical skills.
Be prepared to own your project.
How to Make Money with Social Media: An Insider's Guide on Using New and Emerging Media to Grow Your BusinessEven if you've created a totally anonymous personal project, assume that sooner or later you could be unmasked. Make sure that whatever you post online, you're prepared to live up to it at Monday's staff meeting.
Follow these guidelines and your personal web projects will become an effective and ongoing part of your professional development. Who knows? It may even become your full-time gig.

Written by Alexandra Samuel
Alexandra Samuel is the Director of the Social + Interactive Media Centre at Emily Carr University, and the co-founder of Social Signal, a Vancouver-based social media agency. You can follow Alex on Twitter as awsamuel or her blog at alexandrasamuel.com.

1 comment:

  1. Wow !! really nice blog. It will be very useful for me. So, thanks for sharing this post.

    ReplyDelete