Guest Post – How Do You Use Social Media? – from Doniree Walker

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010

First of all, a thank-you to Matt for letting me rent some of his blog real estate space for the day! I’m here because I’m looking for feedback and opinions from my network and their network, and know that Matt’s got a great network of brilliant minds I want to tap into.

Last year, I had the privilege of speaking in a Promotional Communications class at The College of St. Catherine’s in St. Paul, Minnesota. The class was mostly comprised of working women returning to school, and covers more traditional marketing than new media and social media. I was asked to come share my experience with some of those pieces.

A conversation

It was a blast. I’m one of those “I don’t love public speaking!” people, but it was FUN, for one thing, since the subject matter is something so ingrained in my life – personal and professional. For another thing, it was conversational, because I prefer speaking with people rather than at them.

This year, they’ve asked me to return (:::picture my happy dance here:::). I honestly didn’t think I’d make it back there, seeing as it’s THIS weekend in Minnesota and I’ve run out of my “relocation savings” and am just now starting to get paychecks coming in; I didn’t think I’d make it because of the airfare. Fortunately, that all worked out and Boyfriend and I will BOTH get to hang out in Minnesota this weekend!

I’m excited because 1) I can’t wait to get back to St. Kate’s and talk with Melinda’s class again; 2) I miss my family like whoa and I can’t wait to catch up with them, even if it’s just for a couple of days; 3) Boyfriend got to spend all of a couple of hours with my parents when he came out to Minnesota in January to help me pack up and move out to Colorado; I’m excited for them all to get to know each other better finally!

I want to pick YOUR brains

All that being said, I got some great feedback from my own online social network, and figured I’d tap into that again.

So here goes! It’s a fun presentation, and I’d love to include some quotes and notes from you. Below are the questions I’m going to be discussing, and your added perspective is greatly appreciated!

Ok, folks – in YOUR experience, perspective, and just plain ol’ opinions (there are no wrong answers here, obvi)…

  1. How do you use social media, either personally or professionally? Are you working with a company that uses social media to build their brand? If so, what’s awesome about that? If you’re using social media purely as a personal tool, how are you using it? Self-promotion? Relationship-building?
  2. Name a brand, campaign, or company that used social media in a way you thought was brilliant, engaging, or just downright interesting. Or completely flopped.
  3. What do you think is the biggest change in the social media landscape in the last year? A new product? An acquisition? What has been the biggest change in YOUR use of social media?
  4. What’s your favorite online social network or application?
  5. What do you think is the Next Big Thing?

Thanks for your feedback, folks!


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