Social media - Content is king!!!

This is the second installment highlighting the three presentations I have seen about social media in recent weeks.  Last week's blog post focused on KPS3's Mike McDowell's presentation at the weekly ProNet Reno meeting that was very comprehensive yet had many questions that kept the content of his talk at the lowest common denominator (No fault of Mike's - he went with the flow of the group).

At ProNet's weekly meeting last Monday (1/17) we had a very unique presenter.  Gideon F. For-mukwai was living in a village in Cameroon 12 years ago (my best recollection) and is now providing world class training programs internationally through XtraMile Solutions.  If that didn't get your attention, then you must be asleep.  Regardless of his career path, it was very impressive and inspirational.  Mr. For-mukwai's focus was on relationship building and content development.  The over-arching message was that creating an on-line relationship is much like creating an offline or traditional relationship - it giving of yourself to others. 

He started out talking about being part of a "tribe".  What he meant was to find your niche and and go after it.  That can be a difficult question for many because it gets to the core of what you are and what you want to be.  Do you want to hang around other engineers if you are trying to find work as an engineer?  Probably not, so the trick is to find the tribes where engineers are hired.  And once you find those tribes, spend time in conversation and be "social".  Now many of us have difficulty with networking situations in person, but the same rules apply on-line - listen, share, help. 

Without repeating everything he said, the remainder of his talk focused on optimizing your story, using keywords or specific jargon of your tribe and sow seeds through writing though-provoking content (I hope that you find it here!).  Also, don't be afraid to ask for help or reach out to your network.  We all know the story of six degrees of separation.  How many times have you said - "wow, small world" - when you find out that you are connected with a new person through an old friend, colleague or college buddy?  Here's another trick - don't be afraid to ask for what you want, what you need help with or how you can make a difference through your connections.

Next, the final comments on the third social media presentation (by Dr. Bret L. Simmons, professor of management at UNR) I had in the past weeks.  Stay tuned!