Linked InLike anything to do with social media, you don't just be there. You have to embrace it, blend in and become active to gain the value it presents. So I did. I had quite a few years experience in sales and digital printing, so it wasn't too surprising that I hovered around sales groups before I jumped in. After all, it was pretty underwhelming. All I had to do was write about my opinion on matters others were embraced in. What happened was, my opinion was valued, my experiences I shared were welcome. I started to meet people. One of the first was Mike Lehr when I commented on career advice. Not before long, we were messaging and exchanging information after he voted and commended my comments..... he seemed to know what he was doing and had a esteemed background in intuition and even authored books on the topic.
Shortly after, in a Digital Printing group I connected with Sandy Hubbard. We had similar careers with printing and magazines so it wasn't surprising that she became a mentor and champion. Sandy was a publisher and writer and encouraged my viewpoint so I thought "what the heck" I will start a Blog about sales and draw from what I had commented on in Linked In to get started. The thought was, if it is good enough for sales types, it may be good enough for the whole world wide web.
What drove my curiosity was why was there such a fuss about "Social Media"? I admit I was skeptical and stubborn: I didn't want to be associated with or thought of as a time waster online. Donna encouraged and convinced me to get on Twitter. I had come up with the pseudonym optioneerJM by then, getting a lot of direct questions what an optioneer was? The explanation seemed natural and easy to answer: "An optioneer provides multiple solutions then executes to solve the problems, while gaining buy in from others." It seemed logical: option with re-engineering to come up with option-eer combining both.
I hung my handle on Twitter, linking my blog, and primarily using it as a gateway to drive attention to my blog. It became so much more. Sandy Hubbard was a pro and tucked me onto her side and showed me around: First stop was a group of early adopters on social media called #USGuys. I was thrilled. I was starting to get some momentum to my thinking that if you can't wrap your head around something, find out why that is. Research, read, absorb. So I did. Thankfully, they opened their arms and let me into the club (it isn't a club by any stretch of the imagination). A group of people that were not only had a large following individually, but also many had started to leverage their knowledge to launch their own expertise as business opportunities.
My dog Buddy
Admittedly, I did have a Facebook profile for family and friends AND GAMES. I was uncomfortable letting others know that I fooled around on Farmville and Yoville, with the exception of my sister and good friend Allison Tasker. What amazed me was on the page, the ladies whom I connected with didn't just share crates of vegetables to expand your farm. I noticed how they shared recipes, quotes, sayings and found causes like domestic abuse, bullying and missing children. I was turning my head around on the expansive reach of Facebook, collaborating with my new found friends from across the globe.
I had the optioneerJM persona established by then, thus I expanded to include a Facebook Page. I started to think that some of my tweets that were nuggets captured and shared may be of value by encompassing them on Facebook. I discovered that many of my awesome friends from Twitter were active on Facebook and it was more intimate. Many of my friends, like Joseph Gier and Libby Sweiger were active on Facebook and I got to learn and appreciate more about them as people by their posts.
I was a keener by now. No holding back. In fact, I was a social media enthusiast. So much so, I became a social media Evangualist, singing its praises and the wonderment of all that could be gained. Mike Lehr caught on, set up his profiles, with me giving him hints in the background. Almost immediately, not only was Mike embraced, he was guest blogging for some of the gurus from #USGuys. Mike didn't need to be convinced that it was a marvelous adventure. In fact, Mike's Blog was my first of a select few to follow of Blogs I followed, credited as such on my blog. He was very kind and reciprocated. That taught me one of the first lessons: help others while being conscious of whether they appreciate it and acknowledge it by sharing back.
Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr
I was a late bloomer to Google Plus, but the logic stood out. I applied the same reasoning of why I used Google's BlogSpot to host my Blog. If you want to increase your presence in social media, you can't go wrong with putting big brother Google behind your efforts.
I can't remember how I stumbled upon Pinterest, but it became an addition for my visual appetite. I loved looking at wonderful photographs, art and images. There is an abundance of stimuli there. Along with recipes, how to, decorating, quotes and a multitude of many other things. I got on board and immediately recognized what a great way to capture the things you loved and those you admired under a synopsis called Pinterest.
I like images and quotes. I started to marry the two, sometimes creating my own quote, other times borrowing from the well known or obscure. Regardless, the visuals are usually beautiful . I play with InstaGRAM a little, admittedly, mostly to see what my kids are sharing. It is fun, flamboyant and brilliantly impulsive. I still keep it toned down compared to the others, but there is a lot to be said about the plethora of images there. It was a no brainer to get on to Tumblr for the same reason. I can discover fantastic images, to be shared on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
I'm honored to have made a lot of talented and remarkable connections. Every day I log on any of the sites, I learn something and more than likely share something else. My reputation and brand as optioneerJM has evolved from that. Quite simple. Very remarkable.
I will be writing a Gratitude blog shortly to personalize and thank those that helped and inspired me to be a better social media citizen to commemorate my five years on social media, starting May 2010.
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