It's all getting blurry... In the world of social media, our network(s) become our friends and our friends become our network(s). The business of social networking becomes the socializing of our business. It is increasingly difficult to separate who we are from what we do or whom we work for. After all, if you embrace the transparency that makes the web work so much better, it is nearly impossible to lead a double life online. We are who we are, and all of our Blog posts, Twitter Tweets, Facebook Updates, Utterz utters, Seesmic and YouTube Videos, Flickr photos and the entirety of our daily digital droppings shapes our persona in the eyes of "the community." The lines between personal and professional are dotted and not solid. This is not a bad thing. After all, we spend the majority of our adult lives working and our life's work experience invariably helps shape who we are and how we behave.A SEPARATE PIECE?
It was not too long ago that I tried to keep my personal online presence separate from my professional online presence. While I did not hide the fact that I work at Myxer, when I did Myxer stuff online I felt I should keep it separate from this personal blog, and vice versa. Little by little, as I found my social network expanding I increasingly encountered people that, aside from being "social" with, I could actually be doing business with. I realized that there were potential partners in them thar social networking woods! So slowly but surely, I have eased a little more of my work life into my social networking and without question my social networking life has eased its way into my business. This has been encouraging, fun and productive on both sides of the fence as I continue to explore ways to appropriately use social media to expand my business, and at the same time leverage my business to expand my social network.
WORK'S A BEACH!
Most recently, I have been having a lot of fun creating short videos as part of my social networking. Whether posting them on Facebook, Utterz, Seesmic, YouTube, or my Social Networking Rehab parody blog, I have been finding video to be a great way to satisfy some of my creative urges. Along the same lines, the other day I took a short video on the beach with my Treo smartphone, and turned it into a silly "recruitment" video for Myxer, since we are actively hiring. On a whim, I posted the video on YouTube and sent the link out on my Twitter stream. Within minutes, in addition to some encouraging comments, I actually received resumes sent to the "HR" email address at the end of the video. A social media video, posted to the Twitter stream, proved to actually be an effective tool to attract potential employees. The lines may be blurred but the results are clear: Social Media and business can and do work together!
How have you incorporated your social media life into your business (or your business into your social media life)?
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Video by Sass. Photo Credit: GJS - Fotolia.com
