Choosing the right social media tools
Start with LinkedIn
There are so many options for designers in social media that I fear some designers may just throw up their arms and opt out entirely. Though it’s easy to get frustrated when looking at the many options, giving up on social media is a big mistake. The solution is to not try to be everything to everyone. Choose your social media platforms carefully, and devote the time necessary to assure a strong return on your time investment with the choosen tools.
Here are some current options in social media:
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Podcasts, Instagram, Pinterest, Houzzz, Tumblr, Google +, and YouTube.
We’ve already discussed Pinterest and Houzzz in a previous blog, dated July 20, 2014. Which is the One for You?
Now, we’re going to tackle one of my favorites: LinkedIn. LinkedIn might just have the highest return on time invested of any of the Social Media platforms. It’s easy to get started, you can build a large following quickly, it has tremendous reach, and its FREE (paid option is available).
LinkedIn promotes itself as the world’s largest professional network. I used to think of it as an online résumé, or a business card on steroids. It’s all that and much more.
Once you get set up on LinkedIn, you can choose for yourself how much time you want to invest in ongoing participation. If you want to just leave it there as an online résumé, there’s very little maintenance involved. On the other hand, LinkedIn offers many opportunities to expand your social media presence on their platform.
LinkedIn has professional groups that you can join. In my case there are Friends of NAHB, K&B Industry News, Maytag Alumi, Whirlpool Alumni, ASU MBA Alumni, etc. You can post links to blogs that you’ve written, add Slideshare presentations, etc.
They’ve been busy integrating their platform with productivity tools such as Evernote, and they purchased SlideShare, a nifty online presentation platform (think of it as your personal PowerPoint online distribution). At a minimum, LinkedIn should be the starting point to introduce yourself to a professional online community or two.
Sign in to www.linkedin.com to explore the possibilities.
Art Johnson MBA, is a writer, speaker, trainer and social media marketing professional with broad experience in the appliance industry. Art may be reached at Johnson.art1@gmail.com.
