Social Media Day

The world (well social media people) celebrated Social Media Day on the 30th June.

There were more than 600+ meetups in 93 countries today with thousands of attendees.

The day honoured the technological and societal advancements that have allowed people to have a dialogue, to connect and to engage not only the creators of media, but perhaps more importantly, one another.

I believe in Social Media, in the fact that businesses can connect with their clients and consumers. And that business people and users are learning to connect on levels and in ways we have never dreamed of.

I have started Aware Net Connect to have discussions about Social Media and connecting with like minded people and discussing how advanced social media is. If you want to attend a discussion follow Aware Net Connect on Twitter.

Social Media is here to stay. And social media will become as normal as websites and emails.

It is so exciting and wonderful. I aim to educate people on how to be Internet wise and savvy.

10 things they never told you about social media ...

Thanks to Jye Smith, who posted 10 things he learnt and was never told about social media and then added another 11 on here.


And all the stuff (bs) he had to wade through until he got there. Jye Smith is the digital strategist for Weber Shandwick and was the Head of Social Media for Switched On Media and @jyesmith on Twitter; he has learnt a lot and is a great one to follow and learn from.


Here they are:

1. Businesses do this for the bottom line, not holding hands
2. You don’t have to respond to everything that is said: just set expectation with your community
3. Data is critical, knowledge is success – know the difference
4. The biggest social networks don’t always have the best return: Facebook isn’t always the answer
5. Social media as a stand alone strategy, rarely does all that well (you need wider digital and other media support): try SEO, PPC
6. Understanding your or your clients sales funnel is critical to strategy (and selling it internally)
7. Social Media is bigger than marketing, PR and customer service – hence why it’s hard to pick a leader
8. Online communities can take years to build meaningful relationships: is your agency to prepared to hang in there? Is your client?
9. Social media campaigns can exist.  Set your expectations: if you want to run a 3 month social media campaign, just set the expectations (in the word of Scott Drummond: the party’s here for 2 months, after that, you can go home)
10. Social media experts exist: they’re just people who know a little more than the next person, in a given situation – I have no idea why it became “insightful”, or cool more to the point, to denounce social media professionals.

Another 11

These people work in this day to day.  Not just for show, or for a sense of belonging. Puts some food on the table. And these people have also been kind enough to answer the same question. Most of their answers will form new blog posts for me:

1. Gavin Heaton, (my hero) Social Media Director, SAP: how to deal with the “social” when it becomes “personal”
2. Jess Nichols: You need to find a balance between not sharing anything & oversharing everything. So many people go to extremes & can do more harm than good
3. Mandi Bateson, Digital Planning Director, Daemon Digital: How defensive people get when you take the conversation from a company level down to people – on both sides of the fence.  eg. managing internal or client astroturfers who are proud of their work and pounce on negative feedback b/c they take it personally
4. Alex Asigno, Head of SEO, Switched On Media: the importance of listening
5. Karalee Evans, Social Media Manager, Amnesia : In my humble opinion, the number 1 untaught lesson: how little ROI is understood in Social Media.  The misconceptions of Social Media as intangible needs to be addressed.
6. Lucie Snape, Digital Strategist, Ogilvy: the importance of managing your personal brand
7. Marek Wolski, Digital Marketer: Patience. Its a long term commitment that builds relationships. It takes time to create, implement & optimise your crm in social contexts.
8. Tiphereth Gloria, Social Media Manager, GPYR Sydney: how much people want brands to have a human face i.e. admit mistakes, be real, apologise, move on
9. Heather Snodgrass, Strategy Director, We Are Social: it depends how good your teacher is!
10. Nicola Swankie, Account Director, McCann: just how labour intensive it is
11. Kimberley Lee, PR Communications, ParkYoung: although online connection is great, don’t forget about the power of offline connections too.

Thanks to people on Twitter and following people like Trevor Young, Heath from ColesOnline and Gavin Heaton; who really do social media well as well as working for a business (Heath) or being a PR Warrior (Trevor) or just being generally brilliant and approachable (Gavin), they inspired me to run my own social media business and focus on SMO, business branding and now educating others as well (Aware Net Connect).


Social media is changing how we all communicate, do business and communicate with each other. I believe that each business big or small can become the face and voice of their business and learn what works by trying all kinds of social media sites, making mistakes, admitting to be human and communicating.


I learn a new thing every day; thanks to this wonderful career of mine.

Introducing Aware Net Connect ...

