In the world we live, Social Media is a 'BIG' influence maker. Right from what we see on TV and hear on radio to what our parents speak, everything and everyone gets influenced by Social Media in some way or the other.
However, the two questions that most professionals ask about Social Media are
a) Is it useful for me?
b) Where do I begin with, I have no network and there are so many platforms around?
For the usefulness part, I'll cite a small anecdote. At a recent conclave where I was one of the speakers, a gentleman walked up to me after my talk and after some niceties said, "Social Media has become so integral even to mainstream IT companies that we make sure that the people we hire are proficient in use of Social Media."
Well that was a revelation to me and later on when I looked at his card, it read, VP & GM, Cloud Division, Asia Pacific and Japan. (I'm withholding the name of the MNC but it's one of the top 25 IT companies of the world according to the 2014 fortune 500 list).
The statement coming from a person at such a position adds all the more relevance to it apart from showing how being active on Social Media might help you when you apply for your next job.
But the question is, why would a company make Social Media proficiency and activity, a criterion for job? 'If I'm applying for the job of a Drupal developer, why the hell I should be on Twitter?' - as a close friend of my put it!
The answer might not be as difficult as you think. Being active on Social Media gives you an outlet. It gives you a place where you can be yourself. And companies love to know who you actually are apart from making sure that you also become a brand ambassador for them on SM. Which company won't love to have a sneak peak into your life and make you its brand ambassador and that also for free.
The bigger and tougher question however is - Where to begin with!
There are two steps to begin with Social Media
i) Identifying the right Social Media platform
ii) Identifying the right audience
What is the right Social Media platform - It completely depends on your skills. If you like writing you can try Quora or Blogs. If you are comfortable in communicating things is a crisp manner, Twitter might be your thing and if you have a knack for photography, Instagram might be the place you want to land up. Facebook will, in the current scenario of popularity and ease of use, be the prime medium from where you will share anything you post on the other platforms.
Identify the platform and start communicating. But communicate what? What should you be talking about on Social Media?
That brings us to the second step, identifying the right audience. To identify the right audience, you first need to identify what do you want to talk about. Food, movies, music, religion, fashion, activism, humor, photography, politics or opinions on everything? What are your do's and don'ts? Where are you most comfortable?
Once you have identified what you need to say, just go around on your platform of choosing and you will for sure find communities, groups, topics, tags or people interested in the same thing.
That is it! All you need to do from here on is to be a regular - as in - spending just 15 minutes a day talking about a topic of your choosing, to people who are interested in it, on a platform of your choice!
Try it. It won't be difficult!
