If You Want To Get Social Here's 5 Ways To Get Started !

I have been on LinkedIn for quite a few years, not really that active, just collecting the odd contact or two, mostly from the company I work for (not sure what my logic was in that!). My Twitter account is a little more recent, and was mainly used to check (and moan about) the transport systems in this country!

Twelve months ago, I was wondering what value social media could add to me professionally, whether it was over hyped and whether it was actually too late to try and embrace it – so I thought I would try an experiment to see what I could learn and what impact I could have over the following twelve months.

Getting to the point, I have now grown my twitter following from nothing to over 20,000 followers, and am (at time of writing at least!) in the top 100 of profile views of Microsoft people on LinkedIn (from over 135,000 people). I know a lot of people have more followers and greater levels of influence, but I thought I would share some of my experiences to encourage others to try the something similar, and show that anyone can get involved with social.

My context for Social in this article is about sharing information and ideas to promote your personal or company brand (or both)

We have moved from a time of ‘It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know’ to ‘It’s not about who you know, it’s about who knows you!’ 

I thought for this article I would share just a five things and if enough interest I will look to share some more in the new year, so please feedback if valuable.

1. You don’t have be a Millennial to be Social

First off, being Social is a mindset, not an age group. Its about being prepared to share the things you know and learn with others. ‘Knowledge is power’ is an outdated concept. Every day we are exposed to vast amounts of information, just share some of what sticks or you find interesting with others.

2. If you don't have time, just share what you know

You might think that Social is just another thing you don't have time to do, but you don't need to spend hours of your week to have impact, just sharing a couple of times a week is enough. If you are sharing links or articles make sure you personalise what you share with a few words or lines about why it is worth reading.

3. Being Social is about being curious and questioning

If something interests you, find out some more about it, or connect with someone who does – just by doing this you will come across content and ideas to share and make some great connections. Just by finding and sharing information with others, I have found I have learnt a huge amount myself.

4. You can be a brand ambassador without trying to brainwash everyone

The content that you share is personal and a reflection of you, I post a fair amount about Microsoft but in a balanced way, some of if it analyst opinion, some sheer speculation and some marketing material. If you just post marketing material from your organisation it isn’t about you and likely to turn a lot of people off very quickly, and as mentioned before add value and opinion to your content.

5. Widen your net and embrace diversity

On LinkedIn, I would only connect with anyone I knew, or was in the technology industry. In being more Social I have realised the benefits of diversity of opinion, knowledge and culture. By being more open to the people who want to connect with you can give you a real diversity of opinion, interest and information, you can always ‘turn off’ anyone who abuses their connection with you.

Finally, for now I am still constantly learning, adapting and trying new things with Social, there is no end state, which is what makes things exciting – I am happy to share my experiences in more detail with people and learn from others what worked for them, and just as importantly, what didn’t!

You can follow me on Twitter at @nigewillson and here on LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/nigelwillson

Thanks for reading and as always, all views are my own and not those of the company I work for . . hope you found it interesting.