As part of my business Social Status, I have seen the need to raise consciousness over the Internet (in regards to usage amongst all users, young and old)

I have developed an educational component called Aware Net Connect to educate users, small businesses, home based businesses, teens and adults, in fact every one who uses the Internet to discuss privacy issues, photos, work issues, social issues especially with parents who have young children and teens and what sort of information should be left private amongst real friends and 'privacy' of information on the Internet.

I would like to discuss and raise issues regarding, age, information, friends, groups, meetings, messages and how to keep young children, teens and even adults informed of and on the Internet.

I will be holding reasonably priced educational workshops and seminars with schools, parents, students and business owners regarding sites and issues I or others have personally experienced and raise all of our social consciousness together.

In the meantime, I have started a meetup.com group http://www.meetup.com/awarenetconnect/

Please feel free to tell your co workers, family and friends and contact me if you’d like any information about either Social Status or Aware Net Connect. 

Both parts of my business work alongside each other to make every user Internet savvy!

Small Businesses and Social Media

Got ideas for an event or function?


Are you having a launch or a seminar, a talk, a party, new products coming in or a sale?


Yes do some e-marketing and send information to your clients about what is happening in your company, shop, small business or even if you are working from home.


May I help you set up a blog so you can add blog posts about whatever your business is up to.?You can add widgets, add pictures, add a following button, tag words, labels, a visitor counter and set up a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account and inform your customers/clients and locals about the work you do.


I realise that running a business on your own means you have less time for marketing. Try to set aside an hour a day for this. Come in, answer emails, address your daily tasks and issues, then send an update. Write a few posts over a week and then upload it onto your site when you have a bit of down time.


Save all your photos in labelled files (yes organisation is key) so when you have 15 or 20 minutes you can quickly upload photos onto your blog, site and whichever social media site you have decided to use to continue marketing and promoting your business.


Social Media, SMO, is becoming as important as answering emails, sorting out bills, doing accounting, ordering stock, meeting clients and advertising. If you have a small business and want to be part of something bigger and which means that you can find contacts, make recommendations, help others AND build your business, then this is an easy way of marketing and keeping your clients and consumers in the know.


And if this all sounds a bit too much for you; contact me and we'll set it up together and I can write blog posts, add widgets, build your business both online and socially.

Raising social awareness

This post is in light of what happened in Sydney, to 18 year old Nona Belomesoff, who was lured by a teen who claimed he loved animals on Facebook and claimed he had been working for Discovery Channel. He lured Nona to a site for potential training for a future job and her body was found yesterday.

The internet is always going to be used by predators and by people who can access all sorts of information. While I am a firm believer in and of social media, marketing and networking and finding potential jobs on the Internet, I do believe in keeping certain details private.

In a sense, I believe in building a brand and a profile of yourself that does not have to contain information such as the year you were born, who you are in a relationship with and your physical home address and school you currently attend. Unless there is a reason why you as a business and a brand are using these details. My Facebook is private and I am very aware that my blog is public and open to public scrutiny and that my Twitter updates are seen by everyone.

In terms of networking, finding jobs and building a business brand, social media is and has proved a very positive experience for me and other small business owners. However, I am aware that each Twitter update is just a glimpse into my life and each blog post does not contain any information which might cause difficulties for me at a later stage.

Pictures, well people can access pictures on Twitter and public blogs, I selected a generic picture of myself. Facebook does give the option to set up all your personal information and details to friends only; look at your friends carefully and only select friends who you know, have had contact with (a lot of mine are diabetes bloggers and authors) or are genuinely friends of yours.

Men (often, really often) ask to be added as your friend on all social media sites because they can access your and your friends pictures and all your details. Don't add them, block them instead.

Nona's parents and police have advised teens to remove people thay don't know and to remove intricate details off their sites and inappropriate pictures of themselves. Change your settings on all social media sites and pretend that all your public profiles are for a potential job interview. When people find you on the Internet, who do they see, what do they read about you and do they believe in you initially, virtually?

Let employers see you at your best and get a general overview of who you are. If they want to know more about you and general details if they are going to be offering you a job; let them ask you in an interview setting. An appropriate interview setting in daylight, in an office meeting.

While I do agree that blogs are seen as a personal journal and people choose their own subject matter; some people are very aware that their journals are online and in the public eye and they are very aware of what they put up on their journals. If yours is inapproppriate, has inappropriate details such as names, pictures, too much information and is becoming more of an extremely personal diary; take it down, in other words, delete it.

