Social media continues to reshape the way businesses and customers interact. The increasing engagement propels inventive methods for savvy marketers to gain market share, obtain research insights, and leverage the company’s brand image. Further fueling the social media marketing engine are the almost limitless social media platforms and engaged users. Earlier this year, according to “EMarketer,” social network users are projected to end the year at 1.43 billion, an increase of 19.2 percent over 2011.
Accelerated innovation puts marketers on a never-ending quest for what is current. Social media experts, charged with spearheading the latest social and mobile tools, techniques, and resources, need to be on the cutting-edge of this changing landscape. Ironically, however, the business of social media can lead to isolation for marketers.
Where Do You Belong?
Executives may have difficulty in placing exactly where the social media expert fits into the company’s organization. According to “Mashable” (2010), 35 percent of social media professionals are part of the company’s digital marketing division, 21 percent are part of the communications team, and 19 percent are a hybrid of different departments. Social media experts often suffer from a lack of identification with their colleagues and trouble fitting in with their peers.
Due to budget constraints, social media experts often have conflicting duties that make it difficult to concentrate exclusively on social media plans. Additionally, if the social media expert works full-time on social media projects, the professional is often the sole person working on several different social media strategies. Although social media experts are charged with creating an empowering social media user experience, the experts can experience isolation and self-doubts.
Stay Connected with Your Peers
As a solution, networking events provide the perfect forum for social media professionals to share best practices, develop new bonds, and operate within a team environment. Networking opportunities encompass informal face-to-face meetings at the neighborhood Starbucks to more formal events, conferences, and how to seminars.
Marketers can search LinkedIn Events for upcoming networking options. LinkedIn Events detail each activity, sorted by relevance or date, and it conveniently shows other LinkedIn members who will be in attendance.
Social media experts can find like-minded professionals by joining ISSMM or participating at ISSMM’s CONVERGE conferences. In addition to obtaining the latest social media trending from top-notch worldwide social media influencers, CONVERGE attendees have ample opportunities to network with other social media experts. Networking is an essential component of every CONVERGE event and ISSMM creates novel ways for social media experts to find common ground. For example, during the Redmond, Washington CONVERGE, conference goers participated in Go-Kart racing at K1 Speed. This innovative, engaging activity broke the ice for CONVERGE attendees.
The next ISSMM Converge event will be held on February 12, 2013 at the Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton, California and is not to be missed. Finding your way out of isolation is remedied by attending ISSMM’s CONVERGE.
How do you stay connected? Post your thoughts in our comments.
Sharon Gee, CEO & CMO for Circle Dot Marketing, specializes in creating salient offline and online marketing campaigns for consumer-driven companies.
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