Social Networking For Personal and Professional Success

On February 26, 2009, I had the opportunity to take part in Bentley University’s alumni event, Social Networking ROI for You and Your Business, featuring alumnus and social media professional, CC Chapman.

Among the audience was a mix of novices and more experienced social networkers. In an engaging and humorous way, CC presented best practices and words of advice for maximizing ROI from these tools.

- Use status updates on LinkedIn to spread the word about your current project(s)

- Keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date. Jobs and projects completed years ago can become relevant at any time

- Regardless of the social network, figure out what works for you (personal and professional). Determine what information you do and do not want to share—for example, do you want your professional contacts to see the photos of your family vacation to the Grand Canyon?--and apply the privacy settings accordingly

- Consider the difference between Friends and friends in your social networks. It is good to have both. The latter could contain casual contacts and may, for example, be divided between professional and personal, while your Friends are those with whom you can share all of your content and will be the most active in your networks

- When contemplating advertising or online promotions, know your audience. Facebook makes it easy to target promotions to certain groups based on the demographics and psychographics they list in their profiles. You can explore different options before buying an ad

-Fan pages on Facebook also helps to spread buzz about your offerings

CC also reminded us to enjoy the social networking experience. His most important advice, regardless of your level of experience with social networks: “Take the time to play, understand, and ask questions.”