{"id":17321,"date":"2014-03-18T10:21:38","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T14:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediastorm.com\/blog\/?p=17321"},"modified":"2022-11-01T16:57:14","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T20:57:14","slug":"the-first-step-in-your-social-media-strategy-isnt-what-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/18\/the-first-step-in-your-social-media-strategy-isnt-what-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"The First Step in Your Social Media Strategy Isn&#8217;t What You Think"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Social media is vital to content distribution. Filmmakers, photographers and journalists who don\u2019t use it are missing out on the opportunity to build direct relationships with their audience. But getting social online can feel overwhelming to storytellers who don\u2019t use these tools in their personal lives. In our <a href=\"http:\/\/mediastorm.com\/train\/workshop\/methodology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Methodology workshops<\/a>, the first questions participants looking to get started with social media ask me are: which platforms are worth my time and what in the world do I talk about all day?<\/p>\n<p>It seems daunting, but the answer to both questions is simple: Listen first.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to overlook the value of listening when socializing online or in person. Our instinct is to just dive in. But that\u2019s not a strategic way to build your business. As every great procrastinator knows, new social platforms and tools are debuting all the time and it\u2019s easy for social media to turn into a time suck that steals productivity rather than a tool that promotes your work.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_17342\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17342\" style=\"width: 512px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/mediastorm\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17342\" alt=\"\" src=\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Screen-Shot-2014-03-17-at-5.26.38-PM-e1395152782328.png\" width=\"512\" height=\"266\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-17342\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aly, Cortney &amp; Samia &#8211; The women of MediaStorm get social.<br \/>Photo: Shameel Arafin \/ MediaStorm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\nBefore you jump in to something new, pay attention to where your network is. Ask yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What social networks do potential clients I want to work with use?<\/li>\n<li>Where are my competitors active online?<\/li>\n<li>What companies and creators do I look up to? How are they sharing content?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are the places you want to be. It\u2019s the same reasoning you use to choose what party to go to. You\u2019re usually going to choose the event you know everyone is going to attend (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>) or the one where you know people similar to you will be (for a photography and film advocate like MediaStorm, that means sites like <a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vimeo<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Ok, you\u2019ve set up a social media profile. Now what? Keep listening. <\/p>\n<p>Any type of social interaction involves an exchange. To get value out of social media, prove yourself valuable.<\/p>\n<p>Think about:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What are common questions your clients ask you?<\/li>\n<li>What resources and work are you and your collaborators sharing?<\/li>\n<li>What are you excited about right now that your industry is overlooking?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That\u2019s what you should be talking about online. Information that\u2019s timely, interesting and helpful. When I say this in workshops, inevitably one participant will ask, \u201cwhat about MY work? I\u2019m on social media to market ME.\u201d The social rules that guide us in the real world rule online. No one wants to engage with someone who only talks about themselves. The information you share does more than provide context for your work. People are surprisingly more receptive to viewing and sharing the work of someone they respect as a resource.<\/p>\n<p>Now that you know the value of listening first, take it a step further. Here are three things you can do right now to build your social media presence:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Connect with your real world network online. Find out where your current and past clients and collaborators are online and create a profile on a network they use.<\/li>\n<li>Follow profiles of companies and creators you admire. Then, find hashtags and online groups related to your work. Pay attention to what\u2019s being shared and how it\u2019s being shared.<\/li>\n<li>Interact with your new follows and followers. Pay attention to what people are saying and add insights when you can. Before you know it, you\u2019ll have an online community of your own.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Got a question? Have your own social media insights to share? Talk to MediaStorm on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mediastorm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mediastorm.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> and the comment section below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Social media is vital to content distribution. Filmmakers, photographers and journalists who don\u2019t use it are missing out on the opportunity to build direct relationships with their audience. But getting social online can feel overwhelming to storytellers who don\u2019t use these tools in their personal lives. In our Methodology workshops, the first questions participants looking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":17342,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[748],"tags":[1682,1167,1462,1740,1741,1739,1742,1175,1738],"class_list":["post-17321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-distribution","tag-facebook","tag-instagram","tag-linkedin","tag-marketing","tag-platform","tag-promotion","tag-social-media","tag-twitter","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17321"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22085,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17321\/revisions\/22085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediastorm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}