I took a bit of a break from social media over the past year. I posted occasionally but nothing of real meaning, and only things that reflected what I was going through. I let the cancer consume my social media presence even though I pretended it didn’t.
Since starting to interview and apply for more social media openings I’ve felt hypocritical, a real do as I say not as I do person – which I hate. So I’ve been trying to clean up my act across all of the platforms. Which when running from doctors appointments to interviews has not been an easy feat. Okay that’s an excuse – I’ve been afraid to dive back in.
Thursday I was told I had pneumonia (there is a point to this), so I had all the time in the world for the first time in a few weeks and I dove in. Head first.
I used my old knowledge – followed familiar hashtags, saw what old Twitter friends were up to, actually tweeted things not about myself – got involved in the conversation. And you know what, it wasn’t that scary. Forty new people wanted to see more of me, I even scored some potential new Twitter friends out of this new beginning.
It was scary jumping back in, but the thought of being asked why I can’t back up the social skills I was babbling on about was even worse.
For the first time, in a long time, I understood businesses hesitation toward social media. It’s something every social media professional comes across – companies worrying about saying the right thing and putting themselves out there to be judged. The truth is until you make a big enough of a splash no one is going to care, consider the first few months trial and error. Do what we all tell you to do. Follow industry leaders, share helpful articles, join the conversation with helpful input – be the best version of google you can be. You just might find a long lost Internet friend/customer/new go to thought leader out of it.
