Using Social Networks to Promote your Business and

Attract Clients

John DupuisSteacie Science & Engineering Library

 April 24, 2009http://tinyurl.com/problogjd

http://xkcd.com/386/

I'm very bad at coming up with titles

I got suggestions from Friendfeed, Twitter and

Facebook

Some are silly, but all have a grain of truth

I started up a blog and all I got was five invites to give keynotes,

ten new collaborators, introduction to new funding

bodies, an interview in Nature, an invite to scifoo, three

papers...and a couple of t-shirts

 

• Thanks to Cameron Neylon for the suggestion

It's all about crowdsourcing

It's all about community

Attention and reputation

Promotion and networking

 

Attention is the first currency of the digital realm...Reputation is the second currency of the digital realm...To me this means that in the digital realm, you have to stop thinking that you're in the XYZ business...and start thinking that you're in the attention and reputation business.

-Richard Akermanhttp://scilib.typepad.com/science_library_pad/2008/01/the-currencies.html

Attention + Reputation = New clients

But it's a long term strategy

Attention needs to be won everyday

Reputation needs to be earned everyday

Converting them into real-world currency takes time,

energy, patience and persistence.

The digital realm is crowded with others vying for the

same attention.

The two tools we'll be looking at for getting attention and building

reputation are

Blogging and Twitter

http://xkcd.com/519/

What are blogs

 

A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. 

-Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

http://simonandemily.wordpress.com/

http://torontorealtyblog.com/

http://toreal.blogs.com/

http://xkcd.com/369/

What is Twitter

 

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow anybody to access them.  

-Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

http://twitter.com/Oprah

http://twitter.com/aplusk

http://twitter.com/REMAXCanada

http://twitter.com/GeorgeONeill

Rules of thumb for engaging in social networks

It's about creating a personal brand

And reflecting that brand online

Think of your online presence as combining

A CV, a portfolio, a business card, a dinner party

introduction

Be honest

Be genuine

Be yourself

Most of all

Be passionate

What's the best way to engage people on social

networks?

As a potential client?

Or as a fellow citizen?

Remember

It's about building a long term relationship

Online social networks are just like offline ones

If you spam your network...

Think hot potato

Creating your own blog

Best option is to set up your own domain name and

install blogging software

Or you can host with Blogger.com or Wordpress.com

A word about Search Engine Optimization

Some other tools

Search• Google Blog Search: http://blogsearch.google.com• Technorati: http://technorati.com/• Twitter Search: http://search.twitter.com/

 Assessment• Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics/• Qwitter: http://useqwitter.com

 Other tools:• Twitter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Twitter_services_and_applications

Contact

John Dupuisjdupuis@yorku.cahttp://jdupuis.blogspot.comhttp://friendfeed.com/johndupuis http://twitter.com/dupuisj

This presentation: http://tinyurl.com/problogjd Suggested readings: http://delicious.com/jdupuis/problogging License: