Adventures in Toastmasters, episode 1

Here is the speech I gave in Toastmasters today. It could have gone better. I finished it just last night and had no time to practice. Not the best example of my writing either, but when you only have 5-7 minutes to speak, you can't really elaborate very much. The objective was to organize a speech: intro, body, and conclusion.

By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard about Facebook. I was actually one of the first people to ever use Facebook. Back then, it was only for college students. Your college had to be on the list, and you had to have a working email from that school. It was meant as a place for college students to stay connected and share information: find used text books and rides home, stuff like that. Of course, the only thing it was really good for was stalking your classmates. Facebook has changed a great deal since then. Now there are even more sites--MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn--to name just a few. These sites are all part of the social media phenomenon. Social media has given us all new ways to keep in touch with our friends and families, but as all of these sites evolve, they also create a great way for businesses to keep in touch with their customers. They provide a fast and cheap way of communicating new information while getting almost instantaneous feedback. So today I’m going to share with you some information on three major types of social media--blogging, miroblogging (more commonly known as Twitter), and the multipurpose sites like Facebook--and the new opportunities these sites create for businesses to interact with their customers.

Blogging was one of the first forms of social media to hit the scene. A blog is basically an online journal, and there are very few limits on their content. People use them to share journal entires, poetry, and book and movie reviews. You can use them to post pictures, audio, and video content. Anybody can create a blog, and in most cases they are free to create and free for others to access. Most blogs also have an area for readers to post comments and have discussions. Blogs are a great way for businesses to communicate with their customers because you can provide as much or as little information as you want. You can use it as a place to advertise new products or events. A blog created for Intelliconnect, for example, could feature articles that alert customers of new content or features being introduced, possibly even preview some of that content. Blogs can also be used to educate the customer. My fiance works in marketing for a life insurance brokerage. They use their blog, not so much to advertise their own services, but to provide free information on how to choose life insurance. By doing this, they build trust in their customers while getting their name out. And because blogs feature a comments section, as soon as you post an entry, you can start gathering feedback from your customers.

Another form of social media that more and more businesses are taking advantage of is micro-blogging, the most common form being Twitter. Micro-blogging consists of short and frequent information updates answering the question “what are you doing?” Micro-blogging pages like Twitter let users follow each other, which basically means your friends’ updates all show up on your homepage. Companies can use micro-blogging as another quick way to provide updates to the customer. Many companies I follow use it as a way to direct people to new blog entires they may have. And what really makes this valuable to businesses is that followers can retweet content, which means that they take the information from your update and post it on their own profile, allowing all of their followers to see it. All of a sudden the business’s message is spreading like wildfire. Because the updates are usually short and informal, businesses tend to develop a more personal relationship with their followers. One of the more effective Twitter business profiles I’ve seen is Southwest Airlines. They communicate updates to their customers effectively, but they also interact with their followers, developing a better relationship and understanding with their customers.

The last type of social media that I’ll cover is what I like to call the do-it-all pages, Facebook and MySpace being the most prominent. These sites allow users to create a profile that includes background and contact information, a section for entries very similar to a blog, and status updates very similar to the micro-blogging updates. You can also post things on other peoples’ pages. All users are given a news feed that updates anytime a friend has a new post or status update. The profiles on these sites continue to be very personal in use, but where businesses can really take advantage of these sites is with the fan pages. Fan pages allow you to create a very similar profile where you can post news updates, keep a calendar with upcoming events, and gather followers. You get the benefits of both blogging and micro-blogging plus more, all within the same page. Your fans will see updates in their news feed, can RSVP to upcoming events, invite their friends to become fans, and make comments on the business’s fan page. It creates a highly interactive way to get in touch with your customers and gather feedback at the same time.

Because there are so many social media websites out there, in order to really reap the benefits, a business would need to use a combination of these sites. And while it seems a bit daunting to keep up with, as all of these sites evolve, there are more ways to synch up different accounts. I have my accounts set up so that any update I make on Twitter is automatically sent to my Facebook page, and when I make a new post in my blog both my Twitter and Facebook accounts send out a link to the new entry. It takes a bit of training, but by becoming familiar with the different types of social media, businesses open themselves up to a wealth of opportunities to strengthen relationships with customers. So the next time you catch your kids on Facebook at all hours of the night, just think of it as career training.

Graphophobia

I am a writer with a fear of writing.

I am afraid what I write won't be good.

I am afraid what I write won't be perfect.

I am afraid what I write won't live up to my own ridiculously high standards.

I am afraid what I write won't be liked.

I am afraid what I write won't make sense.

I am afraid what I write won't be useful.

I am afraid what I write won't be meaningful.

I am a writer crippled by the fear of writing.

My new challenge: In order to get over my apparent fear of writing, I'm going to make myself write something here everyday, no matter how random. Hopefully, by writing enough, I will eventually find my voice again. Any helpful hints and suggestions are always welcome. Lord knows I need a new blog title.