Monday, 19 January 2015

Dragged into Social Media Kicking and Screaming!

Social media was becoming a big craze in the early 2000’s. I was receiving invitations to join Facebook every day. What on earth was this? So I searched the platform for their “Terms of Use” and read the entire document. When I read about the fact that FB reserved the rights to everything you posted on your profile or business page, including your pictures, I was shocked, so I procrastinated accepting the invitations. It just did not seem right to me.

Then in 2009 when I was director of sales and marketing for a senior care organization, I discovered that their research showed that their target market was the children of the seniors, usually the gals. Where were these gals in the middle of the day when I was giving a presentation at a senior center?

They were at work! How was I ever going to reach them?

I digress to explain the next bit.

I have two sons who are computer experts. That’s right, they are geeks, but I love them just the same. My oldest son had started a podcast show and it was becoming very popular with his target audience, so he suggested that I start one of my own. He helped me get it all set up, and I became the “Elder Care Specialist” with a show called “Elder Care 911”.

The very first time I posted an interview on my new show, I had a response from a gal on Facebook who said, “Oh my gosh! I had no idea that there was something like this available to help me with my 95 year old Dad!” It proved that FB is where the gals are. I continued this show until I left there in January 2011.

Back to reaching my target audience.

My wise son suggested that FB would be where the gals are hanging out in the evenings after work, and they were also online searching for solutions to ease their pain of being sandwiched between aging parents and their careers and families. It was my son who explained how important it was for me to have a FB page.

I was literally “dragged into social media kicking and screaming!”

So if you feel this way, I can totally relate.

Here is something else that I discovered about social media…it’s FREE! You can set up a profile and business page on LinkedIn and FB and Twitter for free.

This leads to another thing that I have discovered about people and small businesses. Most of them have no budget to market themselves with. So whatever they can do for free is bonus!

I have been blessed because I have a son who coached me with my social media in the beginning. I would never have started any online marketing if I did not have a coach to help me. It was all so foreign to me that I needed to have someone who was patient and could understand me.

I owe “being dragged kicking and screaming into social media” to my son. J
Watch for more of my story in “Discovering A New World”.

Got a LinkedIn question? Feel free to email me and I will answer it in my next blog.

Fired at Fifty: Stop Looking For Work and Discover What You Were Meant to Do.
http://bit.ly/FiredatFiftyKindle

Christine Till
The LinkedIn Marketing Mentress
1-780-904-9557



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