Better Late Than Never: My Recap of September’s Northern Virginia Search and Social Marketing (NoVaSSM) Meet Up

So here’s my belated recap for the last NoVa Search and Social Marketing (NoVaSSM) meeting held this past September 24th in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

Earlier in the month, I had been invited to speak at the September 24th NoVaSSM meet up. Group co-founder Ronan Keane was interested in having me lead the social media panel at their event and was very excited to incorporate social media as a key part of the evening’s discussions.

I wasn’t sure what to expect upon arriving. While I had gotten the 4-1-1 scoop from Ronan and co-founder Andrew Bates earlier that week, I was still not sure as to how the evening would go.

The good news is that all went super. Folks seemed very pleased with the social media panel discussions which became highly interactive at various points throughout the evening.

Some of my general observations, comments and thoughts from that evening include:

Genuine interest!
Everyone that partook in the social media discussion was sincerely interested in the topic and how to make it work best for their business.

Desire to learn!
Soooooo many people said they WANT TO LEARN more about social media which was just fabulous to hear. When you seriously want to learn something, this usually means that you’ll do all that you can to acquire new knowledge and be open minded to new ideas and this is a necessary mindset when dipping toes into social waters because there is so much that is “new” to adapt to … which can often be overwhelming and even demotivating for some.

Inquisitive bunch!
Something I really enjoyed that evening was that this group was highly inquisitive about social media tools and approaches.

What I shared…
Validation
The questions being posed by the group at the social media table discussion were questions being asked by countless other small businesses and organizations. Everyone wants to better understand how social utility tools and engaging on social networks will “work” for their business.

Twitter “recipes”
I often refer to conversational and sharing approaches on Twitter as “Twitter recipe” because what I have found is that everyone’s effort to engage on Twitter is a unique mix of “ingredients” that make up their Twitter feed. And just like we know that not all recipes turn out well (some taste like crap, others get burned and still others just don’t come out right no matter how the ingredients are blended), one can say similarly that not all Twitter feeds are deliciously successful. The right combo of informational sharing, RT’ing, conversation and entertaining personality can bring flavor to any Twitter feed, leaving followers begging for more

To do well with social media, get off the computer first
Some people get so crazed when it comes to social media anything. They tend to forget, however, that to be successful in the social web (for business purposes), you have to start first by turning off the computer. What I mean to say is that well, well before you get onto any social network or begin to engage in an online community, you first have to think about what you are trying to achieve. This advice is so boring because it’s so fundamental and un-sexy but you’d be surprised with just how many people do just the opposite. They get all excited or just want to dive in and get started but often forget to step back and contemplate first on how that effort will enhance, complement or augment their current marketing efforts.

Since presenting this topic at NoVaSSM, I have received various emails from attendees thanking me for my advice and guidance. I would just like to say, besides thank you, that I wouldn’t have this advice and guidance if I didn’t read voraciously on the subject and if I didn’t practice what I have learned so I highly encourage those interested in the topic of social media marketing to READ and apply what you have learned.

Want to very sincerely thank Ronan and Andrew for welcoming me to speak at this group with open arms.

Here’s to hoping you are NOT reading this blog post on a Saturday and instead enjoying the day!