Developing social media expertise is all about “doing” as far as I am concerned. For as much as I have read some great books on the subject, there is no better learning than to practice social media.
Whether that is writing a blog or just commenting on others with link-backs to your profile page, nothing substitutes for the interchange that is social media.
Having made that grand statement though, there is value in listening to a “few good war stories” from a conference or social gathering. I can recall back in 2007 attending the Inman Connect Conference and being totally overwhelmed by the rise in the use of social media within the US community of realtors (real estate agents). It was at that conference that I picked up tips that are still valuable to this day. Like the recommendation of when you go through one of those “dry spells” when you can’t think of a single thing to write about. The best solution is to reflect on a question asked of you in the last day or so by someone – that question (especially in the context of real estate) is very likely to be the kind of thing that others want to know about so why not write the question as a blog post together with the answer.
Anyway this is a long drawn out way to get to the point that in Auckland next week there is a pretty special conference being held on just this subject. The Social Media Junction is a 2 day conference at the Sky City Convention Centre. It promises to be a great 2 days with excellent speakers and panel discussions. You can even see me participate in a Bloggers Panel with such illustrious company as Bernard Hickey, Russell Brown, Mauricio Freitas and Greer McDonald.
Now as a disclosure of interest the conference is being run with the assistance of our own PR agency – Bullet PR and out of the kindness of their heart they have given me a FREE pass for the whole of the 2 days. That has a value of over $1,300. To get your hands on this free pass all you need to do is be the first to post a comment below – telling me the home country of the conference speaker Julien Smith.
(Just as a note this free pass does not include any travel or accommodation, food or gratuities, but it might include an autograph or two from some of the attendees / speakers – if you can suitably convince them – ideally by following them on Twitter!)
Oh and by the way in terms of books that I would recommend I have just finished listening (you have got to use Audible!) to Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith (who just so happens to be speaking at the conference). I found the book a great reinforcement of guiding principles for social media in its broadest sense. The book includes a great example which I have used in recent presentations comparing the viral spread of jokes as compared to YouTube videos – the sense of word of mouth jokes disappearing into the ether, whilst great content online is anchored firmly to the author who constantly receives kudos and credibility.