Seize the Day! (PART 5 of 6)
And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count.
It’s the life in your years.
~Abraham Lincoln
While you may not be able to control the world, you can control how you respond to it. So wake up! Get going! Life is short and time is fleeting…Here’s our fifth suggestion for how to seize the day:
As many of you know, I have been experimenting with social networks for business and trying to understand how they can be relevant work tools. If you have teenagers you have undoubtedly experienced (second-hand) the magnetism of Facebook or MySpace. If you are under 30, you probably can’t imagine managing your life without these virtual applications. But just because you might fall into the over 30 category, doesn’t mean that you can’t begin to reap the benefits of social networks. If you just don’t think it is up your alley, think again. These social networks are finding new converts for businesses, non-profit organizations, and even specific products.
Take Facebook for instance—it can be a powerful growth tool. Facebook is no longer solely the domain of college kids. It now reportedly has over 67 million members and is adding 1.2 million a week, most of whom are in the 25-49 age group. Not only are individuals signing up, but companies are too. The NBA, for example, has an NBA Facebook page as well as a page for each of its teams. CBS recently announced a Facebook page for each of its shows. According to a recent Fortune article, Proctor and Gamble’s network has 10,200 members and IBM’s has 33,000! Uses include recruiting, connecting with alumni, and setting up internal groups. According to “Facebook for Dummies,” the reason why many businesses promote themselves in this fractured way is because people might identify with particular parts of their business but not the business in its entirety. Creating different pages for the different entities with which people might connect is important for maximizing engagement.
Think of a Facebook page for your company, your department, or a specific product as a way to engage your customers with videos, reviews, flash content, photos and more. Your customers can express their support by adding themselves as a fan, writing on your “Wall,” uploading photos and joining other fans in discussion groups. You can send updates to your fans regularly — or just with special news or offers.
Here’s a look at the top 10 Facebook business uses.
Spend some time getting to know the application and what it can do for your organization in 2009. Then consider creating a Facebook page for your business, brand or non-profit organization. It’s free and can be done in a couple of hours.
Thanks for the link to my post on Facebook business uses. I hope your readers will come to visit Social Media University, Global (SMUG) to see how easy it is to get started with social media, and how it can be used in their organizations.
Karen:
Thanks for sharing. Your articles hit a couple of my “focus points”:
Social Networks: A month or so ago I started talking with my group about a Facebook-type idea for our team. Not sure where it’s going to go but I plan to keep driving the idea. We spend a lot of time on “team building”. It seems that this concept provides a vehicle where I and we can share, in a non invasive way, what’s going on in our lives — professionally (new ideas, books to read, etc.) and personally (news about grandkids). I’ll let you know where we end up.
Feedback: I loved that article. I’m big on the book “Crucial Conversations” and find that too few people are open to giving timely, accurate feedback.
Exercise: On your list of great ideas, I’ll share with you a podcast I listened to over Christmas about the value of exercise. In addition to the obvious physical benefits, the author talks about the mental/brain food associated with regular exercise. I’ll send a link in a separate email.
Happy New Year to you and your family.
Ken