How Do You Use Social Media?

Delicious Turkish food, memories, business, and more... This photo has an inspiring story. Are you ready for a story, started on LinkedIn ?

*This article contains a summary of using social media for over 15 years and an inspiring story.

It was 2007 when I first got into social media by Facebook. Our mission was to same, never got out of contact with our high school friends. I won't forget the passion to find the friends I left contact from primary school, and to see what they are doing, and how they changed.

I was an international relations student at college. Social media was not one of my areas to deal with. But following famous leaders, professors, and journalists was an inspiring experience. My first internship was at Human Resources and at that time we only had Facebook. So it was not necessary to use Facebook for business.

I was always into technology, new applications, and discoveries, and have a huge need to try and use them on my behalf.

In 2010 I got my first internship at Hurriyet Daily News. My first job was in 2011 at Habertürk. They were well-respected media publishing companies at that time in Turkey.

I first started to use LinkedIn in 2012. Instagram in 2010. I'll never forget when I first shared sushi food as a first photo on my account. It was the first place, where we were courageous to take the first step to open our lives to the world.

On LinkedIn, I was very excited that I would start to make new connections and talk about some business there. I was going to share what I do, meet new people and connections, and see what people are up to.

In 2013, I got a LinkedIn message from a publisher, from far away from my hometown in Turkey, in the USA. At that time, I was in a travel startup where we dealt with digital signage for hotels and preparing city guides for tourists.

She was a good-looking lady, though she had good intent. Because these were the times, as people in digital we started to hear so many different stories. But we should be trusting someone. She offered to publish our content on their platform. It was interesting, will be a different offer. At least her profile was not look like a fake one.

As we were a startup company, as I was making decisions, I listened to that little voice inside me. And uploaded our content to the unknown. There were fake accounts, stealing the design, and so on. With these doubts in me, I listened to that inner, a very small voice inside me, and uploaded the first edition.

We started to get good results. But I have a voice inside me that I can not work anymore with anyone. So I left the company. And established my own business, a content marketing company.

Years in years, we never got out of contact. But during the pandemic as everyone else, our lives have changed. It taught a lot to us. I decided not to be a service to others in Turkey for myself as a business. I realized that working with international clients took me further but in Turkey because of the lack of digital education, we were working with big companies but we hardly explained our services and the business. I found myself not enough for the people I work with.

So I decided to move on to a different path. I started to build a sustainable brand. For the professionals in the service industry, especially for digital ones no matter where you are we all yearn for the same thing. It's not a physical so it takes time to explain. At least with the physical product, they'll see it immediately and decide immediately, it's already produced. Maybe the production will take time as it's sustainable but in the end, the product will speak for itself. Then I started other small businesses, like a luxury lifestyle website, and a YouTube music and lifestyle channel. I remembered Gabi, not for business. I came up with some guides on the web, then realized we had not been talking for so long, then wrote her and we ended up in a catch-up.

She offered me a new perspective, an Istanbul City Guide. But how would I do that? I can actually but lots was going on. I said yes. Then started to work immediately, the luxury lifestyle website was a perfect fit for it. Luxury City Guides. I made and sent her, whole team loved it. Then I found myself planning for new guides.

Now the guides are live on respected hotels and airlines. Whoever sees them, they adore. Even so many offers me to publish them physically.

But most importantly, three months ago Gabi gave the news and told me that they were planning to come to Istanbul. I never knew she had Turkish roots. I've known her for over 10 years and never talked about it. I was shocked. I got excited, and Turkish hospitality genes came onto the scene. I thought about every little detail for her and her husband. I made itineraries and so on.

They came. I was very excited for the 15 mintues route to airport. The photo for the article image was taken on the very first they came to Istanbul. While I was sitting at the dinner table eating Kebab and laughing, I thought it was all because of LinkedIn. And the importance of the connections we built.

As many debates are going over about social media and its negative sides, the whole picture, was the real positive effect there proving that if you use it right it can help you become better.

It was all about your borders, the communication, the intent behind it. And the most important thing is; if you learn how to manage it, how to use it you don't have to fear, like in everything else.

Yesterday I saw a man throwing a stone at my cat in the garden. My sister got so angry so did my brother as well. It was the cat, my favorite one and they all looked at me with suspicious eyes, because as I'm a bit crazy they can not still understand what I'm going to do.

I wanted to do a lot of things but then I remembered; that you can not explain the love of nature, all the living things, and a cat tries to go next to him and all it wants is love. Because he's never been loved, that was the reason. As a result, he learned to get scared and as a conclusion of fear, he learned to attack to protect himself.

I told them this.

I was surprised by how I smoothly accepted this immediately. I think this is getting mature. Then remembered Cameron Diaz's speech.

And today after so many years, I look back on how social media helped, opened new doors for my business. How I met so many people, then became the family. As I always say, business is not just a business. It's so you, the thing you deal with in a day for over 10 hours, can't be just business. You don't become the business, business becomes you!

Special thanks to Gabrielle Sarmiento for encouraging me to create Turkish travel guides! And her patience for the issues. And the whole Media Carrier Solutions GmbH team!

P.S.: Thank you Cameron for this amazing speech!