This picture by Mark Blevis captures some of PodCamp Philadelphia’s participants. This weekend is the big event down there. And the people participating will gather and talk about how they plan to use social media for their own needs.
An Important Distinction
Things like audio podcasting and Facebook and Twitter are there for you to use towards whatever ends you seek. If you simply want to reach out to people and be social, any of them will work just fine. But if you’re seeking to build all these channels into something that matters to you, or matters to your business, or helps you build personal brand, then you really have to give some thought to how you use the various elements to build a platform.
Communication Loop
I feel a blog, properly equipped, is a must for being the hub of your communication loop. By this, I mean, your blog should have comments enabled (and no login required, and easy to comment), and should ultimately have an email address at the very least where people can reach you. Why? Because you need a place where the conversation can come to ground. Where someone can reach out and SPEAK with you at their choice, versus just when you put out material. On my blog, I have my email address, my phone number, easy commenting, and every social network I spend time frequenting.
Social Texture
As per my recent post on Twitter being like a Director’s Commentary, services like Twitter and Flickr provide texture to your social media conversation. That means people get to learn more about you from what they experience there. Same thing with Facebook. It’s a place for people to learn more about you, especially you, unplugged.
Multi Media
If you are an audio podcaster, consider text or photo blogging as well. If you’re a videoblogger, consider text blogging or adding an audio-only track. Why? Because humans are all different and we all respond to different types of media in different ways. Justin Kownacki from Something to be Desired also keeps a blog and they work well together to give us something to consume, even when the show is between episodes or seasons.
Plan Your Execution
Making social media is excellent, especially if you have some kind of cohesive plan for what you’re doing. But consider your products. Are you using Twitter to build awareness and texture around you so that people will come and be part of your show? Then give the same value of your show inside your Twitters, and not just point links back to the episodes as they go up. If you’re an audio podcast about cooking, Twitter to me about your favorite recipes involving peaches or pears, alongside your conversational twittering. In Facebook, don’t invite me to bite zombie chumps. Send me a personal video through the messaging system telling me about your latest passions.
Budget Your Time
If you’re lucky enough to be doing this for your day job, keep in mind that there’s a master point behind all you’re doing. If you’re a reverend in a church, your point might be to make your media very accessible, easy to consume, and ready to engage in a conversation. If you’re making media for a car company, you might want to talk about the industry overall, highlight really cool cars people have tricked out, point to some of your favorite car video shows, like Fuel Time.
But BUDGET your time. Unless media making is your entire job, figure out how you’re going to use each service how, and pay attention to what time you’re using where. Don’t just roam around Second Life attending all the cool parties, because you might start neglecting your MySpace pages. Don’t talk all day in Twitter, if that means you’re not updating the Flickr stream with all the latest pics from your “customer appreciation cookout.”
It’s YOUR toolkit, and no, there isn’t really an instruction manual, unless you take what I’ve written as at least a recipe book. And then from there, it’s all yours.
What else do you need to know? What’s YOUR mix? How are you using social media in all its forms? And what services?
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Photo credit Mark Blevis