Finding
the right social media voice can be one of the biggest challenges for those new
to the world of Twitter, Facebook, and the community conversation. Just how
much personal information should you reveal without damaging your professional
persona?
Three
speakers, Neil Infield, Meghan Jones and Laura Woods, all early adopters of
social media tools and with a wealth of experience between them, passed on tips, advice and a few words of warning.
Laura
began the session by saying that when on Twitter it important to present
yourself as a real person, not just an automated RSS feed. She suggested taking a
‘profersonal’ approach - that is blending professional comments with something a
bit more personal. Instead of just retweeting and making dry comments, throw in
tweets about your own interests and engage in conversation. The key thing to
remember is that just because you’re talking about work issues you don’t have
to erase your personality.
This
point was echoed by Neil who stated that you 'need to present
yourself as a whole human being' when using social media. Of course to what extent you can
do this varies from sector to sector. Meghan suggested having multiple
personas through different accounts and possibly using pseudonyms. All speakers
emphasised the fact that anyone - not just your dedicated followers - can read your posts and
comments, so think twice before writing or uploading pictures.
Perhaps
it came as a surprise to some, but there are clear career benefits to using social media.
Through blogging and tweeting Laura explained how she had raised her profile
and as a result had been offered speaking and writing commissions. Meghan
talked about the ‘serendiptious opportunities’, be it making new contacts or
promoting work projects, while Neil said that his blog was an important tool
for driving traffic to the British Library’s Business & IP Centre.
As
a warning to those who still feel uncomfortable about the whole ‘engaging with
social media’ business, Neil made the simple point that whether you like it or
not, your clients are already out there using it. If you don’t get involved,
they’ll pass you by.
That
said, don’t feel obliged to sign up to everything. Sample different tools (take
note: Twitter may not be around forever), but stick to what you feel
comfortable with. As Meghan confessed, ‘I’m a Facebook refusnik’.
Other
points made included the fact that LinkedIn is perfect for those with a bad
memory as after an event you can remind yourself as to who you were talking to.
Also, tweeting may be a much more effective note taking method than scribbling away
in a notebook - condensing a point into 140 characters focuses the mind.
Possibly the
best piece of advice though came from Neil who suggested that it is better to
‘ask for forgiveness rather than permission’ when in doubt about something you
want to publish. Perhaps this should have come with a disclaimer but is
very much in keeping with the ‘never wrong for long’ approach taken by news
website editors.
Photographs: Seema Rampersad
Thanks
to the three speakers for giving such excellent talks, SLA Europe for organising the event, and Seema Rampersad for the use of the photos.
