When I made the inaugural post to this blog on March 9th, I extended an open invitation for you to take a step toward being more engaged with your green industry friends through social media. If you haven’t yet taken action, the door is still wide open. Social media marketing is my business, so I’m obviously an evangelist for it use. But don’t you feel the same about your area of expertise? Of course you do!
While many green industry pros have already dipped a toe into the social media waters, that number still doesn’t approach what we are capable of for being a relevant voice in the business community. It has been proven that the tipping point within a community is only 1%. That’s all we need to be a voice that will be heard. If there are about 4,000 PLANET members, that means we only need 40 people actively Tweeting the energy from the networking and educational sessions we are about to experience. I know for a fact we can make that happen.
Here’s what you need to do. If you don’t already have a Twitter account, get one. You only need to have an email address and choose a username you are comfortable with. In most instances this is your personal name. I am @jeffkorhan on Twitter. Past President Jason Cupp is @jasoncupp. PLANET PR Committtee Leader Richard Heller is @RichardEHeller. When you set up your account, you will realize the @ symbol precedes your chosen username. You cannot change the username that is associated with your email address, so take care with that. Beyond that, you can always change your photo, bio, and whatever new capabilities Twitter creates for us – and there are many new ones in the works.
One of these developments that is in the beta stage are Twitter lists. Since I’m a longtime user, I have this capability now. Send me a Tweet and I will add you to the list and work to involve you in the social media community at this year’s GIC. You can’t be everywhere at once, so this way you can always keep tabs on the action. Another way you can stay involved is to use the hashtag #GIC2009. Use this tag in all of your Tweets, prior to, during, and after GIC. This aggregates our Tweets to create an online, real-time conversation that ensures you won’t miss anything. To get an idea how this works, just search for #GIC2009 from your Twitter home page.
If you want to learn more about how social media can complement your current marketing and prepare you for the emerging economic recovery, please considering attending one of my sessions. I guarantee you will walk away with the skills and knowledge you need to take control of your online marketing. Here they are:
Using Social Media to Get New Customers Now! – Friday, October 30th, 2:45 -4:15
Blogging Your Company Website to Page One of Google – Saturday, October 31st, 9:30 – 10:30
Getting to Page One of Google with Social Media Marketing – Saturday, October 31st, 10:45 – 11:45
Finally, if you have questions about how you should get started, you can email me at speaker@truenature.com. Another free resource is to take a stroll through my blog at http://jeffkorhan.com. This blog is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small business owners like you to make the most of this medium that is transforming how we all will market our businesses in the future.
What do you say? The train is leaving the station. Don’t you think its time you got on board?
Look, we all know the main reason we attend GIC is for the networking. This explains the popularity of the Breakfast with Champions. Twitter is just like that event – its essentially having a conversation in a crowded room with like minded people. Give it a try. It’s very simple. If you can send an email, you can send a Tweet – with the receptive audience being your green industry peers.
