This weeks guest blog post is by Becky Robinson, a social media consultant and blogger for Mountain State University. (Do you want more than that?) If so: She is also the mother of three daughters and currently lives in Chicago, IL.
This week marks the one year anniversary of my entry into the social media world.
I am going to say something bold (and risk sounding corny, too):
SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED MY LIFE.
I am still the same person at my core: my values, my beliefs, and my purpose, but becoming involved in social media has changed my habits, my activities, and my aspirations. I have a new career path and every day brings new relationships and opportunities.
My social media involvement started with Facebook, last New Year’s Day. Less than a month into my Facebook experiment, I reconnected with lots of old friends. Then one day, a high school classmate I hadn’t talked to or seen in more than twenty years posted a status update looking for freelance writers.
I have always wanted to write. At age 8, my friends and I created newspapers and went door to door trying to sell them. As a preteen, I filled a series of flannel covered journals with lines of poetry and stories.
I majored in creative writing in college but after graduation I got married, went to grad school, and got a job (not writing). After several years of 9 to 5, and 12 weeks of maternity leave, I wanted nothing more than to stay home with my daughter, so that’s what I did. Three daughters and 8 years later, I had a store of creative energy waiting to be unleashed.
Being involved in social media has given me an outlet for creativity and means for connecting in relationships with people all over the world. On a personal level, blogging, Facebook, and Twitter are just plain fun.
Professionally, though, social media has provides an amazing platform for building not only my personal brand, but also the brand of the university that I represent.
My old friend John, who got me started with freelancing, works for the marketing department at Mountain State University. When I became a part of the team there, we started to explore the impact we could make with social media.
We started with a blog. To the blog, we added a Twitter presence. Then we started to experiment with expanding the university’s Facebook presence.
The whole point of social media for Mountain State – for anyone – is relationships. We are finding new approaches to connect with current students, new ways to make our brand known to potential students. We are finding new methods to delight and engage our students, and new avenues to involve them in community with each other.
And you know the best part? It’s really just plain fun.
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I encourage everyone to check in and see what is going on. What a great way to make social media have deeper meaning!fff