I am fully aware that I have been posting, be open and be aware of wonder. I have never outright lied on any of my posts, updates or information I give out. I am very aware that sites which are public and accessible to all need to be maintained. Not everyone wants to hear your ultra personal far too much unasked for information. Keep that information to friends who you know outsides of sites and people you trust.

In terms of building a business and a profile I am teaching my clients about being a brand without telling people every single fascinating and sometimes boring detail about yourself. I am chatty, informal, a bookworm, I am building a business, learning and asking questions and discovering life and learning all sorts of things I want to share; I teach clients the same, what information are you happy to give out to the public and which information is reserved for your consumers and clients on a need to know basis?

Being aware and being open is about being open to chances, to new experiences, to a potential job; I do not advocate being open in any way that you can put your life in danger. In some ways I am extremely aware of how open and easily accessible the Internet is to predators. That there are sick people out there who see social media, see networking and marketing on the Internet as a way to lure people and fulfill their own fantasies.

However there are thousands, millions of people who are who they are. Who are aware and are using social media sites to connect, to learn, to discover, to build brands, to market, to find like minded people and use social media sites as another way to help them attract consumers and clients.

These people do not mind if you ask them to send them details reagarding training, or who else is going, or if you can contact someone to discuss the training further. They send emails with their business cards, letters with their letter heads, these are people you can learn to trust. And these are people who don't mind if you need to know more details and more information about a job, or coming for training somewhere.

R.I.P. Nona Belomesoff.

Market, market, market your business ...

Google Maps is an excellent way to market and promote a business, you can send all sorts of information to your customers and clients.

I have used my listing to promote my services, added opening hours, which areas I serve (Eastern Suburbs, Inner West and the City) and included my contact number, website and blog.

When you sign up and make an initial listing, Google sends a postcard to you with a number to verify your listing and once you have decided how to market and promote your listing online and add payment details, opening hours, contact information and other relevant details for your company; clients and consumers can find your business on Google Maps.

It's a free listing which can be seen world wide and it opens up other alternatives; which other sites can you use to list your business for free and drive more clients to your website, business or blog?

I am going to be spending the next few days finding the best business directories and alternatives to list my business. It's another way to keep your business active and build up a brand for your company or business.

Make sure that all the information you submit online compliments each other and helps drive clients to your website, business or blog. Check carefully that your important details such as your contact number and email address can click directly to your email address and site. The more interactive your listings are the better because people who are generally time poor do not want to waste their time trying to find a way to contact you.

Any way you can market and promote your business will help clients and consumers find you and contact you. Keep on marketing, listing, adding to directories and promoting your business but try not to overwhelm people with unnecessary information.

Find ways to make yourself seen online; have a few business cards handy when you make contact with someone who might be interested in either using your services or recommending your services to someone else.

Market both online and socially by talking about your business and the services you offer to people who are curious about or interested in what kind of work you do. Like real estate agents with their location, location, location spiel, we as social media people can learn to love the words, market, connect, publicise, promote and communicate.

Now say that last line three times.

Being aware ...

Social Media is brilliant for raising awareness. Of your business and your business profile. Of events and industry events in the city.

Of coffee meetups where you can meet people who love working in the same industry as you do. And who can recommend a great graphic designer, or painter or shop fitter or blogger and talk about their own experiences.

Social Media makes you aware of how quickly this has become part of our lives. It's been maybe 3 years that social media has become so huge on the Internet and most people view Facebook regularly, Tweet at least once a day and check out social media sites for all sorts of information, facts and insight.

I learn about events in Sydney, get social media advice, read blog posts, connect to writers, read the latest book reviews and get so much information the second I switch on my laptop in the mornings. I follow people I love hearing about and I look up to people who are genuine and seem to be constantly on the go.

Social Media also helps build community awareness, you can find charity events and foundations to support. It's a business tool especially LinkedIn which is used by proffessionals who have connections with other proffessionals and used LinkedIn to keep up with their own industry and employ people who they feel have the know how and experience.

If anyone asks if social media is a good business tool, my answer is a rather loud and excited, yes. I learn everyday, I am in touch with the book industry and the social media industry. I know which coffee meetings would benefit me and I am building up my knowledge of networking events to attend.

It builds and raises industry awareness. And it is far from a time waster, everything I am curious about and learn about on social media sites; I put it into practice in my own business and follow, connect with and find people who have similar interests and experience.

It is a tool. It will help in a job interview. It will help with your business. It can be free marketing if used authentically. It can raise awareness.

Social media is all about what you can learn and gain by having the knowledge and ability to find out what works for you, what benefits your business and how you can use social media sites wisely and effectively.